"Third of the kalends of April. Fasces with
Emilius. It rained stones on Mount Veientine."
(Ahem!) "A fray happened in a tavern, near
the Alban Mount, in which the keeper of the
'Hog in Armour' was dangerously wounded.

"The Ædile, Tertinius, fined the butchers for
selling meat which had not been inspected by
the overseers of the market. The fine is to be
appropriated to build a chapel to the temple of
the Goddess Tellus.

"Posthumus, the tribune, sent his beadle to
the consul, that he should not convene the
senate on that day; but the tribune, Decimus,
putting in his veto, the affair went no further."
(Disgust of Posthumus!)

"Pridie kal. April. Fasces with Licinius.
The Latin festivals were celebrated. A sacrifice
performed on the Alban Mount, and a dole of
raw flesh distributed to the people.

"A fire happened on Mount CÅ“lius. Two
trisulæ" (houses of the rich, standing apart)
"and five dwellings were burned to the ground,
and four damaged.

"Demiphon, the famous pirate, who was taken
by Licinius Nerva, a provincial lieutenant, was
sacrificed.

"The red standard was displayed at the
capitol, and the consuls obliged the youths who
were enlisted for the Macedonian war to make
a new oath in the Campus Martius."

"Kal. Apr.

"Paulus, the consul, and Cn. Octavius, the
prætor, set out for Macedonia, in the habits of
war.

"The funeral of Marcia was performed, with
greater pomp of images than attendance of
mourners." (An ill-natured remark, and one we
should have hesitated to disinter, but for the
very trifling nature of the probability that it
should wound the feelings of Marcia's surviving
friends.)

"The Pontifex, Sempronius, proclaimed the
Megalisian plays, in honour of Cybele."

"Fourth of the nones of April.

"A ver sacrum" (a vow to sacrifice an ox or
sheep, from between the kalends of March and
the pridie kalends of June) "was vowed,
pursuant to the opinion of the College of Priests.
Presents were made to the ambassadors of the
Etolians. Eleusius, the prætor, set out for
Sicily.

"An entertainment was given to the people
by Marcia's sons, at their mother's funeral.

"A stage-play was acted this day, being
sacred to Cybele."

"Third of the nones of April.

"Popilius Lenas, C. Decimus, and C. Hostilius
were sent ambassadors to the kings of
Syria and Egypt, in order to accommodate the
differences about which they are now at war.
Early in the morning they went up, with a
great attendance of clients and relations, to
offer a sacrifice and libations at the temple
of Castor and Pollux before they began their
journey."

The following extracts belong to a series
of the same publication, when about one hundred
and twenty years old. These are fuller and
more entertaining than the former; the art of
journalism having progressed as rapidly as
everything else under imperial Rome. But
we must be content with a few short
examples:

"Syllanus and Muræna, consuls. Fasces
with Muræna. Third of the ides of March.

"Muræna sacrificed early in the morning at
the temple of Castor and Pollux, and afterwards
assembled the senate in Pompey's senate-
house."

"Fifth of the kalends of September. M.
Tullius Cicero pleaded in defence of Cornelius
Sylla, accused of being concerned in Catiline's
conspiracy, and gained his cause by a majority
of five judges. The tribunes of the treasury were
against the defendant." [The judicial power,
at this time, was, by the Aurelian law, divided
between the senatorial and equestrian orders
and the treasury tribunes, who were plebeians.]
"One of the prætors advertised by an edict
that he should put off his sittings for five days,
on account of his daughter's marriage.

"A report was brought to Tertinius, the
prætor, while trying causes, that his son was
dead. This was contrived by the friends of
Copponius (who was accused of poisoning), that
the prætor might adjourn the court; but the
magistrate, having discovered the falsehood of
the story, returned to his tribunal." [The
prætor was one of the chief magistrates, whose
office was first instituted A.U.C. 388, and
received its name, a præeundo—going before.
At Rome the prætors appeared with much
pomp. Two lictors preceded them; they wore
the prætexta; they sat in curule chairs, and
appeared in public on white horses.]

"Fourth of the kalends of September.

"The funeral of Metella Pia, vestal, was
celebrated. She was buried in the sepulchre of
her ancestors, in the Aurelian road."

This office, the vestals', dates, it will be remembered,
from the very commencement of the
Roman empire, the mother of Romulus being a
vestal. It was required that they should be of
good family, and without blemish or deformity in
any part of the body. For thirty years they were
to remain in the greatest continence, the first ten
years being spent in learning the duties of the
order, the second ten in discharging them with
sanctity, the last, in instructing such as had
entered the novitiate. Their employment was
to watch and feed the sacred fire, kept perpetually
burning in the temple of Vesta, the
accidental extinction of which was held to be
the forerunner of some great calamity to the
state. Severe punishment awaited the culpable
custodian. She was condemned to the punishment
of slaves, and, covered only with a thin
veil, underwent the scourge at the hands of the
pontiff.

A more terrible penalty awaited the vestal
who violated her vows of chastity. Nay, so
strictly were these vows interpreted, that the
mere probability of yielding to temptation was
deemed sufficient. A vestal was condemned to