_He describes the Festival of Juno, as celebrated at Falisci, the native
place of his wife._
As my wife was born at Falisci, so fruitful in apples, we repaired to
the walls that were conquered, Camillus, by thee. [664] The priestesses
were preparing the chaste festival of Juno, with distinguished games,
and the heifer of the country. 'Twas a great remuneration for my stay,
to be acquainted with the ceremony; although a path, difficult from the
ascent, leads the way thither. There stands a grove, ancient, and shaded
with numberless trees; look at it, you must confess that a Divinity
exists in the spot. An altar receives the prayers, and the votive
incense of the pious; an altar made without skill, by ancient hands.
When, from this spot, the pipe has given the signal with its usual note,
the yearly procession moves along the covered paths. [665] Snow-white
heifers [666] are led, as the crowd applauds, which the Faliscan grass
has fed on its own plains; calves, too, not yet threatening with the
forehead to inspire fear; and the pig, a smaller victim, from its lowly
sty; the leader too, of the flock, with his horns bending back over his
hardy temples; the goat alone is odious to the Goddess queen. By her
betrayal, discovered in the lofty woods, [667] she is said to have
desisted from the flight she had commenced. Even now, by the boys,
is she aimed at as a mark; [668] and she is given, as a prize, to
the author of her wound. Where the Goddess is to come, the youths and
bashful girls sweep the roads before her, with garments [669] as they
lie. Their virgin hair is adorned with gold and gems; and the proud
mantle conceals their feet, bedecked with gold. After the Grecian manner
[670] of their ancestors, clad in white garments, they bear the sacred
vessels entrusted to them on their heads, placed beneath. The people
hold religious silence, [671] at the moment when the resplendent
procession comes up; and she herself follows after her priestesses.
Argive is the appearance of the procession; Agamemnon slain, Halesus
[672] fled from both his crime and his father's wealth. And now, an
exile, having wandered over both land and sea, he erected lofty walls
with prospering hand. He taught his own Falisci the rites of Juno.
May they be ever propitious to myself, may they be ever so to her own
people.