192 FLINT'S natural history. [Book XIII. 



land, in the Janiculum, came to a coffer, in which Nunia had 

 been buried, the former king of Rome, and that in this coffer 

 were also found some books 23 of his. This took place in the 

 consulship of Publius Cornelius Cethegus, the son of Lucius, 

 and of M. Basbius Tamphilus, the son of Quintus, the interval 

 between whose consulship and the reign of Numa was five 

 hundred and thirty-five years. These books were made of 

 paper, and, a thing that is more remarkable still, is the fact 

 that they lasted so many years buried in the ground. In 

 order, therefore, to establish a fact of such singular import- 

 ance, I shall here quote the words of Hemina himself — " Some 

 persons expressed wonder how these books could have possibly 

 lasted so long a time — this was the explanation that Teren- 

 tius gave : ' In nearly the middle of the coffer there lay a square 

 stone, bound on every side with cords enveloped in wax ; 30 

 upon this stone the books had been placed, and it was through 

 this precaution, he thought, that they had not rotted. The 

 books, too, were carefully covered with citrus leaves, 31 and it 

 was through this, in his belief, that they had been protected 

 from the attacks of worms.' In these books were written 

 certain doctrines relative to the Pythagorean philosophy ; they 

 were burnt by Q. Petilius, the prsetor, because they treated 

 of philosophical subjects." 32 



Piso, who had formerly been censor, relates the same facts 

 in the First Book of his Commentaries, but he states in addition, 

 that there were seven books on Pontifical Eights, and seven on 

 the Pythagorean philosophy. 33 Tuditanus, in his Fourteenth 

 Book, says that they contained the decrees of Numa : Yarro, in 

 the Seventh Book of his " Antiquities of Mankind," u states that 

 they were twelve in number ; and Antias, in his Second Book, 

 says that there were twelve written in Latin, on pontifical 



29 This story, no doubt, deserves to be rejected as totally fabulous, even 

 though, we have Hemina's word for it. 



3U See B. xvi. c. 70. 



31 B. xii. c. 7, and B. xiii. e. 31. It was thought that the leaves 

 and juices of the cedar and the citrus preserved books and linen from the 

 attacks of noxious insects. 



3' 2 And because., as Livy says, their doctrines were inimical to the then 

 existing religion. 



33 Val. Maximus says that there were some books written in Latin, on 

 the pontifical rights, and others in Greek on philosophical subjects. 



34 Humanas Antiquitates. 



