on Virg. Ae. 3. To exhibit the whole at one view, according to Homer, we have Tithonus, Priamus, Lampon, Klytion, Hicetaon, Anchises, Hector, &c. Aeneas. II. When Ilus was founding the city of Ilium, he prayed to Zeus to grant him some token of his favour. On the following day he found lying before his tent the PALLADIUM, which had fallen from heaven. This was a statue of Pallas, in height three cubits, with the feet close together, holding in the right hand a spear erect, in the left a distaff and spindle 1. Tradition told that Aeneas bore the hallowed image from Troy along with the Phrygian Penates, and the Romans believed that it was treasured up in their city in the sanctuary of Vesta's temple 2, a pledge granted by fate, on whose preservation depended their existence as a nation. Thus, when the Campanians were accused of having attempted to set fire to Rome, Fulvius urged, Livy 26, 27 'Vestae aedem petitam, et aeternos ignes, et conditum in penetrali fatale pignus imperii Romani.' And again 5. 52 'Quid de aeternis Vestae ignibus, signoque, quod imperii pignus custodia eius templi tenetur, loquar?' According to another tradition, followed by Virgil (Ae. 1 So Apollodorus 3. 12, 3. 9 See Dionys. Hal. 1. 68; 2. 66, Plutarch. Vit. Num. et. Vit. Camill. 2. 164), the Palladium was stolen out of Troy by Diomedes and Ulysses before the capture of that city 1. A legend was thus rendered necessary to reconcile the contradiction, and explain how the image which was carried off by the Greeks might yet be in the possession of the Romans. Diomedes having endured many hardships and misfortunes after the fall of Troy, was warned by oracles that his troubles would never cease until he restored the Palladium, which had remained in his keeping, to the lawful owners. Hearing that the son of Anchises had arrived in Italy, he hastened to obey the injunction of heaven, but arriving at a moment when Aeneas was offering sacrifice with his head covered, he gave the image into the hands of one of the attendants, named Nautes, and from this circumstance Pallas became a domestic deity of the 'Gens Nautia.' Such was the tale recorded by Varro in his history of Trojan Families 2, and to this Virgil is supposed to allude in the lines 'Tum senior Nautes, unum Tritonia Pallas Quem docuit, multaque insignem reddidit arte, III. The chief subject of this Extract is the preservation of the Palladium by Lucius Caecilius Metellus, Pontifex Maximus, when the temple of Vesta was consumed by fire towards the end of the first Punic War 4. With regard to this event we may quote Pliny H. N. 7. 435 1 Hence many cities claimed the possession of the Palladium, the Athenians (Pausan. 1. 28), the Argives (Pausan. 2. 23), and others. 2 Preserved by Servius on Virg. Ae. 2. 166; 5. 704. See also Dionys. Hal. 6. 69. 3 He was Consul 251 B. C., Magister equitum 249 B. C., and Consul a second time 247 B. C. In 250 B. C. he celebrated a magnificent triumph over the Carthaginians, in which thirteen generals of the enemy, and a hundred and twenty elephants, were led in procession. 4 We read of a similar event in the reign of Commodus, and the Palladium is said to have been removed altogether from the temple of Vesta by Helagabalus. See Herodian. 1. 45; 5. 15. 5 See also Dionys. Hal. 2. 66, Livy, Epit. Lib. 19, Val. Max. 1. 4. 4, Senec. Controv. 4. 2. 'Metellus orbam luminibus exegit senectam, amissis incendio, cum Palladium raperet ex aede Vestae. Tribuit ei populus Romanus quod numquam ulli alii ab condito aevo, ut quoties in Senatum iret, curru veheretur ad curiam. Magnum et sublime, sed pro oculis datum.' Juv. 3. 137 'Da testem Romae tam sanctum quam fuit hospes Numinis Idaei: procedat vel Numa, vel qui Servavit trepidam flagranti ex aede Minervam ;' and again, 6. 265 'Dicite vos neptes Lepidi caecive Metelli.' 5. Vidi. We have seen, in the life of Ovid (Introduction), that when a young man he visited, in the train of Macer, the cities of Asia. Templum. He refers to the shrine of Pallas at Novum Ilium, which was believed by many of the ancients to occupy the site of ancient Troy. Under this impression it was visited and honoured by Xerxes and by Alexander: Lysimachus added greatly to its size and importance, and founded a new temple. The town was stormed and burnt by Fimbria in the Mithridatic War, but was restored by Sulla, and again raised to prosperity by Julius Caesar, who wished to think that it was the spot from which his race had sprung1 7. Smintheus. Apollo was worshipped under this title at a temple called 'Smintheum,' situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Chrysa, on the coast of Mysia. There were other temples of the same name in Aeolis, in Rhodes, and elsewhere. Euivos signifies 'a field-mouse,' and thus Apollo Smintheus would be adored as the destroyer of an animal so injurious to the husbandman, which is confirmed by the fact that his statue was represented with one foot on a mouse 2. 13-16. An allusion to the conflicting statements with regard to the removal of the Palladium from Troy. In addition to those noticed in the introduction, we may mention 1 See Herod. 7. 42, Strabo. 13. § 26, 27. 2 See Muller's Dorians, p. 247 and 309, Engl. Transl., Strabo 13, Schol. on II. I. 39. the opinion maintained by some that the statue stolen by Diomede was not the real Palladium, but a counterfeit fabricated for the express purpose of baffling any such attempt, a device practised by the Romans themselves with regard to the Ancilia. 14. Iudicio, sc. 'Paridis,' 'from the time when her beauty was vanquished by the decision of Paris.' 15. Genus Adrasti. Diomedes. The MSS. vary between 'genus' and 'gener.' Either is appropriate, since we are told by Apollodorus that Tydeus wedded Deipyle, daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos, and that Diomede, the issue of this marriage, took to wife his mother's sister, Aigialeia; therefore he would be at once the descendant ('genus') and the son-in-law ('gener') of Adrastus. As there are some doubts, however, with regard to the parentage of Aigialeia 1, it is better to adopt the reading given in the text. 18. Vesta. Men of simple habits, in all ages of the world, have ever regarded the domestic hearth with affectionate veneration, and even when society assumes its most artificial aspect this sentiment is seldom altogether lost. Among the Greeks and Romans it was peculiarly strong: the focus in the atrium was the central point of the dwelling; here stood the altar for household sacrifice, where offerings were regularly presented to the Lares and Penates; here strangers were received and entertained; to this the suppliant fled for protection; here, in ancient times, all who lived under the same roof were wont to assemble when the labours of the day were over, to partake in common of the social meal, and to draw more closely the bonds of love and duty which united them as members of a single family. Thus Vesta, the goddess whose abode was the hearth, and whose symbol was the blazing fire, was worshipped with the deepest reverence in every private mansion. But since the whole body of the inhabitants of Rome might be considered as constituting one great family, whose welfare was guarded by the Public Lares and Penates, so there was a public temple of Vesta which served as a point of union to all citizens; and the idea being still farther extended, the common hearth of the whole Roman territory was the temple of Vesta in the 1 See Apollod. 1. 8, 6, and notes of Heyne. mother-city of Lavinium, where blazed the eternal fire rescued by Aeneas from Troy1. The worship of this deity was said to have been introduced by Numa, who built a shrine on the edge of the Forum, between the Capitoline and Aventine hills. It was circular in form, with a dome-shaped roof; and hence, in later times, was supposed to be emblamatic of the world; and thus arose the idea generally current in the Augustan age, that Vesta was a personification of the earth. This belief is developed by Ovid, Fast. 6. 2572. In this temple there was no statue 3; the goddess was represented by the sacred fire alone which blazed unceasingly upon the altar; it was never permitted to expire; or if such an accident befel, through neglect, it was considered an omen of the worst description, portending nothing less than the extinction of the city 4, requiring the most careful and solemn expiations 5. Thus Livy 28. 11 'Plus omnibus aut nuntiatis peregre, aut visis domi prodigiis, terruit animos hominum ignis in aede Vestae extinctus.' Vesta being represented by fire, the purest of elements, her ministers, as was fitting, were all spotless virgins, of honourable birth, and free from any personal defect. Their number was originally four, but was afterwards increased to six, and the period of their service extended to thirty years, during the whole of which time they were bound by the most. solemn oaths to continue in a state of maidenhood. During the first ten years, they were employed in learning their duties; during the second ten years, in discharging them; and during the remaining ten, they instructed the novices. At the expiration of the appointed time, they were free to return to the world, and even to marry, if they thought fit: not many, however, availed themselves of this privilege. In early times some few had formed such a connection, but their lot proved unhappy; and from that time forward it was looked upon as ominous. When a vacancy occured in the 1 Hartung, Die Religion der Römer, 2. 110, seqq. 2 Compare with this Dionysius Hal. 2. 64, 65, 66-69, Augustin. De Civ. Dei. 7. 16, Servius on Virg. Ae. 2. 296. See note, p. 183, and quotations there given: there were statues of the goddesses in public places, but none in her temple. 4 ἀρανισμοῦ τῆς πόλεως σημείον Dionys. Ηal. 2. 67. 5 Ibid. See also Val. Max. 1. 1, 6, 7, and Dionysius as above, and Plutarch Numa, 13. |