XXXVIL Portents and their Expiatiot;一Prior to the departure of the consuls religious observances were kept up for nine days owing to the fall of a shower of stones at Veii. As usual, no sooner was one portent announced than reports were brought in of others. At Menturnae the temple of Jupiter and the sacred grove of Marica were struck with lightning, as were also the wall of Atella and one of the gates. The people of Menturnae reported a second and more appalling portent; a stream of blood had flowed in at their gate. At Capua a wolf had entered the gate by night and mauled one of the watch. These portents were expiated by the sacrifice of full-grown victims , and special intercessions for the whole of one day were ordered by the pontiffs. Subsequently a second nine days' observance was ordered in consequence of a shower of stones which fell in the Armilustrum.25 No sooner were men's fears allayed by these expiatory rites than a fresh report came, this time from Frusino, to the effect that a child had been born there in size and appearance equal to one four years old, and what was still more startling, like the case at Sinuessa two vears Dreviouslv. it was impossible to sav whether it was male or iemaie. 1 ne aivmers wno naa peen summonea from乙truna said that this was a dreadful portent, and the thing must be banished from Roman soil, kept from any contact with the earth, and buried in the sea. They enclosed it alive in a box, took it out to sea, and dropped it overboard. The pontiffs also decreed that three bands of maidens, each consisting of nine, should go through the City singing a hymn. This hymn was com po 究ed by theP oet Livius were practising it in th e temple of Jupiter Stator, the shrin Queen Juno on the Aventine was struck by lightning. The d ivlners were consulted, and they declared that this portent concerned the matrons and that th e goddess must be appeased by一 agift.The curule aediles issued an edict summoning一 to the Capitol all the matrons whose homes were in Rome or within a distance of ten miles.When they were assembled they selected twenty-five of their number to receive their offerings: these 、~声2 uted out. of their dowries. From t1 sum thus collected a g oiaen oastn was mace and carried as an oblation to the Aventine, where the matrons offered a pure and chaste sacrifi ce. Immediately afterwards the Keepers of the Sacred Books gal Ve notice of a day for further sacrificial rites in honour of thi s deity. The following was the order of their observance. Two white heifers。were led from the temple of Apollo through. t \" r. the Carmentai Gate into the City;after them were borne two images of the goddess, made of cypress wood. en twentyseven maidens, vested in 14ng robes, walked procession sinaina a hvmn in her honour, which was perhaps admired in those rude day s, but which would be considered very uncouth and unpleasing if it were recited now. After the train of maidens came the ten Keepers of the Sacred Books wearing the toga Draetexta. and with laurel wreaths round their brows. From the Carmentai irate the procession marcnea along the v icus Jugarius into the Forum, where it stopped. Here，the girls,, ail tioiaing a cord, commenced a solemn dance while they sang, beating time with their feet to the sound of their voices. They then resumed their course along the Vicus Tuscus and the Velabrum, through the Forum Boarium and up the Clivus Publicius till they reached the temple of Juno. Here the two heifers were sacrificed by the Ten Keepers, and the cypress images were carried into the shrine.