Book VI

This month, too, has varying causes assigned for its name; all of these being stated, you shall choose for yourself those which you approve of. Of realities will I sing; but some there will be to say that I have invented fictions, and to believe that divine beings never were seen by mortals. There is a Deity within us; under his influence we glow with inspiration; this poetic fervour contains the impregnating particles of the mind of the Divinity. To me, especially, it is allowed to see the countenances of the Gods, both because I am a poet, and because of sacred matters do I sing. There is a grove densely shaded with trees, a spot sequestered from every sound, did it not re-echo with the murmurs of a stream. Here was I engaged in inquiring what could be the origin of this month which I had commenced upon, and I was in deep thought upon this name. Lo! I beheld Goddesses; not those whom the instructor on agriculture had seen while he was tending the sheep of Ascra ;" nor yet those whom the son of Priam compared in the vales of Ida abounding in rills; yet there was one of them; yes, there was one of them, she who is the sister of her husband; 'twas she, I recognized her, who stands on the heights which belong to Jove. I was struck with awe, and by my speechless pallor, I was betraying my feelings, when the Goddess herself removed those alarms which she had caused, for she said, " O poet, compiler of the Roman year, thou who hast attempted to treat of mighty subjects in humble strains, thou hast earned for thyself the privilege of beholding a Divinity of heaven when it pleased thee to compile their festivals in poetic numbers. But that thou mayst not remain ignorant, and be influenced by a vulgar error, June, I tell thee, derives its name from mine. 'Tis something to be the bride of Jove, to be the sister of Jove; I hesitate to decide whether I should take the more pride in him as a brother or as a husband. If birth is regarded, 'twas I that first made Saturn a parent; I was the earliest offspring of Saturn. From my father, was Rome once called the land of Saturn; for him, this land was the next abode after heaven. If marriage is held in respect, then I am called the spouse of the Thunderer, and my temple is adjoining to Tarpeian Jove. Was a concubine able to give her name to the month of May, and shall this honour be grudged to me? Why, then, am I styled the queen, the mistress of the Goddesses, or why in my right hand have they placed the sceptre of gold? Shall the days united constitute the month, and shall from them be called Lucina, and yet shall. I receive no renown from a month named after me? In such case, may I repent that, in good faith, I laid aside my wrath against the descendants of Electra and the house of Dardanus. Twofold was the cause of my wrath; I grieved when Ganymede was borne away; my beauty, too, was surpassed in the judgment of him of Ida. May I repent that I do not still encourage the towers of Carthage, since there are my arms, and there is my chariot. Then may I repent that I subjected Sparta and Argos, and my own Mycenæ, and the ancient Samos to the sway of Latium. Add, too, the ancient Tatius, and Falisci, worshippers of Juno, whom I brooked to see succumb to the men of Rome. But may I have no cause for re repentance, for no nation is dearer to me. Here may I still be worshipped; here may I share the temples with my Jove. Mars himself said to me, To thee do I entrust these walls; in the city of thy grandson, Romulus, shalt thou hold sway. His words are verified; at a hundred altars am I worshipped, and the honour of giving name to this month is not of less value to me than any other mark of respect. Nor is it Rome only that pays me this honour; the neighbours of the City show me the same mark of respect. Examine the Calendar, which Aricia, the city of the grove, and the people of Laurentum, and my own Lanuvium have; there is the month Junonius to be found. Look at Tiber and the walls sacred to the Goddess of Praeneste; there wilt thou read of a portion of time called after the name of Juno. And yet it was not Romulus that founded these; whereas Rome was the city of my own grandson." Juno had ceased. I looked behind me, there stood the wife of Hercules, and on her features were the indications of grief. " I will not," said she, if my mother bids me quit heaven entirely, stay there against the will of my parent. And now I enter into no contest on the name of this month. In soothing accents I address thee, and I almost act the part of a suppliant; and though the matter is my right, I would prefer obtaining it by entreaty; and perhaps thou thyself mayst favour my cause. My mother has gained possession of the Capitol glittering with gold, in her temple there erected; and, as is her due, she shares the high places with Jupiter. But all the glory belongs to me that is derived from the origin of the name of this month; this is the only point of honour about which I feel any anxiety. 'What matter so weighty is it, if thou, man of Rome, didst give the honour of this month to the wife of Hercules, and if posterity conforms to it? This land, too, owes me something on account of my illustrious husband. Hither did he drive his captured kine; here Cacus, making but a poor defence with his flames and the gifts of his father, stained with his blood the ground of the Aventine. To more recent transactions I am now called; according to their years, did Romulus arrange the people and divide them into two classes; the one is more ready to deliberate, the other to fight; those of the one age recommend the warfare, those of the other, wage the fight. Thus did he appoint, and with the same mark did he distinguish the months — June is the month of the juniors; the month that precedes it, that of the aged." She said, and with the keenness of contention they would have entered on the discussion, and in their anger would the ties of affection have been lost sight of, when Concord came, her long tresses wreathed with the laurel of Apollo, the Deity and the object of our peaceful chief. When she told how that Tatius and the brave Quirinus, and the two kingdoms, together with their subjects, had united, and that fathers-in-law and sons-in-law were received under one common roof, "from the junction of these nations," says she,' does the month of June derive its name." The causes of the three have been stated; but pardon me, ye Goddesses, it is a matter not to be decided by my arbitration. Depart, equal in your claims, as far as I am concerned. Through one who gave a judgment on beauty, did Pergamus fall; two Goddesses are more potent to injure than one is to aid.

The first day is dedicated to thee, O Carna. She is the Goddess of the hinge; by her power she opens what is shut, and shuts what is open. Whence she derives the power that has been given to her, is a tale rendered obscure by lapse of time; but by my verse you shall be informed thereon. The ancient grove of Helernus is near the stream of the Tiber; even now do the Pontiffs bear thither the sacrifice. From him was born a Nymph (the men of the olden time called her Crane); ofttimes was she wooed by many a suitor, but in vain. It was her wont to haunt the fields, and to chase the beasts of prey with her javelin, and to spread her knotty toils along the hollow dell. A quiver she did not wear; yet did people believe that she was the sister of Phoebus; and she was not one, O Phoebus, that might cause thee shame. If any of the young men addressed to her words of love, forthwith she uttered this reply, " This place has too much of light, and of the blushes that attend on the light: if you lead to the caves that are more sequestered, I follow." The credulous lover goes before her; she, having arrived at the bushes, stops short, and lies concealed, and is nowhere to be found. Janus had beheld her, and captivated with desire for her thus seen, he employed tender words in addressing the cruel Nymph. The Nymph, in her usual manner, desires a more retired grot to be sought, and follows as though accompanying him, and then deserts him as he leads the way. Foolish one! Janus sees what is done behind his back; nothing dost thou avail; lo! he is now looking behind him upon thy hiding place. Lo! nothing dost thou avail," I said, and truly; for now, as thou art concealing thyself under the crag, he clasps thee in his embrace; and, having realized his hopes, he says, " In return for this embrace of mine, take unto thyself the government of the hinge; take this as the price of thy lost virginity." Thus saying, he gave her a wand ('twas a white one), by which she might be enabled to drive afar from doors all evil mischiefs. There are ravenous fowls; not those which used to rob the month of Phineus at the board, but thence do they derive their origin. Large are their heads, fixed is their gaze, for plunder are their beaks adapted; on their wings is a greyish colour, crooked talons are on their claws. By night they fly, and they seek the children unprotected by the nurse, and pollute their bodies, dragged from their cradles. With their beaks they are said to tear the entrails of the sucklings, and they have their maws distended with the blood which they have swallowed. Striges," are they called; and the origin of this name is, the fact, that they are wont to screech in the dismal night. Whether it is that these birds are produced by nature, or that they are created by the agency of charms, and the magic song of the Marsi transforms hags into birds; they came to the chamber of Procas; Procas, born there but five days before, becomes the new-born prey of the birds; and with greedy tongues they suck the breast of the infant; the hapless child screams, and thereby summons aid. Frightened by the cries of her young charge, the nurse runs to him and finds his cheeks mangled by their hard claws. What was she to do? The hue of his face was that which is wont to be on the latest leaves, which the winter, just arrived, has seared. She came to Crane, and told her of the matter. She said, Lay aside thy fear; safe and sound shall be thy charge! " She had now come to the cradle: the father and mother were weeping. Stay your tears," said she; " I myself will find a remedy! " Forthwith, thrice in due order, she touches the lintels with a branch of the arbutus; thrice, with the same branch, does she mark the threshold. The entrance she sprinkles with water, but which water contains a drug, and she holds the raw entrails of a two-year-old sow; and thus she says, — Ye birds of the night, spare the vitals of the child! for a little babe a little victim falls; take ye heart for heart, I pray — vitals for vitals! this life we give to you in the stead of a better one." When thus she presented the offering, cut in pieces, she lays it in the open air, and forbids those who are present at the rites to look back upon it. The wand, too, of Janus, made of the white thorn, was placed in the spot where the narrow window gave light to the chamber: after that, it is said that the birds no more polluted the cradle, and the complexion which he formerly had, returned to the child.

You ask why fat bacon is tasted on these Calends, and beans are mixed with the boiled spelt? She is a Goddess of ancient days, and she still diets on the food that in olden time she used to receive, and she does not in a spirit of luxury ask for the dainties of foreign lands. In that day, uncaught by that people, swam the fish; and the oysters were safe in their shells. Latium had not become acquainted with the fowl, which rich Ionia produces, nor that which delights in the blood of the Pygmies. Then, beyond its plumage, there was nothing to please in the peacock; nor had any land sent its animals encaged, which before were beasts of chase. Swine then were valuable; by killing a sow they honoured their festivals. The land then produced but beans and the hard-grained spelt. Whoever eats these two things mingled, on the Calends of the sixth month, they say that his stomach can receive no harm.

On the loftiest height of the Capitol, tradition says that a temple was built to Juno Moneta, according to thy vow, O Camillus! Before, it had been the house of Manlius, who formerly repulsed the arms of Gaul from Capitoline Jove. How gracefully — great Gods! had he fallen in that fight, the defender of thy throne, O Jove, who sittest on high! He lived, that he might die, condemned for aspiring to regal power. The credit of doing this, did protracted old age give to him.

The same day is a festival of Mars whom the Capenian gate beholds, outside the walls, situated close to the covered way.

Thee too, O Tempest, we acknowledge to have deserved a shrine, at the time when our fleet was almost overwhelmed by the waves of Corsica. These memorials raised by men are exposed to our view. If you inquire as to the stars; at that time rises the bird of Jove with its crooked beak.

When twice the Moon has come, and Phoebus has twice repeated his rising, and twice the standing corn has been rendered moist by the descent of the dew upon it; on this day Bellona-" is said to have been enshrined in the Etrurian war; she, auspicious, ever favours Latium. Appius was the builder: he, who, when peace was refused to Pyrrhus, saw clearly in his mind: though, as to his eyes, he was blind. A small open space-" before the temple looks forth on the highest part of the Circus. There stands a column, small indeed, but of no small fame. From this spot, is wont to be hurled by the hand, the spear, the herald of war, when it seems good that arms should be taken up against the monarch and against the nations.

The other part of the Circus is secure under the guardianship of Hercules," which honour, through the prophecy of the Euboean Sibyl, that God possesses. The season of the dedication is the light-bearing day, which is before the Nones. If you ask what is the inscription, it is, Sylla'- sanctioned the building."

I was inquiring whether I should attribute the Nones to Sancus, or to Fidius, or to thee, O Father Semo? when Sancus said to me, " To whichever of them thou shalt assign it, I shall still hold the honour. I bear these three names; 'twas thus that Cures willed." Him then, the ancient Sabines presented with a temple, and enshrined him on the Quirinal hill.

I have a daughter (and long, I pray, may she survive my years), as long as she is in comfort I shall ever be happy. When I was wishful to bestow her on a son-in-law, I inquired what period was proper for the nuptial torch, and what time should be shunned. Then June was pointed out to me as being, after the sacred Ides, lucky for brides, and lucky for their husbands. The first part of this month was found to be ill-suited for nuptials; for thus did the holy wife of the Flamen Dialis say to me, " Until the gently flowing Tiber" shall have borne on his yellow waters, to the deep, the cleansings from the shrine of Ilian Vesta, it is not lawful for me to comb, with the box-wood, my shorn locks, nor to pare my nails with the knife, nor to approach my husband's bed; although he is the priest of Jove, and although to me he has been given by an eternal compact. Be not thou in any haste; thy daughter will marry more auspiciously when the shrine of Vesta, Goddess of the Holy Fire, shall be graced with a cleansed floor.

The third Moon after the Nones is said to remove Lycaon, and the Bear has no more cause of alarm behind her. I remember that it is at that time, O rolling Tiber, that I beheld thy games upon the sward of the Campus Martins. This is a holiday to those who drag the dripping nets, and who bait with tiny morsels the hooked brass.

The Mind too is deified. We see shrines to the Mind, that were voted through fear of thy war, treacherous Carthaginian Carthaginian, thou hadst renewed the war, and all, in dismay at the death of the Consul, stood in dread of the Moorish arms. Terror had banished hope; when the Senate made a yow to the Mind, and forthwith, more auspicious did she become. That day, on which the vow was performed for the Goddess, sees the approach of the Ides in six days from it. Vesta, bestow on us thy favour! Now do we open our lips in honour of thee, if it is lawful to do honour to thy sacrifices. I was totally wrapt in my prayer; became sensible of the presence of the celestial Divinity, and the joyous ground reflected back the purple light. As for me, I saw thee not, O Goddess — farewell to the fictions of the poets — by the eyes of man thou wast not possible to be seen. But those things which I had not known, and as to which I was hitherto kept in entire ignorance, were known to me without the instruction of any one. They say that Rome had kept the festivals of Pales, four times ten in number, when the guardian of the sacred flame was received into her temple. This was the act of that peaceful king, than whom, no one more piously disposed, did the land of the Sabines ever bear. The shrines which you now see roofed with brass, then you might see covered with straw, and their walls were woven of the pliant osier. This little spot, which now supports the hall of Vesta, was in those days the vast palace of the unshaven Numa. Yet the shape of the temple which now remains is said to have been anciently the same: and there exists a reason for its figure worthy of our approval. Vesta is the same Divinity as the Earth; the never-sleeping fire belongs to each. The Earth and the Vestal fire represent their respective positions." The Earth, like a ball in shape, upheld by no support, hangs, a mass, weighty as it is, in the surrounding air. Its very roundness keeps this orb well poised, and there are no angles in it to press upon the parts external to it; and since it has been placed in the very middle of the universe, and is touching no one side more or less than the other, were it not round, then it would come nearer to one part than the other, and the universe would no longer have the earth as a weight in the middle of it. And, by way of illustration, there stands a globe in the citadel of Syracuse, suspended in the air," confined within a limited space, a little model of the boundless system; and as far as the earth is distant from the top, so far is it from the bottom; the roundness of its form produces this result. Similar is the form of the temple: in it, there is no projecting angle — a dome protects it from the showers of rain.

You ask why the Goddess is worshipped by virgin attendants? On this subject, too, I shall discover suitable reasons. They say that Juno and Ceres were born of the seed of Saturn, from Ops; Vesta was the third. The two former were wedded; both are stated to have become mothers; one of the three remained without knowing man: what wonder is there if a virgin, pleased with a virgin attendant, admits chaste hand alone to her sacrifices. And consider Vesta nothing else than the living flame; you see that no bodies are produced by flame. In truth, then, she is a virgin, who neither yields nor receives the principles of conception, and who has like companions of her virgin state. Long did I, in my simplicity, imagine that there were statues of Vesta, but I afterwards ascertained that there were none under her concave dome. The fire that has never been extinguished lies hidden in that temple. Neither Vesta nor fire has any likeness. By its own strength does the earth rest: from standing by her own strength is she named Vesta; and similar may be the origin of her Graecian appellation; but the hearth derives its name ["focus"] from the flames, and because it cherishes all things: it formerly stood in the porch of the houses. From this I think that spot is called the " Vestibule." It is from that circumstance that we say in prayer, " O Vesta, thou who dost inhabit the foremost place." Before the hearths, it was the custom formerly to sit together on long benches, and to believe that the Gods were there at the board. Now, too, when sacred rites are performed to the ancient Vacuna," they stand and sit before the hearths of Vacuna. To our years has come down a relic of the ancient custom; a clean platter bears the food sent as a present offered to Vesta. Behold! the loaves of bread hang down from the asses bedecked with garlands, and the wreaths of flowers cover the rough mill-stones. In former times the peasants were wont to parch their spelt only in ovens; and hence the Goddess of the kiln has her own rites. The hearth itself used to bake the bread placed beneath the ashes, and broken tiles were strewed along the warm floor. From that circumstance, does the baker reverence the hearth, and Vesta, the mistress of the hearths, and the same does the ass, which turns round the mill-stones rough as the pumice. Shall I pass it by, or shall I tell thy disgrace, ruddy Priapus?" It is a short story, but full of fun. Cybele, with her brow crowned with turrets, invites to her feast the eternal Gods. She invites, too, the Satyrs and the Nymphs, Deities of the country. Silenus comes, too, though no one had invited him. It is not lawful, 'twere tedious, too, to relate the banquet of the Gods; a sleepless night is spent over copious draughts of wine. Some are carelessly wandering in the vales of the shady Ida; some are lying down, and resting their limbs on the soft herbage. Some are disporting: upon some. Sleep lays her hand: some join hands, and then with active foot they beat the ground. Vesta is lying down, and, free from fear, she enjoys quiet repose, supporting her head, reclining just as it was, on a tuft of grass. But the ruddy keeper of the gardens is now chasing both Nymphs and Goddesses, and turns his wandering steps, first in this direction, then in that. He spies Vesta, too; whether he took her for a Nymph, or whether he knew that she was Vesta, is a matter of doubt; he himself declares that he did not know her. He conceives impure hopes, and stealthily attempts to approach her, and with a palpitating heart he advances on tiptoe. By chance the old man Silenus had left the ass on which he had rode, near the bank of a gently murmuring stream. The God of the extended Hellespont is about to commence his project, when, with an unseasonable noise, the ass brays aloud. Alarmed at this harsh sound, the Goddess arises. All the company run to the same spot: he escapes through their indignant hands. Lampsacus is wont to sacrifice this animal to Priapus: aptly, too, do we consign to the flames the entrails of the telltale ass. Him dost thou, O grateful Goddess, adorn with necklaces made of loaves: at that time, too, the mill-stones, in idleness, cease their grating noise. I will tell what means the altar of Jupiter Pistor, on the height of the Thunderer, more glorious in its renown than in its actual value. The Capitol, beleaguered, was pressed hard by the savage Gauls: the extreme length of the siege had caused a famine. Jupiter having called the Gods to his royal throne, says to Mars, " Do thou begin." Forthwith he answers, " Is it unknown to thee, forsooth, what is the present fortune of my people; and does this pang of my soul need the voice of complaint? If, however, thou requirest that I should, in a word, relate their woes in conjunction with their disgrace; Rome now lies at the foot of an Alpine foe. Is this the city, O Jupiter, to which had been promised the sovereignty of the world? Is it this that thou wast to impose as a ruler upon the earth? Already has she crushed the people in her vicinity, and the arms of Etruria. In their career were our hopes; now, from her very home, has she been expelled. We have seen the veterans graced by many a triumph, adorned with their embroidered garments, fall under the slaughtering hand, in the halls bedecked with brass. We have seen the pledges of the Ilian Vesta transferred from their abode to another retreat; clearly, they believe that some Gods do exist. But if they only took notice that the spot where ye Gods inhabit on the Capitoline heights, and so many of your mansions are invested in blockade; if so, I say, they would surely know that there no longer exists any benefit in their worship of the Gods, and that the frankincense offered with the anxious hand is lost. Oh! would that an opportunity for the fight were given to them! Let them take arms; and if they cannot conquer, why let them perish. Now destitute of food, and dreading an inglorious death, a rabble of barbarians is beleaguering them, cooped up on their own hill. Then Venus, and Quirinus graced with his staff and his kingly robe, and Vesta, pleaded many things in behalf of their Latium. Jupiter said, in reply, " All of us are concerned in common for these walls, and conquered Gaul shall suffer retribution. Do thou, Vesta, but effect, that of those provisions which are scarce, there should be thought to be a superabundance, and desert not thy own abode. Whatever unground grain there is, let the hollow machine bruise it, and, kneaded with the hand, let the hearth harden it upon the fire." He had given his commands, and the Virgin, the daughter of Saturn, assents to the orders of her brother. 'Twas now the hour of midnight: toil had brought sleep to the chiefs. Jupiter chides them, and, with his holy lips, he signifies to them his wishes: "' Rise ye, and, from the top most towers, hurl down into the midst of the enemy that succour which least of all ye prefer to resign." Sleep departs, and, in agitation, by reason of these strange dark sayings, they make inquiries what succour it is that they would be unwilling, and yet that they are ordered to resign? Lo! it seems to them that it is bread. They hurl down the gifts of Ceres; thrown down, they rattle over helmets and long bucklers. All hope that they could be overcome through famine, deserts the enemy. The foe being repulsed, a marble altar is erected to Jupiter Pistor.

It chanced that I was returning from the festival of Vesta, by that way by which the new street is now joined to the Roman Forum. I saw a matron coming along down it with bare feet; I was surprised, and, in silence, I made a pause. An old woman who lived near the place perceived my astonishment, and, requesting me to be seated, she addressed me, shaking her head, in a tremulous voice: — "This place, where now are the markets, formerly fenny marshes covered; a ditch was here swimming with water, from the overflowing of the river. That spot formed the Curtian lake which now supports the altars on dry ground; 'tis now dry ground, but once it was a lake. In the spot where the Velabra are now wont to lead the processions into the Circus, nought was there then but willows and dense reeds. Ofttimes does the reveller sing, as he is returning homeward through the waters of the suburbs, and passes his drunken jokes upon the sailors. -Not yet had the God, he who adapts himself to various forms, received a name from the turning aside of the river. ". Here, too, there was a sacred grove, dense with bulrushes and reeds, and a marsh not to be approached with covered feet. The standing waters have been drained off; its own bank confines the stream, and now the ground is dry; yet still is the custom kept up." She had told me the cause. " Farewell, most worthy dame," said I; "tranquil be the remainder of thy days.'" The rest that I shall tell, I learned long since in the days of my childhood; but it must not on that account be passed over by me. Ilus, the descendant of Dardanus, had just built his new walls: the wealthy Ilus still held the sovereignty of Asia. The heavenly statue of the armed Minerva is believed to have fallen on the heights of the city of Ilus: to see it was my care. I saw the temple and the spot: they are still left to Troy; but Rome has the image of Pallas. Smintheus is consulted, and in the gloom of a shady grove he utters these words, with a voice that never deceives: — Preserve the Goddess that comes from the skies, and ye will preserve your city: with herself, she will transfer the empire of the place." Ilus preserves her, and keeps her shut up in the heights of his citadel, and the care of her descends to his son Laomedon. Badly guarded was she under Priam; thus wished she that it should he, from the time when her beauty was impugned by the judgment of his son. Either the descendant of Adrastus, or Ulysses, skilled in theft, or else the pious -Æneas, is said to have carried her away: the perpetrator of the deed is unknown; the image itself is Roman; Vesta protects her, because she watches all things with her unceasing light. Oh! how great was the dread of the Senators, at the time when the temple of Vesta was burned, and she herself was almost overwhelmed by her own ruins! The sacred fires were burning with the accursed ones; and the sacrilegious flames were mingling with the pious. Her priestesses, astounded, were weeping with dishevelled locks: their very fear had deprived their bodies of strength. Metellus flies forward into the midst, and, with a loud voice, he cries, " Haste to the rescue! tears afford no help. Remove the pledges of destiny with your virgin hands! By the hand, and not by vows, must they be rescued. Woe is me! Do ye hesitate ?" says he. He saw that they were hesitating, and that in their dismay they had fallen down on their knees. He takes up some water, and, raising his hands, he says, " Forgive me, ye holy things! Though a man, I will enter the shrines which ought not by man to be entered. If this be a crime, then full upon me fall the penalty of my sin, and at the cost of my life let Rome be redeemed." He said, and he burst in. The Goddess, carried off, approved of the deed; and by the devotedness of her Priest was she saved. Now, happily do ye glow, ye sacred fires, under Cæsar. Now the fire both is, and will be, upon Ilian shrines; and while he is our chief, no priestess will be told of as having defiled her fillets, or will be buried alive in the earth. Thus perishes the unchaste one, inasmuch as she against whom she has sinned is heaped upon her; for the Earth and Vesta are the same deity.

On this day did Brutus gain a surname from the Callaican foe, and stain with blood the Spanish soil. Sometimes, forsooth, is sorrow mixed with rejoicings; lest the festal day should delight the people to their very hearts' content, and leave nothing for them to desire, Crassus, near the Euphrates, lost his eagles, his son, and his soldiers; and, last of all, was himself consigned to death. " Parthian! why dost thou exult?" said the Goddess. " Those standards thou shalt restore, and there shall be an avenger to take satisfaction for the death of Crassus," But as soon as the violets are taken off from the long-eared asses, and the rough millstones grind the grain of Ceres, the mariner, sitting in his bark, says, We shall see the Dolphin," when the damp night, having chased away the day, shall have set in."

Now, Phrygian Tithonus, thou complainest that thou art deserted by thy bride, and the watchful light-bearing star of the morn comes forth from the eastern waves. Go in procession good matrons, — the Matralia is your festival, — and offer the yellow cakes to the Theban Goddess." There is an open space adjoining to the bridges and the great Circus, which derives its name from an ox placed there. Here, on this morn, they say that the sceptred hands of Servius gave a temple to Mother Matuta. As to what Goddess she is, why she keeps handmaidens afar from the thresholds of her temple (for she does keep them away), and why she requires the toasted cakes, Bacchus, with thy hair crowned with clusters and wreathed with ivy, if this family be thine, do thou guide the course of my bark. Through Jove's compliance with her request, Semele had been consumed; Ino received thee, O child, and carefully reared thee with her best attention. Juno was enraged, because she was bringing up the child that was snatched from the womb of a concubine of Jove. But, in good truth, he was the offspring of her sister."'" On this account, Athamas is haunted by the Furies and by false imaginings, and thou diest, infant Learchus, by the hand of thy father. The sorrowing mother had now buried the corpse of Learchus, and had performed all the rites due to the dismal pile. She, too, bounds forward just as she is, with her locks torn in funereal woe, and snatches thee, Melicerta, from thy cradle. There is a spot contracted within a narrow compass, — two seas it dashes back, and one tract of land is beaten by two tides. Thither she comes, embracing her son in her maniac arms, and plunges him, along with herself, from the high summit of the cliff into the deep. Unharmed, Panope and her hundred sisters receive them, and with a gently gliding pace they bear them through their realms. Not yet does Leucothoe — not yet does that boy Palæmon possess the mouth of Tiber, abounding with its eddies. There was a sacred grove: whether it is called the Grove of Semele, or of Stimula," is a matter of doubt; they say that the Bacchanals of Ausonia inhabited it. Of these, Ino enquires what nation that is? She hears that they are Arcadians, and that Evander wields the sceptre of the place. Concealing her divinity, Juno, the daughter of Saturn, insidiously urges on the Latian Bacchanals by deceiving words: — " people — too credulous," and utterly mad! This stranger comes, no friend to our choirs. By fraud she seeks and endeavours to become acquainted with the ceremonial of our rites; she has with her a pledge by which she can pay the penalty." Hardly has she ceased; the Bacchanals fill the air with their howlings, their locks streaming down their shoulders; they lay hands upon her, and strive to tear away the babe; she invokes those Gods whom, as yet, a stranger, she knows not. " Ye Gods, and ye men of this place, assist a mother in her distress !" Her cries re-echo among the neighbouring crags of the Aventine. The hero of Œta had just driven to the bank of the river his Iberian cows; he hears her, and in haste pursues his way towards the sounds. At the approach of Hercules, those who, but a moment before, were preparing to offer violence, turn their cowardly backs in womanish flight. He says, " What seekest thou in this spot, aunt of Bacchus?" for he had recognized her: Does the same Deity that harasses me, harass thee also?" Partly she informs him; as to some part of her story, the presence of her son is a check upon her, and she is ashamed that in her frenzy she has resorted to crime. Fame, swift as she is, flies about with flapping wings; and ofttimes, Ino, is thy name on her lips. As the guest of Carmentis, thou art said to have entered a faithful abode, and to have broken thy protracted fast. The priestess of Tegæa is said to have given to thee cakes hastily made with her own hand, and baked upon a hurried hearth. And so at the present day, on the festival of the Matralia, are cakes pleasing to her; this rustic courtesy was more pleasing than all the appliances of art. " Now," she says, do thou, a prophetess, unseal the decrees of destiny as thou mayst be pleased; add this favour, I pray, to thy hospitable reception of me." But little delay is there: the prophetess receives the inspiration of the Deities of the heavens, and becomes filled with the God throughout her entire soul. On a sudden, scarcely could you recognize her, so much more holy, and so much more stately did she seem than the moment before. Tidings of joy will I sing; rejoice, Ino, that thou hast ended thy toils," she said, " and ever be present, propitious to this nation! A Deity of the ocean shalt thou be; the deep, too, shall receive thy son; amid our seas take ye both another name. Leucothoe shalt thou be called by the Greeks; Matuta by our nation; thy son shall have universal sway over the harbours. Him whom we shall call Portunus, his own tongue shall call Palæmon. Go ye both, I pray, propitious to these our lands." They nodded their assent. Truth attended her promise: they ended their labours: they changed their names: the one is a God, the other a Goddess. You enquire why she forbids the handmaids to approach; she hates them, and if she permits me, I will sing the origin of her hate. Daughter of Cadmus, one of thy female servants was wont ofttimes to submit to the embraces of thy husband. The faithless Athamas wooed her by stealth. From her he learned that grain subjected to the fire was given out to the husbandmen. The queen herself denied that she did this, but rumour has given reception to the story; this is the reason why this class of servants are objects of her hatred. But let not the fond, mother offer up to her, prayers for her own family; she herself seems to have been but an unhappy parent. "With more fortunate results, ye will entrust to her the offspring of another; she was more beneficial to Bacchus than she was to her own children. It is reported that this Goddess said to thee, O Rutilius, Whither dost thou hasten on my festival? A Consul, thou shalt fall, by the hand of the Marsian foe." The event accorded with her words; and the empurpled stream of Tolenus ran with his waters mingled with gore. The next year came: on the same morn the slaughter of Didius redoubled the success of the foe. The same day is thine, O Fortune; the same the builder; the same the site. But who is this that lies hid beneath the garments covering him? It is Servius: for this much is agreed upon; but various reasons are assigned for his concealment, and they leave me uncertain in my own mind. While the Goddess timidly confesses her stolen loves, and blushes that she, a daughter of heaven, had submitted to the embrace of a mortal, for she was inflamed with love, being seized with a violent passion for the king, and in the case of this man alone she proved herself not blind. — By night she was wont to enter his abode through a little window, from which circumstance the gate bears the name of Fenestella. Now is she ashamed, and she covers with a veil those beloved features, and the face of the king is hidden by many a gown. Or is it rather the truth, that after the death of Tullius the people were shocked by the death of their peaceful chief? No bounds were then set to their grief; at sight of his statue their sorrow increased, until they concealed it by putting gowns over it. The third reason must be sung by me in a wider space; yet shall I keep my steeds within the narrowest limits as I drive. Tullia having effected her marriage, the wages of iniquity, was wont to urge her lord with these words: " What boots it that we are equally matched in guilt, thou, with the murder of my sister, and I, with the blood of thy brother, if now a life of piety contents us? My husband and thy wife should both have lived, it we were to dare no greater crime than this? The life and the kingdom of my father I present to thee as my dowry; if thou art a man, go and exact the benefits of my dower, that I tell thee of. Crime is worthy of a king; slay thy father-in-law, and seize the throne, and do thou stain both our hands with my father's blood." Goaded on by such words, he, a private person, had now taken his seat on the lofty throne: in amazement, the multitude takes to arms. Bloodshed and slaughter are the consequence, and feeble age is overpowered. The son-in-law, Tarquinius Superbus, wields the sceptre that he has won from his father-in-law. The king himself, slain at the foot of the Esquiliæ, where his palace was, fell, weltering in his blood, on the hard ground. His daughter, about to enter the home of her father, was passing in her chariot, lofty and impudent, through the middle of the street. The charioteer, soon as he beheld the body, bursting into tears, stopped short; with such words as these did she reproach him: "Are you going on? or are you awaiting the bitter reward of your affection? Drive, I tell you, the wheels over his very face, whether they will go or not, A sure evidence of this deed, from her the street was called "The Accursed," and that transaction is thereby impressed with a lasting mark. Yet, after this, she dared to touch the temple that was the memorial of her father: wonders, truly, but still facts, do I relate. There was a statue, the resemblance of Tullius, sitting on a throne; this is said, with its hands, to have covered its eyes; and a voice was heard, " Cover ye my countenance, that it behold not the impious face of my daughter." He was covered with the garment presented to him; Fortune forbade it to be removed, and thus from her temple did she speak: " That day, on which, with unveiled features, Servius shall first be uncovered, shall be the first of the departure from shame." Forbear, ye matrons, to touch the forbidden garments; it is enough to utter prayers with the voice of worship; and may he who was the seventh king in our city, ever keep his head concealed in the Roman garb. This temple was burned by fire; yet did the flames spare that statue; Mulciber himself gave his aid to his son. For Vulcan was the Father of Tullius; Ocrisia was his mother, a woman of Corniculum, remarkable for her beauty. Her, Tanaquil, having duly performed the sacred rites, ordered, in company with herself, to pour the wine on the decorated altar. Here among the ashes either was, or seemed to be, a form of obscene shape; but such it really was. Being ordered so to do, the captive submits to its embraces; conceived by her, Servius has the origin of his birth from heaven. His father afforded the proof, at the time when he touched his head with the gleaming fire, and a flame, rising to a point, blazed upon his locks.

Thee, too, O Concord, does Livia enshrine in a gorgeous temple, thee, whom she bestowed upon her beloved husband. But know, generations to come, that where the portico of Livia now is, once stood the building of an immense house. One house was the work of a whole city; and it occupied a space, a smaller than which many towns contain within their walls. This was levelled with the ground, under no accusation of one aiming at sovereign power, but because, by its gorgeousness, it was deemed injurious to public virtue, Cæsar had the moral courage to level so vast a pile of buildings; and himself, the heir to it, to lose so much property ?f his own. Thus is his Censorship discharged, and thus is an example given; when the assertor of morality himself practises that which he enjoins on others.

There is no mark of distinction on the succeeding day which I am able to mention.

On the Ides a temple was given to unconquered Jove. And now I am commanded to tell you of the lesser Quinquatrus; Minerva, now with thy auburn locks, assist my undertaking. Why does the strolling piper rove about all the city? What mean the masks, what the long flowing hair? Thus I spoke. Thus said Tritonia, having laid aside her lance (would that I could repeat exactly the words of the learned Goddess): " In the times of your forefathers of old, the piper was much employed, and was always held in high estimation. The piper used to sound his notes in the temples, and at the games; at the sorrowful funerals the piper used to sound. His toil was then sweetened by reward; but a time followed, which suddenly put an end to the employment of the Grecian art. Add, too, the fact, that the Ædile had ordered that there should be but ten musicians who should attend the funeral procession. They quit the city in self-imposed exile, and they retire to Tibur. The hollow pipe is tossed on the stage, it is missed at the altars; no dirge now escorts the last obsequies. A certain man, himself worthy of any rank, had been a slave at Tibur," but after a length of time he had become free. He prepares a repast at his farm, and Invites the musical band; they assemble at the festive banquet. 'Twas now night, and their sight and their eyes and their souls were drenched with wine, when a messenger came with a speech previously arranged, and thus he said: Why delayest thou to put an end to the banquet? the giver of thy freedom is at hand. There is no delay; the guests move their limbs staggering under the strong wine; their stumbling feet now stand, now give way. But the master of the house said, Depart ye, and lifted them into a cart as they yet lingered; with broad hurdles was the cart fenced round. The late hour, the jolting, and the wine, all bring on sleep, and the drunken crew think that they are going back to Tibur, And now, the cart had entered the Roman city through the Esquiliæ, and in the morning it was standing in the middle of the Forum. Plautius, that he may deceive the Senate both as to their appearance and numbers, orders their faces to be covered with masks. He also puts among them others, and, that the band of female musicians may increase this multitude, he orders them to go in long garments, that so those who had returned might be thoroughly concealed, lest, by chance, they should be remarked to have come back contrary to the commands of his colleague. The thing was approved of; and ever since it has been allowed by usage to wear strange dresses on the Ides, and to chant merry sayings to the old-fashioned airs. When she had given me this information, I said, It still remains for me to learn why that day is called Quinquatrus? ''March,' says she, 'keeps a festival of mine by that name, and this kind of people are in the number of my inventions. I was the first to cause the long pipe to give forth its sounds, the box-wood having been first bored in a few holes. The melody pleased me; but in the clear waters that reflected my face, I saw the swelling out of my virgin cheeks.' 'The art is not worth the penalty to me,' I cried; 'farewell! my pipe.' The river's bank received it as I threw it away. A Satyr having found it, is at first struck with wonder, and knows not its use; but he perceives that when blown into it emits a sound; and at one moment, he lets forth the air with his fingers, at another, he stops it. And now among the Nymphs he is vain of his new-found art. He challenged even Phoebus; Phoebus being victor, he was hung up; and his mangled limbs were stripped of their skin. Yet I am the inventress and the originator of this melody; this is the reason why that branch of art observes "j festive days."

The third day shall come, on which thou, Thyene of Dodona, shalt stand conspicuous on the forehead of the Bull of Agenor's daughter. This is the day on which thou, O Tiber, dost roll to the deep, along thy Etrurian streams, the cleansings of the shrine of Vesta.

If there is any dependence at all on the winds, ye mariners, spread your canvass to Zephyrus: to-morrow he shall come propitious, over your waves.

But when the parent of the Heliades shall have plunged his beams in the waves, and the bright stars shall gird the two extremities of the skies, the son of Hyrieus shall raise from the ground his strong shoulders; on the succeeding night, the Dolphin will be visible. In truth, he once had seen the Volsci and the Æqui routed on thy plains, O land of Algidus; from which circumstance, Tubertus Posthumus, thou wast carried, renowned by a triumph over thy neighbouring foes, by snow-white steeds.

Now six days and as many more of the month are remaining; and to this number add one day. The sun leaves Gemini, and the sign of the Crab grows ruddy with his light: on this day Pallas began to be worshipped on the heights of the Aventine.

Now, Laomedon, thy daughter-in-law rises, and rising, dispels the night, and the damp rime departs from the meadows: then a temple is said to have been given to Summanus, whoever he may chance to be, at that season when thou, O Pyrrhus, wast an object of dread to the Romans.

When Galatea shall have received her, too, in the waves of her sire, and the earth shall be full of rest, undisturbed with care; then rises from the earth the youth who was smitten by the weapons of his grandsire, and extends his hands, wreathed with two snakes. Well known is the passion of Phædra — well known the injustice of Theseus: he, in his credulity, devoted to destruction his own son. The youth who, not with impunity, adhered to virtue, is on his way to Trœzene; a bull cleaves with his breast the opposing waters; the startled horses are frightened; and, in vain held in, they drag their master over the crags and hard rocks. Hippolytus fell from his chariot, and was hurried along by the draggling reins, with his body all torn; and he yielded up his life, to the great indignation of Diana. " There is no cause for thy sorrow, says the son of Coronis, for I will restore life to the virtuous youth, without a wound being left on him and his sad destiny shall give way to my art." Forthwith he brings out the herbs from his ivory cabinet; they had formerly benefited the manes of Glaucus 'twas at that time when the augur stooped to the examination of herbs, and the snake experienced the benefit of the remedy that was given by a snake. Thrice did he touch his breast; thrice did he repeat the healing charms; the other raised from the ground his head, as it lay there, A sacred grove, and Dictymna, in the recesses of her retreat, shelters him: he is Virbius, in the lake of Aricia. But Clymenus and Clotho take it amiss; the one, that her threads arc unspun, the other, that the privileges of his kingdom are violated. Jupiter, taking alarm at the precedent, aimed his bolt against him, who applied the aid of an art too profound. Phoebus, thou didst complain. He is a God; be appeased with thy sire: for thy sake, he himself does that very thing which he forbids to be done!

I would not wish thee, Cæsar, to move thy standards, though to victory thou shouldst hasten, if the auspices forbid. Flaminius, and the shores of Thrasymenus, can attest to thee that the just Gods give many intimations by birds. If thou enquirest the season of rashness, on which occurred the ancient defeat, it was the eighth day from the end of the month.

More fortunate is the next day. Masinissa then conquers Syphax, and by his own weapons does Hasdrubal himself fall. Time rolls on, and with noiseless years do we reach old age: the days flee away with no rein to check them. How quickly have arrived the honours of the Goddess of Chance; after some days, June will be no more. Go, ye Quirites, and joyfully throng to the bold Goddess; on the banks of the Tiber she possesses an abode, the gift of a king. Some of you, go on foot; some run down the stream, too, in the rapid skiff; and be not ashamed to return home intoxicated. Ye boats, crowned with garlands, bring the jovial troops of youths, and let plenty of wine be drunk in the midst of your voyage! The commonalty worship her, because he who built this temple is said to have been one of the commonalty, and, from an humble rank, to have wielded the sceptre. She is also suited for slaves; because Tullius, born of a bond-woman, erected the neighbouring temple to the fickle Goddess. Lo! some one returning from the temple in the. suburbs, far from sober, utters to the stars some such words as these: "Now is thy belt concealed; and perhaps to-morrow it will be concealed; afterwards, Orion, it will be visible to me, Were he not intoxicated, he would say, as well, that the summer solstice would come on the same day.

The next day arriving, the Lares received their temple; here, where many a chaplet is wrought by a skilful hand; Jupiter Stator has the same time as the anniversary of his temple, which Romulus formerly built on the front of the Palatine Hill.

As many days remain of the month as the Fates have names, on the day, when there was a temple, O Quirinus, erected in honour of thee in thy kingly robe. To-morrow is the natal day for the Calends of Julius: Pierian maidens! put the conclusion to my undertaking. "Tell me, ye Pierian maids! who placed you next to him, to whom, Juno, his conquered stepmother, offered her reluctant hands?" Thus I said; thus Clio answered — " Thou beholdest a memorial of the illustrious Philippus, from whom the chaste Marcia derives her birth. Marcia, a name derived from the religious Marcus, in whom her beauty is equal with her noble birth; in her, too, her, beauty is equal to, and in accordance with her spirit. In her, are birth, beauty, and genius, united; nor should st thou think it so mean a thing that I praise her beauty; in this respect, too, am I wont to praise the great Goddesses. The aunt of Cæsar was once the bride of this noble. O thou glory; thou woman worthy of that sacred house !" Thus Clio sang; her learned sisters gave their assent; Alcides, too, nodded his assent, and struck his lyre.