Book III

Mars, thou warlike God, awhile laying aside thy shield and spear, approach, and from the helmet's pressure liberate thy glossy hair. Perchance thou mayst ask what a poet has to do with Mars; my answer is, the month which is now being celebrated by me, derives from thee its name. Thou thyself seest that fierce battles are waged by the hand of Minerva; has she on that account less leisure for the liberal arts? After the example of Pallas do thou take an opportunity for laying aside thy lance; even when unarmed thou wilt find somewhat for thee to do. Then, too, wast thou unarmed when the Roman priestess captivated thee, that thou mightst provide for this city an origin worthy of it. Silvia, the Vestal maid — for what forbids me to commence from that point, — early in the morning, was fetching water with which to wash the sacred utensils. She had now reached the bank sloping with a path easy of descent, and her earthen pitcher is set down from off her head. Wearied, she has now seated herself on the ground, and with her bosom open she admits the breeze, and re-arranges her disordered tresses. While she sits, the shading willows, the songs of the birds, and the gentle murmuring of the stream, invite slumber. Soft sleep stealthily creeps upon her overpowered eyes, and her hand, become powerless, falls from her side. Mars sees her, seeing he desires, desiring he enjoys her; and then by his divine power he conceals the stealthy deed. Sleep departs; she lies there, now pregnant; for now, founder of the Roman city, thou wast within her womb! She rises languid, nor knows she why thus languid she rises; and leaning against a tree, she utters such words as these: May that prove favourable and fortunate, I pray, which in a vision of my slumbers I have beheld! or was it too distinct for a vision? I was standing near the Ilian fires, when the woollen fillet dropping from off my hair, fell down before the sacred heath. There, wondrous to be seen, two palm-trees shoot up together; of these, one was greater than the other, and with its heavy branches it overshadowed the whole earth, and with its new grown foliage reached the highest stars. And now, lo! my uncle brandishes the axe against them; I shudder at the recollection, and my heart palpitates with dread. A woodpecker," bird of Mars, and a she-wolf fight in defence of the two trees; by means of these both the palm-trees are preserved in safety." She spoke; and with faltering strength she raised the pitcher; she had filled it while relating her vision. Meantime, as Remus grew, as Quirinus grew, her womb was heavy with the celestial burden. There now remained to the God of light but two signs or him to traverse ere the year should take its departure, its course being duly performed. Silvia becomes a mother; the images of Vesta are said at that time to have placed their virgin hands before their eyes. Assuredly, the altar of the Goddess trembled as her priestess brought forth, and the flame affrighted sunk back beneath its ashes. When Amulius, the despiser of justice, learned these things, (for he, victorious, kept possession of the power which he had torn from his brother), he orders the twins to be drowned in the river. The water shrinks back from the crime: the children are left on the dry ground. Who does not know how the infants thrived on the milk of a wild beast, and how, many a time did the woodpecker bear food to them thus exposed. I would not pass by thee in silence, Larentia, nurse of so mighty a race, nor would I be silent of thy humble circumstances, O poor Faustulus. Thy praises will come when I shall tell of the Larentalia; December, a month dear to the Gods of enjoyment, holds these. The sons of Mars had now grown up to the age of thrice six years, and the first beard was now appearing beneath their yellow locks. The brothers, the sons of Ilia, were distributing justice, at their request, to all the husbandmen and those who tended the herds. Ofttimes do they come home exulting in the blood of the plunderers, and bring back into their own fields the oxen that had been carried off. When now they learn their origin, the discovery of their father increases their courage, and they feel ashamed to have renown but in a few cottages. And now Amulius falls pierced by the sword of Romulus, and the sovereignty is restored to their aged grandsire. City walls are built, which, low as they were, it ill-betimed Remus to leap over them. Now, in the spot where lately there had been but forests and the retreats of the cattle, there was a city sprung up, when the father of that eternal city says, " Ruler of arms, of whose blood I am believed to be born, (and that I may be with good reason so believed, I will give sure pledges), from thee do we derive a commencement for the Roman year. Henceforth, let the first month pass on its course called after the name of my sire. His word is ratified, and he calls the month from his father's name; this act of duty is said to have been pleasing to the Divinity. And yet the Latian people of ancient times worshipped Mars before all the gods; the warlike multitude had made this worship the object their zealous attention. The people of Cecrops venerate Pallas; Crete, the land of Minos, Diana; the land of Hypsipyle, adores Vulcan; Sparta, and Mycenæ the Pelopian city, Juno; the district of Mænalus, the pine-wreathed head of Faunus. Mars was a deserving object of worship to Latium, because he presides over arms: 'twas arms that gave both power and glory to that fierce people. But if you happen to have leisure, examine the Calendars of other states of Italy; in these also there will be a month called after the name of Mars. It was the third month among the Albans; the fifth with the Falisci; the sixth among thy clans, Hernician land. There is an agreement in the Alban order of reckoning the months, with that of the people of Aricia, and the lofty walls built by the hand of Telegonus. The Laurentes reckon this the fifth month, the fierce Æquicolus the tenth, the people of Cures the first after the third, and thou, warrior of Pelignum, coincidest with thy ancestors, the Sabines; with each people this God is fourth in the order of the months, Romulus, that he might surpass all these, in his arrangement at least, dedicated the first month to the author of his birth.

Nor did the ancients have as many Calends as there now are; their year was shorter by a couple of months. Not yet had Greece, a people more eloquent than brave, " imparted to the conquerors the arts of the conquered. The man who fought well, he was acquainted with the arts of Rome; whoever could hurl the javelin, he was eloquent. Who, in those days, had marked the Hyades or the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, or had noticed that there were two poles under the canopy of the heavens? or that there were two Bears, one of which, the Cynosure, was watched by the men of Sidon, while the Grecian bark is observing Helice, the other? And who had remarked that the signs of the zodiac which the brother traverses in the space of a year, the sister's steeds pass through in a single month? Left to themselves and unwatched, the stars ran their course through the year; but yet it was universally agreed that the Gods do exist. They meddled not with the signs that roll along the heavens, but their own standards; to lose which was a great crime. These were of hay indeed; but there was as much respect paid to that hay as at the present day you see your eagles receive. A long pole used to bear the elevated wisps, from which circumstance the manipular soldier derives his name.-"

In consequence, those untutored minds, as yet deficient in powers of calculation, observed then five yearly lustra, too short by ten months. When the moon had completed her tenth revolution, it was a year; this number was then in great esteem. Either, because so many are the fingers, by the help of which we are wont to reckon, or because in the tenth month woman brings forth; or because we arrive so far as ten, the number increasing; and from that point the commencement of a new reckoning is made. For that reason did Romulus set apart a hundred men of equal standing for each of the ten companies, and appointed the ten companies of Hastati, and so many men had the Princeps, and so many the Pilanus," and he who served on horse-back as required by law. He also assigned as many subdivisions to the Titian tribe, and to those whom they call the Rhamnes, and to the Luceres. For that reason he observed the usual numbers in the formation of the year; during this length of time does the sorrowing wife mourn her husband. And that you may have no doubt but that the Calends of March were formerly the first in the year, you may turn your attention to these proofs. The laurel branch, which has lasted the whole year, is now removed by the Flamens, and fresh boughs are raised to the dignity. At this time the gate of the king of the sacrifices is green with the tree of Phoebus fixed there; before thy doors, O ancient Court-house, the same thing is done. That Vesta, too, may appear graceful, wreathed with new foliage, the faded laurel is removed from the Ilian hearths. Add to this, that in her secret shrine a new fire is said to be now kindled, and the flame refreshed receives strength. And the fact is no small proof to me that the years of old commenced from this period, that it was in this month that Anna Perenna began to be worshipped. From this time, too, the ancient honours are said to have been entered upon, up to the period of the war with thee, O perfidious Carthaginian. Lastly, the fifth from this was the month Quintilis, and from that point commences each month, which has its name from its order. Pompilius, invited to Rome from the olive-bearing fields, was the first to perceive that two months were wanting; whether so taught by the Samian sage, who considers that we may be born again, or whether by the admonition of his own Egeria. But even then were the divisions of time inaccurate, until amid many others, this too, was a care of Cæsar's." He, though a God and the father of such a mighty progeny, did not think this a task too humble for his attention; he wished to know beforehand the heaven that was promised him, and not, when deified, to enter as a stranger into an unknown mansion. He is said, by accurate observations, to have arranged the periods of the sun, in which he should return to his due signs in rotation. He added ten times six, and the fourth part of one whole day to the three hundred and five days. This is the complement of the year. To each lustrum there ought to be added one day, which is made up of these fractions.

If it be allowed to poets to hear the private intimations of the Deities, as report, at least, thinks they may, tell me why it is, O Gradivus, that while thou art suited to the pursuit of men only, the matrons observe thy festival. Thus said I, and thus Mavors replied to me, having laid aside his helmet; but there was in his right hand a missile spear. " Now, for the first time, am a Deity, useful to the profession of arms, summoned to the pursuits of peace, and I direct my march to a strange camp. Nor do I repent of my undertaking; on this department, too, I am delighted to dwell; that Minerva may not suppose that she alone can do this. Learn, thou poet engaged upon the Latin days, what thou askest, and mark my words in thy mindful breast. Rome, if thou wouldst but call back to mind her first elements, was small; yet in her thus small, was the promise of the present city. And now stood raised the walls of defence, too narrow for the future population, but in those days supposed to be too spacious for their own multitude. If thou askest what was the palace of my son; behold his house of reeds and straw." On a bed of stubble he enjoyed the blessings of calm slumber, and yet from that bed came he to the stars. And already had the Roman a renown greater than his home, and yet nor wife, nor father-in-law had he. The rich neighbours had a contempt for poor sons-in-law, and hardly was I believed to be the author of their race. To have dwelt under the herdsman's roof, and to have tended oxen, and now to be masters of but a few acres of uncultivated soil, was a reproach to them. The fowls of the air and the wild beasts pair, each of them with its mate; the snake too has its female, from which to propagate its kind. Intermarriages are granted to the remotest tribes; but there was no woman who was willing to marry a man of Rome. I was grieved, and I communicated to thee, O Romulus, thy father's mind. " Cease thy prayers," I said, "what thou dost want, arms will supply. Prepare a festival to Consus. Consus will tell thee the rest that is to be done, on the day on which thou shalt be chaunting the sacred songs to him." The people of Cures grew wroth, and all those whom the same resentment affected. Then, for the first time, did the father-in-law bear arms against his son-in-law. And now nearly all the ravished women were bearing the name of mother as well, and the wars of states thus neighbouring were protracted by lengthened duration; the wives met together in an appointed temple, that of Juno; among whom my daughter-in-law thus began to speak — " Ye that together with myself have been thus carried away, since this character in common we hold, no longer can we with tardiness be dutiful. The lines of battle are formed, but for which side the Gods are to be entreated, choose ye; on one side, the husband, on the other, the father is in arms; we must decide whether we would be widows or orphans. I will give you advice, which is both energetic and dutiful." She had now given her advice; they obey, and unloose their tresses, and with funereal garb array their sorrowing persons. The lines of battle now stood prepared for the sword and for death, and the clarion was on the point of giving the signal for the combat, when the women who had been ravished rush between their fathers and their husbands, and carry in their bosoms their babes, those dear pledges. When they had reached the middle of the plain, with their dishevelled locks they fell upon the earth with bended knee; and as though they had consciousness, the grandchildren, with soothing cry, stretched their little arms towards their grandsires. The child that was able, called on his grandfather then seen for the first time; and he who scarcely was able, was forced by his mother to make an effort." The arms and the fury of the warriors fall together, and, their swords now laid aside, the fathers-in-law give their hands to their sons-in-law, and receive theirs in return. They praise their daughters, and embrace them; and on his buckler the grandsire carries the grandchild: this was a more pleasing use for their shields. From that circumstance the Œbalian mothers hold it no unimportant duty to celebrate my Calends, the day which is first. Is it not either because, daring to trust themselves to the drawn swords, they had terminated by their tears the wars of Mars? Or is it because by me, with happy results, Ilia became a mother, that the matrons duly observe my sacred rites and my holiday? And why besides? It is because now, at length, the winter, enwrapped in ice, gives way, and the snows disappear, overcome by the warmth of the sun. The foliage that had been shorn by the frost returns to the trees, and the bud full of life sprouts from the tender shoot; the fruitful blade too, which has long lain hid, now finds a hidden path, whereby to raise itself to the breezes of heaven. Now is the field teeming; now is the season for breeding the cattle; now does the bird on the bough prepare a shelter and a home. With reason do the Latian mothers, whose toils and dearest longings the bearing of their progeny occupies, observe this prolific season. Add, too, that where, by his soldiery, the Roman king was keeping watch and ward, the hill has now the name of Esquiliæ. There, if I rightly remember, was a temple consecrated to Juno for the public use by the Latian matrons on this day. Why do I delay and burden thy memory with various reasons? See, what thou dost ask is plain before thine eyes; Juno, my mother, favours the married women: hence the crowd of the matrons resorts to me; this reason so duteous particularly becomes me.

Bring flowers to the Goddess: this Goddess takes delight in blossoming plants; with tender flowrets wreathe your heads. Say ye: Thou, Lucina, didst give us the light." Say; 'Do thou favour the prayers of her who is in travail ;" and if any woman is pregnant, let her pray with her tresses untied, that the Goddess may gently facilitate her labour.

Who, now, will tell me why the Salii bear the heavenly arms of Mars, and chaunt Mamurius? Tell me, Nymph, thou that wast wont to minister to the grove and the lake of Diana; Nymph, wife of Numa, come to thy own festival. There is a lake in the valley of Aricia, inclosed by a dark wood, sanctified by ancient religious awe. Here lies concealed Hippolytus, torn asunder by the madness of his steeds; for which reason that grove is entered by no horses. There the threads hang down, veiling the long hedge-rows, and many a tablet has been placed to the Goddess found to be deserving of it. Ofttimes, the woman having gained her wish, her forehead wreathed with chaplets, bears thither from the city the blazing torches. Those with daring hand and fleet of foot hold there the sway; and each one perishes in succession, after the example he has set. With indistinct murmur glides a pebbly stream: ofttimes, but in scanty draughts, have I drunk thence. It is Egeria who supplies the water; a Goddess pleasing to the Muses; she was the wife and the counsellor of Numa. In the first place, it seemed good to her that the Quirites, too ready for war, should be softened by justice and the fear of the Gods. For that reason laws were given, that the strongest might not obtain supreme power; and the holy rites delivered to the people then began to be religiously observed. Their savage nature is now laid aside, right is more powerful than arms, and it is considered disgraceful to engage in civil strife; many a person, but just now violent, is now changed in character on seeing the altar, and offers the wine and the salt spelt cake on the glowing hearths. Lo! the father of the Gods is scattering his flashing lightnings through the clouds, and drains the heavens by deluging showers: on no other occasion have the hurled bolts of fire fallen more thickly. The king is alarmed, and terror takes possession of the breasts of the multitude. To him the Goddess says: " Be not unreasonably dismayed! the lightning is to be averted by atonement, and the wrath of the angry Jove is easily appeased; but Picus and Faunus will be able to reveal the ceremony of expiation, each of them a Divinity of the Roman soil; but they will not inform thee without force: apply chains when thou hast caught them." And thus does she instruct Numa by what means they may be taken. There was at the foot of the Aventine hill a grove, dark with the shade of the holm-oak, on seeing which you might readily say, " Surely a Divinity dwells here! In the centre was a grassy plot, and, covered over with green moss, a constant stream of water trickled from the rock. From this stream Faunus and Picus were wont generally to drink alone. Hither comes king Numa, and sacrifices a sheep to the fountain; he then places for the Gods cups full of fragrant wine; and with his train lies hid, concealing himself in a grotto. The forest Gods come to their accustomed streams, and refresh their parched spirits with copious draughts of wine: sleep is the consequence of their debauch; Numa issues forth from the cool grotto, and puts the hands of them, thus buried in slumber, in tight manacles. When sleep has now departed, they strive by struggling to burst the bonds; as they struggle, the more tightly do they hold them. Then Numa says: Gods of the groves, forgive my deed! inasmuch as ye know that impiety is far from my nature; and point out the way in which the lightning may be averted. Thus Numa spoke, and thus Faunus replied, shaking his horns Thou inquirest on a matter of great difficulty, and which it is against the law of heaven for thee to learn by our instruction; our privileges as Deities have their limits. We are the Gods of the country, and have our sway on the lofty mountains; Jove has full power over his own weapons. Of thyself thou wilt not be enabled to bring him down from heaven; but perhaps, by availing thyself of our aid, thou wilt." Faunus had thus spoken: the opinion expressed by Picus is the same. But take from us these bonds," says Picus; "Jove shall come hither, brought down from his topmost height; the vaporous Styx shall attest my promise." What they do, when released from their bonds, what incantations they repeat, and by what art they bring down Jove from his habitations above, it is not allowed by heaven for man to know; let things permitted be the only subjects of my song, and whatever may be repeated by the lips of the poet, without incurring guilt. They bring thee down, O Jupiter, from the skies; in consequence of which posterity still celebrates thee, and names thee Elicius. It is agreed that the tops of the Aventine forest then trembled, and the earth yielded beneath the pressure of the weight of Jove. The heart of the king palpitates; from the whole of his breast the blood has fled, and his bristling hair stands on end. When his senses have returned, he says: O thou, both King and Father of the Gods on high! teach me the assured expiations of thy lightnings; if, with guileless hands, I have touched thy altars; if too, my tongue, with true piety, asks this which is now entreated of thee." Jove nodded assent to his prayer; but, without using any circumlocution, he concealed the truth, and by his equivocal expressions struck the hero with alarm. " Cut off a head," says he. To whom the king says: " We will obey: an onion, pulled up in my garden, must be cut off." "Of a man," adds the God. "Yes, the topmost hairs," answers the other. The God demands " a life ;" to whom Numa says: " Yes, of a fish." The God laughed and said, " See to it then, that with these thou dost propitiate my weapons, O man, not to be repulsed from a conference with the Gods. But to thee, when to-morrow's sun shall have raised his full disk, I will give the sure pledge of empire." He spoke; with loud thunderings he is borne above the trembling firmament, and leaves Numa in the attitude of worship. Joyful he returns, and tells the Quirites what had occurred; credence was given to his words, tardy, and extorted with difficulty. " But surely," says he, " I shall be believed if the result follow my words. See now, hear ye, every one present, what will happen on the morrow. When to-morrow's sun shall have raised his full disk, Jupiter will give the sure pledge of empire." They retire in doubt; his promise seemed likely to be of slow performance, and their belief depends on the approaching day.

The earth was still soft, and bedewed with the hoar-frost of the morning; the people are present before the threshold of their king. He comes forth and seats himself in the midst on a throne of maple-wood; around him stand the men in countless numbers, and hold their peace. Phoebus had now but risen with his upper edge; their anxious minds are in a state of agitation through hope and fear. He stands, and his head veiled with a snow-white robe, he raises his hands already not unfamiliar in worship to the Gods; and thus he speaks — " The time of the promised favour is drawing nigh; confer, O Jupiter, upon thy words the promised fulfilment." While he was speaking, the sun had just raised from the deep his entire disk, and from the pole of heaven there came a heavy peal; thrice did the God thunder without a cloud; thrice did he dart his lightnings. Believe what I tell; I speak of things wondrous, but realities. The heavens began to open in the midst; the multitude, with their monarch, cast down their eyes. Behold! there falls a shield, gently poised on the lightsome breeze; a shout from the people ascends to the stars. The king raises the gift from the ground, having first offered a heifer, which had never yielded his neck to be pressed by the yoke. He entitles it ancile, because it is pared away at every point, and whichever way you look at it, every corner is off. Then, mindful that the destiny of empire depends upon this, he forms a plan of much cunning. He orders several to be made, engraved of a similar shape, that a deception may meet the eyes of those plotting to steal it, Mamurius, whether more distinguished for his probity or for his skill as a workman, it is hard for one to say, completed that task. To him the munificent Numa said, Ask thy own reward for thy work; as my truthfulness is well known, thou shalt ask for nothing in vain." Already had he given to the Salii (from their dancing do they derive their name) both arms, and words to be sung to certain measures. Then thus Mamurius says, Let fame be given to me as my reward, and let my name be mentioned at the end of their strain." From that circumstance do the priests pay the reward promised for the ancient workmanship, and call upon Mamurius.

If by any chance you should desire to marry, though both of you should be impatient, postpone it; a short delay has its great advantages. Arms stir up the fight — the fight is unsuited to the newly wedded; when arms shall have been laid by, there will be a more suitable omen. On these days, too, ought the wife of the mitred Dialis, clad in her flame-coloured gown, to wear her hair all unbraided.

When the third night rising from the deep shall have raised its fires, one of the two Fishes will be concealed. For there are two — the one near to the southern, the other to the northern winds; each takes its name from its neighbouring wind.

When the bride of Tithonus, with rosy cheeks, shall have begun to shed her dews, and shall urge on the hours of the fifth day, whether that Constellation is styled Arctophylax, or whether the lazy Bootes, he shall be plunged in the deep, and shall elude your view.

But not so the Vintager. It is but a trifling delay to relate whence this Constellation derives its origin. Bacchus is said, among the heights of Ismarus, to have loved the long-haired Ampelos," offspring of the Satyrs and of a Nymph. To him he gave, pendant from the foliage of an elm, a vine, which still has its name from that of the youth. While he is heedlessly gathering the blushing grapes on a branch, he falls; him thus lost to earth, Bacchus conveys among the stars.

When the sixth Sun from the ocean climbs the steep of Olympus, and on his winged steeds traverses the skies, whoever thou be that art present, and art paying homage to the shrines of hoary Vesta, place both the goblet and the incense on the Ilian hearth. To the countless titles of Cæsar was added on this day the honour which he most desired to merit — that of the Pontificate. Over the eternal fires presides the divinity of the immortal Cæsar; thou here beholdest the united pledges of the empire's safety. From the ashes of ancient Troy came the most worthy relic, laden with which, Æneas was safe from the foe. A priest descended from Æneas claims an alliance with thy Deity; Vesta, do thou preserve his kindred person.'" Well do ye thrive, ye fires, which with sacred hand he tends; undying, live on, both thou sacred flame, and thou Prince, I pray.

There is one distinction for the Nones of March, that on them they believe that the temple of Vejovis, before you reach the two groves," was consecrated, when Romulus surrounded the grove with a high stone wall, 'Hither fly, whoever you are," says he,' and you shall be in safety." Oh! from how low an origin has the Roman grown! How little an object of envy was that ancient multitude!

Lest, however, the strangeness of the name be an obstacle to you in your ignorance, learn who this Deity is, and why he is so called. He is the youthful Jupiter; mark his youthful! aspect: mark, too, his hand; it wields no thunder-bolts. The thunder-bolt was assumed by Jupiter after the attempt of the giants to attain to the skies; in early times he was unarmed. Ossa blazed with new flames, and Pelion higher than Ossa, and Olympus rooted in the solid earth. A she goat stands, too, beside him; the nymphs of Crete are said to have nurtured him; a she-goat furnished milk for the infant Jove. Now I am called upon to explain the name; the country-women call wheat, which has grown up but indifferently, vegrandia, and when small in the grain they style it " vesca." If that is the force of the word, 've," why' should I not imagine that the temple of Vejovis is the temple of the little Jupiter? And now, when the stars shall bespangle the azure sky, look upwards, and you shall see the neck of the Gorgon steed, He is believed to have sprung forth, his mane besprinkled with blood, from the teeming neck of the slain Medusa. With him, as he soared above the clouds and beneath the stars, the heavens were as the ground, his wings were in place of feet. And now had he taken the strange curb in his fretting mouth, when his lightsome hoof struck forth the Aonian fountains." Now does he enjoy that heaven which formerly he sought by his wings, and he glitters, refulgent with fifteen stars.

Forthwith on the succeeding night you will see the Gnossian crown; by reason of the crime of Theseus was Ariadne made a Goddess. Already had the damsel, to her advantage, obtained Bacchus in exchange for her foresworn spouse, she who had given to her ungrateful husband the clue to be retraced. Exulting at the good fortune of her marriage, she said, " What was I mourning for, like a country lass as I was? It was a good thing for me that he was faithless." In the mean time, Bacchus, with his well-trimmed locks, conquers the Indians, and returns enriched from the Eastern world; among the captive maidens of distinguished beauty, the daughter of the king was too pleasing to Bacchus. His loving wife indulged in weeping, and as she paced the winding shore, with her hair all loose, she uttered such words as these: — Lo now a second time, ye billows, hear a like complaint! Lo! a second time, ye sands, receive my tears as they fall. I used to cry, I remember, Foresworn and faithless Theseus! He is gone; Bacchus now incurs the like guilt. 'Now, too,' will I exclaim,' let woman put no trust in man; change but the name, and my case has been repeated. O would that my destiny had kept on the course on which it had before commenced, and that now, at this moment, I had been no more! Why, Bacchus, didst thou preserve me when about to die on the lonely sands? I could then have ended my sorrows at once. Ah! Bacchus, thou unstable one! yes more unstable even than the leaves that encircle thy temples; Bacchus, known to my sorrow, didst thou dare, by bringing thy paramour before my very eyes, to disturb a union before so harmonious. Alas! where is thy plighted faith ?" "Where all that thou wast wont to swear? Ah! wretched me! How often do I repeat these words. Thou wast wont to blame Theseus, and thou thyself didst use to call him a deceiver; by thy own judgment thou art guilty of a greater crime. May no man know this, and by secret anguish may I be consumed, lest I may be supposed to have deserved to be thus often beguiled. Above all, I would wish it to be concealed from Theseus, lest he should rejoice that thou art a partaker of his guilt. But, I suppose, a paramour of fair complexion was preferred to me, because of my swarthy hue; be then that colour the lot of my enemy. But what matters that? She is the more pleasing to thee, from this very defect. What art thou doing? She contaminates thy very embrace. Bacchus, fulfil thy pledge, and prefer no woman before the love of a wife, one who was ever accustomed to love her husband. The horns of a handsome bull captivated my mother; thy horns, me; they commend me; the other was a disgraceful passion. Let not my love prove an injury to me; for, Bacchus, it was no harm to thee that thou thyself didst confess thy love. And, indeed, thou dost nothing strange in kindling a flame in me: in fire thou art said to have been born, and from fire to have been snatched, by the hand of thy father. I am she to whom thou wast wont to promise heaven; Ah, me! instead of heaven, what kind of gifts am I. now receiving ?" She had said; for a long time had Bacchus been listening to her words while thus complaining, as by chance he had been following after her. He clasps her in his embraces, and, with kisses, dries away her tears, and he says, "Together, let us seek the heights of heaven;" united to me in wedlock, thou shalt take a united epithet. Henceforth, thy name altered shall be Libera. I will cause, too, that with thee there shall be a memorial of thy crown, which Vulcan gave to Venus, she to thee. He keeps his word, and transforms its nine jewels into stars; by means of nine stars it still glitters in its golden radiance.

When he who bears the purple day upon his rapid car shall have completed six risings, and as many settings of his orb, then shall you behold the second Equiria on the grassy plain which Tiber bounds on its verge with its winding waters. But if perchance this shall be covered by the flooding wave then let the dusty Cælian plain receive the steeds.

On the Ides is the mirthful festival of Anna Perenna, not far from thy banks, thou Tiber, that flowest from afar. The common people assemble, and carouse scattered in every quarter on the green grass; each with his sweetheart is there reclining. Some spend their time in the open air, some pitch their tents; by some a leafy bower is formed of branches. Some, when they have fixed up reeds there in the stead of solid columns, place over them their garments spread out. Yet, with the sun and the wine, do they wax warm; they pray for years as many in number as the cups they quaff, and reckon on as they drink. There you will meet with the man who can drink off the years of Nestor; the woman who becomes old as the Sibyl by the number of her cups. There, too, they sing whatever snatches they have picked up at the theatres, and move their pliant arms in time to their words. And now, having laid aside the bowl, they trip the uncouth dance, and many a gaily dressed wench skips about with her locks flowing. When they return to their seats, they stagger, and are a gazing sight for the mob, and the multitude that meets them pronounces them to be glorious souls, I myself met them lately; the procession seemed to me one that was worthy to be mentioned again. A drunken old hag was dragging after her a drunken old man.

But as to the question who this Goddess is, since there is a wide difference between the accounts, no one of the stories shall be unnoticed according to my purpose The wretched Dido had been consumed by her love for Æneas; she had been consumed also on the funeral pile which she had built up for her own destruction: her ashes, too had been collected, and on the marble tablet of her tomb was this epitaph, which she herself left when dying: — " Æneas furnished both the cause of death and the weapon; Dido fell by her own hand." Forthwith the Numidians invade the realm, now without a defender. The Moor larba possesses himself of the captured palace; and remembering how he had been rejected, he cries, " Only see, how I, whom she so often repulsed, am now enjoying the chamber of Elissa!" The Tyrians fly in different directions, wherever each in his wanderings is led, as when at times the bees stray about unsettled, having lost their king. Thrice had the threshing floor received the harvest to be beaten out, and thrice had the must been poured into the hollow vats. Anna is driven from her home, and weeps as she leaves her sister's walls; yet first she performs the funereal offices for her sister. The light ashes soak up the perfumes mixed with her tears, and receive the locks cut from her head as an offering. Thrice, too, did she say, " Farewell ;" thrice did she press the ashes brought close to her lips, and in them her sister seemed to be present. Having found a bark, and a companion of her flight, she sails along straight before the wind, as she looks back upon those walls, the loved work of her sister. Near to the barren Cosyra is the fruitful isle of Melite, which the billow of the Libyan sea dashes against. For this isle she makes, relying upon her former terms of friendship with the king; Battus, her friend, abounding in wealth, was the ruler there. After he had learned the misfortunes of each of the two sisters, he says, " This land, such as, small as it is, thou mayst find it to be, is thine." And, in fact, he would, to the very last, have observed the duties of hospitality, had he not feared the great power of Pygmalion. Twice had the sun revisited his Constellations; the third year was speeding onward, and a new land must be sought by the exiles. " Thy brother is at hand, and assails us in war," says the king, who detested arms; " we are not prepared for warfare; fly, and preserve thyself." At his bidding she flies, and to wind and waves she trusts her bark; her brother was more cruel than any sea. Near to the fishy streams of the craggy Crathis, there is a little spot; the people that inhabit it call it Camere. Thither was her course directed; and now she was not further off from it than the distance which at nine casts a sling might throw. The sails fall first, and are flapped to and fro by the fitful gale. Cleave the waters with your oars !" cries the pilot; and while they are preparing to furl their canvass with the twisted tackle, the crooked poop is struck by a violent blast from the south; the ship is borne out into the open sea, and the land which they had seen, now retreats from their eyes. The billows dash against them, the ocean is upturned from its lowest depths, and the hold of the vessel ships the foaming seas. Skill is baffled by the winds; the steersman now foregoes the use of the helm; but he, as well as the others, asks help in prayer. The exile of Phoenicia is tossed over the swelling billows, and with her garments held close she covers her tearful eyes. Then for the first time was Dido pronounced happy by her sister, and whoever in death has pressed with his body any spot of land. By a heavy blast, the vessel is dashed upon the Laurentine shore, and all having disembarked in time, it perishes, engulfed in the ocean.

Already had the pious Æneas been blessed with the throne and the daughter of Latinus, and had blended the two nations. While along the shore, which he had gained as a dowry, attended by Achates alone, with naked foot he treads the solitary path, he beholds her as she wanders along, nor can he bring himself to believe that it is Anna. Why should she come to the Latian land? While Æneas thus debates within himself, It is Anna !" cries Achates. At the name she raised her eyes. Whither is she to fly? What is she to do? What chasms of the earth is she to seek? Before her eyes is the fate of her wretched sister. The heroic son of Cytherea divines her thoughts, and thus he addresses her in her agitation; he weeps, however, Elissa, at the recollection of thy death. Anna, by this land I swear, which, formerly thou wast wont to hear, was bestowed on me by a happier destiny, and by the Gods who have accompanied my wanderings, lately settled in this their home, that many a time did they chide my loitering. And yet did I have no apprehension of her death; that fear was far from my mind. Ah, me! more determined was she than could have been possibly imagined. Tell not the tale; I beheld in that breast the wounds that ill beseemed it, when I dared to visit the abodes of Tartarus. But thou, whether thy choice, or whether fortune has driven thee to my shores, do thou avail thyself of the resources of my kingdom; I am still mindful that I owe much to thee, and everything to Elissa; on thy own account, on the account of thy sister, shalt thou be dear to me." She believed him as he spoke, for now no other hope remained; and then she detailed her wanderings. And when she now enters his house, arrayed in her Tyrian attire, -Æneas thus begins, while the rest are all silent; Lavinia, my wife, there is a reason, prompted by duty, why I should introduce to thee this lady. When shipwrecked, I partook of her bounty. Sprung from Tyre, she possessed a realm on the Libyan shore; and I beg that as a dear sister thou wilt love her." Lavinia makes every engagement, and hides the causeless wound of jealousy in her secret soul, and, though indignant, disguises her feelings. And now when she sees many presents made openly before her eyes, and suspects that many, too, are given secretly — and yet it is not certain what she is to do; she hates her to a degree of frenzy, and plans her secret plots, and longs to die, having wreaked her vengeance. It was night; before the bed of her sister. Dido seemed to stand, bloodstained, with her hair dishevelled, and to say, " Fly! pause not! fly from this direful house." Just at the word, the breeze shakes the creaking doors, she leaps from the bed, and swiftly she flings herself from a low window upon the plain. Her very fear had made her bold, and clad with her robe untied, she runs, whither by her terrors she is hurried, as the deer when frightened on hearing the wolves. The horned Numicius is believed to have snatched her away in his amorous streams, and to have concealed her in his pools. In the meantime, the Sidonian is sought along the fields with loud shouts; there appear her traces and the marks of her feet. They had reached the banks of the river; the impress of her feet was upon them; the conscious river stayed his noiseless stream. She herself appeared to say, " I am a Nymph of the gently flowing Numicius; concealed in the stream with constant tide, I am named Anna Perenna." Forthwith, in their joy they feast in the fields they had wandered over, and they do honour to themselves and to the day with a profusion of wine.

There are some who look upon this Goddess as the moon, because with her months she fills up the measure of the year; some think her Themis; others the Inachian cow. Thou wilt find, Anna, some who say that thou art a Nymph, a daughter of Atlas, and others who say that thou didst give to Jove his first food. This story, too, which I am going to relate, has come to my ears, and it is not at variance with probability. The commonalty of olden time, as yet unprotected by their Tribunes, had fled, and taken refuge on the top of the sacred Mount. And now, the provisions which they had brought with them had failed; their bread corn, too, suited to the use of man. There was one Anna, born at Bovillæ, in the vicinity of the city, a poor old woman, but a person of great industry. She, having her grey locks bound with a light turban, used to make her country cakes with shaking hand; and so, early in the morning, she used to distribute them smoking hot among the people; to them this supply was welcome. Peace being now established at home, they erected a statue to Perenna, because in their state of destitution she had brought them relief. Now it remains for me to say, why at this time the girls sing indecent songs; for they assemble and repeat by rote indelicate abuse. She had been lately deified; Mars Gradivus comes to Anna, and taking her aside, he utters some such words as these: — " Thou art worshipped in my month; I have shared my period of the year with thee; on thy services depends a great hope of mine. I, a warrior myself, am inflamed, consuming with the love of Minerva, the warrior Goddess; and long have I cherished this passion. Provide that we, who are Deities, similar in our pursuits, should come together; this office befits thee, thou good-natured old lady." He had said; she trifles with the God with a false promise, and in the delays of doubt spins out his silly expectations. As he presses her more frequently, she says to him, I have executed thy instructions, she yielded to my solicitations; but with difficulty has she given her hand." The lover is delighted, and makes ready the bridal chamber; thither is Anna conducted, veiling her face as a bride. Mars, just as he is about to snatch a kiss, suddenly catches sight of Anna's face; first, shame, then rage influences the baffled God. The newly-made Goddess laughs at the lover of his dear Minerva, and there was no circumstance more pleasing to Venus than this. It is by reason of this occurrence that old-fashioned jokes and indelicate sayings are sung, and delight is manifested that she thus imposed on the mighty God.

I was on the point of omitting to mention the daggers that pierced our prince, when from her unpolluted shrine thus Vesta spoke: — Hesitate not to record it — he was my priest; the sacrilegious hands assailed me with their weapons. I myself bore away the hero, and I left but a mere semblance of Him; that which fell by the steel was but the phantom of Cæsar. He, indeed, enthroned in heaven, has gone to tenant the halls of Jove, and owns a temple consecrated to him in the great Forum. But every one of those, who, daring this crime, despite of the will of the Gods, assailed the life of a Pontiff', now lies still in the death so well merited."' Witness it, Philippi, and ye, with whose scattered bones the ground is whitened. This was the labour, this was the task of duty, this was the first lesson of Cæsar, in just warfare to avenge his father.

When the next morning shall have refreshed the tender herbage, the Scorpion"- will be visible in his fore part only.

The third day after the Ides is a day universally observed in honour of Bacchus. Bacchus, while I sing thy festival, favour the poet. I will not tell of Semele; to whom had not Jove brought with him his thunderbolts, unarmed he was reckoned by her a paltry object; nor will I tell now how the burden of thy mother was matured in thy father's body, in order that thou, a babe, mightst be born in due time. "Twere tedious to recount the Sithonian" and the Scythian triumphs, and the conquests of thy nations, thou Indian laden with frankincense. Thou also, unhappy prey of thy Theban mother, shalt remain unmentioned; thou, too, Lycurgus, impelled by madness to assail thy own knee. Behold! 'twould please me much to tell of the Fishes, works of sudden transformation, and the Etrurian miracles; but it is not the province of this my poem. The province of this my song is now to relate the reasons why the mean old woman invites the citizens to her cakes. Before thy birth, O Bacchus, the altars were without sacrifice, and the grass was found on the cold hearths. They tell how, having subdued the Ganges and all. the East, thou didst set apart the first fruits for the mighty Jove. Thou wast the first to make offering of cinnamon and frankincense, produce of thy capture, and the roasted entrails of the ox, emblem of thy triumph. From the name of their institutor, the initial offerings take their name of " Libamina" and of " Liba," because from them a part is offered up on the holy hearths. Cakes are offered to the God because he takes delight in sweets; they say that honey, too, was discovered by Bacchus. He was journeying from the sandy Hebrus, attended by the Satyrs (my tale contains no unpleasing humour); and they had now reached "Rhodope and the flowery Pangæum. The cymbal-bearing hands of his attendants join in united clash. Behold, winged insects, till then unknown, flock together at the tinkling, and on whichever side the brass sends forth its sounds the bees follow. Bacchus collects them as they wander, and shuts them in a hollow tree; and he enjoys the reward of the discovery of honey. Soon as the Satyrs, and Silenus, the bald-headed old man, tasted its flavour, they were seeking through the whole grove for the yellow honeycombs. The old man hears the buzzing of a swarm in a decayed elm; he spies, too, the combs, but declares that he has made no such discovery. And as he is lazily lolling on the back of his bending ass, he guides him close to the elm and its hollow bark; he himself, then, stands up above his ass, resting on the branchy trunk, and now is engaged in greedily seeking the honey hoarded in the trunk. Thousands of hornets fly together, and fix deep their stings in his bare pate, and mark the surface of his countenance. He tumbles headlong, and is struck by the hoof of the ass; and then he calls aloud on his companions, and entreats assistance. The Satyrs run to the spot, and laugh at the swollen face of their parent; he limps about from the blow on his knee. The God himself laughs too, and teaches him how to apply mud to the stings; he follows his advice, and with mud bedaubs his face. The father enjoys the honey, and with justice do we offer to its discoverer the white honey poured over the warm cake. Why a woman presides over them is not a matter of difficult discovery. It is he who with his wreathed spear arouses the choirs of the women. Why it is an old woman that does this? you ask. It is this period of life which is more addicted to wine, and is fond of the gifts of the loaded vine. You ask why she is wreathed with the ivy? The ivy is most pleasing to Bacchus, and why this is the case, it will take no length of time to tell. The Nymphs of Nysa; when his stepmother sought the boy, covered his newly-made cradle with this leaf. It remains for me to discover why the gown of freedom is given to the youths upon thy day, fair Bacchus; whether it is that thou thyself always seemest to be both a boy and a young man, and thy age is midway between the two; or that because thou art a father, fathers commit their sons, their pledges, to thy care and providence; or that because thou art "Liber," the "vestis libera" the dress of freedom is assumed under thy patronage, and the course of a life of more liberty is commenced; or perhaps it is, because, when the ancients cultivated the fields with more attention and the senator on the farm of his forefathers followed up the business of agriculture and the consul received the fasces coming from the crooked plough, and it was no imputation on one's character to have hard-skinned hands, then the rustic population used to come to the games into the city; but that compliment was paid to the Gods, and not to their own private inclination. The discoverer of the grape used to hold the games on his own holiday, which now he holds in common with the torchbearing Goddess." That therefore the multitude might do honour to the youth commencing man, the day seemed not unsuitable for conferring the gown of freedom. Hither, O Father, mayst thou turn thy head and thy horns with mild intent, and grant to my powers a sail swelling with the prosperous gale. On this day and the day before, if I remember aright, is the procession to the Argei, What they are, their own history will tell.

The star of the Kite slopes downwards towards the Bear, the daughter of Lycaon; this becomes visible on this night. If you would wish to know what it was that gave heaven to this bird; Saturn had been expelled from his realm by Jove; in his wrath he excites the powerful Titans to arms, and demands that assistance which was due to him from the Fates. There was a bull, a strange monster, born of his mother Earth, a serpent in his hinder parts. Him, by the advice of the three Fates, the fierce Styx had with triple wall shut in the gloomy groves. Whoever should give the entrails of the bull to be consumed by the flames, it was fated that he should be enabled to conquer the eternal Gods. With axe made of adamant, Briareus slays him, and is now just on the very point of giving the entrails to the flames. Jupiter commands the birds to snatch them away; the kite brings them to him, and by its services finds its way to the stars.

One day intervenes, and the festival of Minerva takes place, which has its name from the union of five days. The first day is free from blood, and it is not allowable then to contend with the steel; the reason is, that on this day Minerva was born. The next and the three succeeding are celebrated on the sand strewed in the Amphitheatre; then the warlike Goddess is delighted with the drawn swords. Now, ye youths and tender damsels, celebrate Pallas; he who pays homage to Pallas will be learned. Girls, when you shall have propitiated Pallas, then comb your wool; learn, by winding, to take the load off the distaff, when now it is full. She teaches us also with shuttle to cross the standing warps, and with the sley she closes the open work. Worship her, thou, whose art it is to remove the stains from the damaged garments; worship her, thou, who preparest the dyeing vessels for the fleeces. Nor will any one be able to make neatly the sandals for the foot if Pallas is unpropitious, even though he were more skilful than Tychius; and even if, compared with ancient Epeus, he should excel him in handicraft; yet if Pallas is displeased, he will be but a bungler. You, too, who drive away disease by Apollo's art, offer from your fees a few gifts to the Goddess. And do not you, teachers, a set generally robbed of your pay, despise her; she will bring you new pupils: and thou who guidest the graving tool, and thou who dost enamel the slab with colours, thou, too, who fashionest the soft stones with skilful hand. She is the Goddess of a thousand crafts; doubtless she is the Goddess of song. If I am deserving, may she be present, a friend to my pursuits.

Where the Cælian Hill slopes from its elevation to the plains, here, where the way is not quite level, but nearly so, you may see a small temple of Minerva " Capta," which the Goddess began to possess on her natal day. The cause of the name is doubtful. We entitle a skilful genius " Capitale," [shrewd]; she is a Goddess full of genius. Or is it because she is said, without a mother, to have leaped forth with her shield from the crown of her father's head? Or is it because she came to us a captive when Falisci was subdued? And this very fact the ancient records tell. Or is it because she has a law, that thieves who are detected in that place, should suffer capital punishment? From whatever cause thou derivest thy titles, O Pallas, ever do thou hold thy ægis before our chiefs. The last day of the five, commands us to purify the sounding trumpets, and to sacrifice to the bold Goddess. Now, you can say, having raised your eyes to the sun, He yesterday weighed down the fleece of the sheep of Phrixus."

By the deceit of the accursed step-mother, the seed-corn being parched, the blade had not raised the ear, as it is wont to do. A person is sent to the oracular tripod, that he may bring back, by an infallible answer, what remedy the Delphic God gives out for the unproductive soil. He, corrupted too, as well as the seed, brings word, that, by the oracle, the death of Helle and of the youthful Phrixus was required. The citizens, the unfavourahle season, and Ino, drove the king, while still resisting, to submit to the direful command. And now, his sister and Phrixus having their temples wreathed with boughs, stand together before the altar, and bewail their common destiny. Their mother, as by chance she is floating in the air, sees them, and, in dismay, strikes her naked breast with her hand; and then, with clouds in her train, she leaps down into the city of those descended from the dragon, and snatches away her children; and that they may take flight, a ram, most resplendent with gold, is given them. He bears the two through the long channel of the Hellespont. The damsel is said to have been holding his horn with a feeble left hand, when from herself she imparts a name to that tract of water. Her brother almost perishes together with her, while he is endeavouring to assist her as she falls, and extends afar his outstretched hands. He weeps as though the partner of the twofold danger were lost, not knowing that now she was the bride of the azure Deity. Having arrived at the shore, the ram is made a Constellation; but his golden fleece reaches the Colchian palace.

When the approaching dawn shall have sent before it three light bearing days, you shall have the hours of day equal with those of night. When from this period the shepherd shall have four times penned his well-fed kids, four times the grass been white with dew fresh fallen, Janus will require to be adored, and with him mild Concord, and the Health of Rome, and the altar of Peace. The Moon governs the months, the worship of the Moon on the Aventine Hill terminates the period of this month.