the cognisance of the
pontiff to the end that there might be some place where the people
should come to consult, lest any confusion in the divine worship might
be occasioned by neglecting the ceremonies of their own country, and
introducing foreign ones. (He ordained) that the same pontiff should
instruct the people not only in the celestial ceremonies, but also in
(the manner of performing) funeral solemnities, and of appeasing the
manes of the dead; and what prodigies sent by lightning or any other
phenomenon were to be attended to and expiated. To elicit such
knowledge from the divine mind, he dedicated an altar on the Aventine to
Jupiter [28]Elicius, and consulted the god by auguries as to what
(prodigies) should be expiated.

[Footnote 26: _Ancilia_, from [Greek: ankulos].]

[Footnote 27: _Pontificem_, scil. Maximum.]

[Footnote 28:

_Eliciunt coelo te, Jupiter: unde minores
Nunc quoque te celebrant, Eliciumque vocant_.

Ov. F. iii. 327.]

21. The whole multitude having been diverted from violence and arms to
the considering and adjusting these matters, both their minds had been
engaged in doing something, and the constant watchfulness of the gods
now 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, no less than
fear of the laws and of punishment. And while[29] the people were
moulding themselves after the morals of the king, as their best example,
the neighbouring states also, who had formerly thought that it was a
camp, not a city, situate in the midst of them to disturb the general
peace, were brought (to feel) such respect for them that they considered
it impious that a state, wholly occupied in the worship of the gods,
should be molested. There was a grove, the middle of which was irrigated
by a spring of running water, issuing from a dark grotto. As Numa went
often thither alone, under pretence of conferring with the goddess, he
dedicated the place to the Muses, because their meetings with his wife
Egeria were held there. He also instituted a yearly festival to Faith
alone, and commanded the priests to be carried to her temple in an
arched chariot drawn by two horses, and to perform the divine service
with their hands wrapt up to the fingers, intimating that Faith ought to
be protected, and that her seat ought to be sacred even in men's right
hand