Numa Pompilius   

born and miraculously preserved and nurtured. My birth was mortal;
I was reared and instructed by men that are known to you. The very
points of my character that are most commended mark me as unfit to
reign, love of retirement and of studies inconsistent with business,
a passion that has become inveterate in me for peace, for unwarlike
occupations, and for the society of men whose meetings are but those
of worship and of kindly intercourse, whose lives in general are spent
upon their farms and their pastures. I should but be, methinks, a
laughingstock, while I should go about to inculcate the worship of
the gods and give lessons in the love of justice and the abhorrence
of violence and war, to a city whose needs are rather for a captain
than for a king."
The Romans, perceiving by these words that he was declining to accept
the kingdom, were the more instant and urgent with him that he would
not forsake and desert them in this condition, and suffer them to
relapse, as they must, into their former sedition and civil discord,
there being no person on whom both parties could accord but on himself.
And, at length, his father and Marcius, taking him aside, persuaded
him to accept a gift so noble in itself, and tendered to him rather
from heaven than from men. "Though," said they, "you neither desire
riches, being content with what you have, nor court the fame of authority,
as having already the more valuable fame of virtue, yet you will consider
that government itself is a service of God, who now calls out into
action your qualities of justice and wisdom, which were not meant
to be left useless and unemployed. Cease, therefore, to avoid and
turn your back upon an office which, to a wise man, is a field for
great and honourable actions, for the magnificent worship of the gods,
and for the introduction of habits of piety, which authority alone
can effect amongst a people. Tatius, though a foreigner, was beloved,
and the memory of Romulus has received divine honours; and who knows
but that this people, being victorious, may be satiated with war,
and, content with the trophies and spoils they have acquired, may
be, above all things, desirous to have a pacific and justice-loving
prince to lead them to good order and quiet? But if, indeed, their
desires are uncontrollably and madly set on war, were it not better,
then, to have the reins held by such a moderating hand as is able
to divert the fury another way, and that your native city and the
whole Sabine nation should possess in you a bond of goodwill and friendship
with this young and growing power?"
With these reasons and persuasions several auspicious omens are said
to have concurred, and the zeal, also, of his fellow-citizens, who,
on understanding what message the Roman ambassadors had brought him,
entreated him to accompany them, and to accept the kingdom as a means
to unanimity and concord between the nations.
Numa, yielding to these inducements, having first performed divine
sacrifice, proceeded to Rome, being met in his way by the senate and
people, who, with an impatient desire, came forth to receive him;
the women, also, welcomed him with joyful acclamations, and sacrifices
were offered for him in all the temples, and so universal was the
joy, that they seemed to be receiving, not a new king, but a new kingdom.
In this manner he descended into the forum, where Spurius Vettius,
whose turn it was to be interrex at that hour, put it to the vote;
and all declared him king. Then the regalities and robes of authority
were brought to him; but he refused to be invested with them until
he had first consulted and been confirmed by the gods; so being accompanied
by the priests and augurs, he ascended the Capitol, which at that
time the Romans called the Tarpeian Hill. Then the chief of the augurs
covered Numa's head, and turned his face towards the south, and, standing
behind him, laid his right hand on his head, and prayed, turning his
eyes every way, in expectation of some auspicious signal from the
gods. It was wonderful, meantime, with what silence and devotion the
multitude stood assembled in the forum, in similar expectation and
suspense, till auspicious birds appeared and passed on the right.
Then Numa, apparelling himself in his royal robes, descended from