# CHAPTER 11 — On the Religion of the Romans

Although Rome had Romulus as its first organizer, and, like a daughter, had to recognize that she owed her birth and upbringing to him, since the heavens judged that Romulus’ institutions would not suffice for so great an empire, they inspired the Roman senate to elect Numa Pompilius as his successor, * so that the matters left undone by Romulus were organized by Numa. Having found a very fierce people and wishing to bring them to civil obedience with the arts of peace, he turned to religion as something absolutely necessary for maintaining a civilized society, and he established it in such a way that for many centuries there was never more fear of God than in that republic; this greatly facilitated any enterprise the senate or those great men of Rome ever planned to undertake. Anyone who examines the countless deeds of the Roman people as a whole and of many individual Roman citizens will see that they feared breaking an oath more than breaking the laws, like people who respected the power of God more than that of men: this is clearly revealed in the examples of Scipio and of Manlius Torquatus. After Hannibal’s rout of the Romans at Cannae, * many citizens had gathered together, and, terrified for their native city, they agreed to abandon Italy and to go to Sicily, but when Scipio heard about this he went to find them and, with his bare sword in his hand, he forced them to swear not to abandon their native land. Lucius Manlius, the father of Titus Manlius (who was later called Torquatus), was indicted by Marcus Pomponius, tribune of the plebeians, but before the day for his trial arrived Titus went to Marcus and, by threatening to kill him if he did not swear to withdraw the accusation against his father, he forced him to take an oath, and once Marcus had sworn an oath out of fear, he withdrew the charge. Thus, those citizens, whose love for their native land or its laws could not keep them in Italy, were kept there by the oath they were forced to take, and that tribune set aside the hatred he felt for the father and the injury inflicted upon him by the son, as well as his own honour, to obey the oath he had sworn; this arose from nothing other than the religion Numa had introduced into that city. Furthermore, it will be evident to anyone who carefully examines Roman history how useful religion was in controlling the armies, in giving courage to the plebeians, in keeping men good, and in shaming the wicked. Accordingly, if one had to debate the question of which of these princes Rome was more indebted to— either Romulus or Numa—I believe that Numa would sooner be ranked first, for where there is religion, arms can easily be introduced, but where there are arms but no religion, the latter can be introduced only with difficulty. It is evident that Romulus did not find God’s authority necessary to organize the senate or to create many other civil and military institutions, but it was necessary for Numa, who pretended to have a close relationship with a nymph * who advised him about how he should advise the people; all of this came about because Numa wanted to establish new and unusual institutions in that city, and he doubted that his own authority was sufficient. In truth, no maker of extraordinary laws who did not have recourse to God has ever existed in any society, because these laws would not otherwise be accepted, and because although the good things known to a prudent man are many, these things in themselves lack the self-evident qualities that can persuade others. Wise men who wish, therefore, to avoid this difficulty have recourse to God. Lycurgus did so, as did Solon, and many others who had their same goal. Thus, marvelling in Numa’s goodness and prudence, the Roman people yielded to his every decision. Of course, it is true that those times were very religious and those men with whom he had to work were ignorant, and this fact made it easier to pursue his plans, since he could simply imprint them with any new form whatsoever. * Without doubt, anyone wishing to establish a republic at present would find it easier among mountain people, where there is no civil society, than among men who are used to living in cities, where civil society is corrupt; a sculptor will more easily extract a beautiful statue from a rough piece of marble than he can from one badly blocked out by others.

Having, therefore, considered everything, I conclude that the religion introduced by Numa was among the principal reasons for the happiness of that city, because it produced good institutions, the good institutions created good fortune, and from good fortune arose the happy successes of their undertakings. Just as the observance of divine worship is the cause of the greatness of republics, so the disregard of divine worship is the cause of their ruin, because where fear of God is lacking, that kingdom must either come to ruin or be sustained through fear of a prince who makes up for the shortcomings in its religion. Since princes are short-lived, such a kingdom must quickly fail when it loses his exceptional ability. Hence, it happens that kingdoms which depend only upon the exceptional ability of a single man are not long enduring, because such talent disappears with the life of the man, and rarely does it happen to be restored in his successor, as Dante prudently declares:

Not often does the sap of virtue

descend to all its branches. This is His own gift,

and we can only beg that He bestow it. *

The salvation of a republic or a kingdom is not, therefore, merely to have a prince who governs prudently while he lives, but rather one who organizes the government in such a way that after his death it can be maintained. Although uncultivated men are more easily persuaded to adopt a new institution or opinion, it is still not impossible for that reason to persuade civilized men or men who do not consider themselves uncultivated to do the same. The people of Florence did not consider themselves to be either ignorant or uncultivated; they were nevertheless persuaded by Brother Girolamo Savonarola that he spoke with God. * I do not wish to judge whether this was true or not, since one must speak of such a man with reverence, but I must say that countless people believed him without ever having seen anything extraordinary to make them believe him, because his life, his doctrine, and the [sermon] topics he chose were sufficient to persuade them to put their faith in him. No one, therefore, should be dismayed if he cannot achieve what others have achieved, because men, as was stated in our preface, are always born, live, and die in the same way.