nd
what prodigies sent by lightning or any other phenomenon were to be
attended to and expiated. To draw forth such knowledge from the minds
of the gods, he dedicated an altar on the Aventine to Jupiter Elicius,
and consulted the god by means of auguries as to what prodigies ought
to be attended to.

The attention of the whole people having been thus diverted from
violence and arms to the deliberation and adjustment of these matters,
both their minds were engaged in some occupation, and the watchfulness
of the gods now constantly impressed upon them, as the deity of heaven
seemed to interest itself in human concerns, had filled the breasts of
all with such piety, that faith and religious obligations governed the
state, the dread of laws and punishments being regarded as secondary.
And while the people of their own accord were forming themselves on
the model of the king, as the most excellent example, the neighbouring
states also, who had formerly thought that it was a camp, not a city,
that had been established in their midst to disturb the general peace,
were brought to feel such respect for them that they considered it
impious to molest a state, wholly occupied in the worship of the gods.
There was a grove, the middle of which was irrigated by a spring of
running water, flowing from a dark grotto. As Numa often repaired
thither unattended, under pretence of meeting the goddess, he
dedicated the grove to the Camenae, because, as he asserted, their
meetings with his wife Egeria were held there. He also instituted a
yearly festival to Faith alone, and commanded her priests to be driven
to the chapel erected for the purpose in an arched chariot drawn by
two horses, and to perform the divine service with their hands wrapped
up to the fingers, intimating that Faith ought to be protected, and
that even her seat in men's right hands was sacred. He instituted many
other sacred rites, and dedicated places for performing them, which
the priests call Argei. But the greatest of all his works was the
maintenance of peace during the whole period of his reign, no less
than of his royal power. Thus two kings in succession, by different
methods, the one by war, the other by peace, aggrandized the state.
Romulus reigned thirty-seven years, Numa forty-three: the state was
both strong and attempered by the arts both of war and peace.

Upon the death of Numa, the administration returned again to an
interregnum. After that the people appo