[Footnote: We shall find that in the course
of time this arrangement of the year proved very faulty in its turn,
and that Julius C?sar made another effort to reform it. (See page
247.)]
The poets said in the peaceful days of Numa,
Rust eats the pointed spear and double-edged sword.
No more is heard the trumpet's brazen roar,
Sweet sleep is banished from our eyes no more,
and that over the iron shields the spiders hung their threads, for it
was a sort of golden age, when there was neither plot, nor envy, nor
sedition in the state, for the love of virtue and the serenity of
spirit of the king flowed down upon all the happy subjects. In due
time, after a long reign and a peaceful and useful life, Numa died, not
by disease or war, but by the natural decline of his faculties. The
people mourned for him heartily and honored him with a costly burial.
After the death of this king an interregnum followed, during which the
senate ruled again, but it was not long before the Sabines chose as
king a Roman, Tullus Hostilius, grandson of that Hostus Hostilius who
had won distinction in the war with the Sabines. The new sovereign
thought that the nation was losing its noble prestige through the
quietness with which it lived among its neighbors, and therefore he
embraced every opportunity to stir up war with the surrounding peoples,
and success followed his campaigns.
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