Book 28
11
In the anxiety caused by the strain of such a serious war when men referred every occurrence, fortunate or the reverse, to the direct action of the gods, numerous portents were announced. At Tarracina the temple of Jupiter, at Satricum that of Mater Matuta were struck by lightning. At the latter place quite as much alarm was created by the appearance of two snakes which glided straight through the doors into the temple of Jupiter. From Antium it was reported that the ears of corn seemed to those who were reaping them to be covered with blood. At Caere a pig had been farrowed with two heads, and a lamb yeaned which was both male and female. Two suns were said to have been seen at Alba, and at Fregellae it had become light during the night. In the precinct of Rome an ox was said to have spoken; the altar of Neptune in the Circus Flaminius was asserted to have been bathed in perspiration, and the temples of Ceres, Salus and Quirinus were all struck by lightning. The consuls received orders to expiate the portents by sacrificing full-grown victims and to appoint a day of solemn intercession. These measures were carried out in accordance with the senatorial resolution. What was a much more terrifying experience than all the portents reported from the country or seen in the City, was the extinction of the fire in the temple of Vesta. The vestal who was in charge of the fire that night was severely flogged by order of P. Licinius, the Pontifex Maximus. Though this was no portent sent by the gods, but merely the result of human carelessness, it was decided to sacrifice full-grown victims and hold a service of solemn supplication in the temple of Vestal.
