Book 4, Chapter 1

1 I often marvel, Brutus, at the gifts and virtues of our countrymen in many fields, but above all in those studies that they sought out so late and brought from Greece to our city. From the city’s first beginnings, royal institutions, and in some cases laws as well, had given an almost divine ordering to the auspices, religious observances, assemblies, appeals to the people, the senate, the divisions of cavalry and infantry, and the whole military establishment. Then, once the commonwealth was freed from royal rule, there followed a marvelous advance, an incredible rush toward excellence of every kind. This, however, is not the place to discuss our ancestors’ customs and institutions or the discipline and balanced constitution of the state. I have treated these matters with sufficient care elsewhere, especially in the six books I wrote on the commonwealth.

2 Here, as I consider the pursuit of learning, many reasons occur to me for believing that these studies too were brought here from abroad, and were not merely sought out but preserved and cultivated. Pythagoras, a man of outstanding wisdom and renown, was almost within their sight: he lived in Italy at the very time when Lucius Brutus, the illustrious founder of your noble line, freed his country. As Pythagoras’ teaching spread far and wide, it seems to me to have penetrated our city too. This is both a plausible inference and something indicated by certain surviving traces. Greece was flourishing in Italy, in mighty cities of the greatest size—the Greece called ‘Great’—and there first Pythagoras himself, and afterward the Pythagoreans, enjoyed such fame. Who could suppose that our countrymen kept their ears closed to voices of such learning?

3 Indeed, I think admiration for the Pythagoreans led later generations to regard King Numa too as a Pythagorean. They knew Pythagoras’ teaching and institutions, and had heard from their ancestors of that king’s justice and wisdom; but because of the remoteness of the past they did not know their dates or lifetimes. They therefore believed that a man of such exceptional wisdom had been a pupil of Pythagoras.

1 Brutus, there are many occasions when the talents and good qualities of our people amaze me. Above all, I admire their achievement in bringing Greek studies to Rome, despite having begun to seek them out very late. Right from Rome’s foundation, arrangements made by the kings, partly through laws as well, gave us a wonderfully ordered system. It covered auspices and religious rites, public assemblies and appeals, the council of senators, the division into mounted and foot soldiers, and military affairs as a whole. Freedom from the kings then brought remarkable advances: the state raced toward excellence of every kind at an almost unbelievable speed. But our ancestors’ customs and institutions, and the way the state was trained and kept in balance, aren’t my subject here. Elsewhere I’ve discussed them quite thoroughly, above all in the six books I wrote about the republic.

2 Here, though, as I think about intellectual studies, I find plenty of reasons to believe that these too were brought in from abroad, and not just sought out, but kept alive and developed. Pythagoras, a man of outstanding wisdom and renown, was practically within our ancestors’ sight. He was in Italy at the same time that Lucius Brutus, the famous founder of your distinguished family, freed his country. Pythagoras’ teaching spread far and wide, and I believe it reached our city too. That’s a reasonable inference, and some surviving traces also point that way. Who could believe our people shut their ears to such learned voices? Greek civilization was flourishing in Italy then, in the very large and powerful cities of what was called Greater Greece. First Pythagoras himself, and later his followers, had an enormous reputation there.

3 I also suspect that the Pythagoreans’ prestige explains why later people counted King Numa among them. People knew the training and practices Pythagoras taught, and their ancestors had passed down accounts of Numa’s justice and wisdom. With so much time between, though, they no longer knew the dates or when either man had lived. Numa’s remarkable wisdom therefore convinced them he had been Pythagoras’ student.