air," said Numa, again taking away the
terrible part of the imprecation. When then Jupiter said "With
living"--"Sprats," said Numa, answering as Egeria had taught him. The
god went away appeased, and the place was in consequence called Ilicius.
This was how the charm was discovered.

These ridiculous legends show the way in which the people had become
accustomed to regard the gods. Indeed Numa is said to have placed all
his hopes in religion, to such an extent that even when a message was
brought him, saying, "The enemy are approaching," he smiled and said,
"And I am sacrificing."

XVI. The first temples that he founded are said to have been those of
Fides or Faith, and Terminus. Fides is said to have revealed to the
Romans the greatest of all oaths, which they even now make use of; while
Terminus is the god of boundaries, to whom they sacrifice publicly, and
also privately at the divisions of men's estates; at the present time
with living victims, but in old days this was a bloodless sacrifice, for
Numa argued that the god of boundaries must be a lover of peace, and a
witness of righteousness, and therefore averse to bloodshed.

Indeed Numa was the first king who defined the boundaries of the
country, since Romulus was unwilling, by measuring what was really his
own, to show how much he had taken from other states: for boundaries, if
preserved, are barriers against violence; if disregarded, they become
standing proofs of lawless injustice. The city had originally but a
small territory of its own, and Romulus gained the greater part of its
possessions by the sword. All this Numa distributed among the needy
citizens, thereby removing the want which urged them to deeds of
violence, and, by turning the people's thoughts to husbandry, he made
them grow more civilised as their land grew more cultivated. No
profession makes men such passionate lovers of peace as that of a man
who farms his own land; for he retains enough of the warlike spirit to
fight fiercely in defence of his own property, but has lost all desire
to despoil and wrong his neighbours. It was for this reason that Numa
encouraged agriculture among the Romans, as a spell to charm away war,
and loved the art more because of its influence on men's minds than
because of the wealth which it produced. He divided the whole country
into districts, which he called pagi, and appointed a head man for
each, and a patrol to guard it. And sometimes he himself would inspect