The appeal of external cultures manifested itself in manifold ways. A striking example exists in the Roman fascination for Pythagoreanism. Not that this went deep. Nor will many have immersed themselves in the philosophic teachings of the sect. But a popular tale had it that the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, had studied with Pythagoras himself at Croton in southern Italy, whence he came to take up the throne in Rome. Pythagoras had instructed him in the proper manner of worshiping the gods, and much else besides, lessons that Numa transferred to Rome where he laid the foundation of its religious institutions (Dion. Hal. 2.59.1; Diod. Sic. 8.14). The king, himself from the Sabine country, gained his intellectual training from a Greek sage, and brought the combination of austerity, abstinence, and learning to Rome. The link between these two figures was, of course, a fiction. Chronology alone ruled it out, as many ancient writers themselves observed. Numa, according to conventional calculations, died a century and a half before Pythagoras moved from his native Samos to southern Italy. And the idea that a Sabine had ever heard of him, let alone imbibed philosophy from him, struck some as preposterous. The refutation of this purported contact held importance for certain Roman intellectuals who sought to affirm that the virtues and moral qualities of Numa Pompilius were home-grown, a product of Sabine upbringing rather than alien teachings (Cic. Rep. 2.28-9; Livy 1.18.1-3; Dion. Hal. 2.59). All the more surprising and significant, then, that the story persisted. Discrepancy in the dates did not derail it. Ovid retails the legend as uncontested fact (Ov. Fast. 3.151-4; Met. 15.1-8, 15.60-72; Pont. 3.341-4). And other writers addressed the incongruity by devising dodges or reaching for parallels that would keep the Pythagoras/Numa bond alive (Plut. Num. 1.34, 8.2-8,11.1-2, 22.3-4). That itself tells us much.7
The story doubtless had its roots in Hellenic speculation. Biographers of Pythagoras, like Aristoxenus of Tarentum in the early third century, made him teacher or counselor to a host of Italic peoples from Lucanians to Romans (Diog. Laert. 8.14; Porph. Pyth. 22). It seemed suitable enough to have him as mentor to Numa, the father of Roman religious law. Pythagoras took central place in this form of the legend. What carries special interest, however, is the Roman adoption of that legend.
Willingness to appropriate and convey a story that conceived the revered lawgiver from the Sabine country as pupil of the Hellenic sage has revealing implications for the Roman self-image. Cicero, who disbelieved the tale, nevertheless recognized its force and significance. He saw it as consequence of Roman engagement in Magna Graecia, acquaintance with Pythagoras’ repute, and readiness to find in the sound judgment and sagacity of Numa a counterpart to the Greek wise man (Cic. Tusc. 4.2-3).
Pythagoras’ high esteem in Rome can be viewed from a different angle. The oracle at Delphi, so we are told, advised the Romans, in the course of the Samnite wars, to erect statues to the wisest and bravest of the Greeks. The Senate chose to install an image of Pythagoras in the first category, Alcibiades in the second (Pliny HN, 34.26; Plut. Num. 8.10). That Rome should be taking counsel with the oracular shrine of Apollo as early as the Samnite wars can be questioned. And the Romans may have embraced the philosopher as a means of appeal to the Greeks of southern Italy who would be useful in a contest against Samnites. But the statue of Pythagoras in the comitium stood until the time of Sulla, who needed the space for his expanded senate house. The story itself attests to the reputation that Pythagoras continued to enjoy among Romans. Cato the Elder, so it was said, found the sect appealing enough to gain instruction from a Pythagorean philosopher in Tarentum (Plut. Cat. Mai. 2.3; cf. Cic Sen. 41). One report even had it that Pythagoras received an award of Roman citizenship (Plut. Num. 8.9). Here again the tale counts for more than the truth. Legitimate doubts can be raised about the proposition that Pythagoras became a Roman citizen. The concept perhaps reflects Hellenic and Hellenistic practices of granting honorary citizen privileges to distinguished individuals. But the story, whatever its origins, would have found favor among the Romans. It had the added dimension of reference to Rome’s liberality in expansion of the franchise to ‘‘aliens.’’
World History
