40.29
A
colony was settled this year at Gravisca in Etruria on territory which had
formerly been taken from the Tarquinii. Five jugera were given to each man;
the supervisors of the settlement were C. Calpurnius Piso, P. Claudius
Pulcher and C Terentius Istra. The year was marked by a drought and failure
of the crops. It is recorded that no rain fell for six months. During this year
while labourers were digging at some depth on land belonging to L. Petilius,
a scrivener who lived at the foot of the Janiculum, two stone chests were
discovered about eight feet long and four wide, the lids being fastened down
with lead. Each bore an inscription in Latin and Greek; one stating that
Numa Pompilius, son of Pompo and king of the Romans, was buried there,
and the other saying that it contained his books. When the owner at the
suggestion of his friends had opened them, the one which bore the
inscription of the buried king was found to be empty, with no vestige of a
human body or of anything else, so completely had everything disappeared
after such a lapse of time. In the other there were two bundles tied round
with cords steeped in wax, each containing seven books, not only intact but
to all appearance new. There were seven in Latin on pontifical law, and
seven in Greek dealing with the study of philosophy so far as was possible in
that age. Valerius Antias says further that they were Pythagorean books,
thus shaping his belief to the common opinion that Numa was a disciple of
Pythagoras, and trying to give probability to a fiction.
The books were first examined by the friends who were present. As
the number of those who read them grew, and they became widely known,
Q. Petilius, the City praetor, was anxious to read them and took them from
Lucius. They were on very friendly terms; when Q. Petilius was quaestor he
had given Lucius Petilius a place on the decury. After perusing the most
important passages he perceived that most of them would lead to the
break-up of the national religion. Lucius promised that he would throw the
books into the fire, but before doing so said that he should like to find out, if
allowed to do so, whether he could reclaim them either by the right of
possession or by the authority of the tribunes of the plebs, without, however,
disturbing his friendly relations with the praetor. The scrivener approached
the tribunes, and the tribunes left the matter for the senate to deal with. The
praetor stated that he was ready to declare on oath that the books ought not
to be preserved. The senate held the praetor's asseveration to be sufficient,
and that the books ought to be burnt as soon as possible in the comitium.
Whatever sum the praetor and the majority of the tribunes thought a fair
price for the books was to be paid to the owner. The scrivener refused to
accept it. The books were burnt in the comitium in the sight of the people in
a fire made by the victimarii.