To her also the Romans offer
sacrifice, and in the month of April the priest of Mars brings libations
to her, and the feast is called Laurentia.
V. The Romans also worship another Laurentia, for this reason: The
priest of Hercules, weary with idleness, proposed to the god to cast the
dice on the condition that, if he won, he should receive something good
from the god, while if he lost, he undertook to provide the god with a
bountiful feast and a fair woman to take his pleasure with. Upon these
conditions he cast the dice, first for the god, and then for himself,
and was beaten. Wishing to settle his wager properly, and making a point
of keeping his word, he prepared a feast for the god, and hired
Laurentia, then in the pride of her beauty, though not yet famous. He
feasted her in the temple, where he had prepared a couch, and after
supper he locked her in, that the god might possess her. And, indeed,
the god is said to have appeared to the lady, and to have bidden her go
early in the morning into the market-place, and to embrace the first man
she met, and make him her friend. There met her a citizen far advanced
in years, possessing a fair income, childless, and unmarried. His name
was Tarrutius. He took Laurentia to himself, and loved her, and upon his
death left her heiress to a large and valuable property, the greater
part of which she left by will to the city. It is related of her, that
after she had become famous, and was thought to enjoy the favour of
Heaven, she vanished near the very same spot where the other Laurentia
lay buried.
Pages:
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88