Ab urbe condita

The augur seated himself on his left hand, with his head covered, and holding in his right hand a curved staff without any knots, which they called a “ lituus.” After surveying the prospect over the City and surrounding country, he offered prayers and marked out the heavenly regions by an imaginary line from east to west; the southern he defined as “the right hand,” the northern as “the left hand.”

He then fixed upon an object, as far as he could see, as a corresponding mark, and then transferring the lituus to his left hand, he laid his right upon Numa's head and offered this prayer:

“Father Jupiter, if it be heaven's will that this Numa Pompilius, whose head I hold, should be king of Rome, do thou signify it to us by sure signs within those boundaries which I have traced.”

Then he described in the usual formula the augury which he desired should be sent. They were sent, and Numa being by them manifested to be king, came down from the “ templum.” [*](templum —In taking auspices, the augur or magistrate marked out a rectangular space by noting certain objects, trees or what not, within which the desired signs were to appear, and tracing a corresponding area mentally in the sky. The spot where he took his station, the “ auguraculum ”, was also a small rectangular space; each of these was called a “templum.” All important magisterial acts were preceded by auspices, and the word “templum” was extended to denote the position occupied by the magistrate, such as the senate-house, the platform from which the Assembly was addressed, etc.)

Having[*](Numa's Religious Institutions.) in this way obtained the crown, Numa prepared to found as it were anew by laws and customs that City which had so recently been founded by force of arms He saw that this was impossible whilst a state of war lasted, for war brutalised men.

Thinking that the ferocity of his subjects might be mitigated by the disuse of arms, he built the temple of Janus at the foot of the Aventine as an index of peace and war, to signify when it was open that the State was under arms, and when it was shut that all the surrounding nations were at peace.