21.62
During
this winter many portents occurred in Rome and the neighbourhood, or at all
events, many were reported and easily gained credence, for when once men's
minds have been excited by superstitious fears they easily believe these
things. A six-months-old child, of freeborn parents, is said to have shouted
"Io Triumphe" in the vegetable market, whilst in the Forum Boarium an ox is
reported to have climbed up of its own accord to the third story of a house,
and then, frightened by the noisy crowd which gathered, it threw itself down.
A phantom navy was seen shining in the sky; the temple of Hope in the
vegetable market was struck by lightning; at Lanuvium Juno's spear had
moved of itself, and a crow had flown down to her temple and settled upon
her couch; in the territory of Amiternum beings in human shape and clothed
in white were seen at a distance, but no one came close to them; in the
neighbourhood of Picenum there was a shower of stones; at Caere the
oracular tablets had shrunk in size; in Gaul a wolf had snatched a sentinel's
sword from its scabbard and run off with it. With regard to the other
portents, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the Sacred Books, but in the
case of the shower of stones at Picenum a nine days' sacred feast was
proclaimed, at the close of which almost the whole community busied itself
with the expiation of the others. First of all the City was purified, and
full-grown victims were sacrificed to the deities named in the Sacred Books;
an offering of forty pounds' weight of gold was conveyed to Juno at
Lanuvium, and the matrons dedicated a bronze statue of that goddess on the
Aventine. At Caere, where the tablets had shrunk, a lectisternium was
enjoined, and a service of intercession was to be rendered to Fortuna on
Algidus. In Rome also a lectisternium was ordered for Juventas and a special
service of intercession at the temple of Hercules, and afterwards one in
which the whole population were to take part at all the shrines. Five
full-grown victims were sacrificed to the Genius of Rome, and C. Atilius
Serranus, the praetor, received instructions to undertake certain vows which
were to be discharged should the commonwealth remain in the same
condition for ten years. These ceremonial observances and vows, ordered in
obedience to the Sacred Books, did much to allay the religious fears of the
people.