ny occasions, at the ingenuity and
virtues of our countrymen; but nothing has surprised me more than their
development in those studies, which, though they came somewhat late to us,
have been transported into this city from Greece. For the system of
auspices, and religious ceremonies, and courts of justice, and appeals to
the people, the senate, the establishment of an army of cavalry and
infantry, and the whole military discipline, were instituted as early as
the foundation of the city by royal authority, partly too by laws, not
without the assistance of the Gods. Then with what a surprising and
incredible progress did our ancestors advance towards all kind of
excellence, when once the republic was freed from the regal power! Not
that this is a proper occasion to treat of the manners and customs of our
ancestors, or of the discipline and constitution of the city; for I have
elsewhere, particularly in the six books I wrote on the Republic, given a
sufficiently accurate account of them. But whilst I am on this subject,
and considering the study of philosophy, I meet with many reasons to
imagine that those studies were brought to us from abroad, and not merely
imported, but preserved and improved; for they had Pythagoras, a man of
consummate wisdom and nobleness of character, in a manner, before their
eyes; who was in Italy at the time that Lucius Brutus, the illustrious
founder of your nobility, delivered his country from tyranny. As the
doctrine of Pythagoras spread itself on all sides, it seems probable to
me, that it reached this city; and this is not only probable of itself,
but it does really appear to have been the case from many remains of it.
For who can imagine that, when it flourished so much in that part of Italy
which was called Magna Graecia, and in some of the largest and most
powerful cities, in which, first the name of Pythagoras, and then that of
those men who were afterwards his followers, was in so high esteem; who
can imagine, I say, that our people could shut their ears to what was said
by such learned men? Besides, it is even my opinion, that it was the great
esteem in which the Pythagoreans were held, that gave rise to that opinion
amongst those who came after him, that king Numa was a Pythagorean. For,
being acquainted with the doctrine and principles of Pythagoras, and
having heard from their ancestors that this king was a very wise and just
man, and not being able to distinguish accurately between