Magna conservandae religionis etiam P. Cornelio Baebio Tamphilo consulibus apud maiores nostros acta cura est; si quidem in agro L. Petillii scribae sub Ianiculo cultoribus terram altius versantibus, duabus arcis lapideis repertis, quarum in altera scriptura indicabat corpus Numae Pompilii fuisse, in altera libri reconditi erant Latini septem de iure pontificum totidemque Graeci de disciplina sapientiae, Latinos magna diligentia adservandos curaverunt, Graecos, quia aliqua ex parte ad solvendam religionem pertinere existimabantur, Q. Petillius praetor urbanus ex auctoritate senatus per victimarios facto igni in conspectu populi cremavit: noluerunt enim prisci viri quicquam in hac adservari civitate quo animi hominum a deorum cultu avocarentur.
Notable also the care for the conservation of religion taken among our ancestors in the Consulship of P. Cornelius and Baebius Tamphilus. On land belonging to L. Petillius, a scribe, below Janiculum, as farmers turned the soil rather more deeply than usual, two stone chests were discovered. One of them writing showed to have contained the body of Numa Pompilius, in the other were hidden seven Latin volumes concerning pontifical law and as many Greek on a system of wisdom. They saw to the preservation of the Latin with all diligence, but the City Praetor Q. Petillius by the senates authority publicly burned the Greek in a fire made by the sacrificial attendants because they were thought in part to pertain to the dissolution of religion. For the men of old misliked that aught be preserved in this community by which mens minds might be turned away from the worship of the gods.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book1.json