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PRODIGIES AND THEIR EXPIATION IN THE SECOND PUNIC WAR

Livy, History of Rome XXI, LXII

From LCL

In Rome and near it many prodigies occurred that winter, or—as often happens when men’s thoughts are once turned upon religioin—many were reported and too easily credited. Some of these portents were that a free-born infant of six months had cried “Triumph!” in the provision market; that in the cattle market an ox had climbed, of its own accord, to the third story of a house and then, alarmed by the outcry of the occupants, had thrown itself down; that phantom ships had been seen gleaming in the sky; that the temple of Hope in the provision market had been struck by lightning; that in Lanuvium a slain victim had stirred, and a raven had flown down into Juno’s temple and alighted on her very couch; that in the district of Amiternum, in many places, apparitions of men in shining raiment had appeared in the dis- tance, but had not drawn near to anyone; that in the Picentian country there had been a shower of pebbles; that at Caere the lots had shrunk; that in Gaul a wolf had snatched a sentry’s sword from its scabbard and run off with it. For the other prodigies the decemvirs were com- manded to consult the Books, but for the shower of pebbles in the Picentian country a nine days’ sacrifice was proclaimed. They then set about the expiation of the other portents, and in this virtually all the citizens bore a part. First of all, the city was purified, and major victims were offered up to designated gods; a gift of gold weighing forty pounds was carried to Lanuvium for Juno, and a bronze statue was dedicated to Juno by the matrons on the Aventine; a lectisternium was ordered at Caere, where the lots had shrunk; and a supplication was ordered to be made to Fortune on Mount Algidus; in Rome, too, a lectisterniunz was specially appointed for Juventas, and a supplication at the temple of Hercules, and later the whole people was commanded to observe this rite at all the pulvinaria; also five major victims were slain in honor of the Genius of the Roman people; and Gaius Atilius Serranus the praetor was ordered to make a vow, “if the commonwealth should abide for ten years in the present state.” The making of these expiations and vows, as prescribed by the Sibylline Books, went far to alleviate men’s anxiety concerning their relations with the gods.

Excerpt,

Naphtali Lewis, Meyer Reinhold report on Phantom Ships in Rome, Columbia University Press