Book XV

With Romulus gone, the Romans need a new kind. They pick Numa Pompilius, and he feels he knows the laws of the city but not the laws of nature. Therefore, he goes on a journey and goes to Crotona, a city where Hercules once stayed. Once there Numa finds an old man and asks for information about the town. He tells him that after caturing the cattle of Geryon Hercules passed the area, and once his cattle were grazing Hercules was hosted by Croton. After leaving the house, Hercules predicted that after two generation a new city would rise in that place. After two generations in the city of Argos Myscelus was born and became popular. One night Hercules appeared to Myscelus in his sleep and told him that he had to leave his hone and find the river Aesar, and if not, he’ll beat him up. Myscelus woke up confused and thought even it was Hercules he’s got a problem. The problem was there was a law in Argos prohibiting any of its citizens from traveling abroad, so Myscelus does nothing. The next night Hercules appears again and gave him the same message. When he wakes this time, he decides to go. When word spreads the citizens become enraged and he’s called to cort and tried for breaking the city’s law. The trial work that each xitizens was given two stones (one white, one black) and at the end of the trail a verdict is reached by dropping the stones into a urn, black to condemn and white to acquit. In the end they decide the verdict by counting the stones. Before the votes are cast, Myscelus prays to Hercules and even though all of the stones placed in the urn were black, once they are shaken up they all become white. They let Myscelus go, and after thanking Hercules he sails off. He eventually finds the river Aesar and builds a large city there on the burial mound of Croton, and names the city Crotona.

Pythagoras is one of Crotona’s most famous residents, and he’s a mathematician and philosopher. He is the first person to argue in favor of vegetarianism. Ovid brings us to one of his lectures on this, he says: don’t eat animal, there earth has plenty of other stuff to eat, why kill something for you to live. He says when you die your body dies with you, but your soul lives on, and how in a past life he was a guy called Euphorbus, a Trojan warrior killed by the Greek King Menelaus, and how reincarnation is real and you should eat animals because it could be your relative. Everything is changing, like the sun changing color based on how high it is in the sky, the moon changing with the months, seasons changing, and humans getting old. How elements changes: earth melting into water, water evaporating into air, and air purified into fire. Then fire back into air, air back into water, and rain back into the Earth to become Earth. With all this change you could say nothing is permanent except the sum of everything, but everything within that is unstable. The world is one living being. There are crazy stories in the north, the Hyperborean, where men just into a pool of water 9 times and come out as birds, Women of Scythian growing feathers; but we should just stick to what we can observe, and we know when animal rot, smaller animals come out of their carcasses. All animals come from the weirdest place, butterflies from worms, frogs from mud, bear cubs born shapeless, bees from larvae, peacock from an egg, and when humans die it’s said their spinal cord turns to a snake. The phoenix which is reborn every 500 years, hyena changing its sex from male to female, chameleon which eats air and changes color, and the lynx whose bodily fluids turn to stone or coral which is an underwater plant but hardens when exposed to air. Human societies also undergo changes, great cities now in ruins, now there’s Rome. A long time ago when Aenas was leaving troy he received a prophecy from Helenus, Trojan soothsayer. She said Rome would conquer the world. Everything is changing, even us. But inside of us is something sternal, the

sould. So don’t kill other creatures, it just isn’t right. The exception is if an animal tries to kill you then its within your rights to kill it in self-defense, but even then, don’t eats it body. Eat food that doesn’t require violence. That’s the end of his speech.

Numa is satisfied that he knows the laws of nature and he goes back to Rome. He marries nymph, Egeria. Numa teaches the Romans to be peaceful and the people love him. Once he dies, the city mourns and Egeria goes to live in the woods. In the woods she is approached by many nymphs who try to get her to stop weeping, she also meets Hippolytus the son of Theseus, who tells the story of how he ends up in the woods.

Hippolytus says his troubles started when his stepmother Phaedra tries to get him to sleep with her, when he refuses she told Theseus that Hippolytus had been sexually harassing her, Theseus believes her and banishes Hippolytus from his kingdom. While criding his chaiot on his way to Corinth, suddenly a huge wave rose up out of the sea and swept toward him. Rind the crest of the wave was a giant bull. Hippolytus tries to maneuver his chariot to escape but a wheel broke and he was hurdled through the air. His body was shattered and he died. Even though he went to the underworld Hippolytus was saved by the healing arts of Aesculapius, the son of Apollo. Then Diana helped him find a new home on earth so no one could recognize him, she changed his body, making him old and withered and gave him the new name Virbius. Now Hippolytus explains he lives in the woods as Vibius, a minor god. His story doesn’t help Egeria from weeping for Numa, and eventually Diana steps in and turns her into a spring. Hippolytus is surprised, and Ovid tells that he’s just as surprised as some Etruscan farmer who once was when he saw a clod of earth in his field turn into a human and start telling prophecies. The clod turned to be Tages.

Ovid tells that Hippolytus is as surprise as Cipus was when he looked into a pool of water and saw that he had grown horns on his head. At the time that this happened Cipus was coming back to Rome from fighting in a war, when he first saw his reflection he couldn’t believe his eyes. Not knowing what to do he consults a soothsayer who tell him he must go to Rome and become their king. He goes off, once he gets to Rome he doesn’t feel right, why would he want to be the king of Rome when Rome kicked out its kings and was starting out as a republic. So he wounds wreaths around his head to hide his horns, then he calls all the Romans to an assembly outside the city. Once everyone is there he begins his speech telling that someone among them would rule over them as the kind if they didn’t banish him. He says they would know this person necasue they would have horns. The people are impressed and wonder who this could be. Finially, Cipus reveals his horns and says its him. In response the Roman people forbid Cipus from entering the city but recognize the good he did by turning himself in. As a reward, they give him as much land outside the city as he could drive his plow through in a single day. They also sculpted horns on the gate into the city to commemorate Cipus.

Now Ovid asks the Muses to tell him him the god Aesculapius got so popular in Rome. They tell him long ago there was a gorrible plague in Rome. Delegates from the people were sent to the oracle of Apollo in Delphi to ask whaat to do. Apollo told them they could’ve saved a trip and they need his son Aesculapius. When the go back to the Sentate the recall and think he’s in the Greek city Epidarus. The Romans send antoher set of delegates to Epidaurus where they ask the local elders if they could borrow

the statue of their god. The Epidaurians debate this, lasting all day into the night without reaching a conclusion. In the meantime, the Roman delegation sleeps. One of the delegates dreams and sees Aesculapius who tells him he’s coming with them but he’s going to change into a snake. The following morning Epidaurians went to the god and asked for a sign. Then, a sculpted serpent, part of the statue of god, came to life. It hissed and increased in size. Everyone was impressed, and the Romans took it home with them in their ship. The snake picked out an island in the middle of the Tiper: that became the Romans’ temple to Aesculapius.

Ovid compares Aesculapius to Julius Caesar. He says Aesculapius thinks he’s so great but he comes from different lands, Julius Caesar is a local god, and that makes him better/ He then praises Augustus, by saying the best thing Julius Caesar did was having Augustus Caesar. Ovid then tellz how Julius Caesar became a god. When the goddess Venus learns that people are plotting to kill Julius Caesar she asks the other gods if they could make him a god, but they refuse. Right before his assassination there are omens in Rome, like raining blood and the dead walking in the streets. Realizing the Caesar’s death is close, Venus considers hiding him in a clud mist, but Jupiter stops her and because she cant stop fate. Venus then is able to tke Caesar’s soul and turn it into a star. Ovid then tells August will be grater that his father and prays to all the gods that Augustus will have a long life, before he becomes a god. He concludes the pwm by announcing that his life will have no conclusion, but because he completed his peom, he will be higher than the stars even though his body will die, he will live on through the poem.