The first two of these seem to point to cultivation of the fruits of the
earth, as a part of righteousness; the turning round of the worshippers
is said to be in imitation of the revolution of the globe, but it seems
more probable that, as all temples look towards the east, the worshipper
who enters with his back to the sun turns round towards this god also,
and begs of them both, as he makes his circuit, to fulfil his prayer.
Unless indeed there is an allusion to the symbolical wheel of the
Egyptians, and the change of posture means that nothing human is
constant, and that, however God may turn about our lives, it is our duty
to be content. The act of sitting after prayer was said to portend that
such as were good would obtain a solid and lasting fulfilment of their
prayers. Or again, this attitude of rest marks the division between
different periods of prayer; so that after the end of one prayer they
seat themselves in the presence of the gods, in order that under their
auspices they may begin the next. This fully agrees with what has been
said above, and shows that the lawgiver intended to accustom his
countrymen not to offer their prayers in a hurry, or in the intervals of
doing something else, but when they were at leisure and not pressed for
time.
XV. By this religious training the city became so easily managed by
Numa, and so impressed by his power, as to believe stories of the
wildest character about him, and to think nothing incredible or
impossible if he wished to do it.
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