Book II

The month of Janus is brought to a close; with my song the year grows apace. As a second month progresses, so let a second book proceed. Now for the first time, elegiac strains, do ye speed onward with more stately sail; you were, I remember, but lately of trifling account. I myself have employed you as ready agents in love, when my early youth sported in numbers adapted to it. I am the same who now sing of sacred subjects and the days of observance as they are marked in the calendar. Who could believe that such could have proved a path to these subjects? This is my line of service; what arms I can, I bear, and my right hand is not destitute of every skill. If javelins are not hurled by me with mighty arm, and if by me the back of the warrior steed is not pressed; if I am not cased in the helmet, nor girded with the sharp sword, (any one, forsooth, may be skilled in such arms as these), still, Cæsar, with zealous breast I trace onwards thy deeds of glory, and proceed on my path through the recital of thy titles. Be thou then present, and reward with benign aspect my services, if but for a moment; if thou hast any leisure from thy task of forcing the enemy to sue for peace.

Our Roman forefathers called atoning sacrifices by the name of Februa; and even now many traces of its meaning confirm this signification of the expression. The Pontiffs ask wool of the king of the sacrifices and of the Flamen, the name of which in the ancient dialect was 'Februa ;' and the purifying substances which the lictor takes for the houses when ascertained as being impure, the parched spelt with the grain of salt, are called by the same name. This too is the name of the bough, which, lopped from a consecrated tree, covers with its foliage the holy temples of the priests. I myself have seen the Flaminica asking for the Februa ;' a bough of pine was presented to her making this request for the 'Februa' by name. In a word, whatever there is by means of which our breasts are purified, it had with our unshaven ancestors this name. From these circumstances the month derives its name, either because the Luperci' with thongs of hide, purify all the country, and consider that rite an expiation; or because the season is purified, the shades of the dead being appeased when the days devoted to their offerings have passed by. Our ancients believed that purification was efficacious to remove every curse, and every cause of evil. Greece was the originator of the custom; she believes that the guilty, when purified, forthwith divest themselves of guilt. Peleus rid of guilt the grandson of Actor, as Acastus by the agency of the Hæmonian waters released Peleus himself from the blood of Phocus. The too easily persuaded Ægeus assisted with ill-deserved aid the Pliasian borne on her harnessed dragons through the air. The son of Amphiaraus said to the Naupactan Achelous, "absolve me of my guilt." Whereupon he did absolve him of his guilt. Ah! too credulous mortals, who imagine that the guilt of bloodshed can be removed by the waters of the stream.

But, however, that thou mayst not be perplexed through ignorance of the ancient arrangement; the month of Janus, as now it is, so formerly it was the first month. The month that follows that of Janus was by name the last of the ancient year; thou also, O Terminus, didst conclude the sacred rites. For the month of Janus is first, because the gate is at the very entrance; the last month was that which is consecrated to the shades of the dead below. In times after, the Decemvirs are thought to have placed in succession, the periods before separated by so long an interval.

In the beginning of the month, the temple of the Goddess the Preserver, adjoining to that of the Phrygian Mother, is said to have been enriched by new shrines. You ask, where is now the temple consecrated to the Goddess on those calends? it has perished by length of time. The watchful care of our sacred chief has provided that the other temples should not fall down, tottering with similar ruin; under him the temples feel not the ravages of time; it is not enough to grant favours to us mortals, he lays the very Gods under obligations to him. Thou builder of the temples, thou holy restorer of our shrines, may the Deities, I pray, have a reciprocal regard for thee. May the dwellers in heaven grant thee as many years as thou hast bestowed on them, and may they ever be the watchful guardians of thy house.

On that day too, the grove of the neighbouring Asylum is resorted to by the crowds, where the Tiber from afar rolls onward to the ocean waters. At the abode of Numa, and the temple of the Thunderer, on the Capitoline Hill, and on the loftiest height of Jove, a sheep of two years old is slain. Ofttimes the south wind enwrapped in clouds summons together the heavy rains, or the earth is hidden beneath the fallen snow.

When the next day's sun, about to retire into the western waves, removes the jewelled collars from his purple steeds, on the same night many a one, raising his face to the stars, shall say, where, I wonder, is to-day the constellation of the Lyre, which was shining yesterday? and while he is seeking for the Lyre, he shall observe the back of the Lion as far as his middle suddenly plunged into the flowing waters.

The Dolphin, whom of late you were in the habit of seeing bespangled with stars, on the following night shall pass from our sight. He either was a successful spokesman in loves concealed, " or it was he that bore the Lesbian" Lyre with its master. What sea has not known, what land does not know of Arion? He with his song used to detain the running streams. Often has the wolf been stayed by his voice, as he was chasing the lamb; oft has the lamb, when fleeing from the ravenous wolf, stopped short in her flight; oft have the hounds and the hare reclined beneath the same shade; and the hind has stood still on the mountain crag close to the lioness; without strife the chattering crow has sat in company with the bird of Pallas," and the pigeon has been coupled with the hawk. Tuneful Arion! Cynthia is said oft-times to have been spell-bound by thy strains as though by those of her brother Apollo. The name of Arion had filled the cities of Sicily, and the coast of Ausonia had been charmed by the tones of his lyre. Returning homeward thence Arion embarked, and was bringing with him the treasures thus acquired by his skill. Perchance, hapless one, thou wast in fear of the winds and the waves, but yet did the ocean prove more safe to thee than thy own vessel. For now the helmsman stood by him with sword unsheathed, and the rest of the crew conspiring with arms in their hands. What hast thou to do with that sword? Sailor, guide the veering bark. These are not the implements that should be grasped by thy fingers. And now, guessing their purpose, struck with terror, he says, " I deprecate not death, but let me take my lyre and recall but a few notes." They give him leave, but laugh at this pretext for delay. He takes a chaplet which, Phoebus, might grace even thy tresses; he was arrayed too in a mantle twice steeped in Tyrian purple. Struck by his thumb the chord returned its usual notes; just as the swan when pierced in his grey temples by the cruel feathered shaft, sings in mournful numbers. Instantly, in his bright array, he leaps forth into the midst of the waves; the azure bark is splashed by the spray of the water. Then — too wondrous for belief — they tell how the dolphin with curving back, placed himself beneath his unusual burden. He, as he sits, hold the lyre, and sings in requital for his conveyance, and calms by his strains the ocean waters. The Gods are witnesses of this act of kindness; Jupiter admitted the Dolphin among the Constellations, and desired him to become the owner of nine stars. Now could I wish that I had a thousand voices, and thy genius, O Mæonian bard, by which Achilles has been celebrated. While I am singing in alternating verse those sacred nones, the greatest honour of all is heaped upon my Calendar; my genius fails me, and a subject too great for my strength quite overpowers me. This day must be sung by me in a distinguished strain. Why in my infatuation did I wish to impose on elegiac strains a burden so vast as this? This indeed were proper subject for heroic metre. Sacred Father of thy country! on thee the people, on thee the senate conferred this title. This too we of equestrian rank conferred upon thee. But reality conferred this title long previously; and late indeed was it that thou didst receive thy true appellation; long since wast thou the father of the whole world. Thou bearest throughout the earth the name that Jupiter bears in the lofty heavens; thou art the father of men, he of the gods. Romulus, thou must give way, for 'tis he who makes thy walls great by defending them; while thou hadst left them so low as to be overleapt by Remus. Thee indeed Tatius felt, and humble Cures, and Cænina; but under this chief each region of the sun is Roman. Thou didst possess a trifling piece of conquered ground. Over all that is beneath supreme Jove, does Cæsar hold sway. Thou actest the ravisher's part: he bids wives to be virtuous under his rule. Thou shelterest the guilty in the asylum of the grove; he removes afar all guilt. Violence was thy delight; under Cæsar the laws are in force. Thou hadst the name of Master, he has that of chief citizen. Remus upbraids thee with murder; he has forgiven even his enemies. Thy sire raised thee to the skies, it is he who has raised his father. And now the Idaean youth appears above the wave as far as the middle, and pours forth the liquid waters with the commingled nectar. And lo! if any one used to shiver at the northern blast, let him be glad; a milder breeze is coming from the Zephyrs.

The fifth light-bearing morn has raised his glittering beam from the waves of the ocean, and the hours of early spring are at hand; but be not deceived; the cold still remains, yes, too true, it remains, and winter while departing has left its deep traces behind.

Be the third night of the Ides now arrived, then forthwith you will see that the keeper of the Bear has put forth his two feet. Among the Hamadryads and Diana the thrower of the javelin, Callisto was one of the sacred company. Laying her hand on the bow of the Goddess, she says, " Be this bow which I touch the witness of my vow of virginity." Cynthia praised her, and said only keep thy pledged contract, and then thou shalt be the chief of my companions." Had she not been beautiful, she would have kept her compact. She was on her guard against mortals; from Jove it is that she incurred her guilt. Having hunted in the woods a thousand beasts of chase, Phoebe was on her return, while the sun was in its midday course, or still further advanced. When she reached the sacred grove — (the grove was thick with many an holm-oak, and in the midst there was a pond of ice cold water). " In this wood," said she, maid of Tegæa," let us bathe." At the untrue name of 'maid' the other blushed. She said the same also to her Nymphs; whereon the Nymphs put off their garments. Callisto is ashamed, and gives unhappy proofs of a purposed tardiness and delay. She had stripped off her robes; convicted by the size of her person, she is betrayed by the evidence of her burden. To whom, the Goddess,' Forsworn daughter of Lycaon! quit the virgin troop and defile not these chaste waters." Ten times had the moon completed her orb between her horns, and she, who had been supposed a maid, was now a mother. Offended Juno is filled with rage, and changes the form of the damsel. Goddess! what art thou doing? It was with reluctant spirit that she received the embrace of Jupiter. And when she beheld the hideous face of a wild beast in the former favourite, Let Jupiter," says she, now rush into her embraces." A frightful she-bear, she roamed along the wild mountains, she who had lately been an object of love to almighty Jove. Just three times five years had the boy, conceived in secret, now passed, when the mother was thrown in the way of her son. Infatuated she stood still, as though she would recognize him, and moaned: that moan was the address of a parent. The boy unknowing would have pierced her with his sharp javelin, had not each been snatched away to the mansions above. As neighbouring Constellations they now shine; the first one is she whom we call the 'Bear;' the' Bearward has the attitude of one following her behind. Still is the daughter of Saturn incensed, and requests the hoary Tethys not to lave the Maenahan Bear by the contact of the waters.

On the Ides the altars of the rustic Faunus smoke, here where the island breaks the parted waters. This was that day on which, on the plains of Veii, three hundred and six Fabii fell. One house had taken upon itself the strength and burden of the whole city; the hands of one family take up arms volunteered by them; each goes forth a high-born soldier from that camp out of which each one was fitted to forth a general. The nearest route is by the right-hand side passage of the gate of Carmenta. Whoever you are, pass not through, it; it has an evil omen. Tradition says, that by that gate the three hundred Fabii went forth. The gate is free from blame, but yet it has a had omen. When with rapid step they reached the swiftly rolling Cremera, (it was flowing swollen by the rains of the winter); they pitch their camp on the plain; they themselves, with drawn swords, rush through the Tuscan lines with vigorous onset. Just as when, from the Libyan crag, the lions rush upon the flocks scattered throughout the wide fields. The enemy fly in all directions, and on their backs receive disgraceful wounds; the earth is reddened with Etrurian blood. Once more, and again they fall. When it is not possible for them to conquer in open fight, they prepare a stratagem, and the resources of ambush. There was a plain; hills, and a forest well fitted to harbour the wild beasts of the mountain, shut in the extremities of it. In the midst of this plain they leave a few men, and the herds scattered here and there; the rest of the troops He hid, concealed in the underwood. Lo! as a torrent, swollen by a deluge of rain, or by the snow which flows melted by the warmth of the Zephyr, is borne over the sown fields and the highways, and no longer, as it was wont, confines its current bounded by the margin of its banks; so do the Fabii fill the valley with their straggling sallies, and the few they see they despise; they have no apprehension from any other quarter. Whither rush ye, noble house? It is unsafe to trust a foe, unsuspecting nobles, beware of the weapons of treachery — valour perishes by stratagem; from every part the enemy springs forth into the open plain, and encompasses every side. What can a few brave men do against so many thousands? or what expedient have they that they can avail themselves of in the moment of distress? As the wild boar chased in the Laurentine woods afar scatters with his tusk like the lightning the swift hounds, yet soon he dies himself; so do they perish, but not unavenged; and they deal and suffer wounds with mutual blows.

One day had sent forth to battle all the Fabii; one day cut off those sent, yet it is worthy of belief that the Gods themselves provided that there should survive some seed of the house of Hercules. For a boy of tender years and unserviceable for war alone of the Fabian house had been left behind; doubtless to the end that thou Fabius Maximus mightest in future times be born; by whom, through procrastination, the republic might be preserved.

Contiguous in position are three Constellations, the Raven, and the Snake, and the Goblet, that lies between them both. On the Ides they are hidden, they rise on the following night; I will sing why the three are thus connected together.

It happened that Phoebus was preparing a solemn festival for Jupiter (my story shall cause no very long delay). 'Go, my bird," said he, " that nothing may retard my rites of duty, and bring a little water from the gushing fountains." The raven lifts with his hooked claws a gilded goblet, and wings on high his aerial route. There stood a fig-tree loaded with fruit, still hard and unripe. He tries it with his beak — the fruit was not fit to be gathered. Heedless of his commands, he is said to have sat down beneath that tree, until in the slowly passing lapse of time the fruit became sweet. And at last, having satiated his appetite, he seizes in his black claws a long water-snake, and then returns to his master and makes a feigned excuse. " This creature was the cause of my delay, watching at the running stream; 'tis he that withheld the waters and the fulfilment of my task." Phoebus answers, " Dost thou add to thy fault a lie, and darest thou by thy stories to attempt to impose upon the God of oracles? And now so long as the green fig shall be firm on the tree, be no cooling water drunk by thee from any spring.' He spoke, and as a lasting memorial of this ancient affair, the Snake, the Bird, and the Goblet glitter as contiguous Constellations.

The third dawn after the Ides beholds the naked Luperci, and the sacred rites of the two-horned Faunus will proceed. Tell, ye Pierian maids, what is the origin of these rites, and whence derived they reached the abodes of Latium. The ancient Arcadians are said to have worshipped Pan as God of cattle; he most frequents the Arcadian mountains. Pholoe will attest it, the streams of Stymphalus, and Ladon, which with rapid current flows into the sea, will attest it, and the ridges of the forest of Nonacris encircled with groves of pine, and the lofty Cyllene and the snows of Parrhasia. Pan was the guardian of the herd. Pan, the God of the mares; he used to receive offerings for the preservation of the sheep. Evander brought over with him the woodland divinities. Here, where now the City stands, was then but the city's site. Thence do we reverence this God, and the rites imported from the Pelasgians. By ancient usage the Flamen Dialis attended these sacrifices. You ask, then, why they run and "why (for thus to run is their practice,) they have their bodies naked, having stripped off their garments. The fleet God himself loves to run at large on the lofty hills, and starts on a sudden the scared wild beasts. The God, naked himself, commands his attendants' to go naked; for dress "was not very convenient for running. The Arcadians are said to have tenanted the earth before the birth of Jupiter, and that nation existed before the moon. Their mode of life was like that of the beasts of the field, spent amid no comforts; they were still a multitude unskilled in arts and uncivilized. For habitations, they knew of the boughs of trees alone, for corn the blades of grass; water taken up with their two palms was nectar to them. No steer then panted under the crooked plough; no land was then under the control of the husbandmen. As yet the use of the horse was not known; each one carried himself; the sheep then used to go clothed with its own fleece. They dwelt in the open air, and had their bodies naked, taught to endure the heavy showers and the southern blasts. Still do the naked priests recall to mind the vestiges of ancient usage, and testify the humble resources of olden times. But there is a story told, full of old-fashioned humour, why Faunus has a particular aversion to garments. It chanced that the Tirynthian youth was travelling in the company of his mistress, Omphale, Faunus, from a lofty hill-top, saw them both. He saw, and caught the flame — 'ye mountain Goddesses,' said he, farewell; this lady shall henceforth be my love." The Mæonian queen was walking onward, distinguished by her gold embroidered vestment, her perfumed tresses flowing over her shoulders. A golden screen repelled the scorching sunbeams, which yet the hands of Hercules, strong as they were, supported. And now had she reached the grove of Bacchus, the vineyards of Tmolus, and the dewy Hesperus was running his course on his dusky steed. She enters a grotto whose roof was fretted with porous pebbles, and the natural pumice stone; at its entrance ran a bubbling streamlet. And now while the attendants are preparing the repast, and the wine for them to quaff, she arrays Alcides in her own attire. She gives him her fine wrought gown, dyed with Gætulian purple; she gives him the net-work zone, with which just now she had been girt. The zone is too small for his girth; she unlooses the laces of the gown, that he may get his huge hands through. Her armlets he had already broken, not made for such arms as those. His big feet were bursting asunder the scanty ties of her sandals. She herself takes the ponderous club, and the spoil of the lion, and his lesser weapons stored in their quiver. In this dress they partake of the repast; in this dress they resign their bodies to sleep, and lie apart upon couches placed closed to one another. The reason was, that they were about to prepare a pious sacrifice to the discoverer of the vine, which they ought to perform in a state of purity when the day had dawned. 'Twas midnight. What does not unscrupulous passion dare? Amid the shades of the night, Faunus comes to the dewy grotto, and when he sees the attendants relaxed with sleep and wine, he conceives hopes that in their master and mistress there is the same drowsiness. He enters, and the daring ravisher wanders to this side and that, and stretches forth his cautious hands and follows their direction. And now he had come to the bedding of a spread couch which he had found by groping, and as he thought, was about to be successful in his first venture. When he touched the hide of the tawny lion all shaggy with its coarse hair, he was alarmed and withdrew his hand, and terrified he shuddered with fear; as oft the traveller has withdrawn his startled foot on seeing a serpent. He next feels the soft coverings of the couch which was close by, and is deceived by the false indication. He climbs the bed, and lies down on the side nearest to him. His passions are at the highest pitch — meantime he draws up the bed-clothes from the bottom; the legs he finds are all bristling, rough with thick hair. The Tyrinthian hero flings him back with his arm as he is making further attempts; he tumbles from the top of the couch. An uproar is the consequence, the Mæonian queen summons her attendants aloud, and calls for lights; the lights being brought, the transaction is discovered. Faunus is groaning aloud, tumbled violently from the lofty couch, and with difficulty he raises his limbs from the hard ground. Both Alcides laughs, and those who see him lie sprawling; the Lydian damsel laughs too at her gallant. The God, thus deceived through a dress, thenceforth hates garments that impose upon the sight, and summons his officials to his rites in a state of nakedness. To these causes imported from afar, add, my Muse, the Latin ones, and let my courser now pace his native dust.

A she-goat being slain, according to custom, to the horny-footed Faunus, a crowd came by invitation to the scanty repast, and while the priests were making ready the entrails transfixed with spits of willow, the sun now reaching his mid course, Romulus and his brother, and the shepherd youth, were exposing their naked bodies to the sun and the dust of the plain. " They gave exercise to their arms in sport with the boxing-gloves, and the javelin, and the weight of the casting stone. A shepherd from an eminence exclaimed — " Romulus! the robbers are driving away the oxen through the sequestered fields; to the rescue !" 'Twould take too long a time to put on arms; each rushes forth in a different direction: by the spear of Remus the spoil was recovered. As soon as he returned, he takes off from the spits the hissing entrails, and says, These, in truth, none but a conqueror shall eat." As he says he does, and so do the Fabii. Romulus arrives there too late, and sees nothing but the board and the picked bones. He smiled, but was annoyed that the Fabii and Remus had been able to gain a victory, and that his own Quinctilii could not. The fame of the transaction still abides with us; they still run without a garment, and because the result was favourable, it has a lasting celebrity.

Perhaps too, you may ask, why that place is called the Lupercal, or what reason marks the day with a similar name. The Vestal Ilia had given birth to her heavenly progeny, while her uncle held the sovereign sway. He orders the children to be taken away and to be drowned in the river. What art thou doing? one or other of these will be Romulus hereafter. His servants with reluctance perform his cruel commands: they weep and bear the twins to the commanded place. Albula, that stream, whose name, Tiberinus drowned in its waters, changed into that of Tiber, by chance was swollen by the floods of winter. Here, where the market-places now are, you might see boats wandering about; where, too, thy valley now lies, O Circus Maximus. When they had come hither, and could advance no further, first one and then the other of them says, And see how like they are! and how lovely is each! yet of the two that one has more life in him. If origin is to be indicated by looks, if the likeness deceives me not, I suspect some God (whom, I know not) to be your father. But if any God really was the author of your birth, he would surely bring you aid at so perilous a moment. Your mother for certain would bring you aid, were she not herself in need of help, who in one day has become a mother and has been made childless. Babes! born together, together to die! sink together beneath the waters." He had ceased speaking, and laid them down, having first taken them from, his bosom. The infants screamed with a similar cry; you would imagine that they were conscious of their fate. With tearful cheeks the servants return to their homes. A hollowed ark bears them placed therein on the surface of the stream. Ah! what a weight of destiny did that one slight plank support! The ark driven by the breeze into the shady woods settles in the slime as the river subsides by degrees. There was a tree, the remains of are still in existence; and that which is now called the Ruminal, was once the Romulan fig-tree. Wondrous to relate, a shewolf that had just brought forth came to the twins thus exposed; who would believe that the wild beast did not hurt the babes? To do them no injury is not enough for her; she even aids them; and those, whom a she-wolf is nourishing, the hands of a relation could brook to destroy. She stands still, and with her tail she fawns upon her tender fosterlings, and with her tongue forms their two bodies into shape. You might know that they were begotten by Mars; they have no fear; they draw her udder, and are nourished by the aid of milk not destined for them by nature. She gave a name to the place — the place to the Luperci. The nurse has a high reward for the milk she gave. What prevents that the Luperci should derive their name from the Arcadian mountain?

The Lycæan Faunus has his temple in Arcadia. Bride newly made, what dost thou await? not by potent herbs, not by prayers, not by the magic incantation — wilt thou become a mother; with patience await the blows of the right hand that fructifies; soon shall thy father-in-law have the wished-for epithet of grandfather. For it was that period, when by a cruel fate the matrons were affording but few pledges of their fruitfulness. 'What avails it me,' exclaimed Romulus,' to have carried off the Sabine women (this took place while he held the sceptre) if my violence has produced for me, not strength, but only war in return; it had been better for me to have had no daughters-in-law at such a price. At the base of the Esquiline hill, there was a grove, uncut for many a year, and called by the name of the mighty Juno. When they came thither, both the matrons and the men with bent knees prostrated themselves in supplication. Then lo! suddenly the tops of the shaken wood trembled, and the Goddess uttered these wondrous words through her sacred grove, "Let a sacred he-goat have access to the Italian matrons." The multitude, alarmed by this ambiguous oracle, was confounded. There was an augur, whose name has been lost in the lengthened lapse of years; he had lately come an exile from the Etrurian soil. He sacrifices a he-goat. The matrons at his bidding submitted their backs to be smitten by the hide that had been cut into thongs. The moon was resuming her new horns in her tenth course from that time, and suddenly the husband became a father, the wife a mother. Thanks were given to Lucina; this epithet the grove gave to thee, O Goddess; or it was because thou hast under thy care our introduction to the light. Spare, I pray, gentle Lucina, the pregnant females, and without pain bring forth from the womb its matured burden.

The next day has now dawned; do thou cease to rely on the winds; the gales at this season of the year are not to be trusted. The breezes are unsteady; and for six days the loosened gate of the prison of Æolus all unbolted stands wide open.

Now, lightened of his burden, the Waterbearer has sunk on his knee, with his urn obliquely sloped; be thou, the Fish, the next to receive the heavenly steeds. They say that thou and thy brother (for ye glitter as contiguous constellations) bore on your backs two gods. Once on a time, Dione flying from the frightful Typhon, at that period when Jupiter bore arms in defence of heaven, accompanied by the infant Cupid, came to the Euphrates, and sat on the margin of the river of Palestine. The poplar and the reeds clothed the top of the banks, and the willows afforded a hope that by them they might be concealed. While she is in her place of concealment, the grove roars with the blast; she turns pale with terror, and fancies that the forces of the enemy are at hand. And as she clasps her son to her bosom, she says, Assist, ye nymphs, and give aid to us two Divinities." Immediately, she plunged into the stream. Two fishes bore them up; for which they now have Constellations as a merited reward. In consequence, the superstitious Syrians deem it impious to place this kind of animal on their tables, nor do they profane their lips with fish.

The next day is without any mark of distinction; but the one after it has been consecrated to Quirinus. He who now bears this name was formerly Romulus: either because by the ancient Sabines a spear was called 'curis' (from his spear the warrior God came to the stars), or because the Quirites gave their own name to their king, or because he had joined the Curian to the Roman people. For his father that bears sway over all arms, after he beheld the new walls, and many a war finished by the hand of Romulus, said, 'O Jupiter, the Roman power has strength of its own, and needs not the service of my offspring. Restore the son to the father; though one is cut off, he that remains shall be to me in place of Remus and himself. Thou didst tell me that there shall I be one, whom thou wilt raise to the azure vault of heaven: let the words of Jove be fulfilled." Jupiter nodded assent ;' at his nod either pole was shaken, and Atlas felt the pressing weight of the heavens. There is a place; the people of old called it the fen of Caprea; it chanced that there, O Romulus, thou wast dispensing justice to thy subjects. The sun vanishes, the intervening clouds conceal the sky, and the heavy shower descends with pouring torrents. It thunders, and the heavens are rent asunder with the sent forth lightnings. The people disperse in flight, the while the monarch on the steeds of his sire is speeding to the stars. There was mourning, and the senate was under a charge of murder falsely imputed to it: and possibly that persuasion might have remained fixed in the minds of men. But Julius Proculus was on his way from Alba Longa; the moon was shining, and there was no need of a torch, when, with a sudden peal, the clouds thundered on his left hand. He started back, and his hair stood on an end with terror. Romulus, graceful. and larger than the human size, arrayed too in his kingly robe, seemed to stand before him in the middle of the way, and at the same time to say, Forbid the Quirites to lament and let them not offend my Godhead with their tears. Let them offer me frankincense, and let the pious multitude pay adoration to Quirinus, their new God, and let them practise my father's arts and warfare." He gave these commands, and vanished into the thin air. Proculus calls the two peoples together, and reports to them the words enjoined upon him. A temple is raised to the Divinity; the hill too is named from him, and appointed days bring back the religious services of the Roman father.

Why the same day is also called the festival of fools, now learn; a reason, trifling indeed, but still appropriate, is suggested. The earth in ancient times had no experienced husbandmen; the toils of war used to weary the active men of those days. There was more of glory in the use of the sword than of the curved plough; neglected by its owner, the fields used to bear but little. Yet did the ancients sow the spelt, and reaped it, and gave the same when cut down, to Ceres as the first-fruits. Taught by experience they exposed it to the flames to be parched, and by their mistakes they suffered many a loss. For sometimes, they used to sweep up smutty ashes instead of grain; sometimes the flames set fire to their cottages. Fornax, the Goddess of the Kiln, was deified; pleased with Fornax as a Goddess, the husbandmen pray that she will moderate the heat to the grain while parching. Still does the chief Curio appoint the festivals of Fornax in form prescribed by law, but offers no sacrifices at a fixed period: and in the Forum, where many a tablet is suspended around, each ward is denoted by a certain mark. The foolish part of the people do not know which is their own ward, but perform a repetition of the sacrifice on the last day.

Honour also is paid to the graves of the dead. Appease the spirits of your forefathers, and offer small presents on the pyres that are long since cold. The shades of the dead ask but humble offerings: affection rather than a costly gift is pleasing to them; Styx below has no greedy Divinities. Enough for them is the covering of their tomb overshadowed with the chaplets laid there, and the scattered fruits and the little grain of salt; and corn soaked in wine, and violets loosened from the stem; these gifts let a jar contain, left in the middle of the way. I do not forbid more costly offerings, but by these the shade may be appeased; add prayers and suitable words, the altars being erected. This custom did Æneas, no unsuitable teacher of the duties of affection, introduce into thy lands, O just Latinus. He used to offer the annual gifts to the Genius of his father: hence did the adjoining nations learn the affectionate ceremonial. But at one time, while they were engaged in a lengthened war with contentious arms, they neglected the Parental days. It was not with impunity that they did so; for, by reason of that cause of ill omen, Rome is said to have felt the heat of the funeral fires in the suburbs. For my part I scarcely believe it, but their dead forefathers are said to have come forth from their tombs, and to have uttered their complaints in the hours of the still night; and they say that appalling ghosts, a phantom crowd, howled through the streets of the city and the fields of Latium. Afterwards, the omitted honours were paid at the graves, and there came an end of these portentous sights, and of the mortality as well. But while these rites are being performed, remain unwedded, ye damsels; let the torch of pine wood await auspicious days. And let not the curved spear part thy virgin ringlets, maiden, who appearest to thy impatient mother already of marriageable years. Conceal thy torches, Hymenæus, and remove them afar from these dismal fires, the gloomy tombs have other torches than these. Let the Divinities too be concealed, with the doors of their temples closed; be the altars without incense, and let the hearths stand without fire. Now phantom spirits wander abroad, and bodies that have been committed to the tombs; now does the ghost feed upon the viands left for it. But yet these rites are to last no longer, than to allow that there should remain of the month as many days as my verses have feet." This day, because on it they perform the due offerings to the dead, they have called the Feralia; it is the last day for appeasing the shades.

See, an old woman stricken in years, sitting in the midst of the girls, is performing the sacred rites of Tacita, yet she is not quite silent herself: with three fingers she places three cloves of frankincense under the threshold, where the little mouse has made for himself a hidden way: then she binds the enchanted threads with the dark coloured spindle; then she roasts on the fire the sewed-up head of a pilchard which she has first sealed up with pitch, and pierced with a brazen needle. Wine too she drops on it; whatever of the wine is left, she either drinks it herself, or her attendants, yet she herself takes the greater part. " We have tied up the tongues of our foes, and the mouths of our enemies," says she, in the act of going out, and then the drunken hag goes forth. You will at once ask of me, who is the silent Goddess? learn what is known to me through the men of old times. Jupiter, smitten by an unconquerable passion for Juturna, endured many things that ought not to have been endured by so great a God. At one time she used to lie hid in the wood among the hazel copses, at another time she used to plunge into the kindred streams. He calls together the Nymphs, which then frequented Latium, and utters such words as these in the midst of their company. " This sister of yours is only spiting herself, and shuns that which is for her good, to lock herself in the embrace of the Highest God. Consult ye for us both; for that which will be my highest pleasure, the same shall prove the great advantage of your sister. Prevent her, at the very brink, as she flies, in order that she may not plunge her body beneath the waters of the stream ." He had said; all the water Nymphs of the Tiber nodded their assent, and those who dwell in thy chambers, O Goddess Ilia. It chanced there was a Naiad Nymph, Lara by name; but her ancient name was the first syllable twice repeated, given to her for her infirmity of talkativeness. Many a time had Almo said to her, "Daughter, do hold your tongue;" but she did not hold it. She, soon as she reached the lake of her sister Juturna, says, "Avoid the banks," and repeats the words of Jupiter. She also went to Juno, and expressing pity for her as a wife, says, "That husband of thine is now smitten by the Naiad Juturna." Jupiter was furious; he deprived her of the tongue which she had used with so little caution, and charged Mercury, "Take her to the shades below; it is a proper place for the silent; a Nymph she is, but a Nymph of the infernal lake shall she be." The commands of Jove are now being executed; a grove receives them on the road; she is said to have taken the fancy of the God who conducted her. He prepares to offer violence; with her looks in the place of words she entreats him, and in vain with her voiceless mouth does she struggle to speak. She becomes pregnant, and gives birth to twins, the Lares, who guard the cross ways, and ever keep their watch in our houses.

The kinsfolk, full of affection, have named the next day the " Caristia," " and the company of relations assemble at the family feast. In good truth, it is a pleasant thing to turn our attention from the tombs and our relatives who are dead, to those who survive; and after so many are lost, to see all that remains of our family, and to reckon the degrees of relationship. Let the guiltless come; far, far hence be the unnatural brother, and the mother cruel to her own offspring; the son for whom the father is too long-lived, and he who counts his mother's years; the cruel mother-in-law, too, who hates and oppresses her daughter-in-law. Far hence be the brothers the descendants of Tantalus, and the wife of Jason, and she who gave to the husbandman the parched seed-corn; Progne too, and her sister, and Tereus, cruel to them both; and whoever increases his wealth by the perpetration of crime. Offer the frankincense to the propitious Gods of the family: Concord is said on this day to be present with extreme benignity; offer, too, a share of the viands, that the presented platter, testimony of the pleasing honour, may feed the well-girt Lares. " And now when night, far advanced, shall invite you to balmy slumbers, when ye are about to pray, take wine in abundance in your hand, and say, " Well may it be with us, and well with thee, most excellent Cæsar, father of thy country,"- the wine being poured forth as you repeat the holy words.

When the night shall have passed away, let the God, who by his landmark divides the fields, be worshipped with the accustomed honours. Terminus, whether thou art a stone, or whether a stock sunk deep in the field by the ancients, yet even in this form thou dost possess divinity. Thee, the two owners of the fields crown with chaplets from their opposite sides, and present with two garlands and two cakes. An altar is erected; to this the female peasant herself brings in a broken pan the fire taken from the burning hearths. An old man cuts up the firewood, and piles it on high when chopped, and strives hard to drive the branches into the resisting ground. While he is exciting the kindling blaze with dried bark, a boy stands by and holds in his hands a broad basket. Out of this, when he has thrice thrown the produce of the earth into the midst of the flames, his little daughter offers the sliced honeycombs. Others hold wine; a portion of each thing is thrown into the fire; the crowd, all arrayed in white, look on, and maintain religious silence. The common landmark also is sprinkled with the blood of a slain lamb; he makes, too, no complaint when a sucking-pig is offered to him. The neighbours meet in supplication, and they celebrate the feast and sing thy praises, holy Terminus. It is thou that dost set the limits to nations, and cities, and mighty kingdoms; without thee all the country'- would be steeped in litigation. In thee there is no ambition— by no gold art thou bribed; mayst thou with law and integrity preserve the fields committed to thy care. Hadst thou in times of old marked out the land of Thyrea," then three hundred persons would not have been consigned to death, and then, the name of Othryades would not have been read on the piled-up armour. Ah! how much of his blood did he expend in his country's cause! What, too, happened when the new Capitol was building? This, namely; the whole multitude of Divinities withdrew, and gave place to Jupiter. Terminus, as the ancients tell, being there found, remained in his shrine, and still possesses the temple in common with mighty Jove. Now, too, that he may see nothing but the stars above him, the roof of his temple has a little opening. After that circumstance, Terminus, no inconstancy was permitted thee; in whatever situation thou hast been placed, there abide, and do not yield one jot to any neighbour asking thee; that thou mayst not appear to favour a mortal rather than Jove. And whether thou shalt be struck by the ploughshares, or whether by the harrows, cry aloud, "This is my field, that is yours." There is a road which leads the citizens to the fields of the Laurentines, realms once sought by the Dardanian chief. On that road, the sixthmile-stone from the city is accustomed to witness the sacrifices made to thee, O Terminus, with the entrails of a sheep. To other nations, land has been allotted with some fixed limits; the extent of the Roman City and of the earth is the same.

Now must I tell of the banishment of the king Tarquinius. From that event the sixth day from the end of the month has derived its name. Tarquinius was the last that held sovereign sway over the Roman people, a wicked man, but brave in arms. Some cities he had taken, others he had rased to the ground, and Gabii he had made his own by a disgraceful stratagem. For the youngest of his three sons, plainly the offspring of Superbus, came in the silence of the night into the midst of the enemy. On the moment, they unsheathed their swords, " Strike," said he, "an unarmed man; this, my brothers and my father Tarquinius would wish; he who has mangled my back with the cruel lash." That he might be enabled to say this, he had submitted to stripes. It was moonlight, they look upon the youth and sheathe their swords; and, having drawn his dress on one side, they see his back all covered with weals. They go so far as to weep, and they beg that he will superintend the management of the war; he, in his cunning, concurs with these unsuspecting men. And now grown powerful, he sends a friend, and asks his father what means he could point out to him for betraying Gabii. There is near at hand a garden well stocked with sweet-scented plants, having its soil divided by a gently murmuring streamlet of water. There Tarquinius receives the secret despatches of his son, and with a staff he knocks off the heads of the tallest lilies. When the messenger returns and mentions to him the striking down of the lilies, the son says, I understand what are the orders of my father." There is no delay; the principal men of the town of Gabii being first slain, the walls, deprived of their chiefs, are delivered up. Lo! dreadful to be seen! a serpent issues forth from the midst of the altars, and drags the entrails from the extinguished flames. Phoebus is consulted. An oracular response is returned in these words: — "He shall be the conqueror who first shall kiss his mother." Then hastened they each man to kiss' his mother, a set who put faith in the Deity whom really they did not understand. Brutus was a wise man, who feigned the part of a fool, in order that he might be in safety from thy machinations, O cruel Superbus! He, falling on his face, kissed his mother earth, while he was supposed to have fallen down by reason of his foot stumbling. In the mean time Ardea is being beleaguered by the standards of Rome, and, under blockade, endures tedious delay. While they are unoccupied, and the enemy fears to join battle, they amuse themselves in camp, and the soldier spends his time in idleness. The young Tarquinius entertains his comrades with feasting and wine, and the son of the king says to them, " While this stubborn Ardea detains us by its tedious war, and permits us not to carry back our arms to the Gods of our country, think you, are the partners of our beds faithful to us? and are we objects of reciprocal love to our wives?" They extol, each man his own wife; the dispute increases with their earnestness, and both tongue and affection wax warm with much wine. He, to whom Collatia had given an honoured name, rises. " There is no occasion for words," says he; " put faith in facts alone. Abundance of the night remains, let us mount our horses, and make for the city." His words meet with their approval, and their horses are bridled. These had now borne their masters to the end of the journey. Forthwith they repaired to the royal abode; there was no sentinel at the door. Behold! they find the daughter-in-law of the king sitting up and spending the night with wine before her; the chaplets having fallen down on her neck. Going thence with rapid pace, Lucretia is visited. She was employed in spinning; before her bed were the work-baskets and the soft wool. By the lamp's dim light her handmaids were spinning their assigned tasks, among whom she thus spoke with gentle voice: — "With all speed there must be sent to your master a cloak " made with our hands; now, at this moment, hasten on, my girls. But what news have ye heard? for you are in the way of hearing more than I; how much of the war do they say still remains? Soon shalt thou be conquered, and fall, vexatious Ardea; thou art resisting better men, while thus compelling our husbands to be from home; only may they return in safety. But rash is that husband of mine, and recklessly he rushes on when the sword is drawn. My senses fail me, and I faint, oft as the image of him engaged in battle occurs to my mind; and a chilling coldness pervades my breast." She ends in tears, and drops the tight-drawn threads, and hides her face in her bosom. Even this became her; her tears became a woman so chaste, and her countenance was worthy of, and suited to, her nature. "Lay aside your fears; I am here, said her husband. She revived, and hung, a sweet burden, upon her husband's neck. Meanwhile the royal youth conceives a frantic passion, and, hurried onwards by blind desire, loses all control of himself. Her figure charms him, her complexion, white as snow, her auburn hair, and the grace which attends her, adorned by no art. Her words charm him, her voice, and her very chastity; and the less hope there is, the more intensely does he desire. And now the bird, the harbinger of dawn, had sent forth his note, when the young men are on their return to the camp. His wonder-stricken feelings are preyed on by the image of her absent, and as he recalls her to his mind, more charms are discovered, and the more they engage him. Thus it was she sat, thus was she attired, thus did she spin the warp, thus lay on her neck her neglected tresses. These were her features, these were her words; this her expression, this her make, this the complexion of her face. As the billow is wont to abate after a great storm, but yet from the wind that has raged the waves swell on; so, though the presence of her charming form was wanting, the passion still remained, which that form when present had inspired. He burns, and, urged on by the goads of unlawful desire, he plans violence and treachery against a bed undeserving of it. " The result is doubtful — we will dare the utmost, said he. 'Be it chance, or be it a providence that aids the bold, let him see to it. It was by daring, too, that Gabii we won." Thus having said, he girds his side with his sword, and presses the back of his steed. Collatia receives the youth within her brass-barred portal just as the sun is preparing to hide his disk. An enemy, in the guise of a guest, he enters the house of Collatinus; he is kindly received, for he was connected by blood. What ignorance is there in the minds of mortals! She, hapless one, unsuspicious of the world, makes ready the entertainment for her enemy. He had now finished the repast, and slumber demands its hour. It was night, and there were no lights' in the whole house. He arises, and draws from its sheath the golden-hilted sword, and he comes to thy chamber, virtuous matron; and when he now presses the bed, he says,' I have my sword here with me, Lucretia; 'tis I, Tarquinius, the son of the king, who address thee." She answers not, for she has no voice, no power of speech, or any sense left in her breast. But she trembles, as when sometime the little lambkin, seized upon after it has left the fold, lies under the wolf, its deadly foe. What can she do? Can she resist? A woman, in the contest she will surely be overcome. Cry out? But in his right hand there is the sword to slay her. Fly? Her breast is held down by his hands placed on it; a breast now for the first time touched by the hand of a stranger. Her foe, inflamed with passion, urges her with entreaties, with bribes, and with threats. By entreaties, by bribes, by threats, he moves her not. 'Thou dost avail nothing," he said;' I will take thy life for the purpose of criminating thee. I, an adulterer, will be the false witness of thy adultery. I will slay the servant, in whose company thou shalt be said to have been detected." The matron yielded, overcome by fear for her good fame. Why, conqueror, dost thou exult? This victory shall prove thy destruction. Ah! what a price did that one night cost to thy sovereignty! And now the day had dawned; she sits with her hair dishevelled, just as a mother is wont to do when about to go to the funeral pile of her son; she summons from the camp her aged father, with her faithful husband; and without any delay they both come. And when they see the state of her attire, they ask what is the cause of her mourning, whose obsequies it is that she is preparing, or with what calamity she is afflicted. For a long time she is silent, and, filled with shame, she conceals her face with her dress. Her tears flow like an ever-springing stream. On one side, her father, on the other, her husband console her tears, and entreat of her to tell them; and they weep and feel alarm with an undefined dread. Thrice did she attempt to speak, thrice did she fail, and again a fourth time did she attempt it, and even then she raised not her eyes.' Shall I owe this, too, to Tarquinius? I will speak out," says she; "I, wretched that I am, will speak out my own disgrace." And what she can, she relates. The conclusion remained untold; she wept, and the cheeks of the matron were suffused with crimson. Her father and her husband excuse her as the victim of compulsion. " That pardon which ye give," she said, do I deny to myself." There is no pause: with a poniard that she had concealed she pierces her breast, and, streaming with blood, she falls at her father's feet. And even then, in the moment of death, she uses caution that she may fall in no unseemly manner, — this was her care even as she fell.

Behold! over her body, forgetful of their dignity, lie both her husband and her father, bewailing their common loss. Brutus is there, and now at last by his spirit falsifies his name, and snatches from her dying body the piercing blade; then holding the knife dripping with noble blood, with threatening lips he utters these fearless words: By this noble and chaste blood, I swear to thee, and by thy spirit which shall be to me a deity, that Tarquinius, with his exiled house, shall pay the penalty of this; now long enough has the energy of my mind lain concealed." She, as she lay, at this exclamation, turned her eyes, void of the light of life, and seemed, by shaking her locks, to express her approval of his words. This matron of heroic mind is borne to her burial, and carries with her tears and popular indignation. The gash, all gaping wide, is exposed to view. Brutus, with loud voice, arouses the Quirites, and recounts the dreadful crimes of the king. Tarquinius flies, with his children. The Consul undertakes the annual jurisdiction. This was the last day of royalty.

Am I deceived, or is the swallow come, the harbinger of spring? and does she fear lest perchance returning winter may retrace his course? Yet ofttimes, Progne, wilt thou complain that thou didst make too great haste, and thy husband Tereus shall be gladdened by thy shivering in the cold.

And now two nights of the second month are remaining, and Mars with harnessed chariot drives his swift steeds. The name of Equiria, derived from fact, has adhered to the games, which the God himself witnesses on his own plain. Rightly, Gradivus, dost thou come; thy season demands its place, and the month, marked by thy name, is at hand. We have now reached the harbour, our book being concluded with the month; next, it is upon other waters that my bark must sail.