Book 24
3
Before Pyrrhus' arrival in Italy, the city of Croto had walls which formed a circuit of twelve miles. After the devastation caused by that war hardly half the place was inhabited; the river which used to flow through the middle of the city now ran outside the part where the houses were, and the citadel was at a considerable distance from them. Sixteen miles from this famous city there was a still more famous temple to Juno Lacinia, an object of veneration to all the surrounding communities. There was a grove here enclosed by a dense wood and lofty fir-trees, in the middle of which there was a glade affording delightful pasture. In this glade cattle of every kind, sacred to the goddess, used to feed without any one to look after them, and at nightfall the different herds separated each to their own stalls without any beasts of prey lying in wait for them or any human hands to steal them. These cattle were a source of great profit, and a column of solid gold was made from the money thus gained and dedicated to the goddess. Thus the temple became celebrated for its wealth as well as for its sanctity, and as generally happens in these famous spots, some miracles also were attributed to it. It was commonly reported that an altar stood in the porch of the temple, the ashes on which were never stirred by any wind.
