The Ancient Wisdom
11
with religious knowledge. From these conversations, he learned how to legislate for the Romans, and he established the fundamental religious rites and institutions of Rome. In this way he encouraged the Romans to be less warlike and to live in peace. Numa also reformed the calendar, fixing the beginning of the year by the winter solstice, as did Plethon (see chapter 4).24 Numa recorded his divine conversations in two bundles of sacred books: seven in Latin on religious law and seven in Greek on ancient philosophy.25 He ordered them to be buried with him when he died, for he thought it better that the Romans follow the living religious traditions rather than be bound by static books. When his tomb was accidentally opened some five centuries later (181 BCE), the books were found, but the Roman Senate ordered them to be burned, for they considered them too dangerous to read or even to possess. Some scholars think they contained Pythagorean doctrines, which the Senate considered subversive.26
The Seven Legendary Sages Next Plethon lists seven legendary sages, either groups or individuals, who contributed to the ancient theology.27 Among the “barbarians” (non-Greek speakers), Plethon mentions the ancient Brahmans of India, whom he writes are almost as early as Zoroaster.28 Their lawgiver was Dionysos or Bacchus, who came to the Indians from some other land. He writes that this is the same soul who, many centuries later, was reborn as the Dionysos of the Greeks, the son of Semele.29 The Brahmans, of course, were the priestly caste of ancient India, and several Greek sages were said to have studied with them, including 24. Anastos, “Plethon’s Calendar and Liturgy,” 206. 25. Livy, History of Rome, 1. 26. A. Delatte, “Les doctrines pythagoriciennes des livres de Numa,” Académie royale de Belgique, Bulletin de la classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques 22 (1936): 19–40. 27. Plethon, Laws I.2.3. 28. Plethon, Laws III.43.9. The fundamental meaning of barbaros (βάρβαρος) in ancient Greek is “non‑Greek speaker” (“babblers”). It was not always a derogatory term, and ancient Greek philosophers admired the more ancient wisdom of “barbarian” peoples such as the Egyptians, Persians, and Indians. 29. Plethon, Laws III.43.9.
