§27.37.1priusquam consules proficiscerentur, novendiale sacrum fuit, quia Veis de caelo lapidaverat.
Before the consuls departed, a nine-day festival was held, because it had rained stones from heaven at Veii.
§27.37.2sub unius prodigii ut fit, mentionem alia quoque nuntiata, Menturnis aedem Iovis et lucum Maricae, item Atellae murum et portam de caelo tacta; §27.37.3Menturnenses, terribilius quod esset, adiciebant sanguinis rivum in porta fluxisse; et Capuae lupus nocte portam ingressus vigilem laniaverat.
Upon the mention of one prodigy, as usually happens, others also were reported: that at Minturnae the temple of Jupiter and the grove of Marica, and likewise at Atella the wall and a gate had been struck by lightning; the people of Minturnae added, what was more terrible, that a stream of blood had flowed at the gate; and at Capua a wolf, having entered a gate by night, had mangled a sentry.
§27.37.4haec procurata hostiis maioribus prodigia, et supplicatio diem unum fuit ex decreto pontificum.
These prodigies were expiated with full-grown victims, and there was a supplication for one day by decree of the pontiffs.
inde iterum novendiale instauratum, quod in Armilustro lapidibus visum pluere.
Then again a nine-day festival was inaugurated, because it was reported to have rained stones in the Armilustrum.
§27.37.5liberatas religione mentes turbavit rursus nuntiatum Frusinone natum infantem esse quadrimo parem, nec magnitudine tam mirandum, quam quod is quoque, ut Sinuessae biennio ante, incertus, mas an femina esset, natus erat.
The minds of the people, freed from religious anxiety, were again disturbed by a report that at Frusino an infant had been born equal in size to a four-year-old child, and one remarkable not so much for its size as because it too had been born, as at Sinuessa two years before, of uncertain sex, whether male or female.
§27.37.6id vero haruspices ex Etruria adciti foedum turpe prodigium dicere: extorrem agro Romano, procul terrae contactu, alto mergendum.
Indeed, the haruspices summoned from Etruria declared this to be a foul and ill-boding prodigy, and that it must be banished from Roman territory, kept far from contact with land, and drowned in the deep sea.
vivum in arcam condidere provectumque in mare proiecerunt.
They shut the child alive in a chest, carried it out to sea, and threw it in.
§27.37.7decrevere item pontifices, ut virgines ter novenae per urbem euntes carmen canerent.
The pontiffs also decreed that thrice nine maidens should go through the city singing a hymn.
id cum in Iovis Statoris aede discerent conditum ab Livio poeta carmen, tacta de caelo aedis in Aventino Iunonis Reginae; §27.37.8prodigiumque id ad matronas pertinere haruspices cum respondissent §27.37.9donoque divam placandam esse aedilium curulium edicto in Capitolium convocatae, quibus in urbe Romana intraque decimum lapidem ab urbe domicilia essent, ipsae inter se quinque et viginti delegerunt, ad quas ex dotibus stipem conferrent.
While they were learning this hymn, composed by the poet Livius, in the temple of Jupiter Stator, the temple of Queen Juno on the Aventine was struck by lightning; and when the haruspices had answered that this prodigy concerned the matrons and that the goddess must be appeased with a gift, they were summoned to the Capitol by an edict of the curule aediles—those, that is, who had homes in the city of Rome and within the tenth milestone from the city—and they themselves chose twenty-five of their number to whom they should bring a contribution from their dowries.
§27.37.10inde donum pelvis aurea facta lataque in Aventinum, pureque et caste a matronis sacrificatum.
From this a gift of a golden bowl was made and carried to the Aventine, and a pure and chaste sacrifice was offered by the matrons.
§27.37.11confestim ad aliud sacrificium eidem divae ab decemviris edicta dies, cuius ordo talis fuit: ab aede Apollinis boves feminae albae duae porta Carmentali in urbem ductae.
Immediately, another sacrifice to the same goddess was appointed by the decemvirs, the order of which was as follows: from the temple of Apollo two white heifers were led through the Carmental gate into the city.
§27.37.12post eas duo signa cupressea Iunonis Reginae portabantur; tum septem et viginti virgines, longam indutae vestem, carmen in Iunonem Reginam canentes ibant, §27.37.13illa tempestate forsitan laudabile rudibus ingeniis, nunc abhorrens et inconditum, si referatur.
After them, two cypress-wood statues of Queen Juno were carried; then twenty-seven maidens, clad in long robes, went singing a hymn in honor of Queen Juno, which, though perhaps praiseworthy in that age to their rude intelligences, would now seem harsh and unpolished if it were repeated.
virginum ordinem sequebantur decemviri coronati laurea praetextatique.
Behind the line of maidens followed the decemvirs, crowned with laurel and wearing the toga praetexta.
§27.37.14a porta Iugario vico in forum venere.
From the gate they came through the Vicus Iugarius into the Forum.
in foro pompa constitit, et per manus reste data virgines sonum vocis pulsu pedum modulantes incesserunt.
In the Forum the procession halted, and the maidens, holding a rope passed from hand to hand, advanced, keeping time to their voices by the beat of their feet.
§27.37.15inde vico Tusco Velabroque per Bovarium forum in clivum Publicium atque aedem Iunonis Reginae perrectum.
Thence they proceeded through the Vicus Tuscus and the Velabrum, across the Forum Boarium, up the Clivus Publicius, and to the temple of Queen Juno.
ibi duae hostiae ab decemviris immolatae et simulacra cupressea in aedem inlata.
There two victims were immolated by the decemvirs, and the cypress statues were carried into the temple.