There is also a legend that Pan loved Pindar and his verses; and for the
Muse's sake, Hesiod and Archilochus were honoured after their deaths;
while Sophokles during his life is said, by a legend which remains
current at the present day, to have become the friend of Aesculapius,
and on his death to have had the rites of burial supplied by the care of
another god.
If, then, we believe the legends which are told about these persons, why
should we doubt that Zaleukus, Minos, Zoroaster, Numa, and Lykurgus were
inspired by Heaven, when they governed their kingdoms and gave them
laws? We may suppose that the gods, when in an earnest mood, would hold
converse with such men as these, the best of their kind, to talk with
and encourage them, just as they visit the poets, if they do at all,
when inclined for pleasure. However, if any one thinks differently, as
Bacchylides says, "The way is broad."
The other view, which some take about Lykurgus and Numa and such men,
seems very plausible, that they, having to deal with an obstinate and
unmanageable people when introducing great political changes, invented
the idea of their own divine mission as a means of safety for
themselves.
V. It was in Numa's fortieth year that the envoys came from Rome to ask
him to be king. Their spokesmen were Proculus and Velesius, one of whom
had very nearly been elected king, for the Romulus people inclined much
to Proculus, and those of Tatius were equally in favour of Velesius.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188