of the coffins was
seen by all men to be empty, and without any trace of a corpse in it;
the other contained the books, which were read by Petilius the praetor,
who reported to the Senate that in his opinion it was not right that
their contents should be made known to the people, and they were
therefore carried to the Comitium and burned there.

All good and just men receive most praise after their death, because
their unpopularity dies with them or even before them; but Numa's glory
was enhanced by the unhappy reigns of his successors. Of five kings who
succeeded him, the last was expelled and died an exile, and of the other
four, not one died a natural death, but three were murdered by
conspirators, and Tullus Hostilius, who was king next after Numa, and
who derided and insulted his wise ordinances, especially those
connected with religion, as lazy and effeminate, and who urged the
people to take up arms, was cut down in the midst of his boastings by a
terrible disease, and became subject to superstitious fears in no way
resembling Numa's piety. His subjects were led to share these terrors,
more especially by the manner of his death, which is said to have been
by the stroke of a thunderbolt.

COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYKURGUS.

I. Now that we have gone through the lives of Numa and Lykurgus, we must
attempt, without being daunted by difficulties, to reconcile the points
in which they appear to differ from each other. Much they appear to have
had in common, as, for example, their self-control, their piety, and
their political and educational ability; and while the peculiar glory of
Numa is his acceptance of the throne, that of Lykurgus is his
abdication. Numa received it without having asked for it; Lykurgus when
in full possession gave it up. Numa, though a private man and not even a
Roman, was chosen by the Romans as their king; but Lykurgus from being a
king reduced himself to a private station. It is honourable to obtain a
crown by righteousness, but it is also honourable to prefer
righteousness to a crown. Numa's virtue made him so celebrated that he
was judged worthy to be king, Lykurgus' made him so great that he did
not care to be king.

Again, like those who tune the strings of a lyre, Lykurgus drew tighter
the relaxed and licentious Sparta, while Numa merely slackened the
highly strung and warlike Rome, so that here Lykurgus had the more
difficult task. He had to persuade his countrymen, not to tak