It is that, for example, we can see in Cicero, Rhetorica Ad Herennium, 4,9,13:

Our discourse will belong to the Middle type if, as I have said above,'' we have somewhat relaxed our style, and yet have not escended to the most ordinary prose, as follows :

Men of the jury, you see against whom we are waging war — against allies wlio have been wont to light in our defence, and together with us to preserve our empire by their valour and zeal. Not only must they have known themselves, their resources, and their manpower, but their nearness to us and their alliance with us in all affairs enabled them no less to learn and appraise the power of the Roman people in every sphere. When they had resolved to fight against us, on what, I ask you, did they rely in presuming to undertake the war, since they understood that much the greater part of our allies remained faithful to duty, and since they saw that they had at hand no great supply of soldiers, no competent commanders, and no public money — in short, none of the things needful for carrying on the war ? Even if they were waging war with neighbours on a question of boundaries, even if in their opinion one battle would decide the contest, they would yet come to the task in every way better prepared and equipped than they are now. It is still less credible that with such meagre forces they would attempt to usurp that sovereignty over the whole world which all the civilized peoples, kings, and barbarous nations have accepted, in part compelled by force, in part of their own will, when conquered either by the arms of Rome or by her generosity. Some one will ask :  What of the Fregellans ? Did they not make the attempt on their own initiative ? ' Yes, but these allies would be less ready to make the attempt precisely because they saw how the Fregellans fared." For inexperienced peoples, unable to find in history a precedent for every circumstance, are through imprudence easily led into error; whilst those who know what has befallen others can easily from the fortunes of these others draw profit for their own policies.'' Have they, then, in taking up arms, been impelled by no motive ? Have they relied on no hope ? Who will believe that any one has been so mad as to dare, with no forces to depend on, to challenge the sovereignty of the Roman people ? They must, therefore, have had some motive, and what else can this be but what I say ? "  (Translated by Harry Caplan)

In mediocri figura versabitur oratio, si haec, ut ante dixi, aliquantum demiserimus neque tamen ad infimum descenderimus, sic:

«Quibuscum bellum gerimus, iudices, videtis: cum sociis, qui pro nobis pugnare et imperium nostrum nobiscum simul virtute et industria conservare soliti sunt. Ii cum se et opes suas et copiam necessario norunt, tum vero nihilominus propter propinquitatem et omnium rerum societatem, quid omnibus rebus populus Romanus posset, scire <et> existimare poterant. Ii, cum deliberassent nobiscum bellum gerere, quaeso, quae res erat, qua freti bellum suscipere conarentur, cum multo maximam partem sociorum in officio manere intellegerent? Cum sibi non multitudinem militum, non idoneos imperatores, non pecuniam publicam praesto esse viderent? Non denique ullam rem, quae res pertinet ad bellum administrandum? Si cum finitumis de finibus bellum gererent, si totum certamen in uno proelio positum putarent, tamen omnibus rebus instructiores et apparatiores venirent; nedum illi imperium orbis terrae, cui imperio omnes gentes, reges, nationes partim vi, partim voluntate consenserunt, cum aut armis aut liberalitate a populo Romano superati essent, ad se transferre tantulis viribus conarentur. Quaeret aliquis: Quid? Fregellani non sua sponte conati sunt? Eo quidem isti minus facile conarentur, quod illi quemadmodum discessent videbant. Nam rerum inperiti, qui unius cuiusque rei de rebus ante gestis exempla petere non possunt, ii per inprudentiam facillime deducuntur in fraudem: at ii, qui sciunt, quid aliis acciderit, facile ex aliorum eventis suis rationibus possunt providere. Nulla igitur re inducti, nulla spe freti arma sustulerunt? Quis hoc credet, tantam amentiam quemquam tenuisse, ut imperium populi Romani temptare auderet nullis copiis fretus? Ergo aliquid fuisse necessum est. Quid aliud, nisi id, quod dico, potest esse?»

This is that Ovid says on several occasions. Thus in Fasti, 1, 75 et seq. about the celebrations of January 1 to the god Janus:

Behold how Aether glows with sacred fire,
Where incense and odorous nard aspire ;
How lambent flames all tremulously rolled
Up to thy dome, reflect from burnished gold.
Lo! the procession mounts Tarpeia's height;
The garb and festival are sacred white ;
New fasces lead the way ; in purple dye
New consuls in the chairs of ivory.
The unyoked steers, from the Faliscan plain, 
Proffer their necks consentant to be slain ;
And Jupiter from heaven gazing round
Begardeth nothing else, but Boman ground.
Salve, auspicious morn! for ever aye
Return to Romans an auspicious day. 
Jane biformis, what shall I call thee ?
Greece, has no corresponding deity.
Propound the cause, why of Celestials one
May see behind his back the deed that's done,
And at the same time view events before. 
(By Jonh Benson Rose. 1866)

cernis odoratis ut luceat ignibus aether,              
     et sonet accensis spica Cilissa focis?
flamma nitore suo templorum verberat aurum,
     et tremulum summa spargit in aede iubar.
vestibus intactis Tarpeias itur in arces,
     et populus festo concolor ipse suo est,              
iamque novi praeeunt fasces, nova purpura fulget,
     et nova conspicuum pondera sentit ebur.
colla rudes operum praebent ferienda iuvenci,
     quos aluit campis herba Falisca suis.
Iuppiter arce sua totum cum spectet in orbem,              
     nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet.
salve, laeta dies, meliorque revertere semper,
     a populo rerum digna potente coli.
Quem tamen esse deum te dicam, Iane biformis?
     nam tibi par nullum Graecia numen habet.              
ede simul causam, cur de caelestibus unus
     sitque quod a tergo sitque quod ante vides.

And then, a little later:

The Orbs is Urbs Romana, and our home.

Romanae spatium est Urbis et orbis idem.

Fasti 2, 667 y ss.

What happened when the Capitol was built ?
When all the gods, yielding to Jove, withdrew,
Save Terminus, the ancients tell us, who
Now shares that fane with Jove : therefore its roof
Is pierced that he may see the stars aloof.
Since then, Termine, thou art not free 
To chop and change about in levity :
Where thou art placed remain, lest so it prove
Thou giv'st to man what thou deny'st to Jove.
If plough or harrow hurtle thee, cry out, 
" This land is mine ; friend, mind what you're about."
There is a road on the Laurentian plain
That marked the limits of the Dardan reign ;
The sixth stone from the city marks the way,
And there a sheep to Terminus we slay.
All nations have their termini, save Rome : 
The Orbs is Urbs Romana, and our home.
(By Jonh Benson Rose. 1866)

quid, nova cum fierent Capitolia? nempe deorum
     cuncta Iovi cessit turba locumque dedit;
Terminus, ut veteres memorant, inventus in aede
     restitit et magno cum Iove templa tenet.              
nunc quoque, se supra ne quid nisi sidera cernat,
     exiguum templi tecta foramen habent.
Termine, post illud levitas tibi libera non est:
     qua positus fueris in statione, mane;
nec tu vicino quicquam concede roganti,              
     ne videare hominem praeposuisse Iovi:
et seu vomeribus seu tu pulsabere rastris,
     clamato "tuus est hic ager, ille tuus".'
est via quae populum Laurentes ducit in agros,
     quondam Dardanio regna petita duci:              
illa lanigeri pecoris tibi, Termine, fibris
     sacra videt fieri sextus ab Urbe lapis.
gentibus est aliis tellus data limite certo:
     Romanae spatium est Urbis et orbis idem.

Pompey's triumphs from the East to the West confirm to the Romans  they are the masters of the world. Plutarch presents us the triple triumphal parade of Pompey, in which the whole empire, all the land that he had conquered, participates.

Plutarch, Pompey 45:

His triumph had such a magnitude that, although it was distributed over two days, still the time would not suffice, but much of what had been prepared could not find a place in the spectacle, enough to dignify and adorn another triumphal procession. Inscriptions borne in advance of the procession indicated the nations over which he triumphed.  These were: Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia and Palestine, Judaea, Arabia, and all the power of the pirates by sea and land which had been overthrown. Among these peoples no less than a thousand strongholds had been captured, according to the inscriptions, and cities not much under nine hundred in number, besides eight hundred piratical ships, while thirty-nine cities had been founded.  In addition to all this the inscriptions set forth that whereas the public revenues from taxes had been fifty million drachmas, they were receiving from the additions which Pompey had made to the city's power eighty-five million, and that he was bringing into the public treasury in coined money and vessels of gold and silver twenty thousand talents, apart from the money which had been given to his soldiers, of whom the one whose share was the smallest had received fifteen hundred drachmas.  The captives led in triumph, besides the chief pirates, were the son of Tigranes the Armenian with his wife and daughter, Zosime, a wife of King Tigranes himself, Aristobulus, king of the Jews, a sister and five children of Mithridates, Scythian women, and hostages given by the Iberians, by the Albanians, and by the king of Commagene; there were also very many trophies, equal in number to all the battles in which Pompey had been victorious either in person or in the persons of his lieutenants.  But that which most enhanced his glory and had never been the lot of any Roman before, was that he celebrated his third triumph over the third continent. For others before him had celebrated three triumphs; but he celebrated his first over Libya, his second over Europe, and this his last over Asia, so that he seemed in a way to have included the whole world in his three triumphs. (Translated by by Bernadotte Perrin)

We also have information on the deeds of Pompey in Diodorus Siculus 40, 4

This is a copy of the inscription that Pompeius set up, recording his achievements in Asia.
Pompeius Magnus, son of Gnaeus, imperator, freed the coasts of the world and all the islands within the Ocean from the attacks of pirates. He rescued from siege the kingdom of Ariobarzanes, Galatia and the territories and provinces beyond there, Asia and Bithynia. He protected Paphlagonia, Pontus, Armenia and Achaïa, also Iberia, Colchis, Mesopotamia, Sophene and Gordyene. He subjugated Dareius king of the Medes, Artoles king of the Iberians, Aristobulus king of the Jews, and Aretas king of the Nabataean Arabs, also Syria next to Cilicia, Judaea, Arabia, the province of Cyrenaica, the Achaei, Iozygi, Soani and Heniochi, and the other tribes that inhabit the coast between Colchis and Lake Maeotis, together with the kings of these tribes, nine in number, and all the nations that dwell between the Pontic Sea and the Red Sea. He extended the borders of the empire up to the borders of the world. He maintained the revenues of the Romans, and in some cases he increased them. He removed the statues and other images of the gods, and all the other treasure of the enemies, and dedicated to the goddess {Minerva} 12,060 pieces of gold and 307 talents of silver. (Translation by by Francis R. Walton)

Perhaps he is Pliny the most exaggerated to remind us of the success of Pompey throughout the Roman world:

"The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left its centre".

Let's extend this quote

Naturalis Historia:  7, 95 et seq. (26) (27) et seq.

But now, as it belongs fully as much to the glorious renown of the Roman Empire, as to the victorious career of a single individual, I shall proceed on this occasion to make mention of all the triumphs and titles of Pompeius Magnus: the splendour of his exploits having equalled not only that of those of Alexander the Great, but even of Hercules, and perhaps of Father Liber even. After having recovered Sicily, where he first commenced his career as a partizan of Sylla, but in behalf of the republic, after having conquered the whole of Africa, and reduced it to subjection, and after having received for his share of the spoil the title of " Great," he was decreed the honours of a triumph; and he, though only of equestrian rank, a thing that had never occurred before, re-entered the city in the triumphal chariot: immediately after which, he hastened to the west, where he left it inscribed on the trophy which he raised upon the Pyrenees, that he had, by his victories, reduced to subjection eight hundred and seventy-six cities, from the Alps to the borders of Farther Spain; at the same time he most magnanimously said not a word about Sertorius. After having put an end to the civil war, which indeed was the primary cause of all the foreign ones, he, though still of only equestrian rank, again entered Rome in the triumphal chariot, having proved himself a general thus often before having been a soldier. After this, he was dispatched to the shores of all the various seas, and then to the East, whence he brought back to his country the following titles of honour, resembling therein those who conquer at the sacred games—for, be it remembered, it is not they that are crowned, but their respective countries. These honours then did he award to the City, in the temple of Minerva, which he consecrated from the spoils that he had gained: "Cneius Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, having brought to an end a war of thirty years' duration, and having defeated, routed, put to the sword, or received the submission of, twelve millions two hundred and seventy-eight thousand men, having sunk or captured eight hundred and forty-six vessels, having received as allies one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight cities and fortresses, and having conquered all the country from the Mæotis to the Red Sea, dedicates this shrine as a votive offering due to Minerva." Such, in few words, is the sum of his exploits in the East. The following are the introductory words descriptive of the triumph which he obtained, the third day before the calends of October, in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala; "After having delivered the sea-coast from the pirates, and restored the seas to the people of Rome, he enjoyed a triumph over Asia, Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, the Scythians, Judæa, the Albanians, Iberia, the island of Crete, the Basterni, and, in addition to all these, the kings Mithridates and Tigranes."

The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left its centre. If any one should wish, on the other hand, in a similar manner, to pass in review the exploits of Cæsar, who has shown himself greater still than Pompeius, why then he must enumerate all the countries in the world, a task, I may say, without an end.  (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed. )

Verum ad decus imperii Romani, non solum ad viri unius, pertinet victoriarum Pompei Magni titulos omnes triumphosque hoc in loco nuncupari, aequato non modo Alexandri Magni rerum fulgore, sed etiam Herculis prope ac Liberi patris.
igitur Sicilia recuperata, unde primum Sullanus in rei publicae causa exoriens auspicatus est, Africa vero tota subacta et in dicionem redacta Magnique nomine in spolium inde capto, eques Romanus, id quod antea nemo, curru triumphali revectus et statim ad solis occasum transgressus, excitatis in Pyrenaeo tropaeis, oppida DCCCLXXVI ab Alpibus ad fines Hispaniae ulterioris in dicionem redacta victoriae suae adscripsit et maiore animo Sertorium tacuit, belloque civili, quod omnia externa conciebat, extincto iterum triumphales currus eques R. induxit, totiens imperator ante quam miles.
postea ad tota maria et deinde solis ortus missus hos retulit patriae titulos more sacris certaminibus vincentium — neque enim ipsi coronantur, sed patrias suas coronant —, hos ergo honores urbi tribuit in delubro Minervae, quod ex manubiis dicabat:
CN·POMPEIVS MAGNVS IMPERATOR BELLO XXX ANNORVM CONFECTO FVSIS FVGATIS OCCISIS IN DEDITIONEM ACCEPTIS HOMINVM CENTIENS VICIENS SEMEL LXXXIII DEPRESSIS AVT CAPTIS NAVIBVS DCCCXLVI OPPIDIS CASTELLIS MDXXXVIII IN FIDEM RECEPTIS TERRIS A MAEOTIS AD RVBRVM MARE SVBACTIS VOTVM MERITO MINERVAE.
Hoc est breviarium eius ab oriente. triumphi vero, quem duxit a. d. III kal. Oct. M. Pisone M. Messala cos., praefatio haec fuit:
CVM ORAM MARITIMAM PRAEDONIBVS LIBERASSET ET IMPERIVM MARIS POPVLO ROMANO RESTITVISSET EX ASIA PONTO ARMENIA PAPHLAGONIA CAPPADOCIA CILICIA SYRIA SCYTHIS IVDAEIS ALBANIS HIBERIA INSVLA CRETA BASTERNIS ET SVPER HAEC DE REGE MITHRIDATE ATQVE TIGRANE TRIVMPHAVIT.
Summa summarum in illa gloria fuit (ut ipse in conditione dixit, cum de rebus suis disseret) Asiam ultimam provinciarum accepisse eandemque mediam patriae reddidisse. si quis e contrario simili modo velit percensere Caesaris res, qui maior ille apparuit, totum profecto terrarum orbem enumeret, quod infinitum esse conveniet.

In many passages Pliny goes even further and justifies Roman imperialism by its beneficial effects for humanity. In the book 27 of his Natural History tells us about the numerous plants in the world that are collected and transported from anywhere in the world only by effect of the Roman Pax. That is why the Romans are like a second light, as a second sun for humanity, and also as a second nature as he will say in the book 44. I transcribe both passages:

Pliny, 27, 1 y ss:

The further I proceed in this work, the more I am impressed with admiration of the ancients; and the greater the number of plants that remain to be described, the more I am induced to venerate the zeal displayed by the men of former times in their researches, and the kindly spirit manifested by them in transmitting to us the results thereof. Indeed their bounteousness in this respect would almost seem to have surpassed the munificent disposition even of Nature herself, if our knowledge of plants had depended solely upon man's spirit of discovery: but as it is, it is evident beyond all doubt that this knowledge has emanated from the gods themselves, or, at all events, has been the result of divine inspiration, even in those cases where man has been instrumental in communicating it to us. In other words, if we must confess the truth—a marvel surpassed by nothing in our daily experience—Nature herself, that common parent of all things, has at once produced them, and has discovered to us their properties.

Wondrous indeed is it, that a Scythian plant should be brought from the shores of the Palus Mæotis, and the euphorbia from Mount Atlas and the regions beyond the Pillars of Hercules, localities where the operations of Nature have reached their utmost limit! That in another direction, the plant britannica should be conveyed to us from isles of the Ocean situate beyond the confines of the earth! That the æthiopis5 should reach us from a climate scorched by the luminaries of heaven! And then, in addition to all this, that there should be a perpetual interchange going on between all parts of the earth, of productions so instrumental to the welfare of mankind! Results, all of them, ensured to us by the peace that reigns under the majestic sway of the Roman power, a peace which brings in presence of each other, not individuals only, belonging to lands and nations far separate, but mountains even, and heights towering above the clouds, their plants and their various productions! That this great bounteousness of the gods may know no end, is my prayer, a bounteousness which seems to have granted the Roman sway as a second luminary for the benefit of mankind.
(Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A)

Crescit profecto apud me certe tractatu ipso admiratio antiquitatis, quantoque maior copia herbarum dicenda restat, tanto magis adorare priscorum in inveniendo curam, in tradendo benignitatem subit. nec dubie superata hoc modo posset videri etiam rerum naturae ipsius munificentia, si humani operis esset inventio.
nunc vero deorum fuisse eam apparet aut certe divinam, etiam cum homo inveniret, eandemque omnium parentem et genuisse haec et ostendisse, nullo vitae miraculo maiore, si verum fateri volumus. Scythicam herbam a Maeotis paludibus et Euphorbeam e monte Atlante ultraque Herculis columnas ex ipso rerum naturae defectu, parte alia Britannicam ex oceani insulis extra terris positis, itemque Aethiopidem ab exusto sideribus axe, alias praeterea aliunde ultro citroque humanae saluti in toto orbe portari, inmensa Romanae pacis maiestate non homines modo diversis inter se terris gentibusque, verum etiam montes et excedentia in nubes iuga partusque eorum et herbas quoque invicem ostentante! aeternum, quaeso, deorum sit munus istud! adeo Romanos velut alteram lucem dedisse rebus humanis videntur.

Pliny in 37, 77 (200) ss. assimilates Rome to nature itself and Italy is the governor and second mother of the world; the first is, of course, nature itself.

Having now treated of all the works of Nature, it will be as well to take a sort of comparative view of her several productions, as well as the countries which supply them. Through-out the whole earth, then, and wherever the vault of heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful, or which, for the productions of Nature, merits so high a rank as Italy, that ruler and second parent of the world ; recommended as she is by her men, her women, her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced. Her situation, too, is equally in her favour ; the salubrity and mildness of her climate ; the easy access which she offers to all nations ; her coasts indented with so many harbours ; the propitious breezes, too, that always prevail on her shores ; advantages, all of them, due to her situation, lying, as she does, midway between the East and the West, and extended in the most favourable of all positions. Add to this, the abundant supply of her waters, the salubrity of her groves, the repeated intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness of lier pastures.  (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A.)

Etenim peractis omnibus naturae operibus discrimen quoddam rerum ipsarum atque terrarum facere conveniet.
Ergo in toto orbe, quacumque caeli convexitas vergit, pulcherrima omnium est iis rebus, quae merito principatum naturae optinent, Italia, rectrix parensque mundi altera, viris feminis, ducibus militibus, servitiis, artium praestantia, ingeniorum claritatibus, iam situ ac salubritate caeli atque temperie, accessu cunctarum gentium facili, portuosis litoribus, benigno ventorum adflatu. quod contingit positione procurrentis in partem utilissimam et inter ortus occasusque mediam, aquarum copia, nemorum salubritate, montium articulis, ferorum animalium innocentia, soli fertilitate, pabuli ubertate.

Also Cicero in Catiline Orations: 4, 11 (6) compares  Rome with the lux orbis terrarum.

Wherefore, if you decide on this you give me a companion in my address, dear and acceptable to the Roman people; or if you prefer to adopt the opinion of Silanus, you will easily defend me and yourselves from the reproach of cruelty, and I will prevail that it shall be much lighter. Although, O conscript fathers, what cruelty can there be in chastising the enormity of such excessive wickedness? For I decide from my own feeling. For so may I be allowed; to enjoy the republic in safety in your company, as I am not moved to be somewhat vehement in this cause by any severity of disposition, (for who is more merciful than I am?) but rather by a singular humanity and mercifulness. For I seem to myself to see this city, the light of the world and the citadel of all nations, falling on a sudden by one conflagration. I see in my mind's eye miserable and unburied heaps of cities in my buried country; the sight of Cethegus and his madness raging amid your slaughter is ever present to my sight. (Translatión by C. D. Yonge, 1856)

Quam ob rem, sive hoc statueritis, dederitis mihi comitem ad contionem populo carum atque iucundum, sive Silani sententiam sequi malueritis, facile me atque vos a crudelitatis vituperatione populo Romano purgabo atque obtinebo eam multo leniorem fuisse. Quamquam, patres conscripti, quae potest esse in tanti sceleris inmanitate punienda crudelitas? Ego enim de meo sensu iudico. Nam ita mihi salva re publica vobiscum perfrui liceat, ut ego, quod in hac causa vehementior sum, non atrocitate animi moveor (quis enim est me mitior?), sed singulari quadam humanitate et misericordia. Videor enim mihi videre hanc urbem, lucem orbis terrarum atque arcem omnium gentium, subito uno incendio concidentem, cerno animo sepulta in patria miseros atque insepultos acervos civium, versatur mihi ante oculos aspectus Cethegi et furor in vestra caede bacchantis.

The concentrated and visual expression of the whole empire is represented in the famous "Map of Agrippa".
Agrippa ordered to build a map of the whole known world that was placed in the Porticus that had the name of his sister Vipsania, in the Field of Mars and near the Pantheon, and whose purpose was to show that Rome was the center of the world. We could therefore consider the map of the Orbis Terrarum or representation of the whole known world. There are those who think that it was simply a list of places with their dimension and the distance between them rather than a representation of the world. And it is that we have only some written fragments of the description of the map and and we can get some idea for later ones. We can imagine the Roman citizen, planning  a journey or by mere curiosity, observing this huge map of countries and roads.

It is considered that the measures were of great precision, although Pliny observes some error, for example when he speaks of Hispania and of Baetica:

Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 3, 17(3,2,17)

At the present day the length of Bætica, from the town of Castulo, on its frontier, to Gades is 250 miles, and from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is 234 miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded by the late emperor the divine Augustus ? For it was that emperor who completed the Portico which had been begun by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa. (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.)

Baeticae longitudo nunc a Castulonis oppidi fine Gadix CCL et a Murgi maritima ora XXV p. amplior, latitudo a Carteia Anam ora CCXXXIIII p. Agrippam quidem in tanta viri diligentia praeterque in hoc opere cura, cum orbem terrarum orbi spectandum propositurus esset, errasse quis credat et cum eo Divum Augustum? is namque conplexam eum porticum ex destinatione et commentariis M. Agrippae a sorore eius inchoatam peregit.

Vitruvius expresses the same idea from another point of view: there was no better place than Rome to conquer the world:

Vitruvius, VI,1, 10-11

But although southern nations have the keenest wits, and are infinitely clever in forming schemes, yet the moment it comes to displaying valour, they succumb because all manliness of spirit is sucked out of them by the sun. On the other hand, men born in cold countries are indeed readier to meet the shock of arms with great courage and without timidity, but their wits are so slow that they will rush to the charge inconsiderately and inexpertly, thus defeating their own devices. Such being nature's arrangement of the universe, and all these nations being allotted temperaments which are lacking in due moderation, the truly perfect territory, situated under the middle of the heaven, and having on each side the entire extent of the world and its countries, is that which is occupied by the Roman people.

In fact, the races of Italy are the most perfectly constituted in both respects—in bodily form and in mental activity to correspond to their valour. Exactly as the planet Jupiter is itself temperate, its course lying midway between Mars, which is very hot, and Saturn, which is very cold, so Italy, lying between the north and the south, is a combination of what is found on each side, and her preeminence is well regulated and indisputable. And so by her wisdom she breaks the courageous onsets of the barbarians, and by her strength of hand thwarts the devices of the southerners. Hence, it was the divine intelligence that set the city of the Roman people in a peerless and temperate country, in order that it might acquire the right to command the whole world. (Translation by Morris Hicky Morgan, 1914)

Cum sint autem meridiane nationes animis acutissimis infinitaque sollertia consiliorum, simul ut ad fortitudinem ingrediuntur, ibi succumbunt, quod habent exsuctas ab sole animorum virtutes; qui vero refrigeratis nascuntur regionibus, ad armorum vehementiam paratiores sunt magnis virtutibus sine timore, sed tarditate animi sine considerantia inruentes sine sollertia suis consiliis refragantur. cum ergo haec ita sint ab natura rerum in mundo conlocata et omnes nationes inmoderatis mixtionibus disparatae, veros inter spatium totius orbis terrarum regionesque medio mundi populus Romanus possidet fines.

Namque temperatissimae ad utramque partem et corporum membris animorumque vigoribus pro fortitudine sunt in Italia gentes. quemadmodum enim Iovis stella inter Martis ferventissimam et Saturni frigidissimam media currens temperatur, eadem ratione Italia inter septentrionalem meridianamque ab utraque parte mixtionibus temperatas et invictas habet laudes. itaque consiliis refringit barbarorum virtutes, forti manu meridianorum cogitationes. ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregia temperataque regione conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur.

If the "orbis terrarum" is the "orbis romanorum" and Rome is a microcosm, Nero, for example, claims that his Domus Aurea is a microcosm also, a small-scale reproduction of the "Roman empire", including forests, lakes and Masterpieces of the entire empire. Texts of Suetonius or Tacitus and many others confirms it.

Suetonius, Nero’s Life, (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars), VI,31

In nothing was he more prodigal than in his buildings. He completed his palace by continuing it from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, calling the building at first only "The Passage," but after it was burnt down and rebuilt, "The Golden House.1 Of its dimensions and furniture, it may be sufficient to say thus much: the porch was so high that there stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred and twenty feet in height; and the space included in it was so ample, that it had triple porticos a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a vast number of animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts it was entirely over-laid with gold, and adorned with jewels and mother of pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, and scatter flowers; while they contained pipes which shed unguents upon the guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this magnificent house after it was finished, all he said in approval of it was, "that he had now a dwelling fit for a man." (An English Translation. Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Non in alia re tamen damnosior quam in aedificando domum a Palatio Esquilias usque fecit, quam primo transitoriam, mox incendio absumptam restitutamque auream nominauit. de cuius spatio atque cultu suffecerit haec rettulisse. uestibulum eius fuit, in quo colossus CXX pedum staret ipsius effigie; tanta laxitas, ut porticus triplices miliarias haberet; item stagnum maris instar, circumsaeptum aedificiis ad urbium speciem; rura insuper aruis atque uinetis et pascuis siluisque uaria, cum multitudine omnis generis pecudum ac ferarum.
in ceteris partibus cuncta auro lita, distincta gemmis unionumque conchis erant; cenationes laqueatae tabulis eburneis uersatilibus, ut flores, fistulatis, ut unguenta desuper spargerentur; praecipua cenationum rotunda, quae perpetuo diebus ac noctibus uice mundi circumageretur; balineae marinis et albulis fluentes aquis. eius modi domum cum absolutam dedicaret, hactenus comprobauit, ut se diceret “quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse.”

In a similar way Martial, in his Book "On  the Spectacles", offers us numerous examples of spectacles in Rome with exotic animals, brought from the confines of the empire, of which the Romans  feel themselves owners.

Martial: De spectaculis (On the Spectacles), 2,

Here where, rayed with stars, the Colossus  views heaven anear, and in the middle way tall scaffolds rise, hatefully gleamed the palace of a savage king, and but a single house now stood in all the City. Here, where the far-seen Amphitheatre lifts its mass august, was Nero's mere. Here, where we admire the warm-baths., 1 a gift swiftly wrought, a proud domain had robbed their dwellings from the poor.  Where the Claudian Colonnade extends its outspread shade the Palace ended in its furthest part. Rome has been restored to herself, and under thy governance, Caesar, that is now the delight of a people which was once a master's.
(Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Hic ubi sidereus propius uidet astra colossus
     et crescunt media pegmata celsa uia,
inuidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
     unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus;
hic ubi conspicui uenerabilis Amphitheatri              
     erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant;
hic ubi miramur uelocia munera thermas,
     abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager;
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicat umbras,
    ultima pars aulae deficientis erat.              
Reddita Roma sibi est et sunt te preside, Caesar,
     deliciae populi, quae fuerant domini.

So in  De spectaculis, 5

That Pasiphae was mated to the Dictaean bull, believe : we have seen it, the old-time myth has won its warrant. And let not age-long eld, Caesar, marvel at itself : whatever Fame sings of, that the Arena makes real for thee. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Iunctam Pasiphaen Dictaeo credite tauro:
     uidimus, accepit fabula prisca fidem.
Nec se miretur, Caesar, longaeua uetustas:
     quidquid fama canit, praestat harena tibi.

And in  6,b

Ok the lion laid low in Nemea's vasty vale, a deed renowned and worthy of Hercules, Fame used to sing. Dumb be ancient witness ! for after thy shows, O Caesar, we declare that such things are wrought by woman's prowess now. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Prostratum uasta Nemees in ualle leonem
     nobile et Herculeum fama canebat opus.
Prisca fides taceat: nam post tua munera, Caesar,
     hoc iam femineo Marte fatemur agi.

And in  7

As, fettered on a Scythian crag, Prometheus fed the untiring fowl with his too prolific heart, so Laureolus,  hanging on no unreal cross, gave up his vitals defenceless to a Caledonian bear. His mangled limbs lived, though the parts dripped gore, and in all his body was nowhere a body's shape. A punishment deserved at length he won he in his guilt had with his sword pierced his parent's or his master's throat, or in his madness robbed a temple of its close-hidden gold, or had laid by stealth his savage torch to thee, O Rome. Accursed, he had outdone the crimes told of by ancient lore ; in him that which had been a show before was punishment. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Qualiter in Scythica religatus rupe Prometheus
     adsiduam nimio pectore pauit auem,
nuda Caledonia sic uiscera praebuit urso
     non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus.
Viuebant laceri membris stillantibus artus              
     inque omni nusquam corpore corpus erat.
Denique supplicium dignum tulit: ille parentis
     uel domini iugulum foderat ense nocens,
templa uel arcano demens spoliauerat auro,
     subdiderat saeuas uel tibi, Roma, faces.              
Vicerat antiquae sceleratus crimina famae,
     in quo, quae fuerat fabula, poena fuit.

And in  8

Daedalus, now thou art being so mangled by a Lucanian boar, how wouldst thou wish thou hadst now thy wings ! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Daedale, Lucano cum sic lacereris ab urso,
     quam cuperes pinnas nunc habuisse tuas!

And in 9

Shown along thy Arena's floor, O Caesar, a rhinoceros afforded thee an unpromised fray. Oh, into what dreadful rage fired he with lowered head ! How great was the bull ] to which a bull was as a dummy ! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Praestitit exhibitus tota tibi, Caesar, harena
     quae non promisit proelia rhinoceros.
O quam terribilis exarsit pronus in iras!
     Quantus erat taurus, cui pila taurus erat!

And in 17

In that, loyal and suppliant, the elephant adores thee which here but now was so fearful a foe to a bull, this it does unbidden, at the teaching of no master ; believe me, it too feels the presence of our God! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Quod pius et supplex elephas te, Caesar, adorat
     hic modo qui tauro tam metuendus erat,
non facit hoc iussus, nulloque docente magistro,
     crede mihi, nostrum sentit et ille deum.

Etc. etc.

Up to this point,  some texts document the divine status that Rome acquired by virtue of the force and energy emanating from it. I could add  many more. This explains why the "city" par excellence, par “antonomasia”, is Rome.

Note: antonomasia, Greek word, ἀντονομασία, from the verb ἀντονομάζω ("antonomázo"), composed of anti- / ant- / anta-, with the meaning of "instead of", "in exchange for", and the verb ὀνομάζω "onomázo"), that means “to denominate, to name”, derived from ὄνομα "ónoma", name. It designates a rhetorical figure that consists of naming a noun by the adjective that expresses its quality or vice versa, because there it is given that quality in an outstanding way.

(To be continued…)

It is its specific and predominant liturgical use that has moved to consider the origin of expression in the blessings of Pope Gregory X in the years 1272 to 1276.

Well, the expression and its genesis has a long history behind it, because in order to make sense we need a city that is different from the rest and a world or an empire that spoke Latin, and that existed many centuries before Pope Gregory X .

First, from the point of view of content, of substance,  the expression "urbi et orbi" refers to a special city, Rome, the "city" par excellence because  it is the head or capital of a huge empire, the orb of the Romans. The famous Vitruvius (ca. 80-70 BC-15 BC) perfectly expressed this idea, shared by the Romans since ancient times:

Vitruvius, De architectura, VI,1,10-11

Hence, it was the divine intelligence that set the city of the Roman people in a peerless and temperate country, in order that it might acquire the right to command the whole world. (Translation by Morris Hicky Morgan, 1914)

ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregia temperataque regione conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur.

From the point of view of linguistic form, the similarity between "urbi" and "orbi" immediately leaps into the ear, they differ only in a phoneme, in this case also in a letter. This is a play on words, a pun. This literary figure is called "paronomasia".

That Rome is "the city par excellence" is a very old concept, proudly shared by the Romans, as I said above. Let us recall how the general story that Livy (59 BC-17 AD) wrote about Rome is precisely called "Ab urbe condita", "Since the founding of the city", and everyone understands that city  can only be Rome.

We will then go into this fact and try to explain briefly how a small village with an origin in the 8th or 7th century BC, beside the Tiber, eventually became the capital of the oldest and most important ancient empire of ancient times by its consequences, and how the "orb" of the known land becomes the "Roman orb." The city also ended up being divinized, like its rulers, and receiving cult directed by priests specialized in it.

Secondly, I will also go a little deeper into the pun, or the literary figure quoted, the paronomasia "urbi et orbi", a figure that we define as "using two or more words, similarly phonetically because only some phoneme is differentiated, but with different meaning ". This paronomasia is also a well-attested literary resource in Roman literature. I will explain some texts later.

I will deal first with the ascension of the little Rome to "urbs" of the Roman "orb",  which is the same as to say "of the world orb".

According to historiography and mythology, Rome was founded in the 8th century BC; With more precision in the year 753, and adjusting more on April 21, the day in which the various foundational legends agree.

Well, with the passage of time it became the capital of a huge empire, to where they led all roads, as the capital city of the world. As a strong and powerful city it is respected and even deified in a long process in which its rulers, the emperors, were also deified.

In the Persian and Egyptian, and then in the Greek, the divinization of kings, of the powerful, was already a tradition. Greece was conquered by the Romans and declared Roman province in the year 197 b.C., and the victorious Rome became  to be considered a powerful and strong city.

This divinization, which was elaborated in the East, was consecrated by the Emperor Hadrian in the first half of the second century AD. Moreover, Rome is identified with the Empire itself, which as a powerful god is articulated in different coordinated members.

On the etymology of the word Rome and Romulus, related to it, not only there is no agreement but diverse proposals, several of them related to the Etruscan world. But for a Greek man, inevitably the word Rome would remind them of their word ῤώμη (rhòme), which means “force”. It would help to deify it as a strong city and inhabited by strong men; strength, force is a property of the gods and assimilated beings; so Rome, which is already strong even in the name, must have something in common with the gods.

Let us see in a few texts how this idea of Rome and its empire is elaborated as a powerful divinity, benefactor of the human race, from its humble origin.

Plutarch refers to the name of Rome at the beginning of the biography of Romulus. I use now to reproduce the detailed account of Plutarch to link with the best known legend about Romulus and Remus:

Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Beginning of the Life of Romulus:

From whom, and for what reason the great name of Rome, so famous among mankind, was given to that city, writers are not agreed. Some say that the Pelasgians, after wandering over most of the habitable earth and subduing most of mankind, settled down on that site, and that from their strength in war they called their city Rome.  Others say that at the taking of Troy some of its people escaped, found sailing vessels, were driven by storms upon the coast of Tuscany, and came to anchor in the river Tiber; that here, while their women were perplexed and distressed at thought of the sea, one of them, who was held to be of superior birth and the greatest understanding, and whose name was Roma, proposed that they should burn the ships;  that when this was done, the men were angry at first, but afterwards, when they had settled of necessity on the Palatine, seeing themselves in a little while more prosperous than they had hoped, since they found the country good and the neighbours made them welcome, they paid high honours to Roma, and actually named the city after her, since she had been the occasion of their founding it.  And from that time on, they say, it has been customary for the women to salute their kinsmen and husbands with a kiss; for those women, after they had burned the ships, made use of such tender salutations as they supplicated their husbands and sought to appease their wrath.

Others again say that the Roma who gave her name to the city was a daughter of Italus and Leucaria, or, in another account, of Telephus the son of Heracles; and that she was married to Aeneas, or, in another version, to Ascanius the son of Aeneas. Some tell us that it was Romanus, a son of Odysseus and Circe, who colonized the city; others that it was Romus, who was sent from Troy by Diomedes the son of Emathion; and others still that it was Romis, tyrant of the Latins, after he had driven out the Tuscans, who passed from Thessaly into Lydia, and from Lydia into Italy. Moreover, even those writers who declare, in accordance with the most authentic tradition, that it was Romulus who gave his name to the city, do not agree about his lineage.  For some say that he was a son of Aeneas and Dexithea the daughter of Phorbas, and was brought to Italy in his infancy, along with his brother Romus; that the rest of the vessels were destroyed in the swollen river, but the one in which the boys were was gently directed to a grassy bank, where they were unexpectedly saved, and the place was called Roma from them.  Others say it was Roma, a daughter of the Trojan woman I have mentioned, who was wedded to Latinus the son of Telemachus and bore him Romulus; others that Aemilia, the daughter of Aeneas and Lavinia, bore him to Mars; and others still rehearse what is altogether fabulous concerning his origin. For instance, they say that Tarchetius, king of the Albans, who was most lawless and cruel, was visited with a strange phantom in his house, namely, a phallus rising out of the hearth and remaining there many days.  Now there was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany, from which there was brought to Tarchetius a response that a virgin must have intercourse with this phantom, and she should bear a son most illustrious for his valour, and of surpassing good fortune and strength. Tarchetius, accordingly, told the prophecy to one of his daughters, and bade her consort with the phantom; but she disdained to do so, and sent a handmaid in to it.  When Tarchetius learned of this, he was wroth, and seized both the maidens, purposing to put them to death. But the goddess Hestia appeared to him in his sleep and forbade him the murder. He therefore imposed upon the maidens the weaving of a certain web in their imprisonment, assuring them that when they had finished the weaving of it, they should then be given in marriage. By day, then, these maidens wove, but by night other maidens, at the command of Tarchetius, unravelled their web. And when the handmaid became the mother of twin children by the phantom, Tarchetius gave them to a certain Teratius with orders to destroy them.  This man, however, carried them to the river-side and laid them down there. Then a she-wolf visited the babes and gave them suck, while all sorts of birds brought morsels of food and put them into their mouths, until a cow-herd spied them, conquered his amazement, ventured to come to them, and took the children home with him. Thus they were saved, and when they were grown up, they set upon Tarchetius and overcame him. At any rate, this is what a certain Promathion says, who compiled a history of Italy.

But the story which has the widest credence and the greatest number of vouchers was first published among the Greeks, in its principal details, by Diodes of Peparethus, and Fabius Pictor follows him in most points. Here again there are variations in the story, but its general outline is as follows.  The descendants of Aeneas reigned as kings in Alba, and the succession devolved at length upon two brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius divided the whole inheritance into two parts, setting the treasures and the gold which had been brought from Troy over against the kingdom, and Numitor chose the kingdom. Amulius, then, in possession of the treasure, and made more powerful by it than Numitor, easily took the kingdom away from his brother, and fearing lest that brother's daughter should have children, made her a priestess of Vesta, bound to live unwedded and a virgin all her days.  Her name is variously given as Ilia, or Rhea, or Silvia. Not long after this, she was discovered to be with child, contrary to the established law for the Vestals. She did not, however, suffer the capital punishment which was her due, because the king's daughter, Antho, interceded successfully in her behalf, but she was kept in solitary confinement, that she might not be delivered without the knowledge of Amulius. Delivered she was of two boys, and their size and beauty were more than human.  Wherefore Amulius was all the more afraid, and ordered a servant to take the boys and cast them away. This servant's name was Faustulus, according to some, but others give this name to the man who took the boys up. Obeying the king's orders, the servant put the babes into a trough and went down towards the river, purposing to cast them in; but when he saw that the stream was much swollen and violent, he was afraid to go close up to it, and setting his burden down near the bank, went his way.  Then the overflow of the swollen river took and bore up the trough, floating it gently along, and carried it down to a fairly smooth spot which is now called Kermalus, but formerly Germanus, perhaps because brothers are called ‘germani.’ (English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.)

I stop here the story of Plutarch, which goes on beyond.

The power, that this small city reached centuries later, generated in the Greek cities a religious answer, granting cult to Rome and considering it divine in itself or in some specific aspect, because they had not known another city with such power. Generally the cult is to the dea Roma, Godess Rome,but also it can be accompanied of the cult to the town, the demos, to the Roman "benefactors", "evergetes", and of course, to the emperor.

"Evergetes", εὐεργέτης, is a Greek word, from εὐεργετέω, formed by  εύ, eu, ev, meaning "good" and εργετέω, which means "to do" and therefore "to do good" or "to do good works" . It is the title that accompanied some Greek leaders.

At least once the Dionysiac artists of the Isthmus offer sacrifices to the Romans as common benefactors. It is attested in an inscription of Delphi, the one in Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, number 705

SIG3 705B.45f  

They shattered the jurisdiction of he guild of Artists; they gave some of the sacred offices which they held as pledges, they absconded with money, offerings, and sacred crowns, which they have not as yet returned, as they prevented the performance of sacrifices and libations in accordance with the ancient customs of our guild to Dionysos and to the other gods and to the Romans, our common patrons. (The translation is adapted from A.Johnson, P.Coleman-Norton & F.Bourne, "Ancient Roman Statutes", no.49 )

In the archaeological excavations at Delphi it also appeared an interesting inscription in which a historian named Aristotheos of Troizen (all the scholars locate him  in the middle of the second century BC) publicly read in Delphi part of his History and added his praise of the Romans as benefactors .

Praise, eulogy, panegyric, funeral speech (oratio funebris), lauds are kinds  of speeches in which the virtues of exceptional people are extolled and, when it corresponds, the greatness of cities and lands. In the schools of Rhetoric,it is logically taught its creation.

The commemorative inscription of the honors granted to Aristoteos of Troizen says:

Fouilles De Delphes III 3 no. 124 (Syll.3 702)  FGrH 835 T 1
Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum: 702

With good fortune, it was resolved by the city of Delphi in full assembly with votes as prescribed by law; since Aristotheos son of Nikotheos of Troizen, the historiographer, when he stayed in the city conducted himself in a way worthy of the temple and of his fatherland, and made public readings {akroaseis} of his writings over several days, and also read in public {paranegnō} acclamations for the Romans, the common benefactors of the Greeks; therefore he and his descendants shall be granted by the city proxeny, priority in access to the oracle, priority in receiving justice, inviolability, freedom from all taxes, privileged seating at all the games that the city holds, and the other privileges that are given to the other proxenoi and benefactors of the city.  (The translation is adapted from R.Zelnick-Abramovitz, in "Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity", page 180) Jacoby, Felix (Berlin)

Note: proxenos (πρόξενος), plural proxenoi or proxeni (πρόξενοι), "instead of or in favor of a foreigner") or proxeinos (πρόξεινος) is the title and function that a state grants to a citizen of another to care for the Citizens of that state; he is a kind of honorary consul.

We also have Plutarch's account of the wars of Titus Quinctius Flamininus in Greece and the honors paid to him, considering him little less than a god since he is associated with Herakles or with the  Apollo Delfinius himself. Julius Caesar and Augustus would also be worshiped, as we shall see later. Titus Quinctius Flamininus was a politician and military of the Roman Republic. In spite of the opposition of the veterans to whom he had given lands, he was elected consul in 198 b. C. and sent to rule the Macedonian wars against Philippus  V of Macedonia.

Plutarch: Flamininus, , 16

But the hardest toils and struggles fell to Titus when he interceded with Manius in behalf of the Chalcidians. They had incurred the consul's wrath because of the marriage which Antiochus had made in their city after the war had already begun, a marriage which was not only unseasonable, but unsuitable for the king's years, since he was an elderly man and had fallen in love with a girl (the girl was a daughter of Cleoptolemus, and is said to have been most beautiful among maidens). This marriage induced the Chalcidians to take the king's side most zealously and allow their city to be his base of operations for the war. Antiochus, therefore, fleeing with all speed after the battle at Thermopylae, came to Chalcis, and taking with him his girl-wife, his treasure, and his friends, sailed back to Asia; but Manius immediately marched against Chalcis in a rage. He was accompanied, however, by Titus, who tried to mollify and intercede with him and at last won him over and calmed him down by entreaties addressed both to him and the other Romans in authority.

Having been thus saved by Titus, the Chalcidians dedicated to him the largest and most beautiful of the votive offerings in their city, and on them such inscriptions as these are still to be seen: "This gymnasium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Heracles," and again in another place, "This Delphinium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Apollo." Moreover, even down to our own day a priest of Titus is duly elected and appointed, and after sacrifice and libations in his honour, a set hymn of praise to him is sung: it is too long to be quoted entire, and so I will give only the closing words of the song:

"And the Roman faith we revere
, which we have solemnly vowed to cherish;
sing, then, ye maidens, to great Zeus, to Rome, to Titus,
and to the Roman faith:
hail, Paean Apollo!
hail, Titus our saviour!"
(Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin)

So, between the deifying tradition of the East and the immense power of the Romans, one arrives at the deification of Rome, the victorious city and its rulers.

We have numerous epigraphic documents, but few literary ones and for that reason the so-called “himn od Melimnos”  to Rome is very valuable; it  surely must be framed in the celebration of an act of cult to the powerful city of Rome.

Melimnos is a poetess of Lesbos, whose poem is generally dated at the beginning of the second century a. C. Stobaeus transmits to us this hymn of Melimnos, in which Rome is presented as a warrior  goddess whose destiny is both eternal and unique, in Stobaeus 3.7.12. (or in Diehl, Anthology Lyrica Graeca, II: 315-316):

Hail, Roma, daughter of Ares,
Golden-crowned warrior queen
You who live on earth on holy Olympus,
For ever indestructible.

To you alone, most revered one, has Fate
Granted royal glory of unbreakable dominion,
So that, with your sovereign power,
You might lead the way.

Under your yoke of strong leather straps,
The chests of earth and grey sea
Are tightly bound together; with firm hand you govern
The cities of your peoples

The longest eternity, which overthrows everything
And shapes the course of life first in this way, then in that,
For you alone does not change the wind
Which fills the sails of empire.

Indeed, out of all, you alone give birth to
Strong men, wielders of spears,
Sending forth a well-aiming crop of men
Like the fruits of Demeter.
(Translated by Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland)

Note: Ioannes Stobaeus (V – 6th century a. C.), neo-Platonic doxographer of the 5th-6th century, made an anthology of literary texts of about five hundred authors, called Anthology of Extracts, Sayings and Precepts.

Soon after, and especially in the Empire, it is frequent the creation of temples dedicated to Rome and to the emperor, such as those of Ancyra (present-day Ankara), Pergamon or Lugdunum in the West, dedicated to Rome and Augustus with their corresponding priests.

Suetonius informs us about  the attitude of Augustus with  the erection of temples and statues in his name:

Suetonius:  Augustus, 52

Although he knew that it had been customary to decree temples in honour of the proconsuls, yet he would not permit them to be erected in any of the provinces, unless in the joint names of himself and Rome. Within the limits of the city, he positively refused any honour of that kind. He melted down all the silver statues which had been erected to him, and converted the whole into tripods, which he consecrated to the Palatine Apollo. And when the people importuned him to accept the dictatorship, he bent down on one knee, with his toga thrown over his shoulders, and his breast exposed to view, begging to be excused. ( English Translation, Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Templa, quamuis sciret etiam proconsulibus decerni solere, in nulla tamen prouincia nisi communi suo Romaeque nomine recepit. nam in urbe quidem pertinacissime abstinuit hoc honore; atque etiam argenteas statuas olim sibi positas conflauit omnis exque iis aureas cortinas Apollini Palatino dedicauit. Dictaturam magna ui offerente populo genu nixus deiecta ab umeris toga nudo pectore deprecatus est.

Temple of Rome and Augustus. Pergamon      Altar of Rome and Augustus – Lugdudum

Tacitus introduces Tiberius rejecting such honors, unlike Augustus:

Tacitus, Annales,4,37-38 ;

About the same time Further Spain sent a deputation to the Senate, with a request to be allowed, after the example of Asia, to erect a temple to Tiberius and his mother. On this occasion, the emperor, who had generally a strong contempt for honours, and now thought it right to reply to the rumour which reproached him with having yielded to vanity, delivered the following speech:
"I am aware, Senators, that many deplore my want of firmness in not having opposed a similar recent petition from the cities of Asia. I will therefore both explain the grounds of my previous silence and my intentions for the future. Inasmuch as the Divine Augustus did not forbid the founding of a temple at Pergamos to himself and to the city of Rome, I who respect as law all his actions and sayings, have the more readily followed a precedent once approved, seeing that with the worship of myself was linked an expression of reverence towards the Senate. But though it may be par- donable to have allowed this once, it would be a vain and arrogant thing to receive the sacred honour of images representing the divine throughout all the provinces, and the homage paid to Augustus will disappear if it is vulgarised by indiscriminate flattery.

"For myself, Senators, I am mortal and limited to the functions of humanity, content if I can adequately fill the highest place; of this I solemnly assure you, and would have posterity remember it. They will more than sufficiently honour my memory by believing me to have been worthy of my ancestry, watchful over your interests, courageous in danger, fearless of enmity, when the State required it. These sentiments of your hearts are my temples, these my most glorious and abiding monuments. Those built of stone are despised as mere tombs, if the judgment of posterity passes into hatred. And therefore this is my prayer to our allies, our citizens, and to heaven itself; to the last, that, to my life's close, it grant me a tranquil mind, which can discern alike human and divine claims; to the first, that, when I die, they honour my career and the reputation of my name with praise and kindly remembrance."
Henceforth Tiberius even in private conversations persisted in showing contempt for such homage to himself. Some attributed this to modesty; many to self-distrust; a few to a mean spirit. "The noblest men," it was said, "have the loftiest aspirations, and so Hercules and Bacchus among the Greeks and Quirinus among us were enrolled in the number of the gods. Augustus, did better, seeing that he had aspired. All other things princes have as a matter of course; one thing they ought insatiably to pursue, that their memory may be glorious. For to despise fame is to despise merit."Translation by Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb)

Per idem tempus Hispania ulterior missis ad senatum legatis oravit ut exemplo Asiae delubrum Tiberio matrique eius extrueret. qua occasione Caesar, validus alioqui spernendis honoribus et respondendum ratus iis quorum rumore arguebatur in ambitionem flexisse, huiusce modi orationem coepit: 'scio, patres conscripti, constantiam meam a plerisque desideratam quod Asiae civitatibus nuper idem istud petentibus non sim adversatus. ergo et prioris silentii defensionem et quid in futurum statuerim simul aperiam. cum divus Augustus sibi atque urbi Romae templum apud Pergamum sisti non prohibuisset, qui omnia facta dictaque eius vice legis observem, placitum iam exemplum promptius secutus sum quia cultui meo veneratio senatus adiungebatur. ceterum ut semel recepisse veniam habuerit, ita per omnis provincias effigie numinum sacrari ambitiosum, superbum; et vanescet Augusti honor si promiscis adulationibus vulgatur.

Ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo; qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut maioribus meis dignum, rerum vestrarum providum, constantem in periculis, offensionum pro utilitate publica non pavidum credant. haec mihi in animis vestris templa, hae pulcherrimae effigies et mansurae. nam quae saxo struuntur, si iudicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur. proinde socios civis et deos ipsos precor, hos ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint, illos ut, quandoque concessero, cum laude et bonis recordationibus facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur.' perstititque posthac secretis etiam sermonibus aspernari talem sui cultum. quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur. optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere: sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos, Quirinum apud nos deum numero additos: melius Augustum, qui speraverit. cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; nam contemptu famae contemni virtutes.

They are significant the speeches  made by some Greek historians and speakers to Rome. Thus Aelius Aristides (Αίλιος Αριστείδης, in Latin, Aelius Aristides, 118-180) was an eminent sophist of the Second Sophist and Greek orator of the second century. His most famous orations was  “Regarding Rome," which he gave in front of the imperial palace in Rome and in which Aristides glorifies "the Empire and the theory behind it, particularly the Pax Romana," and paints an impressive picture of the Roman achievements, which stand out when it is compared to any other empire or city in history. I transcribe only a small part of this important work, which otherwise has been unequally valued by the critics who have dedicated works to it.

Aelius Aristides: Regarding Rome, 8 and ff.

It is from this that she gets her name, and strength rome) is the mark of all that is hers. Therefore, if one chose to unfold, as it wvere, and lay flat on the ground the cities which now she carries high in air, and place them side by side, all that part of Italy which intervenes would, I think, be filled and become one continuous city stretching to the Strait of Otranto.
Though she is so vast as perhaps even now I have not sufficiently shown, but as the eye attests more clearly, it is not possible to say of her as of other cities, There she stands. Again it has been said of the capital cities of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians -and may no ill omen attend the comparison- that the first would in size appear twice as great as in its intrinsic power, the second far inferior in size to its intrinsic power. But of this city, great in every respect, no one could say that she has not created power in keeping with her magnitude. No, if one looks at the whole empire and reflects how small a fraction rules the whole world, he may be amazed at the city, but when he has beheld the city herself and the boundaries of the city, he can no longer be amazed that the entire civilized world is ruled by one so great.

Some chronicler, speaking of Asia, asserted that one man ruled as much land as the sun passed, and his  statement was not true because he placed all Africa and Europe outside the limits where the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. It has now however turned out to be true. Your possession is equal to what the sun can pass, and the sun passes over your land. Neither the Chelidonean nor the Cyanean promontories limit your empire, nor does the distance from which a horseman can reach the sea in one day, nor do you reign within fixed boundaries, nor does another dictate to what point your control reaches; but the sea like a girdle lies extended, at once in the middle of the civilized world and your hegemony.

Around it lie the great continents greatly sloping, ever offering to you in full measure something of their own. Whatever the seasons make grow and whatever countries and rivers and lakes and arts of Hellenes and non-Hellenes produce are brought from every land and sea, so that if one would look at all these things, he must needs behold them either by visiting the entire civilized world or by coming to this city. For whatever is grown and made among each people cannot fail to be here at all times and in abundance. And here the merchant vessels come carrying these many products from all regions in every season and even at every equinox, so that the city appears a kind of common emporium of the world. (Translation by James H. Oliver)

Note 1: He plays with the already mentioned meaning of the Greek word “rhome”, strength. 2. Again the city and the world orb put in relation.

This relationship established between "orbis" and "urbis" (the City) is indicating the cultural and political union of a world controlled and appropriate by Rome. Even more,  the greatness of Rome is the greatness of the Empire. Rome is the city and the world; Eeen the world is conceived as a city; both concepts are interchangeable .

The Latin poets of the time of Augustus are well aware of this role that has been played by them and their city by the design of the gods. Thus, Tibulus, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, etc.

P.Ovidius Naso:  Amores 2,9

So many men and maidens without love,
Hence with great laude thou maiest a triumph move.
Rome if her strength the huge world had not fild,
With strawie cabins now her courts should build.
The weary souldiour hath the conquerd fields,
His sword layed by, safe, though rude places yeelds.
The Docke in harbours ships drawne from the flouds,
Horse freed from service range abroad the woods.
And time it was for me to live in quiet,
That have so oft serv'd pretty wenches dyet.
Yet should I curse a God, if he but said,
Live without love, so sweete ill is a maide.
(Translate by Christopher Marlowe, Ed.)

Tot sine amore viri, tot sunt sine amore puellae! 
     Hinc tibi cum magna laude triumphus eat.
Roma, nisi inmensum vires promosset in orbem,
     Stramineis esset nunc quoque tecta casis.
Fessus in acceptos miles deducitur agros;
     Mittitur in saltus carcere liber equus;
Longaque subductam celant navalia pinum,
     Tutaque deposito poscitur ense rudis.
Me quoque, qui totiens merui sub amore puellae,
     Defunctum placide vivere tempus erat.
'Vive' deus 'posito' siquis mihi dicat 'amore!'
     Deprecer — usque adeo dulce puella malum est.

Tibullus relates directly the future of Rome with his prophetic name: "Fatal, oh Rome, your name will be to the world"

Tibullus 2.5.39 et seq.

  The Sibyl:

  "High-souled Aeneas, brother of light-winged Love,
  Thy pilgrim ships Troy's fallen worship bear.
  To thee the Latin lands are given of Jove,
  And thy far-wandering gods are welcome there.
  Thou thyself shalt have a shrine
  By Numicus' holy wave;
  Be thou its genius strong to bless and save,
  By power divine!

  O'er thy ship's storm-beaten prow
  Victory her wings will spread,
  And, glorious, rest at last above a Trojan head.
  I see Rutulia flaming round me now.
  O barbarous Turnus, I behold thee dead!
  Laurentum rushes on my sight,
  And proud Lavinium's castled height,
  And Alba Longa for thy royal heir.
  Now I see a priestess fair
  Close in Mars' divine embrace.
  Daughter of Ilium, she fled away
  From Vesta's fires, and from her virgin face
  The fillet dropped, and quite unheeded lay;
  Nor shield nor corslet then her hero wore,
  Keeping their stolen tryst by Tiber's sacred shore!
  Browse, ye bulls, along the seven green hills!
  For yet a little while ye may,
  E'er the vast city shall confront the day!
  O Rome! thy destined glory fills
  A wide world subject to thy sway,–
  Wide as all the regions given
  To fruitful Ceres, as she looks from heaven
  O'er her fields of golden corn,
  From the opening gates of morn
  To where the Sun in Ocean's billowy stream
  Cools at eve his spent and panting team.
  Troy herself at last shall praise
  Thee and thy far-wandering ways.
  My song is truth. Thus only I endure
  The bitter laurel-leaf divine,
  And keep me at Apollo's shrine
  A virgin ever pure."
So, Phoebus, in thy name the Sibyl sung,
  As o'er her frenzied brow her loosened locks she flung.
(Done in English verse by Theodore C. Williams. 1908)

‘Impiger Aenea, uolitantis frater Amoris,
Troica qui profugis sacra uehis ratibus,
iam tibi Laurentes adsignat Iuppiter agros,
iam uocat errantes hospita terra Lares.
illic sanctus eris cum te ueneranda Numici
unda deum caelo miserit indigetem.
ecce super fessas uolitat Victoria puppes;
tandem ad Troianos diua superba uenit.
ecce mihi lucent Rutulis incendia castris:
iam tibi praedico, barbare Turne, necem.
ante oculos Laurens castrum murusque Lauini est
Albaque ab Ascanio condita Longa duce.
te quoque iam uideo, Marti placitura sacerdos
Ilia, Vestales deseruisse focos,
concubitusque tuos furtim uittasque iacentes
et cupidi ad ripas arma relicta dei.
carpite nunc, tauri, de septem montibus herbas
dum licet: hic magnae iam locus urbis erit.
Roma, tuum nomen terris fatale regendis,
qua sua de caelo prospicit arua Ceres,
quaque patent ortus et qua fluitantibus undis
Solis anhelantes abluit amnis equos.
Troia quidem tunc se mirabitur et sibi dicet
uos bene tam longa consuluisse uia.
uera cano: sic usque sacras innoxia laurus
uescar, et aeternum sit mihi uirginitas.’
haec cecinit uates et te sibi, Phoebe, uocauit,

Virgil expresses in three verses the Roman consciousness of his extraordinary mission in this world. Virgil puts in the mouth of Anchises, the father whom the hero Eneas has gone to look in the Underworld, the hell, the spaces of down,  the extraordinary responsibility of the Romans:

He tells us in Aeneid, 6, verses 847 et seq.

Others, I doubt not, shall with softer mould beast out the breathing bronze, coax from the marble features to life, plead cases with greater eloquence and with a pointer trace heaven’s motions and predict the risings of the stars: you, Roman, be sure to rule the world (be these your arts), to crown peace with justice, to spare the vanquished and to crush the proud.” (Translation by H. R. Fairclough)

Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,
credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus,
orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:                            
tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;
hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,
parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.”

Propertius also puts  urbs with orbi in relation (septem urbs alta iugis, toto quae praesidet orbi) and sings proud of the power of Rome in an elegy in which he presents the confrontation between Augustus and Cleopatra, that is the same as saying the confrontation between Cultures:

Elegies, 3, 11, 55 and seq.:

“Rome, with such a Citizen, thou hadst no cause to fear me”. So said even that sot’s tongue, swamped in endless debauch. The tall city on the Seven Hills, who thrones paramont over the whole world, felt the alarms of war and trembled at a woman’s menace. Gods preserve these walls or ours even as gods founded them! While Caesar lives Rome shall scarcely tremble at Jove” (Translated by J.S. Phillimore, M.A.)

'Non hoc, Roma, fui tanto tibi cive verenda!'
dixit et assiduo lingua sepulta mero.
septem urbs alta iugis, toto quae praesidet orbi,
femineas timuit territa Marte Minas
(non humana deicienda manu).
haec di condiderunt, haec di quoque moenia servant:
vix timeat salvo Caesare Roma Iovem.

Horace sees in the own fortress of Rome the reason of its own ruin by the continuous civil wars, of which it is horrified. Only Augustus will rescue it from the self destruction implanting the Roman pax. In Epodi 16: 1-14:

Another age worn out in civil wars,
   And Rome sinks weighed down by her own sheer forces,
Whom nor the bordering Marsians could destroy;
   Nor Porsena, threatening with Etruscan armies;
Nor rival Capua. Nor fierce Spartacus,
   Nor Allobroge in all revolts a traitor;
Nor fierce Germania’s blue-eyed giant sons;
   Nor Hannibal, abhorred by Romans mothers,
That is the Rome which we, this race, destroy;
   We, impious victims by ourselves devoted,
And to the wild beast and the wilderness
   Restoring soil which Romans called their country.
Woe! on the ashes of Imperial Rome
   Shall the barbarian halt his march, a  victor;
And the wild horseman with a changing hoof
   Trample the site which was the world’s great city,
And –horrid sight- in scorn to winds and sun
   Scatter the shrouded bones of Rome’s first founder.
(Translated by Lord Lytton. 1869)

Altera iam teritur bellis civilibus aetas,
suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit.
quam neque finitimi valuerunt perdere Marsi
minacis aut Etrusca Porsenae manus,
aemula nec virtus Capuae nec Spartacus acer
novisque rebus infidelis Allobrox
nec fera caerulea domuit Germania pube
parentibusque abominatus Hannibal:
inpia perdemus devoti sanguinis aetas
ferisque rursus occupabitur solum:
barbarus heu cineres insistet victor et Vrbem
eques sonante verberabit ungula,
quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini,
(nefas videre) dissipabit insolens.

For Cicero it is evident that Rome is the most powerful city and owner of the world.

Cicero Catiline Orations, 1.4.9.

O ye immortal gods, where on earth are we? in what city are we living? what constitution is ours? There are here,—here in our body, O conscript fathers, in this the most holy and dignified assembly of the whole world, men who meditate my death, and the death of all of us, and the destruction of this city, and of the whole world. I, the consul see them; I ask them their opinion about the republic, and I do not yet attack, even by words, those who ought to be put to death by the sword. (Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A)

O di inmortales! ubinam gentium sumus? in qua urbe vivimus? quam rem publicam habemus? Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, patres conscripti, in hoc orbis terrae sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de huius urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent! Hos ego video consul et de re publica sententiam rogo et, quos ferro trucidari oportebat, eos nondum voce volnero!

Pro Murena 9-10 (21-22)

But to say no more of this, and to return to the contest of studies and pursuits; how can it be doubted that the glory of military exploits contributes more dignity to aid in the acquisition of the consulship, than renown for skill in civil law? Do you wake before the night is over in order to give answers to those who consult you? He has done so in order to arrive betimes with his army at the place to which he is marching. The cook-crow wakens you, but the sound of the trumpet rouses him: you conduct an action; he is marshaling an army: you take care lest your clients should be convicted; he lest his cities or camp be taken. He occupies posts, and exercises skill to repel the troops of the enemy, you to keep out the rain; he is practised in extending the boundaries of the empire, you in governing the present territories; and in short, for I must say what I think, preeminence in military skill excels all other virtues.

It is this which has procured its name for the Roman people; it is this which has procured eternal glory for this city; it is this which has compelled the whole world to submit to our dominion; all domestic affairs, all these illustrious pursuits of ours, and our forensic renown, and our industry, are safe under the guardianship and protection of military valour. As soon as the first suspicion of disturbance is heard of, in a moment our arts have not a word to say for themselves. (Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A.)

Sed ut hoc omisso ad studiorum atque artium contentionem revertamur, qui potest dubitari quin ad consulatum adipiscendum multo plus adferat dignitatis rei militaris quam iuris civilis gloria? Vigilas tu de nocte ut tuis consultoribus respondeas, ille ut eo quo intendit mature cum exercitu perveniat; te gallorum, illum bucinarum cantus exsuscitat; tu actionem instituis, ille aciem instruit; tu caves ne tui consultores, ille ne urbes aut castra capiantur; ille tenet et scit ut hostium copiae, tu ut aquae pluviae arceantur; ille exercitatus est in propagandis finibus, tuque in regendis. Ac nimirum–dicendum est enim quod sentio–rei militaris virtus praestat ceteris omnibus. Haec nomen populo Romano, haec huic urbi aeternam gloriam peperit, haec orbem terrarum parere huic imperio coegit; omnes urbanae res, omnia haec nostra praeclara studia et haec forensis laus et industria latet in tutela ac praesidio bellicae virtutis. Simul atque increpuit suspicio tumultus, artes ilico nostrae conticiscunt. 

Ad Familiares. 4.1.2. / 150 (IV 1)

TO SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS (AT ROME)
CUMAE, APRIL (TOWARDS THE END)
You see how the matter stands: the whole world is parcelled out among men in military command, and is ablaze with war: the city, without laws, law courts, justice, or credit, has been abandoned to plunder and fire. Accordingly, nothing occurs to me, I don't say to hope, but scarcely even to venture to wish. (Translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh)

Res vides quomodo se habeat: orbem terrarum imperiis distributis ardere bello; urbem sine legibus, sine iudiciis, sine iure, sine fide relictam direptioni et incendiis: itaque mihi venire in mentem nihil potest non modo, quod sperem, sed vix, iam quod audeam optare;

Paradoxa Stoicorum. 2.18

Do you threaten me with death, to make me depart from all men, or with exile to make me depart from the wicked? Death is terrible for those  whom everything ends with life; but not to those whose praise cannot perish: exile is terrible to those who have their place of habitation  as circumscribed and limited; not to those who believe the whole world  is one city.

Mortemne mihi minitaris, ut omnino ab hominibus, an exilium, ut ab inprobis demigrandum sit? Mors terribilis iis, quorum cum vita omnia extinguuntur, non iis, quorum laus emori non potest, exilium autem illis, quibus quasi circumscriptus est habitandi locus, non iis, qui omnem orbem terrarum unam urbem esse ducunt.

And also for Cornelius Nepos. In  Atticus, 3.3:

He also conducted himself in such a way, that he appeared familiar with the lowest, though on a level with the highest. Hence it happened that they publicly bestowed upon him all the honours that they could, and offered to make him a citizen of Athens; an offer which he would not accept, because some are of opinion that the citizenship of Rome is forfeited by taking that of another city. As long as he was among them, he prevented any statue from being erected to him; but when absent, he could not hinder it; and they accordingly raised several statues both to him and Phidias,254 in the most sacred places, for, in their whole management of the state, they took him for their agent and adviser. It was the gift of fortune, then, in the first place, that he was born in that city, above all others, in which was the seat of the empire of the world, and had it not only for his native place but for his home; and, in the next, it was a proof of his wisdom, that when he betook himself to a city which excelled all others in antiquity, politeness, and learning, he became individually dear to it beyond other men. (Translated by Rev. John Selby Watson, M)

Hic autem sic se gerebat, ut communis infimis, par principibus videretur. quo factum est ut huic omnes honores, quos possent, publice haberent civemque facere studerent: quo beneficio ille uti noluit quod nonnulli ita interpretantur, amitti civitatem Romanam alia ascita. quamdiu affuit, ne qua sibi statua poneretur, restitit, absens prohibere non potuit. itaque aliquot ipsi et Phidiae locis sanctissimis posuerunt: hunc enim in omni procuratione rei publicae actorem auctoremque habebant potissimum.  igitur primum illud munus fortunae, quod in ea urbe natus est, in qua domicilium orbis terrarum esset imperii, ut eandem et patriam haberet et domum; hoc specimen prudentiae, quod, cum in eam se civitatem contulisset, quae antiquitate, humanitate doctrinaque praestaret omnes, unus ei fuit carissimus. 

And also  Livy, who wrote a general history of Rome from its origins, which he entitled "Ab urbe condita" (From the foundation of the city), explains why he dares to take  a work of such magnitude: no doubt the most powerful people have ever been and their emperor, at the time Augustus, deserve it. He tells us in the Preface of his work:

Whether I am likely to accomplish anything worthy of the labour, if I record the achievements of the Roman people from the foundation of the city, I do not really know, nor if I knew would I dare to avouch it;  perceiving as I do that the theme is not only old but hackneyed, through the constant succession of new historians, who believe either that in their facts they can produce more authentic information, or that in their style they will prove better than the rude attempts of the ancients.  Yet, however this shall be, it will be a satisfaction to have done myself as much as lies in me to commemorate the deeds of the foremost people of the world; and if in so vast a company of writers my own reputation should be obscure, my consolation would be the fame and greatness of those whose renown will throw mine into the shade.  Moreover, my subject involves infinite labour, seeing that it must be traced back above seven hundred years, and that proceeding from slender beginnings it has so increased as now to be burdened by its own magnitude; and at the same time I doubt not that to most readers the earliest origins and the period immediately succeeding them will give little pleasure, for they will be in haste to reach these modern times, in which the might of a people which has long been very powerful is working its own undoing.  I myself, on the contrary, shall seek in this an additional reward for my toil, that I may avert my gaze from the troubles which our age has been witnessing for so many years, so long at least as I am absorbed in the recollection of the brave days of old, free from every care which, even if it could not divert the historian's mind from the truth, might nevertheless cause it anxiety. (English  by Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1919)

facturusne operae pretium sim, si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim, nec satis scio nec,  si sciam, dicere ausim, quippe qui cum veterem tum vulgatam esse rem videam, dum novi semper scriptores aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos credunt. utcumque erit,  iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse; et si in tanta scriptorum turba mea fama in obscuro sit, nobilitate ac magnitudine eorum me, qui nomini officient meo, consoler.  res est praeterea et inmensi operis, ut quae supra septingentesimum annum repetatur et quae ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit, ut iam magnitudine laboret sua; et legentium plerisque haud dubito quin primae origines proximaque originibus minus praebitura voluptatis sint festinantibus ad haec nova, quibus iam pridem praevalentis populi vires se ipsae conficiunt;  ego contra hoc quoque laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe, dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam,  omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.

And shortly afterwards he informs us that this was predicted, , when he tells us about the disappearance and predictable rise to the heavens of Romulus, and tells us:

Livy, 1,16,6-7

This was Proculus Julius, who, when the people were distracted with the loss of their king and in no friendly mood towards the senate, being, as tradition tells, weighty in council, were the matter never so important, addressed the assembly as follows: “Quirites, the Father of this City, Romulus, descended suddenly from the sky at dawn this morning and appeared to me. Covered with confusion, I stood reverently before him, praying that it might be vouchsafed me to look upon his face without sin. 'Go,' said he, 'and declare to the Romans the will of Heaven that my Rome shall be the capital of the world; so let them cherish the art of war, and let them know and teach their children that no human strength can resist Roman arms.'  So saying,” he concluded, “Romulus departed on high.” It is wonderful what credence the people placed in that man's tale, and how the grief for the loss of Romulus, which the plebeians and the army felt, was quieted by the assurance of his immortality. (Translated by Benjamin Oliver Foster)

manavit enim haec quoque sed perobscura fama; illam alteram admiratio viri et pavor praesens nobilitavit.  et consilio etiam unius hominis addita rei dicitur fides. namque Proculus Iulius, sollicita civitate desiderio regis et infensa patribus, gravis, ut traditur, quamvis magnae rei auctor, in contionem prodit.  “Romulus” inquit, “Quirites, parens urbis huius, prima hodierna luce caelo repente delapsus se mihi obvium dedit. cum perfusus horrore venerabundus adstitissem, petens precibus ut contra intueri fas esset,  'Abi, nuntia,' inquit 'Romanis caelestes ita velle ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit; proinde rem militarem colant, sciantque et ita posteris tradant nullas opes humanas armis Romanis resistere posse.' haec,” inquit, “locutus sublimis abiit.”  mirum quantum illi viro nuntianti haec fides fuerit, quamque desiderium Romuli  apud plebem exercitumque facta fide inmortalitatis lenitum sit.

Lucanus, in his Pharsalia, introduces  Caesar speaking to Rome deified, crowned with the crown of towers:

Lucanus, Pharsalia 1, 183 et seq.

Caesar has crossed the Alps, his mighty soul
Great tumults pondering and the coming shock.
Now on the marge of Rubicon, he saw,
In face most sorrowful and ghostly guise,
His trembling country's image; huge it seemed
Through mists of night obscure; and hoary hair
Streamed from the lofty front with turrets crowned:
Torn were her locks and naked were her arms.
Then thus, with broken sighs the Vision spake:
What seek ye, men of Rome? and whither hence
Bear ye my standards? If by right ye come,
My citizens, stay here; these are the bounds;
No further dare.' But Caesar's hair was stiff
With horror as he gazed, and ghastly dread
Restrained his footsteps on the further bank.
Then spake he, ' Thunderer, who from the rock
Tarpeian seest the wall of mighty Rome;
Gods of my race who watched o'er Troy of old;
Thou Jove of Alba's height, and Vestal fires,
And rites of Romulus erst rapt to heaven,
And God-like Rome; be friendly to my quest.
Not with offence or hostile arms I come,
Thy Caesar, conqueror by land and sea,
Thy soldier here and wheresoe'er thou wilt:
No other's; his, his only be the guilt
Whose acts make me thy foe.' 
(Translated by Sir Edward Ridley)

iam gelidas Caesar cursu superauerat Alpes
ingentisque animo motus bellumque futurum
ceperat. ut uentum est parui Rubiconis ad undas,                 
ingens uisa duci patriae trepidantis imago
clara per obscuram uoltu maestissima noctem
turrigero canos effundens uertice crines
caesarie lacera nudisque adstare lacertis
et gemitu permixta loqui: 'quo tenditis ultra?                 
quo fertis mea signa, uiri? si iure uenitis,
si ciues, huc usque licet.' tum perculit horror
membra ducis, riguere comae gressumque coercens
languor in extrema tenuit uestigia ripa.
mox ait 'o magnae qui moenia prospicis urbis                 
Tarpeia de rupe Tonans Phrygiique penates
gentis Iuleae et rapti secreta Quirini
et residens celsa Latiaris Iuppiter Alba
Vestalesque foci summique o numinis instar
Roma, faue coeptis. non te furialibus armis                 
persequor: en, adsum uictor terraque marique
Caesar, ubique tuus (liceat modo, nunc quoque) miles.
ille erit ille nocens, qui me tibi fecerit hostem.'

And so I could continue to give innumerable examples.
(To be continued…)

The actions of the images and statues or representations of the divine beings that behave as if they were of flesh and bone and not of stone, wood or metal, also stand out. The statues which speak and send messages to humans, or jump and move from their stand or illuminate the pupil of their eyes with wonderful light, are especially attractive.

This behavior of the images responds to the diffuse and confused character of these statues that on one hand are mere representations of something that is not in this world and on the other hand they are the materialized divinity itself that lives with us. That is to say, the famous chryso-elephantine statue of Athena Parthenos, Virgin, of Athens is not a mere representation, but the materialized goddess herself.

And the same is true today with the images of modern saints and virgins, as it is revealed by the popular behavior that venerates them, touches them, invokes them, sings them, pleads with them, in contradiction to what reason says, even theological theory, which in reality does little to inform the people properly.

Well, these special effects are often used by poets. I will give only two examples of the indisputable Virgil and another of our poet of Hispanic origin Lucan.

Then I will present a famous text of Pliny the Younger on the appearance of a lady of great stature and prestige and of the ghosts,  which also Tacitus refers  in his Annals.

I will also quote a passage from The City of God of Saint Augustine, in which he refers and disqualifies these superstitions.

In this case, it calls powerfully the attention the clairvoyance with which he analyzes the superstitions  of the others and the security with which he accepts the own quack theory. No doubt a reader alien to our culture would not appreciate any difference between the beliefs of pagans and the beliefs of Christians; in fact, historically, the latter feed on the former.

Today as yesterday the statues of the divine beings continue to cry, illuminating their pupils, jumping from the bases, appearing to the shepherds, sending messages, many times encrypted to the mortals. Read carefully the news of the day and you will find that somewhere in the world someone claims to have met with some similar phenomenon. In that struggle between reason and mystery, the confrontation continues.

In Greek and Roman epic poetry, the gods are actors in permanent relationship with mortals, in whose disputes they take sides for one or the other.

I will present first the text of the Hispanic poet Lucanus in which he maximizes the emotion that these prodigies can generate in his credulous readers. The text is a fragment of his poem Bellum Civile, later called "Pharsalia" from  the name of the decisive battle in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey prior to the imposition of a personal and authoritarian regime in Rome, thus ending the long  republican period and giving entrance to the imperial time. In this fragment, among other prodigies, the gods shed tears and the Lares gods sweat.

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Bellum Civile 1.1 lines 544 y ss.

The jaws of Aetna were agape with flame
That rose not heavenwards, but headlong fell
In smoking stream upon th’Italian flank.
Then black Charybdis, from her boundless depth,
Threw up a gory sea. In piteous tones
Howled the wild dogs; the Vestal fire was snatched
From off the altar; and the flame that crowned
The Latin festival was split in twain,
As on the Theban pyre,2 in ancient days;
Earth tottered on its base: the mighty Alps
From off their summits shook th' eternal snow.3
In huge upheaval Ocean raised his waves
O'er Calpe's rock and Atlas' hoary head.
The native gods shed tears, and holy sweat
Dropped from the idols; gifts in temples fell:
Foul birds defiled the day; beasts left the woods
And made their lair among the streets of Rome.
All this we hear; nay more: dumb oxen spake;
Monsters were brought to birth and mothers shrieked
At their own offspring; words of dire import
From Cumae's prophetess were noised abroad.
Bellona's priests with bleeding arms, and slaves
Of Cybele's worship, with ensanguined hair,
Howled chants of havoc and of woe to men.
Arms clashed; and sounding in the pathless woods
Were heard strange voices; spirits walked the earth:
And dead men's ashes muttered from the urn.
Those who live near the walls desert their homes,
For lo! with hissing serpents in her hair,
Waving in downward whirl a blazing pine,
A fiend patrols the town, like that which erst
At Thebes urged on Agave,4 or which hurled
Lycurgus' bolts, or that which as he came
From Hades seen, at haughty Juno's word,
Brought terror to the soul of Hercules.
Trumpets like those that summon armies forth
Were heard re-echoing in the silent night:
And from the earth arising Sulla's 5 ghost
Sang gloomy oracles, and by Anio's wave
All fled the homesteads, frighted by the shade
Of Marius waking from his broken tomb.
In such dismay they summon, as of yore,
The Tuscan sages to the nation's aid.
(Translated by Sir Edward Ridley. London. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1905.)

ora ferox Siculae laxauit Mulciber Aetnae,                  545
nec tulit in caelum flammas sed uertice prono
ignis in Hesperium cecidit latus. atra Charybdis
sanguineum fundo torsit mare; flebile saeui
latrauere canes. Vestali raptus ab ara
ignis, et ostendens confectas flamma Latinas  
scinditur in partes geminoque cacumine surgit 
Thebanos imitata rogos. tum cardine tellus 
subsedit, ueteremque iugis nutantibus Alpes 
discussere niuem. Tethys maioribus undis 
Hesperiam Calpen summumque inpleuit Atlanta.  
indigetes fleuisse deos, urbisque laborem 
testatos sudore Lares, delapsaque templis 
dona suis, dirasque diem foedasse uolucres 
accipimus, siluisque feras sub nocte relictis 
audaces media posuisse cubilia Roma.  
tum pecudum faciles humana ad murmura linguae, 
monstrosique hominum partus numeroque modoque 
membrorum, matremque suus conterruit infans; 
diraque per populum Cumanae carmina uatis 
uolgantur. tum, quos sectis Bellona lacertis 
saeua mouet, cecinere deos, crinemque rotantes 
sanguineum populis ulularunt tristia Galli. 
conpositis plenae gemuerunt ossibus urnae.
tum fragor armorum magnaeque per auia uoces
auditae nemorum et uenientes comminus umbrae.                
quique colunt iunctos extremis moenibus agros
diffugiunt: ingens urbem cingebat Erinys
excutiens pronam flagranti uertice pinum
stridentisque comas, Thebanam qualis Agauen
inpulit aut saeui contorsit tela Lycurgi                 
Eumenis, aut qualem iussu Iunonis iniquae
horruit Alcides uiso iam Dite Megaeram.
insonuere tubae et, quanto clamore cohortes
miscentur, tantum nox atra silentibus auris
edidit. e medio uisi consurgere Campo                 
tristia Sullani cecinere oracula manes,
tollentemque caput gelidas Anienis ad undas
agricolae fracto Marium fugere sepulchro.
haec propter placuit Tuscos de more uetusto
acciri uates.

It is very interesting the fragment of the Aeneid of Virgil in which he relates the reaction of the image of Pallas, which had been stolen from his temple by Ulysses and the son of Tydeus. The text can also serve to compare the epic tone, elevated, solemn but far from the dramatic and baroque of Lucanus; but this is another matter.
Publius Virgilius Maro:

aeneida, 2, vv. 162 y ss.

Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid 2, v. 162 y ss.

All the hope of the Danaans and their confidence in beginning the war were ever stayed on the help of Pallas. But from the time that the ungodly son of Tydeus and Ulysses, the contriver of crime, dared to tear the fateful Palladium from its hallowed shrine, slew the guards of the citadelheight, and snatching up the sacred image, ventured with bloody hands to touch the fillets of the maiden goddess — from that time the hopes of the Danaans ebbed and, backward stealing, receded; their strength was broken and the heart of the goddess estranged.

And with no doubtful portents did Tritonia give signs thereof. Scarcely was the image placed within the camp, when from the upraised eyes there blazed forth flickering flames, salt sweat coursed over the limbs, and thrice, wonderful to relate, the goddess herself flashed forth  from the ground with shield and quivering spear. Straightway Calchas prophesies that the seas must be essayed in flight, and that Pergamus cannot be uptorn by Argive weapons, unless they seek new omens at Argos, and escort back the deity, whom they have taken away overseas in their curved ships. And now that before the wind they are bound for their native Mycenae, it is but to get them forces and attendant gods; then, recrossing the sea, they will be here unlooked for. So Calchas interprets the omens. (Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough)

Omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli
Palladis auxiliis semper stetit. impius ex quo 
Tydides sed enim scelerumque inuentor Vlixes, 
fatale adgressi sacrato auellere templo  
Palladium caesis summae custodibus arcis, 
corripuere sacram effigiem manibusque cruentis 
uirgineas ausi diuae contingere uittas, 
ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri 
spes Danaum, fractae uires, auersa deae mens. 
nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris. 
uix positum castris simulacrum: arsere coruscae 
luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus 
sudor iit, terque ipsa solo (mirabile dictu) 
emicuit parmamque ferens hastamque trementem. 
extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas, 
nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis 
omina ni repetant Argis numenque reducant 
quod pelago et curuis secum auexere carinis. 
et nunc quod patrias uento petiere Mycenas,  
arma deosque parant comites pelagoque remenso

It is also interesting the end that Virgil offers us in Book I of his Georgics. It reminds us of the signs that announced the dreadful horrors of the civil war and pray to the gods who protect Rome and guarantee its time of peace and splendor.

Virgil, Georgics, 1, v.463 et seq.

Who dare charge the sun
With leasing? He it is who warneth oft
Of hidden broils at hand and treachery,
And secret swelling of the waves of war.
He too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched,
For Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled
In iron-hued darkness, till a godless age
Trembled for night eternal; at that time
Howbeit earth also, and the ocean-plains,
And dogs obscene, and birds of evil bode
Gave tokens. Yea, how often have we seen
Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven,
In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields,
And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks!
A clash of arms through all the heaven was heard
By Germany; strange heavings shook the Alps.
Yea, and by many through the breathless groves
A voice was heard with power, and wondrous-pale
Phantoms were seen upon the dusk of night,
And cattle spake, portentous! streams stand still,
And the earth yawns asunder, ivory weeps
For sorrow in the shrines, and bronzes sweat.
Up-twirling forests with his eddying tide,
Madly he bears them down, that lord of floods,
Eridanus, till through all the plain are swept
Beasts and their stalls together. At that time
In gloomy entrails ceased not to appear
Dark-threatening fibres, springs to trickle blood,
And high-built cities night-long to resound
With the wolves' howling. Never more than then
From skies all cloudless fell the thunderbolts,
Nor blazed so oft the comet's fire of bale.
Therefore a second time Philippi saw
The Roman hosts with kindred weapons rush
To battle, nor did the high gods deem it hard
That twice Emathia and the wide champaign
Of Haemus should be fattening with our blood.
Ay, and the time will come when there anigh,
Heaving the earth up with his curved plough,
Some swain will light on javelins by foul rust
Corroded, or with ponderous harrow strike
On empty helmets, while he gapes to see
Bones as of giants from the trench untombed.
Gods of my country, heroes of the soil,
And Romulus, and Mother Vesta, thou
Who Tuscan Tiber and Rome's Palatine
Preservest, this new champion at the least
Our fallen generation to repair
Forbid not. To the full and long ago
Our blood thy Trojan perjuries hath paid,
Laomedon. Long since the courts of heaven
Begrudge us thee, our Caesar, and complain
That thou regard'st the triumphs of mankind,
Here where the wrong is right, the right is wrong,
Where wars abound so many, and myriad-faced
Is crime; where no meet honour hath the plough;
The fields, their husbandmen led far away,
Rot in neglect, and curved pruning-hooks
Into the sword's stiff blade are fused and forged.
Euphrates here, here Germany new strife
Is stirring; neighbouring cities are in arms,
The laws that bound them snapped; and godless war
Rages through all the universe; as when
The four-horse chariots from the barriers poured
Still quicken o'er the course, and, idly now
Grasping the reins, the driver by his team
Is onward borne, nor heeds the car his curb.
(Translation by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. )

…. Solem quis dicere falsum
audeat. Ille etiam caecos instare tumultus
saepe monet fraudemque et operta tumescere bella.
Ille etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam,
cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit
inpiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.
Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et aequora ponti
obscenaeque canes inportunaeque volucres
signa dabant. Quotiens Cyclopum effervere in agros
vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam
flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa!
Armorum sonitum toto Germania caelo
audiit, insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes.
Vox quoque per lucos volgo exaudita silentis
ingens et simulacra modis pallentia miris
visa sub obscurum noctis, pecudesque locutae,
infandum! sistunt amnes terraeque dehiscunt
et maestum inlacrimat templis ebur aeraque sudant.
Proluit insano contorquens vertice silvas
fluviorum rex Eridanus camposque per omnis
cum stabulis armenta tulit. Nec tempore eodem
tristibus aut extis fibrae adparere minaces
aut puteis manare cruor cessavit et altae
per noctem resonare lupis ululantibus urbes.
Non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno
fulgura nec diri totiens arsere cometae.
ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis
Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi;
nec fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro
Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos.
Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis
agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro
exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila
aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanis
grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.
Di patrii, Indigetes, et Romule Vestaque mater,
quae Tuscum Tiberim et Romana Palatia servas,
hunc saltem everso iuvenem succurrere saeclo
ne prohibete! Satis iam pridem sanguine nostro
Laomedonteae luimus periuria Troiae;
iam pridem nobis caeli te regia, Caesar,
invidet atque hominum queritur curare triumphos;
quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas: tot bella per orbem,
tam multae scelerum facies; non ullus aratro
dignus honos, squalent abductis arva colonis
et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem.
Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc Germania bellum;
vicinae ruptis inter se legibus urbes
arma ferunt; saevit toto Mars inpius orbe;
ut cum carceribus sese effudere quadrigae,
addunt in spatia et frustra retinacula tendens
fertur equis auriga neque audit currus habenas.

Other prodigies of great impact among the ancients are, as I said, the apparitions of the divine beings. As I also said, there is evidence of the appearance of an Egyptian goddess to a shepherd in a story that we have incomplete of only 25 lines; In it the pastor tells his companions the encounter with a woman who did not look like mortal .. This prodigy has not stopped repeating itself periodically until our days. In another moment I will dedicate an article to this subject.

But now I want to refer to another apparition that may remind us of a modern one. Pliny the Younger in a famous letter about the existence or not of the ghosts and the historian Tacitus tell it. I refer to the appearance of "a woman of superhuman stature to Curcius Rufus announcing that he would return to Africa as consul-elect.

I transcribe the whole letter of Pliny the Younger: Epistula 7,27

 To Sura/,

The present recess from business we are now enjoying affords you leisure to give, and me to receive, instruction. I am extremely desirous therefore to know whether you believe in the existence of ghosts, and that they have a real form, and are a sort of divinities, or only the visionary impressions of a terrified imagination ? What particularly inclines me to believe in their existence is a story f which I heard of Curtius Rufus. When he was in low circumstances and unknown in the world, he attended the governor of Africa into that province. One evening, as he was walking in the public portico, there appeared to him the figure of a woman, of unusual size and of beauty more than human. And as he stood there, terrified and astonished, she told him she was the tutelary power that presided over Africa, and was come to inform him of the future events of his life : that he should go back to Rome, to enjoy high honours there, and return to that province invested with the proconsular dignity, and there should die. Every circumstance of this prediction actually came to pass. It is said farther that upon his arrival at Carthage, as he was coming out of the ship, the same figure met him upon the shore. It is certain, at least, that being seized with a tit of illness, though there were no symptoms in his case that led those about him to despair, he instantly gave up all hope of recovery; judging, apparently, of the truth of the future part of the prediction by what had already been fulfilled, and of the approaching misfortune from his former prosperity.  Now the following story, which I am going to tell you just as I heard it, is it not more terrible than the former, while quite as wonderful ? There was at Athens  a large and roomv house, which had a bad name, so that no one could live there. In the dead of the night a noise, resembling the clashing of iron was frequently heard, which, if you listened more attentively, sounded like the rattling of chains, distant at first, but approaching nearer by degrees; immediately afterwards a spectre appeared in the form of an old man, of extremely emaciated and squalid appearance, with a long beard and dishevelled hair, rattling the chains on his feet and hands. The distressed occupants meanwhile passed their wakeful nights under the most dreadful terrors imaginable. This, as it broke their rest, ruined their health, and brought on distempers, their terror grew upon them, and death ensued.

Even in the day time, though the spirit did not appear, yet the impression remained so strong upon their imaginations that it still seemed before their eyes, and kept them in perpetual alarm. Consequently the house was at length deserted, as being deemed absolutely uninhabitable ; so that it was now entirely abandoned to the ghost. However, in hopes that some tenant might be found who was ignorant of this very alarming circumstance, a bill was put up, giving notice that it was either to be let or sold. It happened that Athenodorus  the philosopher came to Athens at this time, and, reading the bill, enquired the price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion ; nevertheless, when he heard the whole Mory, he was so far from being discouraged that he was more strongly inclined to hire it, and, in short, actually did so. When it grew towards evening, he ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the front part of the house, and, after calling for a light, together with his pencil and tablets, directed all his people to retire. But that his inind might not, for want of employment, be open to the vain terrors of imaginary noises and spirits, he applied himself to writing with the utmost attention. The first part of the night passed in entire silence, as usual ; at length a clanking of iron and rattling of chains was heard : however, he neither lifted up his eyes nor laid down his pen, but in order to keep calm and collected tried to pass the sounds off to himself as something else. The noise increased and advanced nearer, till it seemed at the door, and at, last in the chamber. He looked up, saw, and recognised the ghost exactly as it had been described to him : it stood before him, beckoning with the finger, like a person who calls another, Athenodorus in reply made a sign with his hand that it should wait a little, and threw his eyes again upon his papers ; the ghost then rattled its chains over the head of the philosopher, who looked up upon this, and seeing it beckoning as before, immediately arose, and, light in hand, followed it. The ghost slowly stalked along, as if encumbered with its chains, and, turning into the area of the house, suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, being thus deserted, make a mark with nome grass and leaves on the spot where the spirit left him. The next day he gave information to the magistrates, and advised them to order that spot to be dug up. This was accordingly done, and the skeleton of a man in chains was found there ; for the body, having lain a considerable time in the ground, was putrefied and mouldered away from the fetters. The bones being collected together were publicly buried, and thus after the ghost was appeased by the proper ceremonies, the house was haunted no more This story I believe upon the credit of others ; what I am going to mention, I give you upon my own. I have a freedman named Marcus, who is by no means illiterate. One night, as he and his younger brother were lying together, he  fancied he saw somebody upon his bed, who took out a pair of scissors, and cut off the hair from the top part of  his own head, and in the morning, it appeared his hair  was actually cut, and the clippings lay scattered about the floor. A short time after this, an event of a similar nature contributed to give credit to the former story. A young I lad of my family was sleeping in his apartment with the rest of his companions, when two persons clad in white came in, as he says, through the windows, cut off his hair as he lay, and then returned the same way they entered. The next morning it was found that this boy had been served just as the other, and there was the hair agaiu, spread about the room. Nothing remarkable indeed followed these events, unless perhaps that I escaped a prosecution, in which, if Domitian during whose reign this happened had lived some time longer, I should certainly have been involved. For after the death of that emperor, articles of impeachment against me were found in his scrutore, which had been exhibited by Cams. It may therefore be conjectured, since it is customary for persons under any public accusation to let their hair grow. + this cutting off the hair of my servants was a sign I should escape the imminent danger that threatened mo. Let me desire you then to give this question your mature consideration. The subject deserves your examination ; as, I trust, I am not myself altogether unworthy a participation in the abundance of your superior knowledge. And though you should, as usual, balance between two opinions, yet I hope you will lean more on one side than on the other, lest, whilst I consult you in order to have my doubt settled, you should dismiss me in the same suspense and indecision that occasioned you the present application. Farewell.
(Translation by William Melmoth,)

Et mihi discendi et tibi docendi facultatem otium praebet. Igitur perquam velim scire, esse phantasmata et habere propriam figuram numenque aliquod putes an inania et vana ex metu nostro imaginem accipere.  Ego ut esse credam in primis eo ducor, quod audio accidisse Curtio Rufo. Tenuis adhuc et obscurus, obtinenti Africam comes haeserat. Inclinato die spatiabatur in porticu; offertur ei mulieris figura humana grandior pulchriorque. Perterrito Africam se futurorum praenuntiam dixit: iturum enim Romam honoresque gesturum, atque etiam cum summo imperio in eandem provinciam reversurum, ibique moriturum.  Facta sunt omnia. Praeterea accedenti Carthaginem egredientique nave eadem figura in litore occurrisse narratur. Ipse certe implicitus morbo futura praeteritis, adversa secundis auguratus, spem salutis nullo suorum desperante proiecit.  Iam illud nonne et magis terribile et non minus mirum est quod exponam ut accepi?  Erat Athenis spatiosa et capax domus sed infamis et pestilens. Per silentium noctis sonus ferri, et si attenderes acrius, strepitus vinculorum longius primo, deinde e proximo reddebatur: mox apparebat idolon, senex macie et squalore confectus, promissa barba horrenti capillo; cruribus compedes, manibus catenas gerebat quatiebatque.  Inde inhabitantibus tristes diraeque noctes per metum vigilabantur; vigiliam morbus et crescente formidine mors sequebatur. Nam interdiu quoque, quamquam abscesserat imago, memoria imaginis oculis inerrabat, longiorque causis timoris timor erat. Deserta inde et damnata solitudine domus totaque illi monstro relicta; proscribebatur tamen, seu quis emere seu quis conducere ignarus tanti mali vellet.  Venit Athenas philosophus Athenodorus, legit titulum auditoque pretio, quia suspecta vilitas, percunctatus omnia docetur ac nihilo minus, immo tanto magis conducit. Ubi coepit advesperascere, iubet sterni sibi in prima domus parte, poscit pugillares stilum lumen, suos omnes in interiora dimittit; ipse ad scribendum animum oculos manum intendit, ne vacua mens audita simulacra et inanes sibi metus fingeret.  Initio, quale ubique, silentium noctis; dein concuti ferrum, vincula moveri. Ille non tollere oculos, non remittere stilum, sed offirmare animum auribusque praetendere. Tum crebrescere fragor, adventare et iam ut in limine, iam ut intra limen audiri. Respicit, videt agnoscitque narratam sibi effigiem.  Stabat innuebatque digito similis vocanti. Hic contra ut paulum exspectaret manu significat rursusque ceris et stilo incumbit. Illa scribentis capiti catenis insonabat. Respicit rursus idem quod prius innuentem, nec moratus tollit lumen et sequitur.  Ibat illa lento gradu quasi gravis vinculis. Postquam deflexit in aream domus, repente dilapsa deserit comitem. Desertus herbas et folia concerpta signum loco ponit.  Postero die adit magistratus, monet ut illum locum effodi iubeant. Inveniuntur ossa inserta catenis et implicita, quae corpus aevo terraque putrefactum nuda et exesa reliquerat vinculis; collecta publice sepeliuntur. Domus postea rite conditis manibus caruit.  Et haec quidem affirmantibus credo; illud affirmare aliis possum. Est libertus mihi non illitteratus. Cum hoc minor frater eodem lecto quiescebat. Is visus est sibi cernere quendam in toro residentem, admoventemque capiti suo cultros, atque etiam ex ipso vertice amputantem capillos. Ubi illuxit, ipse circa verticem tonsus, capilli iacentes reperiuntur.  Exiguum temporis medium, et rursus simile aliud priori fidem fecit. Puer in paedagogio mixtus pluribus dormiebat. Venerunt per fenestras – ita narrat – in tunicis albis duo cubantemque detonderunt et qua venerant recesserunt. Hunc quoque tonsum sparsosque circa capillos dies ostendit.  Nihil notabile secutum, nisi forte quod non fui reus, futurus, si Domitianus sub quo haec acciderunt diutius vixisset. Nam in scrinio eius datus a Caro de me libellus inventus est; ex quo coniectari potest, quia reis moris est summittere capillum, recisos meorum capillos depulsi quod imminebat periculi signum fuisse.  Proinde rogo, eruditionem tuam intendas. Digna res est quam diu multumque consideres; ne ego quidem indignus, cui copiam scientiae tuae facias.  Licet etiam utramque in partem – ut soles – disputes, ex altera tamen fortius, ne me suspensum incertumque dimittas, cum mihi consulendi causa fuerit, ut dubitare desinerem. Vale.

Tacitus: Annals: 11, 21.:

Of the birth of Curtius Rufus, whom some affirm to have been the son of a gladiator, I would not publish a falsehood, while I shrink from telling the truth. On reaching manhood he attached himself to a quæstor to whom Africa had been allotted, and was walking alone at midday in some unfrequented arcade in the town of Adrumetum, when he saw a female figure of more than human stature, and heard a voice, "Thou, Rufus, art the man who will one day come into this province as proconsul." Raised high in hope by such a presage, he returned to Rome, where, through the lavish expenditure of his friends and his own vigorous ability, he obtained the quæstorship, and, subsequently, in competition with well-born candidates, the prætorship, by the vote of the emperor Tiberius, who threw a veil over the discredit of his origin, saying, "Curtius Rufus seems to me to be his own ancestor." Afterwards, throughout a long old age of surly sycophancy to those above him, of arrogance to those beneath him, and of moroseness among his equals, he gained the high office of the consulship, triumphal distinctions, and, at last, the province of Africa. There he died, and so fulfilled the presage of his destiny. (Translation by Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb)

De origine Curtii Rufi, quem gladiatore genitum quidam prodidere, neque falsa prompserim et vera exequi pudet. postquam adolevit, sectator quaestoris, cui Africa obtigerat, dum in oppido Adrumeto vacuis per medium diei porticibus secretus agitat, oblata ei species muliebris ultra modum humanum et audita est vox 'tu es, Rufe, qui in hanc provinciam pro consule venies.' tali omine in spem sublatus degressusque in urbem largitione amicorum, simul acri ingenio quaesturam et mox nobilis inter candidatos praeturam principis suffragio adsequitur, cum hisce verbis Tiberius dedecus natalium eius velavisset: 'Curtius Rufus videtur mihi ex se natus.' longa post haec senecta, et adversus superiores tristi adulatione, adrogans minoribus, inter pares difficilis, consulare imperium, triumphi insignia ac postremo Africam obtinuit; atque ibi defunctus fatale praesagium implevit.

St. Augustine, in his City of God, refers  a prodigy well-known in antiquity: the tears shed by the statue of Apollo in Cumae, in Magna Graecia, on the occasion of the war between the Romans and the Greeks, when Publius Crassus died in a battle with Ariston. St. Augustine thinks that these are things of the demons that the poets present to us as true, but from then until today and also much earlier, many statues of gods, virgins and saints have wept frequently, acquiring the errors of men.

Augustine: De civitate Dei (The City of God), III,11

Of the statue of Apollo at Cumæ, whose tears are supposed to have portended disaster to the Greeks, whom the god was unable to succour.

And it is still this weakness of the gods which is confessed in the story of the Cuman Apollo, who is said to have wept for four days during the war with the Achæans and King Aristonicus. And when the augurs were alarmed at the portent, and had determined to cast the statue into the sea, the old men of Cumæ interposed, and related that a similar prodigy had occurred to the same image during the wars against Antiochus and against Perseus, and that by a decree of the senate gifts had been presented to Apollo, because the event had proved favourable to the Romans. Then soothsayers were summoned who were supposed to have greater professional skill, and they pronounced that the weeping of Apollo's image was propitious to the Romans, because Cumæ was a Greek colony, and that Apollo was bewailing (and thereby presaging) the grief and calamity that was about to light upon his own land of Greece, from which he had been brought. Shortly afterwards it was reported that King Aristonicus was defeated and made prisoner,—a defeat certainly opposed to the will of Apollo; and this he indicated by even shedding tears from his marble image. And this shows us that, though the verses of the poets are mythical, they are not altogether devoid of truth, but describe the manners of the demons in a sufficiently fit style. For in Virgil Diana mourned for Camilla, and Hercules wept for Pallas doomed to die. This is perhaps the reason why Numa Pompilius, too, when, enjoying prolonged peace, but without knowing or inquiring from whom he received it, he began in his leisure to consider to what gods he should entrust the safe keeping and conduct of Rome, and not dreaming that the true, almighty, and most high God cares for earthly affairs, but recollecting only that the Trojan gods which Æneas had brought to Italy had been able to preserve neither the Trojan nor Lavinian kingdom founded by Æneas himself, concluded that he must provide other gods as guardians of fugitives and helpers of the weak, and add them to those earlier divinities who had either come over to Rome with Romulus, or when Alba was destroyed. (Translated by the Rev. Marcus Dods, M.A.)

Neque enim aliunde Apollo ille Cumanus, cum adversus Achivos regemque Aristonicum bellaretur, quatriduo flevisse nuntiatus est ; quo prodigio haruspices territi cum id simulacrum in mare putavissent esse proiciendum, Cumani senes intercesserunt atque rettulerunt tale prodigium et Antiochi et Persis bello in eodem apparuisse figmento, et quia Romanis feliciter provenisset, ex senatus consulto eidem Apollini suo dona missa esse testati sunt. Tunc velut peritiores acciti haruspices responderunt simulacri Apollinis fletum ideo prosperum esse Romanis, quoniam Cumana colonia Graeca esset, suisque terris, unde accitus esset, id est ipsi Graeciae, luctum et cladem Apollinem significasse plorantem. Deinde mox regem Aristonicum victum et captum esse nuntiatum est, quem vinci utique Apollo nolebat et dolebat et hoc sui lapidis etiam lacrimis indicabat. Unde non usquequaque incongrue quamvis fabulosis, tamen veritati similibus mores daemonum describuntur carminibus poetarum. Nam Camillam Diana doluit apud Vergilium et Pallantem moriturum Hercules flevit . Hinc fortassis et Numa Pompilius pace abundans, sed quo donante nesciens nec requirens, cum cogitaret otiosus, quibusnam diis tuendam Romanam salutem regnumque committeret, nec verum illum atque omnipotentem summum Deum curare opinaretur ista terrena, atque recoleret Troianos deos, quos Aeneas advexerat, neque Troianum neque Laviniense ab ipso Aenea conditum regnum diu conservare potuisse: alios providendos existimavit, quos illis prioribus, qui sive cum Romulo iam Romam transierant, sive quandoque Alba eversa fuerant transituri, vel tamquam fugitivis custodes adhiberet vel tamquam invalidis adiutores.

I could give you many examples.

In this article you will find dozens of miracles and marvelous and inexplicable facts that were already produced in Antiquity and which were recorded in texts written more than two thousand years ago. And surely this weakness of a being as rational as man came from a past of thousands of years before, as many as mankind. From this and other weaknesses they are fed all kinds of superstitions and religions.

But what is a prodigy, a miracle, a wonder, a portent, a phenomenon, a monster of nature?
First we will use etymology and its significant force to explain the meaning of these terms and some others.

Prodigy: from the Latin "Prodigium", "Portentum" from the Latin "portentum" and "presage" from the Latin "praesagium" come to mean the same thing in Latin: divine sign.

The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines "prodigy" as "strange event that exceeds the regular limits of nature". And "portentum" as "Thing, action or singular event that by its strangeness or novelty causes admiration or terror"; and “presage”  as: "1. Signal that indicates, prevents and announces an event. 2. Species of divination or knowledge of future things through signs that have been seen or intuitions and sensations".

The etymology of "prodigium" is not secure; it has been related to "prod- agio," and this to  "aio" which means to speak, to say, and for that reason, perhaps Cicero erroneously links it with "pro-dico"; rather it seems to be related to "ago", "to carry, to push, to lead".

"Praesagium" is related to "prae-" before, and sagire, infinitive of sagio ", to perceive, to feel, from which sagax derives, which has given " sagacious ". That is why Cicero says in his De divinatione, 1,31,65:

Now sagire means 'to have a keen perception.' Accordingly certain old women are called sagae,3 because they are assumed to know a great deal, and dogs are said to be 'sagacious.' And so one who has knowledge of a thing before it happens is said to 'presage,' that is, to perceive the future in advance. (Translation. William Armistead Falconer)

“sagire sentire acute est: ex quo sagae anus, quia multa scire volunt; et sagaces dicti canes. Is igitur, qui ante sagit quam oblata res est, dicitur praesagire, id est futura ante sentiré”

It seems more certain the etymology  of portentum, from  "pro– (effect of metathesis or change of position of some phoneme) and tendo: to direct, to tend, .., that defines the Royal Spanish Academy as" Thing, action or singular event that by its Strangeness or novelty causes admiration or terror. "

Marvel (wonder): it is an "extraordinary event or thing that causes admiration". The word comes from the Latin "mirabilia", admirable things, which is the neutral plural of "mirabilis", admirable, which is formed from the root of the verb "mirari", admire, and the adjective "mirus, -a, -um ", marvelous, wonderful, strange, surprising.

From the same root and words they proceed to admire, and their compounds and also "miracle", from "miraculum".

The Royal Spanish Academy defines a miracle as: "1. The fact not explainable by natural laws and attributed to supernatural intervention of divine origin. 2. m. Event or rare thing, extraordinary and wonderful. "

From the same root they come the French "miroir", and the English "mirror".

Phenomenon is a Greek word φαινόμενον phainómenon, which has come to us through the late Latin  phaenomenon; the Greek verb φαινεῖν, phainein means to shine, to make to shine, to appear; to show, to do see. The Royal Spanish Academy  defines it as: "1. All manifestation that becomes present to the consciousness of a subject and appears as the object of his perception. 2.  Extraordinary and surprising thing. 3.  Colloquial:  Monstrous person or animal. "

With these terms are also related "oracle", from Latin oraculum and this from orare, to speak, which etymologically means message, communiqué, parliament.

And also "prophecy", "prediction made by virtue of supernatural gift." Greek word  has come to us  through Latin: prophet, Greek, προφήτης, prophetes, "who says in advance", from προ- (pro -) (before) and φημί, phemí, to speak.

In any case in the Roman world a "prodigy" is a sign of the gods with which they announce to men a future event, good or bad; it includes therefore omens and auguries.

Augury, augur, haruspex,  are terms that deserve another extensive article. Let it suffice now to remember that an "augur" is a priest, from Etruscan origin, who observes the sky and the signs of the gods, signs that are called "auguries" .The haruspices, also Etruscan, analyze the entrails of the animals sacrificed to the gods to observe into them the messages of the divinity.

With a more restricted sense, prodigy refers to any strange incident or marvelous apparition that is supposed that it announces a misfortune and therefore appears in calamitous circumstances for both the collective society and the individual.

Cicero tells us in De divinitatione, I, 42 (93) and ss. that prodigy is synonymous with ostentum, monstrum and portentum ":

Indeed, the inherent force of these means of divination, as you like to observe, is clearly shown by the very words so aptly chosen by our ancestors to describe them. Because they 'make manifest' (ostendunt), 'portend ' (portendunt), ' intimate ' (monstrant),'predict ' (praedicunt),they are called ' manifestations,' ' portents,' ' intimations,' and 'prodigies.' (Translation by William Armistead Falconer).

“Quia enim ostendunt, portendunt, monstrant, praedicunt; ostenta, portenta, monstra, prodigia dicuntur”.

I widen the quote a bit because it serves as the perfect setting for what we are dealing with. But first I want to refer to the term "monster", which derives from the verb "monstrare", to demonstrate, to teach, to show, it is "nothing but an unexpected and unprecedented being, phenomenon or event that precisely for this reason produces a major commotion in the person who sees or feel it, "that is," indicate, show, warn of something special ". Today in Spanish  the word “monstruo”, "monster" has more often a pejorative meaning, referring to something bad or inadequate, but it is not always so and it also maintains the meaning of something especially positive, as when we say of an artist, each one choose his idol, that he is a "monster of nature"

Extended text Cicero, De divinatione, I, 42 (93) y ss.

"Now, for my part, I believe that the character of the country determined the kind of divination which its inhabitants adopted. For  example, the Egyptians and Babylonians, who live on the level surface of open plains, with no hills to obstruct a view of the sky, have devoted their attention wholly to astrology. But the Etruscans, being in their nature of a very ardent religious temperament and accustomed to the frequent sacrifice of victims, have given their chief attention to the study of entrails. And as on account of the density of the atmosphere signs from heaven were common among them, and furthermore since that atmospheric condition caused many phenomena both of earth and sky and also certain prodigies that occur in the conception and birth of men and cattle—for these reasons the Etruscans have become very proficient in the interpretation of portents. Indeed, the inherent force of these means of divination, as you like to observe, is clearly shown by the very words so aptly chosen by our ancestors to describe them. Because they 'make manifest' (ostendunt), 'portend ' (portendunt), ' intimate ' (monstrant),'predict ' (praedicunt),they are called ' manifestations,' ' portents,' ' intimations,' and 'prodigies.'

But the Arabians, Phrygians, and Cilicians, being chiefly engaged in the rearing of cattle, are constantly wandering over the plains and mountains in winter and summer and, on that account, have found it quite easy to study the songs and flights of birds. The same is true of the Pisidians and of our fellowcountrymen, the Umbrians. While the Carians, and especially the Telmessians, already mentioned, because they live in a country with a very rich and prolific soil, whose fertility produces many abnormal growths, have turned their attention to the study of prodigies.

"But who fails to observe that auspices and all other kinds of divination flourish best in the best regulated states? And what king or people has there ever been who did not employ divination? I do not mean in time of peace only, but much more even in time of war, when the strife and struggle for safety is hardest. Passing by our own countrymen, who do nothing in war without examining entrails and nothing in peace without taking the auspices, let us look at the practice of foreign nations The Athenians, for instance, in every public assembly always had present certain priestly diviners, whom they call manteis. The Spartans assigned an augur to their kings as a judicial adviser, and they also enacted that an augur should be present in their Council of Elders, which is the name of their Senate. In matters of grave concern they always consulted the oracle at Delphi, or that of Jupiter Hammon or that of Dodona.

Lycurgus himself, who once governed the Spartan state, established his laws by authority of Apollo's Delphic oracle, and Lysander, who wished to repeal them, was prevented from doing so by the religious scruples of the people. Moreover, the Spartan rulers, not content with their deliberations when awake, used to sleep in a shrine of Pasiphaë which is situated in a field near the city, in order to dream there, because they believed that oracles received in repose were true. (Translation by William Armistead Falconer, 1923)

Ac mihi quidem videntur e locis quoque ipsis, qui  a quibusque incolebantur, divinationum oportunitates esse ductae. Etenim Aegyptii et Babylonii in camporum patentium aequoribus habitantes, cum ex terra nihil emineret, quod contemplationi caeli officere posset, omnem curam in siderum cognitione posuerunt, Etrusci autem, quod religione inbuti studiosius et crebrius hostias immolabant, extorum cognitioni se maxume dediderunt, quodque propter aëris crassitudinem  de caelo apud eos multa fiebant, et quod ob eandem causam multa invisitata partim e caelo, alia ex terra oriebantur, quaedam etiam ex hominum pecudumve conceptu et satu, ostentorum exercitatissimi interpretes exstiterunt. Quorum quidem vim, ut tu soles dicere, verba ipsa prudenter a maioribus posita declarant. Quia enim ostendunt, portendunt, monstrant, praedicunt, ostenta, portenta, monstra, prodigia dicuntur. Arabes autem et Phryges et Cilices, quod pastu pecudum maxume utuntur campos et montes hieme et aestate peragrantes, propterea facilius cantus avium et volatus notaverunt; eademque et Pisidiae causa fuit  et huic nostrae Umbriae. Tum Caria tota praecipueque Telmesses, quos ante dixi, quod agros uberrumos maximeque fertiles incolunt, in quibus multa propter fecunditatem fingi gignique possunt, in ostentis animadvertendis diligentes fuerunt. 
  Quis vero non videt in optuma quaque re publica plurimum auspicia et reliqua divinandi genera valuisse? Quis rex umquam fuit, quis populus, qui non uteretur praedictione divina? neque solum in pace, sed in bello multo etiam magis, quo maius erat certamen et discrimen salutis. Omitto nostros, qui nihil in bello sine extis agunt, nihil sine auspiciis domi [habent auspicia]; externa videamus: Namque et Athenienses omnibus semper publicis consiliis divinos quosdam sacerdotes, quos μάντεις vocant, adhibuerunt, et Lacedaemonii regibus suis augurem adsessorem dederunt, itemque senibus (sic enim consilium publicum appellant) augurem interesse voluerunt, iidemque de rebus maioribus semper aut Delphis oraclum aut ab Hammone aut a Dodona petebant. Lycurgus quidem, qui Lacedaemoniorum rem publicam temperavit, leges suas auctoritate Apollinis Delphici confirmavit; quas cum vellet Lysander commutare, eadem est prohibitus religione. Atque etiam qui praeerant Lacedaemoniis, non contenti vigilantibus curis in Pasiphaae fano,  quod est in agro propter urbem, somniandi causa excubabant, quia vera quietis oracla ducebant. Ad nostra iam redeo. Quotiens senatus decemviros ad libros ire iussit! quantis in rebus quamque saepe responsis haruspicum paruit! Nam et cum duo visi soles sunt et cum tres lunae et cum faces, et cum sol nocte visus est, et cum e caelo fremitus auditus, et cum caelum discessisse visum est atque in eo animadversi globi, delata etiam ad senatum labe agri Privernatis, cum  ad infinitam altitudinem terra desedisset Apuliaque maximis terrae motibus conquassata esset (quibus portentis magna populo Romano bella perniciosaeque seditiones denuntiabantur; inque his omnibus responsa haruspicum cum Sibyllae versibus congruebant); quid? cum Cumis Apollo sudavit, Capuae Victoria? quid?  ortus androgyni nonne fatale quoddam monstrum fuit? quid? cum fluvius Atratus sanguine fluxit? quid? cum saepe lapidum, sanguinis non numquam, terrae interdum, quondam etiam lactis imber defluxit? quid? cum in Capitolio ictus Centaurus e caelo est, in Aventino portae et homines, Tusculi aedes Castoris et Pollucis Romaeque Pietatis: nonne et haruspices ea responderunt, quae evenerunt, et in Sibyllae libris eaedem repertae praedictiones sunt? 

Naturally it is believed that the catastrophic announcement can be avoided by the proper offerings and rites that overturn the omen.

The rites are collected and explained in "books of practices" which are necessary for the purpose. They  are also from Etruscan origin. If the phenomenon is especially serious one has to resort to some soothsayer of recognized prestige, to the Sibylline Books or to the famous oracles like that of Delphi. We will speak of the Sibyls another time.

The ancients in general and in a special way the Romans were very superstitious, and by that reason all their social, religious and cultural life is plagued of rites and preventions of all type.

So much these phenomena, today we would say them "paranormal", attracted them, that there exist sacerdotal schools specialized in the interpretation of them; they are the augurs who watch permanently the sky and the flight of the birds and the haruspices who permanently analyze the bowels of the animals that so often are sacrificed  to their gods, as I mentioned before.

The poet Ovid tells us in his Metamorphoses (otherwise work full of prodigies) how Teages appears, who teaches the Etruscans to reveal the future according to the signs previously mentioned:

Metamorphoses XV, 547 et seq.

The grief of others could not ease the woe
of sad Egeria, and she laid herself
down at a mountain's foot, dissolved in tears,
till moved by pity for her faithful sorrow,
Diana changed her body to a spring,
her limbs into a clear continual stream.
This wonderful event surprised the nymphs,
and filled Hippolytus with wonder, just
as great as when the Etrurian ploughman saw
a fate-revealing clod move of its own
accord among the fields, while not a hand
was touching it, till finally it took
a human form, without the quality
of clodded earth, and opened its new mouth
and spoke, revealing future destinies.
The natives called him Tages. He was the first
who taught Etrurians to foretell events.
They were astonished even as Romulus,
when he observed the spear, which once had grown
high on the Palatine, put out new leaves
and stand with roots—not with the iron point
which he had driven in. Not as a spear
it then stood there, but as a rooted tree
with limber twigs for many to admire
while resting under that surprising shade.
(Translation by Brookes More, 1922)

Non tamen Egeriae luctus aliena levare
damna valent, montisque iacens radicibus imis
liquitur in lacrimas, donec pietate dolentis
mota soror Phoebi gelidum de corpore fontem
fecit et aeternas artus tenuavit in undas.
Et nymphas tetigit nova res, et Amazone natus
haud aliter stupuit, quam cum Tyrrhenus arator
fatalem glaebam mediis adspexit in arvis
sponte sua primum nulloque agitante moveri,
sumere mox hominis terraeque amittere formam
oraque venturis aperire recentia fatis
(indigenae dixere Tagen, qui primus Etruscam
edocuit gentem casus aperire futuros);
utve Palatinis haerentem collibus olim
cum subito vidit frondescere Romulus hastam,
quae radice nova, non ferro stabat adacto
et iam non telum, sed lenti viminis arbor
non exspectatas dabat admirantibus umbras;

And even they elaborate extensive lists, indexes and books in which these "wonders", the "mirabilia" are collected. They are the paradoxographies. Naturally, the Greeks were the first to do so, and within them the first of whom we have certain news that he writes a specific book on this subject, is Callimachus (310 BC – 240 BC). Its development takes place in Hellenistic time in connection with the creation of the great libraries and centers of investigation like Alexandria and Pergamon.

Those who are prone to believe in wonders and miracles will find in the Graec-Roman world hundreds of examples of marvelous facts, which according to some people continue to occur in abundance in our scientifically studied world. The knowledge of these "miracles" so old which  so often occur, should at least serve so many credulous people to question the presumed character of these prodigious facts, many of them explainable by scientific knowledge and other simply fantastic creations of man himself; as Spanish painter Goya painted, "the dream of reason produces monsters."

I will present in several articles some texts of Livy, in whose history there are always present the prodigies, other texts of the poets Lucan and Virgil, and other of St. Augustine and his City of God.

Livy, a historian who lived in the time of the emperor Augustus, wrote a history of Rome from its  foundation; that is why it is called  "Ab urbe condita", "Since the foundation of the city". His account is full of references to these miracles, portents and monsters; there are dozens of passages in which he refers dozens and even hundreds of "wonderful" facts, omens of all kinds. To this subject some important research articles have been devoted.

The credulous Livy seems to collect prodigies as the sources offer them without further consideration, but he differs between major and minor prodigies, public and private, in Rome or outside Rome. I will present later an incomplete classification which will give us an idea of the variety of prodigies.

A moment of special tension and therefore propitious for the appearance of "prodigia" is the time when in the Second Punic War between Romans and Carthaginians, Hannibal comes from Hispania and carries  the confrontation to Italy, traversing the Alps in winter with his elephants; then a great fear and worry spread among the Romans. These circumstances are a good environment for the multiplication of rumors of prodigies of all kinds. Some of them are still produced from time to time nowadays.

I will cite only two passages from Livy of the possible tens as a sufficient sample and I will also offer a broader relationship with the corresponding textual reference in case the reader would like to extend his readings.

In the list prodigies we will find rays, meteors and tongues of fire, halos and luminous crowns, multiplication of suns and moons; crevices and sinkings of the earth; strange glows in the sky; rain of blood, stones, earth, milk; rivers that carry bloody water; volcanic eruptions, perspiration of bronze or marble statues; hybrid or monstrous beings, like five-footed horses, man-headed pigs, bicephalous animals; animals or infants who speak, etc., etc.

As I said, the references to prodigies are innumerable in Livy's work. We will see some examples and in the end I will give an incomplete relationship, with some classification, that will allow us to give an approximate idea of its importance. It is a matter of interest to analyze the extent to which Livy believes in these prodigies and the sources of the prodigies, including the pontifical books and the official Annals in which they are reflected following the Etruscan custom.

Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, The History of Rome, Book 22 1,8

Men's fears were augmented by the prodigies reported simultaneously from many places: that in Sicily the javelins of several soldiers had taken fire, and that in Sardinia, as a horseman was making the round of the night-watch, the same thing had happened to the truncheon which he held in his hand; that many fires had blazed up on the shore; that two shields had sweated blood; that certain soldiers had been struck with lightning; that the sun's disk had seemed to be contracted;  that glowing stones had fallen from the sky at Praeneste; that at Arpi bucklers had appeared in the sky and the sun had seemed to be fighting with the moon; that at Capena two moons had risen in the daytime;  that the waters of Caere had flowed mixed with blood, and that bloodstains had appeared in the water that trickled from the spring of Hercules itself; that at Antium, when some men were reaping, bloody ears of corn had fallen into their basket; that at Falerii the sky had seemed to be rent as it were with a great fissure; and through the opening a bright light had shone;  and that lots had shrunk and that one had fallen out without being touched, on which was written, “Mavors brandishes his spear;”  that in Rome, about the same time, the statue of Mars on the Appian Way and the images of the wolves had sweated; that at Capua there had been the appearance of a sky on fire and of a moon that fell in the midst of a shower of rain.  Afterwards less memorable prodigies were also given credence: that certain folk had found their goats to have got woolly fleeces; that a hen had changed into a cock and a cock into a hen.

When the consul had laid these reports before the senate exactly as they had come to him and had introduced into the House the men who vouched for their truth, he consulted the Fathers regarding their religious import.  It was voted that these prodigies should be expiated, in part with greater, in part with lesser victims, and that a supplication should be held for three days at all the couches of the gods;  as for the rest, when the decemvirs should have inspected the Books, such rites were to be observed as they should declare, in accordance with the sacred verses, to be pleasing to the gods. Being so admonished by the decemvirs, they decreed that the first gift should be made to Jupiter, a golden thunderbolt weighing fifty pounds; and that Juno and Minerva should be given offerings of silver;  that Juno Regina on the Aventine and Juno Sospita at Lanuvium should receive a sacrifice of greater victims, and that the matrons, each contributing as much as she could afford, should make up a sum of money and carry it as a gift to Juno Regina on the Aventine and there celebrate a lectisternium ; and that even the very freed-women should contribute money, in proportion to their abilities, for an offering to Feronia. These measures being taken, the decemvirs sacrificed at Ardea in the market-place with the greater victims. Finally-the month was now December —victims were slain at the temple of Saturn in Rome and a lectisternium was ordered-this time senators administered the rite—and  a public feast, and throughout the City for a day and a night “Saturnalia” was cried, and the people were bidden to keep that day as a holiday and observe it in perpetuity. (Translation by Benjamin Oliver Foster)

augebant metum prodigia ex pluribus simul locis nuntiata: in Sicilia militibus aliquot spicula, in Sardinia autem in muro circumeunti vigilias equiti scipionem quem manu tenuerat arsisse, et litora crebris ignibus fulsisse, et scuta duo sanguine sudasse, et milites quosdam ictos fulminibus,  et solis orbem minui visum, et Praeneste ardentes lapides caelo cecidisse, et Arpis parmas in caelo visas pugnantemque cum luna solem,  et Capenae duas interdiu lunas ortas, et aquas Caeretes sanguine mixtas fluxisse fontemque ipsum Herculis cruentis manasse respersum maculis, et Antii metentibus cruentas in corbem spicas cecidisse,  et Faleriis caelum findi velut magno hiatu visum, quaque patuerit ingens lumen effulsisse; sortes adtenuatas unamque sua  sponte excidisse ita scriptam: “mavors telum suum concutit;”  et per idem tempus Romae signum Martis Appia via ac simulacra luporum sudasse, et Capuae speciem caeli ardentis fuisse lunaeque inter imbrem cadentis.  inde minoribus etiam dictu prodigiis fides habitat: capras lanatas quibusdam factas, et gallinam in marem, gallum in feminam sese vertisse.
his sicut erant nuntiata expositis auctoribusque in curiam introductis consul de religione patres consuluit. decretum ut ea prodigia partim maioribus hostiis, partim lactentibus procurarentur, et uti supplicatio per triduum ad omnia pulvinaria haberetur; cetera,  cum decemviri libros inspexissent, ut ita fierent quem ad modum cordi esse divis e carminibus praefarentur.  decemvirorum monitu decretum est Iovi primum donum fulmen aureum pondo quinquaginta fieret et Iunoni Minervaeque ex argento dona darentur et Iunoni reginae in Aventino Iunonique Sospitae Lanuvii maioribus hostiis sacrificaretur matronaeque pecunia conlata,  quantum conferre cuique commodum esset, donum Iunoni reginae in Aventinum ferrent lectisterniumque fieret, et ut libertinae et ipsae, unde Feroniae  donum daretur, pecuniam pro facultatibus suis conferrent.
haec ubi facta, decemviri Ardeae in foro maioribus hostiis sacrificarunt. postremo Decembri iam mense ad aedem Saturni Romae immolatum est lectisterniumque imperatum—eum lectum senatores straverunt—et convivium publicum,  ac per urbem Saturnalia diem ac noctem clamata, populusque eum diem festum habere ac servare in perpetuum iussus.

Another example of various prodigies:

Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, The History of Rome, Book 24,10, 6

After enlisting the city legions and raising troops to make up the numbers of the others, the consuls, before they quitted the city, expiated the prodigies which were reported.  Prodigies in large numbers —and the more they were believed by men simple and devout, the more of them used to be reported —were reported that year: that at Lanuvium ravens had made a nest inside the temple of Juno Sospita; that in Apulia a green palm took fire; that at Mantua a lake, the overflow of the river Mincius, appeared bloody;  and at Cales it rained chalk, and at Rome in the Cattle Market blood; and that on the Vicus Insteius an underground spring flowed with such a volume of water that the force of a torrent, as it were, overturned the jars, great and small, that were there and carried them along;  that the Atrium Publicum on the Capitol, the temple of Vulcan in the Campus, that of Vacuna and a public street in the Sabine country, the wall and a gate at Gabii were struck by lightning. Moreover other marvels were widely circulated: that the spear of Mars at Praeneste moved of itself; that an ox in Sicily spoke; that among the Marrucini an infant in its mother's womb shouted “Hail, triumph!”;  that at Spoletium a woman was changed into a man; that at Hadria an altar was seen in the sky, and about it the forms of men in white garments.  In fact at Rome also, actually in the city, directly after the appearance of a swarm of bees in the Forum —a wonder because it is rare —certain men, asserting that they saw armed legions on the Janiculum, aroused the city to arms, whereas those who were on the Janiculum denied that anyone had been seen there except the usual dwellers on that hill.  Atonement was made for these prodigies with full-grown victims on the advice of the soothsayers, and a season of prayer to all the gods who had festal couches at Rome was proclaimed. (Translated by Frank Gardener Moore).

prodigia eo anno multa nuntiata sunt, quae quo magis credebant simplices ac religiosi homines, eo plura nuntiabantur: Lanuvi in aede intus Sospitae Iunonis corvos nidum fecisse;  in Apulia palmam viridem arsisse; Mantuae stagnum effusum Mincio amni cruentum visum; et Calibus creta et Romae in foro bovario sanguine pluvisse;  et in vico Insteio fontem sub terra tanta vi aquarum fluxisse ut serias doliaque quae in eo loco erant provoluta velut impetus torrentis tulerit;  tacta de caelo atrium publicum in Capitolio, aedem in campo Volcani, Vacunae in Sabinis publicamque viam, murum ac portam Gabiis.  iam alia vulgata miracula erant:  hastam Martis Praeneste sua sponte promotam; bovem in Sicilia locutum; infantem in utero matris in Marrucinis “io triumphe” clamasse; ex muliere Spoleti virum factum; Hadriae aram in caelo speciesque hominum circum eam cum candida veste visas esse.  quin Romae quoque in ipsa urbe, secundum apum examen in foro visum—quod mirabile est, quia rarum—adfirmantes quidam legiones se armatas in Ianiculo videre concitaverunt civitatem ad arma,  cum qui in Ianiculo essent negarent quemquam ibi praeter adsuetos collis eius cultores adparuisse.  haec prodigia hostiis maioribus procurata sunt ex haruspicum responso, et supplicatio omnibus deis quorum pulvinaria Romae essent indicta est.

List and incomplete classification of the prodigies appeared in the work of  Livy:

Celestial
     – Sun eclipses: 7,28,7 / 30,38,8 / 37,4,4 / 38,36,4
     – Moon eclipses: 44,37,8-9 / 26,5,9
     – Plurality of suns, moons, etc .: 28,11,3 / 29,14,3 / 41,21,12 / 22,1,9 / 22/1/10 / 30,38,8 / 30,2  , 11-12 / 38,36,4
     – Blood color sun: 25,7,8 / 31,12,5
     – Other celestial prodigies:
     – Sky that burns: 3,9,14 / 3,10,6 / 7,28,7 / 22,1,12 / 30,2,12 / 31,12,5 / 32,9,3 / 39,22 ,3/
     – Huge torch burning: 30,2,12 / 43,13,3 / 45,16,5
     – Figure of ships burning in the sky: 21,62,4 / 42,2,4 /
     – Shields flying through the air: 22,1,9
     – The sun struggling with the moon: 22,1,9 /
     – The torn sky and a great light shining: 22,1,11 /
     – The moon falling in the rain: 22,1,12
     –  A huge stone flying: 23,7,8
     –  Appearance of light at night: 28,11,3 / 29,14,3 / 32,29,2 /
     –  Rainy earth, Stone falling from the sky: 41,9,5 /
– Seismic movements: 3,10,6 /
     – Storms: 2,62,2 / 26,11,2 / 40,58,6 /
     – Rays: Luterbacher says , collected by Jose Jiménez Delgado in Helmántica, 12, 1961, that 28 rays fell in the temples, 18 in walls, 3 in statues, besides those that fall in men, animals, plants, inanimate beings. Some examples: 1,3,9 (to Rómulo) / 10,31,8 / 22,1,8 / 25,7,8 / 27,7,7 / 27,11,12 / 27,2,2 / 27 / 37.2 / 24,10,9 / 24,44,7 / 27,37,2 / 32,1,10 / 32,9,2 / 36,37,3 / 27,23,3 / 37, 37.2 / 28.11 / 28.11 / 32.1.10 / 32.29.1 / 40.2.4 / 45.16.5 / 21.62.4 / 25.7, 7 / 27,11,2 / 24,10,9 / 42,20,1 / 32,9,2 / 26,23,4 / 33,26,8 / 42,20,1 / 27,4,11 / 30.38,9 / 41,13,1 / 27,37,2 / 22,1,8 / 24,44,8 / 26,223,5 / 27,11,2 / 27,23,3 / 29,14, 3 / 30,38.9 / 35,21,4 / 37,3,2 / 45,16,5 / 25,7,8 / 32,9,2 / 32,29,2 / 36,37,3 / 32.1,12 / 35,9,3 / 45,16,5 / 30,38,9 / 36,37,3 / 42,20,5 /
     –  prodigious rains: earth 10,1,8 / 34,45,6-7 / burning stones 22,1,9 / stones 25,7,7 / 39,22,3 / 37,3,2 / 27,11, 5 / blood 34,45,6-7 / 39,46,5 / 42,20,5 / 24,10,7 / meat 3,10,6 / lime 24,10,7 / Milk 27,11,5 /
    – Others  7, 28/ 10, 31/ 21, 62/ 22, 36/ 23, 31/ 26, 23/ 27, 32/ 29, 10/ 29, 14/ 35, 21/ 37, 3/ 39, 56/  40, 19/ 42, 2/ 43, 15/ 44, 18/ 45, 16.
 Many others less frequent or important

 Terrestrial
     – Blood in sources and rivers: 22,1,10 / 24,10,7 / 24,44,8 / 27,11,3 / 27,23,4 / 27,37,3 / 45,16,5 /
     – Images that are crying or sweating: 22,1,12 / 22,36,7 / 23,31,15 / 27,4,14 / 28,11,4 / 40,19,2 / 43,13,4 /
     – Sacred forests: 27,4,12-14 / 27,37,2 / 41,9,4 /
     – Bee swarm: 21,46,1 / 24,10,11 / 27,23,2 / 35,9,4 /
     – Presence of wolves: 3,29,6-9 / 10,27,8 / 21,46,1 / 21,62,5 / 27,37,3 / 32,29,2 /  
          33,26,9 /
     – Snakes: 1.56,4 / 7.17,3 / 25,16,2 / 26,19,7 / 27,4,13 / 28,11,2 / 41,9,6 / 
         41,21,13 / 43.13
     – Birds of good and bad omen: 10,40,14 / 21,62,4 / 22,1,13 / 24,10,6 / 27,4,12 /
       30,2,9 /
     – Flames and mysterious auras: the head of Servius Tullius burns 1,39,1 / 
       inflamed darts 22,1,8 / inflamed palm 24,10,7 / head on fire 25,39,16 / head 
       of Vulcan 34,45, 7 /
     – Bleeding ears: 22,1,10 / 28,11,2 /
     – Bleeding shields: 25,39,10 /
     – Mice gnawing gold of the temple: 27,23,2

Monstrosities
     –  Androgynous: 27,11,4 / without sex 27,37,5 / 31,12,6 /
     –  Children without eyes and nose and hands: 35,21,3
     –  Monstrous animals
     –  Goats with wool: 22,113 /
     –  Cow that stops a foal: 23,31,15 /
     –  Pork with two heads: 28,11,3 / pork with human face: 27,4,14 / 32,9,3 /
     –  A lamb is born with an udder full of milk: 27,4,11 /
     –  In Reate a mule gave birth 26,23,5
     –  Lamb male and female at the same time: 28,11,3 /
     –  Lamb with two heads: 32,9,3 /
     –  Colt with five legs: 31,12,7 / 32,1,11 /
      – Three chickens with three legs each: 32,1,11 / one dick with wool,  Goat that stops six kids: 35,21,3 /
      –  Mule that stops: 37,3,3 / Mule with three legs: 40,45,5 / 42,20,5 /
      –  Asses with sturdy legs: 42,20,5
      –  Speaking animals: A talking cow: 3,10,6 / 43,13,3 / 27,11,4 / 28,11,4 / 35,21,4 /
            – Talking children: six months: 21,62,2 / in the womb of his mother: 24,10,10 /
            – Ox that climbs to the third floor and is thrown from it / 21,62,3 / oxen that go up to the roof: 36,37,2 /
           – Fecundated bronze cow: 41,13,2
     –  mysterious voices: huge voice: 1,31,3 / 2,7,2 / more than human: 5,32,6 / 6,33,5 /
     –  Visions, dreams: Hannibal's dream: 21,22,6 /

If any reader of this blog believed that the miracles were own and exclusive of his own belief, he was very wrong: once again "Nihil novum sub sole".

The remaining texts announced remain for another article ..

I will briefly refer, however, to his influence on the painting of the Prado Museum, Museo del Prado in Madrid. Ovid is present in all the important museums of the world: Louvre Museum of Paris and the National Gallery of London and the Alte Pinakothek of Munich and the Hermitage of St. Petersburg, etc. etc.,  through its influence on painters, especially of the Renaissance and Baroque (Rubens, Velázquez, Tiziano ...) but also contemporaries, as Picasso himself.

The influence is mostly that of his book of mythology The Metamorphosis or transformation of some beings into others, usually humans or gods in animals, trees or stars. The Metamorphosis are a true treatise on mythology.

I will refer exclusively and briefly to his presence at the Prado Museum, Museo del Prado, in Madrid. In fact it is absolutely advisable to anyone who visits this important museum, one of the most important Pinacothecas, "art galleries", in the world, to do so after a previous reading of the work of Ovid, the Metamorphosis, or some of the guides and publications that exist on the subject, or a visit to the museum's own website.

https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obras-de-arte?search=metamorfosis&ordenarPor=pm:relevance

Note: the word "pinacotheca" has come to us through the Latin "pinacotheca, but in fact it is from  Greek origin: πινακοθήκη, pinakotheke, word itself composed of πινακος, pinakos, genitive of πίναξ, pinax, meaning " picture" and θήκη, theke," box, wardrobe, shelf,  and by extension collection of things and objects deposited therein.

The consultation to this link at the time of the publication of this article offers the immediate reference of 158 works, some of them of the most famous of which the Museum houses. It is true that not all of them are indebted exclusively to Ovid, but the vast majority.

I will confine myself to presenting only three of the corresponding Ovid texts and to cite some of the others to encourage the reader to search for the correspondences of himself, an experience that can be extended to any other museum, such as the Louvre Museum or the National Gallery of London) or the Alte Pinakothek of Munich or the Hermitage of St. Petersburg, etc. etc.

The reader can find ample information in numerous books and published articles on this, of general form in the work of Amalia Fernández: Diosesy mitos. Una aproximación literaria a la pintura mitológica del Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1998) (Gods and myths. A literary approach to the mythological painting of the Museo del Prado); Or Rosa López Torrijos: Mitología e Historia en las obras maestras del Prado, Madrid, 1998 (Mythology and History in the masterpieces of the Prado,) or more concretely in Mª. Cruz García Fuentes: Mitos de las Metamorfosis de Ovidio en la Iconografía del Museo del Prado, Madrid, Edit. C. E. R. S. A., 2013. ( Myths of the Metamorphoses of Ovid in the Iconography of the Prado Museum).

I will limit myself to relate, as I said, by way of example, three or four great works of the Museum, of the hundred and fifty exposed, with the corresponding text of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. I hope that this is enough incentive for the reader to locate and atmosphere the visit to the Museum with the reading of Ovid.

The painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) is widely represented in the Museo del Prado with paintings of mythological subject, whose commission received from King Felipe IV to decorate the "Torre de la parada” (Tower of the Parada). Most of the mythological scenes of the passions of the gods were inspired by Ovid's description in the Metamorphoses.

For example:

Deucalión and Pyrrha. (1636-1637. Oil on wood, 26.4 x 41.7 cm.)

In Greco-Roman mythology there is also a deluge with which Jupiter punishes the evil of the human race, which must perish. Only Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha are saved from punishment in their  ark, which was stranded on Mount Parnassus in the Greek Peloponnese. This pair will give rise to a new race of men.

Although Rubens's picture refers only to the creation of the new men, I will return to the story since the appearance of Deucalion in the poem of Ovid.

Ovid tells us the episode of the deluge and the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrh a in Metamorphosis, I, 309-430:

Now hills, and vales no more distinction know;
And levell'd Nature lies oppress'd below.
The most of mortals perish in the flood:
The small remainder dies for want of food.

A mountain of stupendous height there stands
Betwixt th' Athenian and Boeotian lands,
The bound of fruitful fields, while fields they were,
But then a field of waters did appear:
Parnassus is its name; whose forky rise
Mounts thro' the clouds, and mates the lofty skies.
High on the summit of this dubious cliff,
Deucalion wafting, moor'd his little skiff.
He with his wife were only left behind
Of perish'd Man; they two were human kind.
The mountain nymphs, and Themis they adore,
And from her oracles relief implore.
The most upright of mortal men was he;
The most sincere, and holy woman, she.

When Jupiter, surveying Earth from high,
Beheld it in a lake of water lie,
That where so many millions lately liv'd,
But two, the best of either sex, surviv'd;
He loos'd the northern wind; fierce Boreas flies
To puff away the clouds, and purge the skies:
Serenely, while he blows, the vapours driv'n,
Discover Heav'n to Earth, and Earth to Heav'n.
The billows fall, while Neptune lays his mace
On the rough sea, and smooths its furrow'd face.
Already Triton, at his call, appears
Above the waves; a Tyrian robe he wears;
And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.
The soveraign bids him peaceful sounds inspire,
And give the waves the signal to retire.
His writhen shell he takes; whose narrow vent
Grows by degrees into a large extent,
Then gives it breath; the blast with doubling sound,
Runs the wide circuit of the world around:
The sun first heard it, in his early east,
And met the rattling ecchos in the west.
The waters, listning to the trumpet's roar,
Obey the summons, and forsake the shore.

A thin circumference of land appears;
And Earth, but not at once, her visage rears,
And peeps upon the seas from upper grounds;
The streams, but just contain'd within their bounds,
By slow degrees into their channels crawl;
And Earth increases, as the waters fall.
In longer time the tops of trees appear,
Which mud on their dishonour'd branches bear.

At length the world was all restor'd to view;
But desolate, and of a sickly hue:
Nature beheld her self, and stood aghast,
A dismal desart, and a silent waste.

Which when Deucalion, with a piteous look
Beheld, he wept, and thus to Pyrrha spoke:
Oh wife, oh sister, oh of all thy kind
The best, and only creature left behind,
By kindred, love, and now by dangers joyn'd;
Of multitudes, who breath'd the common air,
We two remain; a species in a pair:
The rest the seas have swallow'd; nor have we
Ev'n of this wretched life a certainty.
The clouds are still above; and, while I speak,
A second deluge o'er our heads may break.
Shou'd I be snatcht from hence, and thou remain,
Without relief, or partner of thy pain,
How cou'dst thou such a wretched life sustain?
Shou'd I be left, and thou be lost, the sea
That bury'd her I lov'd, shou'd bury me.
Oh cou'd our father his old arts inspire,
And make me heir of his informing fire,
That so I might abolisht Man retrieve,
And perisht people in new souls might live.
But Heav'n is pleas'd, nor ought we to complain,
That we, th' examples of mankind, remain.
He said; the careful couple joyn their tears:
And then invoke the Gods, with pious prayers.
Thus, in devotion having eas'd their grief,
From sacred oracles they seek relief;
And to Cephysus' brook their way pursue:
The stream was troubled, but the ford they knew;
With living waters, in the fountain bred,
They sprinkle first their garments, and their head,
Then took the way, which to the temple led.
The roofs were all defil'd with moss, and mire,
The desart altars void of solemn fire.
Before the gradual, prostrate they ador'd;
The pavement kiss'd; and thus the saint implor'd.

O righteous Themis, if the Pow'rs above
By pray'rs are bent to pity, and to love;
If humane miseries can move their mind;
If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind;
Tell how we may restore, by second birth,
Mankind, and people desolated Earth.
Then thus the gracious Goddess, nodding, said;
Depart, and with your vestments veil your head:
And stooping lowly down, with losen'd zones,
Throw each behind your backs, your mighty mother's bones.
Amaz'd the pair, and mute with wonder stand,
'Till Pyrrha first refus'd the dire command.
Forbid it Heav'n, said she, that I shou'd tear
Those holy reliques from the sepulcher.
They ponder'd the mysterious words again,
For some new sense; and long they sought in vain:
At length Deucalion clear'd his cloudy brow,
And said, the dark Aenigma will allow
A meaning, which, if well I understand,
From sacrilege will free the God's command:
This Earth our mighty mother is, the stones
In her capacious body, are her bones:
These we must cast behind. With hope, and fear,
The woman did the new solution hear:
The man diffides in his own augury,
And doubts the Gods; yet both resolve to try.
Descending from the mount, they first unbind
Their vests, and veil'd, they cast the stones behind:
The stones (a miracle to mortal view,
But long tradition makes it pass for true)
Did first the rigour of their kind expel,
And suppled into softness, as they fell;
Then swell'd, and swelling, by degrees grew warm;
And took the rudiments of human form.
Imperfect shapes: in marble such are seen,
When the rude chizzel does the man begin;
While yet the roughness of the stone remains,
Without the rising muscles, and the veins.
The sappy parts, and next resembling juice,
Were turn'd to moisture, for the body's use:
Supplying humours, blood, and nourishment;
The rest, too solid to receive a bent,
Converts to bones; and what was once a vein,
Its former name and Nature did retain.
By help of pow'r divine, in little space,
What the man threw, assum'd a manly face;
And what the wife, renew'd the female race.
Hence we derive our nature; born to bear
Laborious life; and harden'd into care.

The rest of animals, from teeming Earth
Produc'd, in various forms receiv'd their birth.
The native moisture, in its close retreat,
Digested by the sun's aetherial heat,
As in a kindly womb, began to breed:
Then swell'd, and quicken'd by the vital seed.
And some in less, and some in longer space,
Were ripen'd into form, and took a sev'ral face.
Thus when the Nile from Pharian fields is fled,
And seeks, with ebbing tides, his ancient bed,
The fat manure with heav'nly fire is warm'd;
And crusted creatures, as in wombs, are form'd;
These, when they turn the glebe, the peasants find;
Some rude, and yet unfinish'd in their kind:
Short of their limbs, a lame imperfect birth:
One half alive; and one of lifeless earth.
(Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al (1717))

Note: because some texts are somewhat extensive, I will reproduce the Latin texts at the end of the article.

The Rape of Europa

According to the mythical account, Europa was daughter of Agenor, the king of Tiro; The god Zeus fell in love with her, who ordered Hermes to bring the king's cows to the river; Zeus was transformed into a white bull to gain the confidence of Europa, that was mounted in its loins; At that moment the bull started speeding, entered the Mediterranean Sea and reached Crete. There the god appeared in his divinity and seduced the young woman.

This is one of the myths most represented since ancient times; we have representations since the 6th century BC. Tiziano painted between 1559 and 1562 an oil on this myth that is exposed in the Museum of the Prado. Peter Paul Rubens copied this painting in 1628-1629. Then the same Rubens repeated the theme again for the “Torre de la Parada”,Tower of the Parade, but in a very different way (the sketch is preserved in the same museum) and in turn shortly afterwards Jan Erasmus Quelinus painted on this sketch the painting which is also preserved in the Prado Museum.

Peter Paul Rubens.  (Copy of Tiziano, Vecellio di Gregorio)

The Rape of Europa. Sketch by Peter Paul Rubens 1636 – 1637. Oil painting, 18.9 x 13.7 cm. And Jan Erasmus Quelinus oil.

Ovid tells us in Metamorphoses II, 833-875:

Europa's Rape

When now the God his fury had allay'd,
And taken vengeance of the stubborn maid,
From where the bright Athenian turrets rise
He mounts aloft, and re-ascends the skies.
Jove saw him enter the sublime abodes,
And, as he mix'd among the crowd of Gods,
Beckon'd him out, and drew him from the rest,
And in soft whispers thus his will exprest.

"My trusty Hermes, by whose ready aid
Thy sire's commands are through the world convey'd.
Resume thy wings, exert their utmost force,
And to the walls of Sidon speed thy course;
There find a herd of heifers wand'ring o'er
The neighb'ring hill, and drive 'em to the shore."

Thus spoke the God, concealing his intent.
The trusty Hermes, on his message went,
And found the herd of heifers wand'ring o'er
A neighb'ring hill, and drove 'em to the shore;
Where the king's daughter, with a lovely train
Of fellow-nymphs, was sporting on the plain.

The dignity of empire laid aside,
(For love but ill agrees with kingly pride)
The ruler of the skies, the thund'ring God,
Who shakes the world's foundations with a nod,
Among a herd of lowing heifers ran,
Frisk'd in a bull, and bellow'd o'er the plain.
Large rowles of fat about his shoulders clung,
And from his neck the double dewlap hung.
His skin was whiter than the snow that lies
Unsully'd by the breath of southern skies;
Small shining horns on his curl'd forehead stand,
As turn'd and polish'd by the work-man's hand;
His eye-balls rowl'd, not formidably bright,
But gaz'd and languish'd with a gentle light.
His ev'ry look was peaceful, and exprest
The softness of the lover in the beast.

Agenor's royal daughter, as she plaid
Among the fields, the milk-white bull survey'd,
And view'd his spotless body with delight,
And at a distance kept him in her sight.
At length she pluck'd the rising flow'rs, and fed
The gentle beast, and fondly stroak'd his head.
He stood well-pleas'd to touch the charming fair,
But hardly could confine his pleasure there.
And now he wantons o'er the neighb'ring strand,
Now rowls his body on the yellow sand;
And, now perceiving all her fears decay'd,
Comes tossing forward to the royal maid;
Gives her his breast to stroke, and downward turns
His grizly brow, and gently stoops his horns.
In flow'ry wreaths the royal virgin drest
His bending horns, and kindly clapt his breast.
'Till now grown wanton and devoid of fear,
Not knowing that she prest the Thunderer,
She plac'd her self upon his back, and rode
O'er fields and meadows, seated on the God.

He gently march'd along, and by degrees
Left the dry meadow, and approach'd the seas;
Where now he dips his hoofs and wets his thighs,
Now plunges in, and carries off the prize.
The frighted nymph looks backward on the shoar,
And hears the tumbling billows round her roar;
But still she holds him fast: one hand is born
Upon his back; the other grasps a horn:
Her train of ruffling garments flies behind,
Swells in the air, and hovers in the wind.

Through storms and tempests he the virgin bore,
And lands her safe on the Dictean shore;
Where now, in his divinest form array'd,
In his true shape he captivates the maid;
Who gazes on him, and with wond'ring eyes
Beholds the new majestick figure rise,
His glowing features, and celestial light,
And all the God discover'd to her sight.
Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al (1717)

Orpheus and Eurydice

The theme of the mythical pair Orpheus and Eurydice is that of the descent into the lower world, to hell, to the world of the dead, to the world where Pluto and Proserpine reign; In Greek this descent is called καταβᾴσεις, katabaseis, or κάθοδοι, kathodoi, and are adjudged to Hercules, Ulysses, Aeneas, Theseus, Pyrithus and especially to Orpheus, who goes in search of his wife, deceased by the venom of a snake, and whose end I do not anticipate for not to diminish the interest in the reading of Ovid's text, which undoubtedly inspired the many pictorial representations of the myth. I present it in a painting also by Peter Paul  Rubens.

Orpheus and Eurydice. 1636 – 1638. Oil on canvas, 196.5 x 247.5 cm.

Virgil tells us also  the myth in his little Culex and then in his famous Georgics. Ovid had to know this Virgilian version and it is Ovid's account that we find at the beginning of Book X of his Metamorphoses, verses 1 to 77. which I now transcribe:

The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice

Thence, in his saffron robe, for distant Thrace,
Hymen departs, thro' air's unmeasur'd space;
By Orpheus call'd, the nuptial Pow'r attends,
But with ill-omen'd augury descends;
Nor chearful look'd the God, nor prosp'rous spoke,
Nor blaz'd his torch, but wept in hissing smoke.
In vain they whirl it round, in vain they shake,
No rapid motion can its flames awake.
With dread these inauspicious signs were view'd,
And soon a more disastrous end ensu'd;
For as the bride, amid the Naiad train,
Ran joyful, sporting o'er the flow'ry plain,
A venom'd viper bit her as she pass'd;
Instant she fell, and sudden breath'd her last.

When long his loss the Thracian had deplor'd,
Not by superior Pow'rs to be restor'd;
Inflam'd by love, and urg'd by deep despair,
He leaves the realms of light, and upper air;
Daring to tread the dark Tenarian road,
And tempt the shades in their obscure abode;
Thro' gliding spectres of th' interr'd to go,
And phantom people of the world below:
Persephone he seeks, and him who reigns
O'er ghosts, and Hell's uncomfortable plains.
Arriv'd, he, tuning to his voice his strings,
Thus to the king and queen of shadows sings.

Ye Pow'rs, who under Earth your realms extend,
To whom all mortals must one day descend;
If here 'tis granted sacred truth to tell:
I come not curious to explore your Hell;
Nor come to boast (by vain ambition fir'd)
How Cerberus at my approach retir'd.
My wife alone I seek; for her lov'd sake
These terrors I support, this journey take.
She, luckless wandring, or by fate mis-led,
Chanc'd on a lurking viper's crest to tread;
The vengeful beast, enflam'd with fury, starts,
And thro' her heel his deathful venom darts.
Thus was she snatch'd untimely to her tomb;
Her growing years cut short, and springing bloom.
Long I my loss endeavour'd to sustain,
And strongly strove, but strove, alas, in vain:
At length I yielded, won by mighty love;
Well known is that omnipotence above!
But here, I doubt, his unfelt influence fails;
And yet a hope within my heart prevails.
That here, ev'n here, he has been known of old;
At least if truth be by tradition told;
If fame of former rapes belief may find,
You both by love, and love alone, were join'd.
Now, by the horrors which these realms surround;
By the vast chaos of these depths profound;
By the sad silence which eternal reigns
O'er all the waste of these wide-stretching plains;
Let me again Eurydice receive,
Let Fate her quick-spun thread of life re-weave.
All our possessions are but loans from you,
And soon, or late, you must be paid your due;
Hither we haste to human-kind's last seat,
Your endless empire, and our sure retreat.
She too, when ripen'd years she shall attain,
Must, of avoidless right, be yours again:
I but the transient use of that require,
Which soon, too soon, I must resign entire.
But if the destinies refuse my vow,
And no remission of her doom allow;
Know, I'm determin'd to return no more;
So both retain, or both to life restore.

Thus, while the bard melodiously complains,
And to his lyre accords his vocal strains,
The very bloodless shades attention keep,
And silent, seem compassionate to weep;
Ev'n Tantalus his flood unthirsty views,
Nor flies the stream, nor he the stream pursues;
Ixion's wond'ring wheel its whirl suspends,
And the voracious vulture, charm'd, attends;
No more the Belides their toil bemoan,
And Sisiphus reclin'd, sits list'ning on his stone.

Then first ('tis said) by sacred verse subdu'd,
The Furies felt their cheeks with tears bedew'd:
Nor could the rigid king, or queen of Hell,
Th' impulse of pity in their hearts repell.

Now, from a troop of shades that last arriv'd,
Eurydice was call'd, and stood reviv'd:
Slow she advanc'd, and halting seem to feel
The fatal wound, yet painful in her heel.
Thus he obtains the suit so much desir'd,
On strict observance of the terms requir'd:
For if, before he reach the realms of air,
He backward cast his eyes to view the fair,
The forfeit grant, that instant, void is made,
And she for ever left a lifeless shade.

Now thro' the noiseless throng their way they bend,
And both with pain the rugged road ascend;
Dark was the path, and difficult, and steep,
And thick with vapours from the smoaky deep.
They well-nigh now had pass'd the bounds of night,
And just approach'd the margin of the light,
When he, mistrusting lest her steps might stray,
And gladsome of the glympse of dawning day,
His longing eyes, impatient, backward cast
To catch a lover's look, but look'd his last;
For, instant dying, she again descends,
While he to empty air his arms extends.
Again she dy'd, nor yet her lord reprov'd;
What could she say, but that too well he lov'd?
One last farewell she spoke, which scarce he heard;
So soon she drop'd, so sudden disappear'd.

All stunn'd he stood, when thus his wife he view'd
By second Fate, and double death subdu'd:
Not more amazement by that wretch was shown,
Whom Cerberus beholding, turn'd to stone;
Nor Olenus cou'd more astonish'd look,
When on himself Lethaea's fault he took,
His beauteous wife, who too secure had dar'd
Her face to vye with Goddesses compar'd:
Once join'd by love, they stand united still,
Turn'd to contiguous rocks on Ida's hill.

Now to repass the Styx in vain he tries,
Charon averse, his pressing suit denies.
Sev'n days entire, along th' infernal shores,
Disconsolate, the bard Eurydice deplores;
Defil'd with filth his robe, with tears his cheeks,
No sustenance but grief, and cares, he seeks:
Of rigid Fate incessant he complains,
And Hell's inexorable Gods arraigns.
This ended, to high Rhodope he hastes,
And Haemus' mountain, bleak with northern blasts.
(Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al (1717))

Atalanta and Hippomenes

Hippomenes and Atalanta 1618 – 1619. Oil on canvas, 206 x 297 cm. Reni, Guido, baroque Bolognese painter

Some time ago I wrote  the story of the famous race of Atalanta and Hippomenes in this same blog adapting directly the text of Ovid. The myth tells the story of Atalanta, the daughter of the king of Arcadia, who offered to marry anyone who could beat her in the race; Those who were defeated would be punished with death. The handsome Hippomenes won the race by using the help of the goddess Venus, who suggested a stratagem.

I refer to https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/atalanta-mythologie-palace-of-the-infant

to get a wider commentary on the story, but I nonetheless offer the text, now in view of one of the pictures of the Prado , The one corresponding to Guido Reni.

Whoever wants a full reading of Ovid's text must go to Metamorphoses, VIII, 281 et seq. for the episode of Meleager and the boar hunt of Calidon and to Metamorphosis X, 560-704 for the race with Hippomenes.

When Atalanta was born, her father, the king of Arcadia, enraged because he only wanted a son, abandoned her all godliness lacking at the top of a mountain so that she could die of hunger or devoured by the ferocious beasts. The goddess Artemis, who casually hunted in those places, took pity on the helpless child and sent her a huge bear that, docilely, suckled her with her milk.
Sometime later, and adopted as a daughter by the goddess, she became an accurate huntress and the fastest woman in the world and emulating her patroness she promised that she would never marry either.

When being a famous huntress she received as a trophy the skin of the wild boar ravaging the kingdom of Calydon, whose hunting she had participated in, she reconciled with her father, who again and again insisted her on the need to get married and provide him a future heir for his throne.

The elusive Atalanta consulted the oracle of the gods on her husband and heard these confusing words:

– For anything you need a husband, Atalanta; avoid having a husband. And yet you will not escape from marriage and still alive you will see yourself private of yourself.

Frightened by these words, hard to be understood, she tries to remain single living in the woods, away from her many suitors, who she wants to scare and avoid with a strange proposal:

– Only will possess me the one of you who beats me in a quick race, that one will be my husband. Instead the loser will have to die in punishment for his pretensions. This is my final proposal.

Such is the beauty of the fast Atalanta that many were the unsuspecting youth who dared to compete with the fastest woman in the world, so they lost the race moaning and crying and, with it, they lost the priceless life.

So the young Hippomenes, who had only heard to talk about the beautiful Atalanta, considered excessive the risk he would have to face in order to get her as his wife. But as soon as he saw the splendid body of the young girl who had removed the veil from her face, he fell in love and was immediately seduced.

– I’ll also try my luck; the prize is worth risking death. Gods always help those who are brave- he says inflamed. And madly in love, he continues:

– Beautiful Atalanta, you have beaten easily and effortlessly those poor boys, but now measure yourself with me, that I'm the son of Megareus. If I beat you, it won´t be a dishonorable defeat for you and if you win the race, you would have beaten Hippomenes, the great-grandson of Neptune, god of the waters.

Atalanta raising her beautiful bright eyes up looks at him tenderly.

– Why do you, foolish boy, want to risk your precious life, you who are still a child? You are beautiful and brave, because death does not scare you. So much you love and want me that you are willing to die…? Run away while you can, young handsome boy; many other pretty girls will be pleased and happy to marry you.

And perhaps touched by the sweet feeling of love for the very first time, the inexperienced and unfriendly Atalanta softens her relentless decision and thinks in the inner part of her heart:

– Why has this unhappy boy to die undeservedly as a reward for his love? I wish you, unhappy boy, had not ever seen me. If virginity was not my eternal destiny, you'd be the only one with whom I would share my wedding bed. I wish you, fool, were faster than me.
But Hippomenes already urges the race, but not before entrusting himself to the goddess of love and asking for her divine help:

– You, goddess, who has inspired my blind passion, help my fearlessness.

Venus answered the call wrapped in a white cloud, visible only to Hippomenes, and gave him three yellow apples, as bright as the sun, that he should use in the race in a certain way.

The trumpets gave the departure signal. There the two contenders go, so fast that they seem to fly. Atalanta, refusing to pass and leave the boy behind, places herself on par and, rapt, she stares at his virginal face. Hippomenes then throws one of the three bright apples, which immediately attracts the eye and interest of Atalanta. She restrains then her speed and while she´s collecting the golden fruit from the ground with curiosity, she is passed by Hippomenes. The fast Atalanta recovers the lost space and again she surpasses the young man easily. The young man throws a second fruit and once again entertains the girl, who soon also recovers the lost time. All that remains is the last stretch before the finish line. Now the young man throws strongly the third apple out of the way. Atalanta hesitates, but trusting in her swift feet, she goes to collect the golden fruit which is placed in the distance. But she miscalculated her speed or maybe the burgeoning love restrained her progress, because now she loses the race. Meanwhile Hipomenes has reached the finish line and, this way, he has reached his desired and deserved prize too, the marriage with the young virgin.

Incomprehensibly, the young Hippomenes forgot Venus and failed to thank her help. This way, the goddess felt neglected and offended by it.

One day as they were passing by the temple of Cybele, Mother of gods, they decided to rest because they were very tired due to the long trip. Hipomenes was taken by a sudden and overwhelming desire to lie with Atalanta, sparked no doubt by the vengeful Venus. Right there, in the sacred cave, in front of the divine images, they desecrate the sanctuary with their obscene love.

Mother Cybele punished their lustfulness with her divine severity: long and fierce manes cover their human necks, hands become claws, a long tail emerges from their backs, fierce they raise up their proud lion heads and their jaws make roaring noises which intimidate the rest part of the animals.

Later the goddess takes pity on them, so she ties the pair of lions with strong flex leather straps to her majestic carriage, which they´ll have to pull tireless for the whole eternity.

These are three or four examples of how Ovid can facilitate the visit to Museums such as the Prado and facilitate the understanding of dozens of works exposed there.

Latin texts

Deucalion and Pyrrha, Metamorphosis, I, 309-430:

Obruerat tumulos inmensa licentia ponti,
Pulsabantque noui montana cacumina fluctus.
Maxima pars unda rapitur: quibus unda pepercit,
Illos longa domant inopi ieiunia uictu.
Separat Aonios Oetaeis Phocis ab aruis, 
Terra ferax, dum terra fuit, sed tempore in illo
Pars maris et latus subitarum campus aquarum;
Mons ibi uerticibus petit arduus astra duobus,
Nomine Parnasus, superantque cacumina nubes:
Hic ubi Deucalion (nam cetera texerat aequor)
Cum consorte tori parua rate uectus adhaesit,
Corycidas nymphas et numina montis adorant
Fatidicamque Themin, quae tunc oracla tenebat:
Non illo melior quisquam nec amantior aequi
Vir fuit aut illa metuentior ulla deorum.
Iuppiter ut liquidis stagnare paludibus orbem
Et superesse uirum de tot modo milibus unum
Et superesse uidet de tot modo milibus unam,
Innocuos ambo, cultores numinis ambo,
Nubila disiecit nimbisque aquilone remotis
Et caelo terras ostendit et aethera terris.
Nec maris ira manet, positoque tricuspide telo
Mulcet aquas rector pelagi supraque profundum
Exstantem atque umeros innato murice tectum
Caeruleum Tritona uocat conchaeque sonanti
Inspirare iubet fluctusque et flumina signo
Iam reuocare dato: caua bucina sumitur illi,
Tortilis, in latum quae turbine crescit ab imo,
Bucina, quae medio concepit ubi aera ponto,
Litora uoce replet sub utroque iacentia Phoebo.
Tunc quoque, ut ora dei madida rorantia barba
Contigit et cecinit iussos inflata receptus,
Omnibus audita est telluris et aequoris undis
Et, quibus est undis audita, coercuit omnes.
Iam mare litus habet, plenos capit alueus amnes,
Flumina subsidunt collesque exire uidentur,
Surgit humus, crescunt loca decrescentibus undis,
Postque diem longam nudata cacumina siluae
Ostendunt limumque tenent in fronde relictum.
Redditus orbis erat; quem postquam uidit inanem
Et desolatas agere alta silentia terras,
Deucalion lacrimis ita Pyrrham adfatur obortis:
"O soror, o coniunx, o femina sola superstes,
Quam commune mihi genus et patruelis origo,
Deinde torus iunxit, nunc ipsa pericula iungunt,
Terrarum, quascumque uident occasus et ortus,
Nos duo turba sumus: possedit cetera pontus.
Haec quoque adhuc uitae non est fiducia nostrae
Certa satis; terrent etiam nunc nubila mentem.
Quis tibi, si sine me fatis erepta fuisses,
Nunc animus, miseranda, foret? quo sola timorem
Ferre modo posses? quo consolante doleres?
Namque ego, crede mihi, si te quoque pontus haberet,
Te sequerer, coniunx, et me quoque pontus haberet.
O utinam possim populos reparare paternis
Artibus atque animas formatae infundere terrae!
Nunc genus in nobis restat mortale duobus
(Sic uisum superis) hominumque exempla manemus."
Dixerat, et flebant; placuit caeleste precari
Numen et auxilium per sacras quaerere sortes.
Nulla mora est: adeunt pariter Cephisidas undas,
Vt nondum liquidas, sic iam uada nota secantes.
Inde ubi libatos inrorauere liquores
Vestibus et capiti, flectunt uestigia sanctae
Ad delubra deae, quorum fastigia turpi
Pallebant musco stabantque sine ignibus arae.
Vt templi tetigere gradus, procumbit uterque
Pronus humi gelidoque pauens dedit oscula saxo,
Atque ita "si precibus" dixerunt "numina iustis
Victa remollescunt, si flectitur ira deorum,
Dic, Themi, qua generis damnum reparabile nostri
Arte sit, et mersis fer opem, mitissima, rebus."
Mota dea est sortemque dedit: "discedite templo
Et uelate caput cinctasque resoluite uestes
Ossaque post tergum magnae iactate parentis."
Obstipuere diu, rumpitque silentia uoce
Pyrrha prior iussisque deae parere recusat,
Detque sibi ueniam, pauido rogat ore pauetque
Laedere iactatis maternas ossibus umbras.
Interea repetunt caecis obscura latebris
Verba datae sortis secum inter seque uolutant.
Inde Promethides placidis Epimethida dictis
Mulcet et "aut fallax" ait "est sollertia nobis,
Aut (pia sunt nullumque nefas oracula suadent)
Magna parens terra est: lapides in corpore terrae
Ossa reor dici; iacere hos post terga iubemur."
Coniugis augurio quamquam Titania mota est,
Spes tamen in dubio est: adeo caelestibus ambo
Diffidunt monitis. sed quid temptare nocebit?
Discedunt uelantque caput tunicasque recingunt
Et iussos lapides sua post uestigia mittunt.
Saxa (quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste uetustas?)
Ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem
Mollirique mora mollitaque ducere formam.
Mox ubi creuerunt naturaque mitior illis
Contigit, ut quaedam, sic non manifesta uideri
Forma potest hominis, sed, uti de marmore coepta,
Non exacta satis rudibusque simillima signis.
Quae tamen ex illis aliquo pars umida suco
Et terrena fuit, uersa est in corporis usum;
Quod solidum est flectique nequit, mutatur in ossa;
Quae modo uena fuit, sub eodem nomine mansit;
Inque breui spatio superorum numine saxa
Missa uiri manibus faciem traxere uirorum,
Et de femineo reparata est femina iactu.
Inde genus durum sumus experiensque laborum
Et documenta damus, qua simus origine nati.
Cetera diuersis tellus animalia formis
Sponte sua peperit, postquam uetus umor ab igne
Percaluit solis caenumque udaeque paludes
Intumuere aestu fecundaque semina rerum
Viuaci nutrita solo ceu matris in aluo
Creuerunt faciemque aliquam cepere morando.
Sic, ubi deseruit madidos septemfluus agros
Nilus et antiquo sua flumina reddidit alueo
Aetherioque recens exarsit sidere limus,
Plurima cultores uersis animalia glaebis
Inueniunt et in his quaedam modo coepta per ipsum
Nascendi spatium, quaedam inperfecta suisque
Trunca uident numeris, et eodem in corpore saepe
Altera pars uiuit, rudis est pars altera tellus.

             …………………
The rape of Europa. Metamorphoses II, 833-875:

Has ubi uerborum poenas mentisque profanae
Cepit Atlantiades, dictas a Pallade terras
Linquit et ingreditur iactatis aethera pennis.
Seuocat hinc genitor nec causam fassus amoris:
"Fide minister" ait "iussorum, nate, meorum,
Pelle moram solitoque celer delabere cursu
Quaeque tuam matrem tellus a parte sinistra
Suspicit (indigenae Sidonida nomine dicunt),
Hanc pete, quodque procul montano gramine pasci
Armentum regale uides, ad litora uerte".
Dixit et expulsi iamdudum monte iuuenci
Litora iussa petunt, ubi magni filia regis
Ludere uirginibus Tyriis comitata solebat.
Non bene conueniunt nec in una sede morantur
Maiestas et amor; sceptri grauitate relicta,
Ille pater rectorque deum, cui dextra trisulcis
Ignibus armata est, qui nutu concutit orbem,
Induitur faciem tauri mixtusque iuuencis
Mugit et in teneris formosus obambulat herbis.
Quippe color niuis est, quam nec uestigia duri
Calcauere pedis nec soluit aquaticus Auster.
Colla toris exstant, armis palearia pendent;
Cornua parua quidem, sed quae contendere possis
Facta manu puraque magis perlucida gemma.
Nullae in fronte minae nec formidabile lumen;
Pacem uultus habet. miratur Agenore nata
Quod tam formosus, quod proelia nulla minetur;
Sed quamuis mitem, metuit contingere primo.
Mox adit et flores ad candida porrigit ora.
Gaudet amans et, dum ueniat sperata uoluptas,
Oscula dat manibus; uix iam, uix cetera differt.
Et nunc alludit uiridique exsultat in herba
Nunc latus in fuluis niueum deponit harenis;
Paulatimque metu dempto, modo pectora praebet
Virginea plaudenda manu, modo cornua sertis
Impedienda nouis. ausa est quoque regia uirgo,
Nescia quem premeret, tergo considere tauri,
Cum deus a terra siccoque a litore sensim
Falsa pedum primo uestigia ponit in undis,
Inde abit ulterius mediique per aequora ponti
Fert praedam. pauet haec litusque ablata relictum
Respicit et dextra cornum tenet, altera dorso
Imposita est; tremulae sinuantur flamine uestes.

   ………..
Orpheus and Eurydice

Inde per immensum croceo uelatus amictu
Aethera digreditur Ciconumque Hymenaeus ad oras
Tendit et Orphea nequiquam uoce uocatur.
Adfuit ille quidem, sed nec sollemnia uerba
Nec laetos uultus nec felix attulit omen;
Fax quoque, quam tenuit, lacrimoso stridula fumo
Vsque fuit nullosque inuenit motibus ignes.
Exitus auspicio grauior. nam nupta per herbas
Dum noua naiadum turba comitata uagatur,
Occidit in talum serpentis dente recepto.
Quam satis ad superas postquam Rhodopeius auras
Defleuit uates, ne non temptaret et umbras,
Ad Styga Taenaria est ausus descendere porta
Perque leues populos simulacraque functa sepulcro
Persephonen adiit inamoenaque regna tenentem
Vmbrarum dominum pulsisque ad carmina neruis
Sic ait: "o positi sub terra numina mundi,
In quem reccidimus, quidquid mortale creamur,
Si licet et falsi positis ambagibus oris
Vera loqui sinitis, non huc, ut opaca uiderem
Tartara, descendi, nec uti uillosa colubris
Terna Medusaei uincirem guttura monstri;
Causa uiae est coniunx, in quam calcata uenenum
Vipera diffudit crescentesque abstulit annos.
Posse pati uolui nec me temptasse negabo:
Vicit Amor. supera deus hic bene notus in ora est;
An sit et hic, dubito. sed et hic tamen auguror esse,
Famaque si ueteris non est mentita rapinae,
Vos quoque iunxit Amor. per ego haec loca plena timoris,
Per Chaos hoc ingens uastique silentia regni,
Eurydices, oro, properata retexite fata!
Omnia debentur uobis paulumque morati
Serius aut citius sedem properamus ad unam.
Tendimus huc omnes, haec est domus ultima, uosque
Humani generis longissima regna tenetis.
Haec quoque, cum iustos matura peregerit annos,
Iuris erit uestri: pro munere poscimus usum.
Quod si fata negant ueniam pro coniuge, certum est
Nolle redire mihi: leto gaudete duorum."
Talia dicentem neruosque ad uerba mouentem
Exsangues flebant animae: nec Tantalus undam
Captauit refugam stupuitque Ixionis orbis,
Nec carpsere iecur uolucres, urnisque uacarunt
Belides, inque tuo sedisti, Sisyphe, saxo.
Tunc primum lacrimis uictarum carmine fama est
Eumenidum maduisse genas, nec regia coniunx
Sustinet oranti nec, qui regit ima, negare
Eurydicenque uocant. umbras erat illa recentes
Inter et incessit passu de uulnere tardo.
Hanc simul et legem Rhodopeius accipit Orpheus,
Ne flectat retro sua lumina, donec Auernas
Exierit ualles; aut irrita dona futura.
Carpitur adcliuis per muta silentia trames,
Arduus, obscurus, caligine densus opaca.
Nec procul abfuerant telluris margine summae:
Hic, ne deficeret, metuens auidusque uidendi
Flexit amans oculos: et protinus illa relapsa est
Bracchiaque intendens prendique et prendere certans
Nil nisi cedentes infelix adripit auras.
Iamque iterum moriens non est de coniuge quicquam
Questa suo (quid enim nisi se quereretur amatam?)
Supremumque "uale", quod iam uix auribus ille
Acciperet, dixit reuolutaque rursus eodem est.
Non aliter stupuit gemina nece coniugis Orpheus,
Quam tria qui timidus, medio portante catenas,
Colla canis uidit; quem non pauor ante reliquit,
Quam natura prior, saxo per corpus oborto;
Quique in se crimen traxit uoluitque uideri
Olenos esse nocens, tuque, o confisa figurae,
Infelix Lethaea, tuae, iunctissima quondam
Pectora, nunc lapides, quos umida sustinet Ide.
Orantem frustraque iterum transire uolentem
Portitor arcuerat; septem tamen ille diebus
Squalidus in ripa Cereris sine munere sedit:
Cura dolorque animi lacrimaeque alimenta fuere.
Esse deos Erebi crudeles questus in altam
Se recipit Rhodopen pulsumque aquilonibus Haemum.

Trees, plants in general, play an important role in the symbolic and religious life of all the peoples. In many cases and places they are sacred elements; and there are sacred forests where the genius or sacred power of divinity hide and sacred trees, inhabited by the gods, consecrated or identified with them. Each species is related to a deity and to a specific function. Its elements, such as leaves or , are used as symbols or simply as decorative elements. Thus, for example, crowns of various kinds are used according to their meaning.

We know how Athena, the Minerva of the Romans, gave Athens her name and tree, the olive tree. The tree of Dionysus or Bacchus, god of wine, of course must be the vine and ivy. Myrtle is this of the Venus, goddess of love.

Virgil clearly expressed it, for example, in their Bucolics,VII, 61-64:

CORYDON

“The poplar doth Alcides hold most dear,
the vine Iacchus, Phoebus his own bays,
and Venus fair the myrtle: therewithal
Phyllis doth hazels love, and while she loves,
myrtle nor bay the hazel shall out-vie.”
(J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895.)

Populus Alcidae gratissima, uitis Iaccho,
Formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phoebo;
Phylis amat corylos; illas dum Phyllis amabit,
Nec myrtus uincet corylos, nec laurea Phoebi.

The laurel is the tree of Phoebus or Apollo, the sun god, the god of wisdom, of artistic creation, of poetry, music and divination. The laurel is the tree in which the virgin nymph Daphne, pursued by Apollo, to escape the god, was transformed.

The laurel, always green, is a tree that is therefore associated with the fire of the sun and the prophecy.

Apollo issued oracles * to men who request it. In his famous sanctuary of Delphi, forced destination for the Greek, to know the future, he issued them by a priestess or a medium, the Pithia, the Pythoness **.

* From Latin oraculum and this from orare, speak, etymologically it means message, parliament.

** At Delphi Apollo killed the  Python snake; hence the term also applies to a powerful and feared constrictor snake that kills its victims by suffocation curling environment.

It seems that the oracle was obtained from the fire, throwing bay leaves to it;  if the leaves frizzle and crackle,  this was good signal and if they did not frizzle, the signal was bad. Who obtained a good oracle, they returned home crowned with laurel. In addition laurel caused premonitory dreams.

In the Renaissance, Alciatus reminds us in his Book of Emblems,  CCX  (aliter CCXI)  the laurel knows the future and placed near produces precognitive dreams:

The laurel tree

Knowing what is to come, the laurel tree bears signs of safety: placed under a pillow, it creates dreams that come true.

Praescia venturae laurus fert signa salutis:
Subdita pulvillo somnia vera facit

In the same Book of emblems reminds us an appointment of Tibullus on the same issue:

Tibullus, Book II, 5, v. 79 et seq.

Such was the olden time. O Phoebus, now
Of mild, benignant brow,
Let those portents buried be
In the wild, unfathomed sea!
Now let thy laurel loudly flame
On altars to thy gracious name,
And give good omen of a fruitful year
Crackling laurel if the rustic hear,
He knows his granary shall bursting be,
And sweet new wine flow free,
  …. (Translated by Theodore C.Williams. Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Press. Cambridge,1908)

Haec fuerant olim; sed tu iam mitis, Apollo,
prodigia indomitis merge sub aequoribu.
Et succensa sacris creepitet bene laurea flammis
Omine quo felix et sacer annus erit.
Laurus ubi bona signa dedit, gaudete coloni:
Distendet spicis horrea plena Ceres…

And another of Propertius Book. II, 28, 35

Now cease the wheels whirled to the magic chant, the altar fire is dead and the laurel lies in ashes. (Translated by H.E. Butler,M.A. The Loeb Classical Library)

The chanting of magic, the whirling bullroarers cease, and the laurel lies scorched in the quenched fires.  (Translated by A. S. Kline)

Deficiunt mágico torti sub carmine rhombi,
Et iacet extincto laurus adusta foco

And Lucretius  in his De Rerum Natura, VI, 154-155

Nor is there aught that in the crackling flame
Consumes with sound more terrible to man
Than Delphic laurel of Apollo lord.
(Transated by William Ellery Leonard, Ed.)

Nec res ulla magis quam Phoebi Delphica laurus
Terribili sonitu flamma crepitante crematur

The laurel is a symbol of glory; the palm is symbol of victory and the olive branch of peace. The leaves of various plants are used to crown the winners.

A corona is a circular leaf ornament or tree branches, flowers or herbs metal ornament that is placed around the head in recognition or memory of the special value of a person's intelligence, his art or his military merits.

In ancient Greece they will likely be used initially as a decorative element and later used in the world of athletic games (ex. Olympics) as a reward for the winners and also of poetic games. Recall that with athletic games,  poetic and literary competitions are also held.

From the world of competitive sport certainly it went  to the world of the war (from which incidentally athletic games come ) and from Greece came to Rome. Although today what really is estimated is  actually prize money,  the Crown or similar tool as a symbol of victory is still used.

As I said above, probably it came into use as merely ornamental element and soon served to crown the victors in the poetic or literary games that were developed in parallel with athletic games, of which the Olympics are the best example, but also "Pythian" in honor of Apollo and the "Isthmian" in honor of Neptune. We may even think that in the case of the Pythian games at first only artistic competitions are held, as befits the god Apollo, and eventually athletic competitions would be added as  in Olympia in honor of Zeus. And again in Olympia art competitions would be introduced, like the "Pythian".

In relation to the Pythian games and laurel we can quote a few lines from Ovid, I century before and after Christ, so far from their origin, but they are illustrative. Ovid in his poem recalls the victory of Apollo over the serpent Python.

Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 445-ff.

Lest in a dark oblivion time should hide
the fame of this achievement, sacred sports
he instituted, from the Python called
“The Pythian Games.” In these the happy youth
who proved victorious in the chariot race,
running and boxing, with an honoured crown
of oak leaves was enwreathed. The laurel then
was not created, wherefore Phoebus, bright
and godlike, beauteous with his flowing hair,
was wont to wreathe his brows with various leaves.
(Translated by Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.)

Neve operis famam posset delere vetustas,
instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos,
Pythia perdomitae serpentis nomine dictos.
Hic iuvenum quicumque manu pedibusve rotave
vicerat, aesculeae capiebat frondis honorem:
nondum laurus erat, longoque decentia crine
tempora cingebat de qualibet arbore Phoebus.

So soon they also meant the triumph of the great athletes, who conferred so much honor to their hometowns. Since the athletic games, in turn, are clearly related to the military tasks of the early Greek warrior aristocrats, it could easily bee moved the meaning of laurel to the military world and thus prove the military glory.

This meaning is especially developed among the Romans, who were almost always at war throughout his history. With laurel the undefeated generals and emperors are crowned, and the victorious weapons are adorned with laurel, such as spears, bows of ships or letters and tablets which brought news of victory. So Roman generals at the ceremony of victory, who also in their hands carry a branch of laurel, and the lictors and soldiers parading in the procession.

Even a small digression, I will comment that the Romans greatly developed the typology of the crowns as symbols of very specific functions; on another occasion I will comment in more detail. Suffice now a hasty catalog of crowns: obsidionalis (for breaking the siege of a city), civica (for saving the life of a Roman citizen), navalis (for being the first in the collision or by a naval victory) muralis ( for being the first to climb a wall), castrensis (for going into the enemy camp), triumphalis (the triumph is the greatest reward the General winner), etc. There are also the convivalis (of the banquet), the funebris (it needs no explanation), the nuptialis (for wedding), the natalitia (for birth: of olive if a boy, of wool if a girl), etc.

Going back to early Greece, Pindar (518? -438 BC), for example, tells us how the winner is crowned with olive leaf crowns on the occasion of the chariot race of the year 452 B.C. . In Olympic IV, 11ff, dedicated to his friend Psaumis of Camarina:

For the procession comes in honor of Psaumis' chariot; Psaumis, who, crowned with the olive of Pisa, hurries to rouse glory for Camarina. (Translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.)

And Pliny, who described the various types of laurel reminds us how properly the laurel is the decorative element, in Natural History, XV, 39 (127):

The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato speaks of two varieties of this tree, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of "mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum." He says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour, greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with this laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with an imbricated edge, and crisped. (John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed)

Laurus triumphis proprie dicatur, vel gratissima domibus, ianitrix Caesarum pontificumque. sola et domos exornat et ante limina excubat .  duo eius genera tradidit Cato, Delphicam et Cypriam. Pompeius Lenaeus adiecit quam mustacem appellavit, quoniam mustaceis subiceretur: hanc esse folio maximo flaccidoque et albicante; Delphicam aequali colore viridiorem, maximis bacis atque e viridi rubentibus ac victores Delphis coronare ut triumphantes Romae; Cypriam esse folio brevi, nigro, per margines imbricato crispam.

Virgil remembers how the sailors placed wreaths of flowers  (and laurel in the prows of boats in victory and peace, in his Georgics, I, 303-304:

As laden keels, when now the port they touch,
And happy sailors crown the sterns with flowers.
(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900.)

Ceu pressae cum iam portum tetigere carinae,
Puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas

Pliny also reminds us it in  Natural History XV, 40 (133):

This tree is emblematical of peace: when a branch of it is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms. For the Romans more particulary it is the messenger of joyful tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches of the general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers and the fasces which precede their chief.  (Translated by John Bostock, M.D.,F.R.S. and H.T. Riley, Esq. B.A. 1855)

Ipsa pacifera, ut quam praetendi etiam inter armatos hostes quietis sit indicium. Romanis praecipue laetitiae victoriarumque nuntia additur litteris et militum lanceis pilisque, fasces imperatorum decorat.

Saint Isidore also considered the laurel as a symbol of glory and victory. In his Etymologies XVII, 7.2 he derives its name from the word laus (praise), and explains why it crowns the head of the winners:

"Laurel" (Laurus) is so called from the word laudis (praise). The heads of the victors were crowned with praise with this tree.  Among the ancients it was called laudea; then the letter D was abolished and replaced by R and it was called laurus, just like auriculis (ears) which was at first pronounced audiculae and medidies (midday) which is now pronounced meridies. The Greeks call this tree  δάφνη (Dafne) δαφνην  because it never loses its verdure; and for this reason the winners are crowned with him. The common people believe that this is the only tree that can not be struck by lightning.

Laurus a verbo laudis dicta; hac enim cum laudibus victorum capita coronabantur. Apud antiquos autem laudea nominabatur; postea D littera sublata et subrogata R dicta est laurus; ut in auriculis, quae initio audiculae dictae sunt, et medidies, quae nunc meridies dicitur. Hanc arborem Graeci  δάφνην (dafnen)  vocant, quod numquam deponat viriditatem; inde illa potius victores coronantur. Sola quoque haec arbor vulgo fulminari minime creditur.

Apollo, whose tree is the laurel, is the patron god of poetry, of music and of the arts in general. Its perennial verdure is the best symbol of the enduring value of poetry and art. A greater specialization seems to require the laurel for epic poetry which sings  the victorious heroes and the myrtle for lyric  and pastoral poetry:

Virgil, Bucolic: VIII 11-13:

Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee,
and deign around thy temples to let creep
this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays.
(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895.)

…accipe iussis
Carmina coepta tuis, atque hanc sine tempora circum
Inter uictrices hederam tibi serpere laurus.

This symbolic value of the literary glory survived in the Middle Ages, it gained new importance in the Renaissance and endures today.

Mostly it has been used, appropriated, translated, recreated the famous fable or myth of Apollo and Daphne. Daphne δάφνη is precisely the Greek name for the laurel. The myth was divulged by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, I, 452 et ff.:

Apollo, proud of their victory over the serpent Python, mocked Cupid, who being  a child used arms of an adult; Cupid took revenge wounding him with a golden arrow and inflaming his heart with an irresistible love for the nymph Daphne while he  wounded her with an arrow of lead, which generated disgust and rejection.The supplications  of Apollo were useless , and they did not soften the heart of the nymph; Apollo, desperate chases her through the woods and he is about to reach her  when Dafne implores the help of his father, Peneus River, who turns her into laurel; Apollo desperate and tearful embraces the tree, which made its emblem and its tree. And the laurel is also the symbol of unrequited and unhappy love.

Well, no Medieval or Renaissance literary or Baroque author who does not remember, imitate or reproduce this myth.

I will comment on a curious question. Often in the literature, with an epic or lyrical character appears a comic element that downplays the grandeur of earlier. Thiat happens with laurel: given its culinary value to flavor stews and cooked, it is not uncommon in the Baroque Literature of contrasts appear burlesque versions of the value of laurel.

An example is the famous Spanish playwright and poet Lope de Vega, who under the name of his heterónimo Tomé Burguillos, is the author of this great sonnet which ridicules the desire of poets to receive laurels and awards. I offer only Spanish text without translation to avoid damaging the poem:

Llevóme Febo a su Parnaso un día,
y vi por el cristal de unos canceles
a Homero y a Virgilio con doseles,
leyendo filosófica poesía
Vi luego la importuna infantería
de poetas fantásticos noveles,
pidiendo por principios más laureles
que anima Dafne y que Apolo cría.
Pedile yo también por estudiante,
y díjome un bedel: “Burguillos, quedo:
que no sois digno de laurel triunfante”
“¿Por qué?”, le dije; y respondió sin miedo:
“Porque los lleva todos un tratante
para hacer escabeches en Laredo.”

This comic contrast between the two functions of laurel, the sublime to crown the head of the poets and this of the prosaic culinary seasoning, remains a continuing reflection today. For example, the writer, journalist and Spanish writer Manuel Vicent reminds us in his article in the newspaper El País of 22 July 2001 "Glory":

.. So they you want you, dedicated to the verses in the horatian village, between chickens and lettuce, you contemplating the twilight and they filling the sack. The laurel  has two destinations: the head of the hero or the stew. Maybe one day you were a rebel: it was that day when you were willing to die for no bend yourself. That is the moment of glory that belongs to you.

But Laurel does not exhaust its virtuality in this symbolic work; its branches also serve as a shield against lightning, which increases the idea of symbol of immortality. Pliny tells us how Tiberius crowned himself with bay when there was a storm:

Naturalis Historia, book XV,  40 (134-135):

Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is the only one that is never struck by lightning…. It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning.

et quia manu satarum receptarumque in domos fulmine sola non icitur. ..Ti. principem tonante caelo coronari ea solitum ferunt contra fulminum metus.

Saint Isidore picked up the belief in his Etymologies (XVII, 7, 1), as we saw above:

The common people believe that this is the only tree that can’t  be struck by lightning.

Sola quoque haec arbor vulgo fulminari minime creditur.

Even today in some towns, they are placed on the balconies branches of laurel to ward off the danger of lightning.

Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) had very easy to pun on the name of his immortal beloved, Laura, "Laurel" in many poems of his Songbook; so, Song XXIX:

She is a star on earth, and she keeps
her chastity as laurel stays green,
so no lightning strikes her, no shameful breeze
can ever force her.
(Translated by: A.S.Kline)

ch'è stella in terra, et come in lauro foglia
conserva verde il pregio d'onestade,
ove non spira folgore, né indegno
vento mai che l'aggrave.

and in song CXXIX

where the breeze is fragrant
with fresh and perfumed laurel.
(Translated by: A.S.Kline)

ove l'aura si sente
d'un fresco et odorifero laureto.

Also the laurel is a common element in the ideals gardens (locus amoenus) ideal scene, despite the redundancy, for love. So  Petronius does it in his Satyricon , chap. CXXXI,8,

Shorn of its top, the swaying pine here casts a
summer shade
And quivering cypress, and the stately plane
And berry-laden laurel. A brook's wimpling waters strayed
Lashed into foam, but dancing on again
And rolling pebbles in their chattering flow.
It was Love's own nook,
(Translation by W. C. Firebaugh)

Mobilis aestiuas platanus diffuderat umbras
et bacis redimita Daphne tremulaeque cupressus
et circum tonsae trepidanti uertice pinus.
Has inter ludebat aquis errantibus amnis
spumeus, et querulo uexabat rore lapillos.
Dignus amore locus …

And even occasionally it may appear in funeral environments, recalling the perennial glory of the deceased.

Finally, only the olive tree can compete in the ancient world in symbolic value with laurel.

So the meaning of laurel as a symbol of artistic and military triumph was preserved throughout the Middle Ages and of course in the Renaissance, where it can also be a symbol of triumph in love, given the similarities with these the poets present the two battles, war and love, and in Baroque periods and so to this day. Appointments are innumerable. And even a piece remains of its  magic value in the custom of placing branches on the balconies, custom now generally Christianized by putting olive branches in Palm Sunday.

I will transcribe as an example of the emblem of Alciato cited above aimed at Charles V for his campaign in Tunisia and two quotes from Cervantes in Don Quixote with evident ironic tone:

Alciato's Book of Emblems
Emblem 211

The laurel tree is owed to Charles for his victory over the Poeni:
may such garlands adorn victorious heads.

Debetur Carolo superatis Laurea Poenis:
  Victrices ornent talia serta comas.

Don Quixote (II, 18):  

When Don Lorenzo had finished reciting his gloss, Don Quixote stood up, and in a loud voice, almost a shout, exclaimed as he grasped Don Lorenzo's right hand in his, "By the highest heavens, noble youth, but you are the best poet on earth, and deserve to be crowned with laurel, not by Cyprus or by Gaeta—as a certain poet, God forgive him, said—but by the Academies of Athens, if they still flourished, and by those that flourish now, Paris, Bologna, Salamanca. Heaven grant that the judges who rob you of the first prize—that Phoebus may pierce them with his arrows, and the Muses never cross the thresholds of their doors. Repeat me some of your long-measure verses, senor, if you will be so good, for I want thoroughly to feel the pulse of your rare genius." (Translated by John Ormsby)

Don Quixote (II, 55):

(aimed for his donkey)

! O comrade and friend, how ill have I repaid thy faithful services! Forgive me, and entreat Fortune, as well as thou canst, to deliver us out of this miserable strait we are both in; and I promise to put a crown of laurel on thy head, and make thee look like a poet laureate, and give thee double feeds."

Etymological note: “laureate”, of course,  means crowned with laurel. Who perform  secondary education are the laureates with the bacca, which according to the dictionary of the Royal Academy is the fruit or berry laurel; they  are bacca laureati, ie "bachelors" (word derived from "Baccalaureatus").

I then offer a long quotation from Pliny, at the end of Book XV on the bay, their classes, their symbolism and wonders. This gives us an idea of the importance that the laurel was in the ancient world and detail with which it is studied.

Pliny, Natural History, 39-40
39. (30.)—The laurel; thirteen varieties of it.

The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato speaks of two varieties of this tree, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of "mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum." He says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour, greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with this laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with an imbricated edge, and crisped.
Since his time, however, the varieties have considerably augmented. There is the tinus for instance, by some considered as a species of wild laurel, while others, again, regard it as a tree of a separate class; indeed, it does differ from the laurel as to the colour, the berry being of an azure blue. The royal laurel, too, has since been added, which has of late begun to be known as the "Augustan:" both the tree, as well as the leaf, are of remarkable size, and the berries have not the usual rough taste. Some say, however, that the royal laurel and the Augustan are not the same tree, and make out the former to be a peculiar kind, with a leaf both longer and broader than that of the Augustan. The same authors, also, make a peculiar species of the bacalia the commonest laurel of all, and the one that bears the greatest number of berries. With them, too, the barren laurel is the laurel of the triumphs, and they say that this is the one that is used by warriors when enjoying a triumph—a thing that surprises me very much; unless, indeed, the use of it was first introduced by the late Emperor Augustus, and it is to be considered as the progeny of that laurel, which, as we shall just now have occasion to mention, was sent to him from heaven; it being the smallest of them all, with a crisped short leaf; and very rarely to be met with.
In ornamental gardening we also find the taxa employed, with a small leaf sprouting from the middle of the leaf, and forming a fringe, as it were, hanging from it; the spadonia, too, without this fringe, a tree that thrives remarkably well in the shade: indeed, however dense the shade may be, it will soon cover the spot with its shoots. There is the chamædaphne, also, a shrub that grows wild; the Alexandrian laurel, by some known as the Idean, by others as the "hypoglottion," by others as the "carpophyllon," and by others, again, as the "hypelates." From the root it throws out branches three quarters of a foot in length; it is much used in ornamental gardening, and for making wreaths, and it has a more pointed leaf than that of the myrtle, and superior to it in softness, whiteness, and size: the seed, which lies between the leaves, is red. This last kind grows in great abundance on Mount Ida and in the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus: it is only found, however, in mountainous districts.
The laurel, too, known as the daphnoides, is a variety that has received many different names: by some it is called the Pelasgian laurel, by others the euthalon, and by others the stephanon Alexandri. This is also a branchy shrub, with a thicker and softer leaf than that of the ordinary laurel: if tasted, it leaves a burning sensation in the mouth and throat: the berries are red, inclining to black. The ancient writers have remarked, that in their time there was no species of laurel in the island of Corsica. Since then, however, it has been planted there, and has thrived well.

40.—Historical anecdotes connected with the laurel.

This tree is emblematical of peace: when a branch of it is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms. For the Romans more particularly it is the messenger of joyful tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches of the general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers and the fasces which precede their chief. It is of this tree that branches are deposited on the lap of Jupiter All-good and All-great, so often as some new victory has imparted uni- versal gladness. This is done, not because it is always green, nor yet because it is an emblem of peace—for in both of those respects the olive would take the precedence of it—but because it is the most beauteous tree on Mount Parnassus, and was pleasing for its gracefulness to Apollo even; a deity to whom the kings of Rome sent offerings at an early period, as we learn from the case of L. Brutus. Perhaps, too, honour is more particularly paid to this tree because it was there that Brutus earned the glory of asserting his country's liberties, when, by the direction of the oracle, he kissed that laurel-bearing soil. *

(Note *: He alludes to the circumstance of the priestess being asked who should reign at Rome after Tarquin; upon which she answered, "He who first kisses his mother;" on which Brutus, the supposed idiot, stumbled to the ground, and kissed the earth, the mother of all.)

Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is the only one that is never struck by lightning. It is for these reasons, in my opinion, that the post of honour has been awarded to the laurel more particularly in triumphs, and not, as Massurius says, because it was used for the purposes of fumigation and purification from the blood of the enemy.

In addition to the above particulars, it is not permitted to defile the laurel and the olive by applying them to profane uses; so much so, indeed, that, not even for the propitiation of the divinities, should a fire be lighted with them at either altar or shrine. Indeed, it is very evident that the laurel protests against such usage by crackling as it does in the fire, thus, in a manner, giving expresssion to its abhorrence of such treatment. The wood of this tree when eaten is good as a specific for internal maladies and affections of the sinews.
It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning. There are also some remarkable facts connected with the laurel in the history of the late Emperor Augustus: once while Livia Drusilla, who afterwards on her marriage with the Emperor assumed the name of Augusta, at the time that she was affianced to him, was seated, there fell into her lap a hen of remarkable whiteness, which an eagle let fall from aloft without its receiving the slightest injury: on Livia viewing it without any symptoms of alarm, it was discovered that miracle was added to miracle, and that it held in its beak a branch of laurel covered with berries. The aruspices gave orders that the hen and her progeny should be carefully preserved, and the branch planted and tended with religious care. This was accordingly done at the country-house belonging to the Cæsars, on the Flaminian Way, near the banks of the Tiber, eight miles from the City; from which circumstance that road has since received the title "Ad gallinas." From the branch there has now arisen, wondrous to relate, quite a grove: and Augustus Cæsar afterwards, when celebrating a triumph, held a branch of it in his hand and wore a wreath of this laurel on his head; since which time all the succeeding emperors have followed his example. Hence, too, has originated the custom of planting the branches which they have held on these occasions, and we thus see groves of laurel still existing which owe their respective names to this circumstance. It was on the above occasion, too, that not improbably a change was effected in the usual laurel of the triumph. The laurel is the only one among the trees that in the Latin language has given an appellation to a man, and it is the only one the leaf of which has a distinct name of its own,—it being known by the name of "laurea." The name of this tree is still retained by one place in the city of Rome, for we find a spot on the Aventine Mount still known by the name of "Loretum," where formerly a laurel-grove existed. The laurel is employed in purifications, and we may here mention, incidentally, that it will grow from slips—though Democritus and Theophrastus have expressed their doubts as to that fact.We shall now proceed to speak of the forest trees.  (Translated by  John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855).

Naturalis Historia, XV, 39-40

Laurus triumphis proprie dicatur, vel gratissima domibus, ianitrix Caesarum pontificumque. sola et domos exornat et ante limina excubat. duo eius genera tradidit Cato, Delphicam et Cypriam. Pompeius Lenaeus adiecit quam mustacem appellavit, quoniam mustaceis subiceretur: hanc esse folio maximo flaccidoque et albicante; Delphicam aequali colore viridiorem, maximis bacis atque e viridi rubentibus ac victores Delphis coronare ut triumphantes Romae; Cypriam esse folio brevi, nigro, per margines imbricato crispam.  postea accessere genera: tinus — hanc silvestrem laurum aliqui intellegunt, nonnulli sui generis arborem — differt colore; est enim caerulea baca. accessit et regia, quae coepit Augusta appellari, amplissima et arbore et folio, bacis gustatu quoque non asperis. aliqui negant eandem esse et suum genus regiae faciunt longioribus foliis latioribusque.

iidem in alio genere bacaliam appellant hanc quae vulgatissima est bacarumque fertilissima, sterilem vero earum, quod maxime miror, triumphalem eaque dicunt triumphantes uti, nisi id a Divo Augusto coepit, ut docebimus, ex ea lauru quae ei missa e caelo est, minima altitudine, folio crispo, brevi, inventu rara. accedit in topiario opere Thasia, excrescente in medio folio parvola veluti lacinia folii, et sine ea spadonina, mira opacitatis patientia, itaque quantalibeat sub umbra solum implet.  est et chamaedaphne silvestris frutex et Alexandrina, quam aliqui Idaeam, alii hypoglottion, alii danaen, alii carpophyllon, alii hypelaten vocant. ramos spargit a radice dodrantales, coronarii operis, folio acutiore quam myrti ac molliore et candidiore, maiore, semine inter folia rubro, plurima in Ida et circa Heracleam Ponti, nec nisi in montuosis. id quoque quod daphnoides vocatur genus in nominum ambitu est; alii enim Pelasgum, alii eupetalon, alii stephanon Alexandri vocant. et hic frutex est ramosus, crassiore ac molliore quam laurus folio, cuius gustatu accendatur os, bacis e nigro rufis. notatum antiquis, nullum genus laurus in Corsica fuisse, quod nunc satum et ibi provenit.

40
Ipsa pacifera, ut quam praetendi etiam inter armatos hostes quietis sit indicium. Romanis praecipue laetitiae victoriarumque nuntia additur litteris et militum lanceis pilisque, fasces imperatorum decorat.  ex iis in gremio Iovis optimi maximique deponitur, quotiens laetitiam nova victoria adtulit, idque non quia perpetuo viret nec quia pacifera est, praeferenda ei utroque olea, sed quia spectatissima in monte Parnaso ideoque etiam grata Apollini visa, adsuetis eo dona mittere, oracula inde repetere iam et regibus Romanis teste L. Bruto, fortassis etiam in argumentum, quoniam ibi libertatem publicam is meruisset lauriferam tellurem illam osculatus ex responso et quia manu satarum receptarumque in domos fulmine sola non icitur.  ob has causas equidem crediderim honorem ei habitum in triumphis potius quam quia suffimentum sit caedis hostium et purgatio, ut tradit Masurius, adeoque in profanis usibus pollui laurum et oleam fas non est, ut ne propitiandis quidem numinibus accendi ex iis altaria araeve debeant. laurus quidem manifesto abdicat ignes crepitu et quadam detestatione, interna eorum etiam vitia et nervorum ligno torquente. Ti. principem tonante caelo coronari ea solitum ferunt contra fulminum metus.

Sunt et circa Divum Augustum eventa eius digna memoratu. namque Liviae Drusillae, quae postea Augusta matrimonii nomen accepit, cum pacta esset illa Caesari, gallinam conspicui candoris sedenti aquila ex alto abiecit in gremium inlaesam, intrepideque miranti accessit miraculum. quoniam teneret in rostro laureum ramum onustum suis bacis, conservari alitem et subolem iussere haruspices ramumque eum seri ac rite custodiri: quod factum est in villa Caesarum fluvio Tiberi inposita iuxta nonum lapidem Flaminiae viae, quae ob id vocatur Ad Gallinas, mireque silva provenit. ex ea triumphans postea Caesar laurum in manu tenuit coronamque capite gessit, ac deinde imperatores Caesares cuncti. traditusque mos est ramos quos tenuerunt serendi, et durant silvae nominibus suis discretae, fortassis ideo mutatis triumphalibus.  unius arborum Latina lingua nomen inponitur viris, unius folia distinguntur appellatione; lauream enim vocamus. durat et in urbe inpositum loco, quando Loretum in Aventino vocatur ubi silva laurus fuit. eadem purificationibus adhibetur, testatumque sit obiter et ramo eam seri, quoniam dubitavere Democritus atque Theophrastus.

Nunc dicemus silvestrium naturas.

The matter is not without interest but I have to leave for another time to dig a little on the origin of the holiday, in the absence of the martyr Saint Valentine or of powerful arguments to doubt his existence, in the Christianization of a party of most important pagan holidays of February, the Lupercalia.

All this is of great interest, but I prefer to postpone its study. I want to limit myself now to tell one of the most beautiful love stories of antiquity that  Ovid tells in his Metamorphoses, the tragic love story of Pyramus and Thisbe, two dead lovers by a tragic error.

The story, the tale, well known since Antiquity, was so successful since the Renaissance that it is but one from which seems to emerge the most famous tragedy of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, who also used it on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It is true that Hyginus, contemporary although a little older than Ovid, (64 BC -. 17) makes a simple reference to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in his Fables Hyginus is a writer from Valencia, (Spain)  according to Luis Vives,  although others scholars doubt the place of his birth.

(See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/moon-sun-eclipse-antikythera-mechanism )

He says in Fables, CCXLII:

…..Pyramus in Babylonia ob amorem Thisbes ipse se occidit…
                Pyramus in Babylonia out of love for Thisbe killed himself.

CCXLII Qui se ipsi interfecerunt

CCXLIII    Thisbe Babylonia propter Pyramum quod ipse se interfecerat.
               Thisbe of Babylon killed herself because Pyramus had killed himself.

CCXLIII Quae se ipsae interfecerunt

But he is the poet Ovid who tells this story in Book IV of his work Metamorphoses. We know of no author who told in advance and there are few who do later, some with some variation.

The story is certainly of oriental origin, as evidenced its location in Babylon. Certainly since Ovid  the story  had remarkable success and was well known; before it seems  that it was not known,  judging by the words of Ovid: "vulgaris fabula non est" "it is not a popular story." In Late Antiquity there is a slightly different version of Nonnus, Latin author of the late IV or early of V century, in his Dyonisiaca XII, 84 et seq. He places it in Cilicia, not in Babylon.

Augustine presents us as one of the common themes that students have to develop as an exercise in studying rhetoric, which means that the issue was already well known. So he says, referring to the wall interposed between Pyramus and Thisbe in his On Order, De ordine, 1,3,8:

I tell you, that I irritate myself when I see you singing and suffering with these verses of all kinds that stand between you and the truth a wall thicker than this one they strove to raise between your lovers; but they were connected by a hairline crack. He tried then to sing Pyramus).

Irritor, inquam, abs te versus istos tuos omni metrorum genere cantando et ululando insectari, qui inter te atque veritatem immaniorem murum quam inter amantes tuos conantur  erigere”. ; nam in se illi vel inolita rimula respirabant. Pyramum enim ille tum canere instituerat.

And then in the same De Ordine, 1,5,12

I tell you: so be it that  you call me an irritating busybody;  for surely I can not but be irritating  if I have attack you when you talked with Pyramus and Thisbe …

Cui ego licet, inquam, me odiosum percontatorem voces; vix enim possum non esse,qui  expugnavi me cum Pyramo et Thisbe coloqueris

In the Middle Ages it is commonplace as reference to "unhappy love". The myth appears in all medieval European literature: in Spain and appears in The Fazienda overseas, probably in the year 1153. In France there are numerous examples; it is sufficient the Chretien de Troyes in his Conte of Charrette. Chaucer in England told the story in his The Legend of Good Women. In Italy, Boccaccio summarizes the fable in his De claris mulieribus, although the names of Pyramus and Thisbe not appear.

In Spain it has a minor presence in the Middle Ages by the general lack of Ovid, but it seems that the Marquis de Santillana and Gomez Manrique had a translation of the Metamorphoses. But since the Renaissance there are dozens poets and literary authors who replicate the legend, of which are also numerous fictional romances that were sung in Spain and Portugal. Numerous editions and translations of Ovid from the Renaissance facilitated the direct relationship between authors and this legend.

I want to emphasize only two of Spanish authors without going into the matter, because my interest at the moment is to provide readers with direct text of Ovide; so they can enjoy an exciting literary narrative. These two authors are Cervantes, who in his Don Quixote makes three references to the unhappy love affair: the story of Cardenio and Lucinda in First Part (I, 23-24), and in the Second the sonnet of Lorenzo Miranda, son of The Knight of the Green Gaban, (II, 16-18) and the episode of the Wedding of Camacho (II, 19,20 and 21) with the comic inversion of the fatal love.

I offer the Miranda’s Lorenzo sonnet, because it is shorter:

The lovely maid, she pierces now the wall;
  Heart-pierced by her young Pyramus doth lie;
  And Love spreads wing from Cyprus isle to fly,
A chink to view so wondrous great and small.
There silence speaketh, for no voice at all
  Can pass so strait a strait; but love will ply
  Where to all other power 'twere vain to try;
For love will find a way whate'er befall.
Impatient of delay, with reckless pace
  The rash maid wins the fatal spot where she
Sinks not in lover's arms but death's embrace.
  So runs the strange tale, how the lovers twain
One sword, one sepulchre, one memory,
  Slays, and entombs, and brings to life again.
(Translated by John Ormsby)

El muro rompe la doncella hermosa
que de Píramo abrió el gallardo pecho;
parte el Amor de Chipre y va derecho
a ver la quiebra estrecha y prodigiosa.

Habla el silencio allí, porque no osa
La voz entrar por tan estrecho estrecho;
las almas sí, que amor suele de hecho
facilitar la más difícil cosa

Saltó el deseo de compás y el paso
de la imprudente virgen solicita
por su gusto su muerte. Ved qué historia;

Que a entrambos en un punto, ¡oh extraño caso!,
los mata, los encubre y resucita
una espada, un sepulcro, una memoria.

The other is Gongora, who wrote the story, albeit humorous, or to be more precise, difficult to interpret, that is now known as the Enlightenment and Defense of the Fable of Pyramus and Thisbe (1618). Gongora had previously alluded to the theme of Pyramus and Thisbe in one of the Letrillas (a brief poem) in which the popular refrain 'let me go warm and the people may laugh” is repeated.

Because love is so cruel
that thalamus makes a sword
of Pyamus and his love,
where he and she together are,
let be my Tisbe a cake
and let be the sword my tooth
and the people may laugh

Pues amor es tan cruel
que de Píramo y su amada
hace tálamo una espada,
do se junten ella y él,
sea mi Tisbe un pastel
ya la espada sea mi diente
y ríase la gente.

Shakespeare, meanwhile, recalls the story in the famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet and with an ironic tone in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", though specialists say that the English author does not was directly influenced by the work of Ovid, but the influence came indirectly from  Italian authors  from the poem by Arthur Brooke the Tragical Historye of Romeus and Juliet and from translation of William Painter "Rhomeo and Julietta"; these authors made use of a French version of Pierre Boaiastou which was based on Romeo and Giuletta of Mateo Bandello and a Giulietta e Romeo of Luigi da Porto.

But Shakespeare would have no difficulty in knowing such a popular topic in Europe: Golding  had had translated the Metamorphoses in 1567.

Of course the issue was relevant to other artists in addition to the letters, as painters and musicians, from ancient times to the present day.

I offer only four examples of paintings on the theme: A first-century Pompeii, one from a twelfth-century Romanesque capital in Basel, one of the XVIII-XIX and one absolutely contemporary.

Pyramus and Thisbe represented in a fresco of the House of Octavius Cuartio (Pompeii). S. I d.C.

Cloister of the Cathedral of Basel, late twelfth century,  (with a Christian moralizing interpretation)

Pierre-Claude Gautherot, (1769-1825),

Gabriel Alonso, painting published by the digital publishing One and Zero (http://unoyceroediciones.com/)

Examples of music go from opera A Midsummer Night's Dream,  by Benjamin Britten based on A Midsummer Night's Dream or West Side Story based on Romeo and Juliet to the adaptation of the Beatles, in which Paul McCartney was Pyramus, Thisbe was John Lennon, George Harrison was the Moon and Ringo Starr was the lion.

But enough of much scholarly considerations and inconsequential curiosities and let us allow the poet Ovid to relate in detail the unfortunate history.

Metamorphoses, IV, 42…..54;  55-166

it pleased her sisters, and they ordered her
to tell the story that she loved the most.
So, as she counted in her well-stored mind
the many tales she knew, first doubted she
whether to tell the tale of Derceto,—
that Babylonian, who, aver the tribes
of Palestine, in limpid ponds yet lives,—
her body changed, and scales upon her limbs;
…..
or of that tree
which sometime bore white fruit, but now is changed
and darkened by the blood that stained its roots.—
Pleased with the novelty of this, at once
she tells the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe;—
and swiftly as she told it unto them,
the fleecy wool was twisted into threads.
PYRAMUS AND THISBE
When Pyramus and Thisbe, who were known
the one most handsome of all youthful men,
the other loveliest of all eastern girls,—
lived in adjoining houses, near the walls
that Queen Semiramis had built of brick
around her famous city, they grew fond,
and loved each other—meeting often there—
and as the days went by their love increased.
They wished to join in marriage, but that joy
their fathers had forbidden them to hope;
and yet the passion that with equal strength
inflamed their minds no parents could forbid.
No relatives had guessed their secret love,
for all their converse was by nods and signs;
and as a smoldering fire may gather heat,
the more 'tis smothered, so their love increased.
Now, it so happened, a partition built
between their houses, many years ago,
was made defective with a little chink;
a small defect observed by none, although
for ages there; but what is hid from love?
Our lovers found the secret opening,
and used its passage to convey the sounds
of gentle, murmured words, whose tuneful note
passed oft in safety through that hidden way.
There, many a time, they stood on either side,
thisbe on one and Pyramus the other,
and when their warm breath touched from lip to lip,
their sighs were such as this: “Thou envious wall
why art thou standing in the way of those
who die for love? What harm could happen thee
shouldst thou permit us to enjoy our love?
But if we ask too much, let us persuade
that thou wilt open while we kiss but once:
for, we are not ungrateful; unto thee
we own our debt; here thou hast left a way
that breathed words may enter loving ears.,”
so vainly whispered they, and when the night
began to darken they exchanged farewells;
made presence that they kissed a fond farewell
vain kisses that to love might none avail.
When dawn removed the glimmering lamps of night,
and the bright sun had dried the dewy grass
again they met where they had told their love;
and now complaining of their hapless fate,
in murmurs gentle, they at last resolved,
away to slip upon the quiet night,
elude their parents, and, as soon as free,
quit the great builded city and their homes.
Fearful to wander in the pathless fields,
they chose a trysting place, the tomb of Ninus,
where safely they might hide unseen, beneath
the shadow of a tall mulberry tree,
covered with snow-white fruit, close by a spring.
All is arranged according to their hopes:
and now the daylight, seeming slowly moved,
sinks in the deep waves, and the tardy night
arises from the spot where day declines.
Quickly, the clever Thisbe having first
deceived her parents, opened the closed door.
She flitted in the silent night away;
and, having veiled her face, reached the great tomb,
and sat beneath the tree; love made her bold.
There, as she waited, a great lioness
approached the nearby spring to quench her thirst:
her frothing jaws incarnadined with blood
of slaughtered oxen. As the moon was bright,
Thisbe could see her, and affrighted fled
with trembling footstep to a gloomy cave;
and as she ran she slipped and dropped her veil,
which fluttered to the ground. She did not dare
to save it. Wherefore, when the savage beast
had taken a great draft and slaked her thirst,
and thence had turned to seek her forest lair,
she found it on her way, and full of rage,
tore it and stained it with her bloody jaws:
but Thisbe, fortunate, escaped unseen.
Now Pyramus had not gone out so soon
as Thisbe to the tryst; and, when he saw
the certain traces of that savage beast,
imprinted in the yielding dust, his face
went white with fear; but when he found the veil
covered with blood, he cried; “Alas, one night
has caused the ruin of two lovers! Thou
wert most deserving of completed days,
but as for me, my heart is guilty! I
destroyed thee! O my love! I bade thee come
out in the dark night to a lonely haunt,
and failed to go before. Oh! whatever lurks
beneath this rock, though ravenous lion, tear
my guilty flesh, and with most cruel jaws
devour my cursed entrails! What? Not so;
it is a craven's part to wish for death!”
So he stopped briefly; and took up the veil;
went straightway to the shadow of the tree;
and as his tears bedewed the well-known veil,
he kissed it oft and sighing said, “Kisses
and tears are thine, receive my blood as well.”
And he imbrued the steel, girt at his side,
deep in his bowels; and plucked it from the wound,
a-faint with death. As he fell back to earth,
his spurting blood shot upward in the air;
so, when decay has rift a leaden pipe
a hissing jet of water spurts on high.—
By that dark tide the berries on the tree
assumed a deeper tint, for as the roots
soaked up the blood the pendent mulberries
were dyed a purple tint.
Thisbe returned,
though trembling still with fright, for now she thought
her lover must await her at the tree,
and she should haste before he feared for her.
Longing to tell him of her great escape
she sadly looked for him with faithful eyes;
but when she saw the spot and the changed tree,
she doubted could they be the same, for so
the colour of the hanging fruit deceived.
While doubt dismayed her, on the ground she saw
the wounded body covered with its blood;—
she started backward, and her face grew pale
and ashen; and she shuddered like the sea,
which trembles when its face is lightly skimmed
by the chill breezes;—and she paused a space;—
but when she knew it was the one she loved,
she struck her tender breast and tore her hair.
Then wreathing in her arms his loved form,
she bathed the wound with tears, mingling her grief
in his unquenched blood; and as she kissed
his death-cold features wailed; “Ah Pyramus,
what cruel fate has taken thy life away?
Pyramus! Pyramus! awake! awake!
It is thy dearest Thisbe calls thee! Lift
thy drooping head! Alas,”—At Thisbe's name
he raised his eyes, though languorous in death,
and darkness gathered round him as he gazed.
And then she saw her veil; and near it lay
his ivory sheath—but not the trusty sword
and once again she wailed; “Thy own right hand,
and thy great passion have destroyed thee!—
And I? my hand shall be as bold as thine—
my love shall nerve me to the fatal deed—
thee, I will follow to eternity—
though I be censured for the wretched cause,
so surely I shall share thy wretched fate:—
alas, whom death could me alone bereave,
thou shalt not from my love be reft by death!
And, O ye wretched parents, mine and his,
let our misfortunes and our pleadings melt
your hearts, that ye no more deny to those
whom constant love and lasting death unite—
entomb us in a single sepulchre.
“And, O thou tree of many-branching boughs,
spreading dark shadows on the corpse of one,
destined to cover twain, take thou our fate
upon thy head; mourn our untimely deaths;
let thy fruit darken for a memory,
an emblem of our blood.” No more she said;
and having fixed the point below her breast,
she fell on the keen sword, still warm with his red blood.
But though her death was out of Nature's law
her prayer was answered, for it moved the Gods
and moved their parents. Now the Gods have changed
the ripened fruit which darkens on the branch:
and from the funeral pile their parents sealed
their gathered ashes in a single urn.
So ended she; at once Leuconoe
took the narrator's thread; and as she spoke
her sisters all were silent.
(Translation from Ovid,  Metamorphoses. Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922).

Dicta probant primamque iubent narrare sorores.
Illa, quid e multis referat (nam plurima norat),
cogitat et dubia est, de te, Babylonia, narret,
Derceti, quam versa squamis velantibus artus
stagna Palaestini credunt motasse figura;
……
an, quae poma alba ferebat,
ut nunc nigra ferat contactu sanguinis arbor.
Hoc placet, hanc, quoniam vulgaris fabula non est,
talibus orsa modis, lana sua fila sequente:
…..
55-168
Pyramus et Thisbe.
“Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,
altera, quas oriens habuit, praelata puellis,
contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.
Notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit:
tempore crevit amor. Taedae quoque iure coissent:
sed vetuere patres. Quod non potuere vetare,
ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.
Conscius omnis abest: nutu signisque loquuntur,
quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis.
Fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim,
cum fieret paries domui communis utrique.
Id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum
(quid non sentit amor?) primi vidistis amantes,
et vocis fecistis iter; tutaeque per illud
murmure blanditiae minimo transire solebant.
Saepe, ubi constiterant hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc,
inque vices fuerat captatus anhelitus oris,
“invide” dicebant “paries, quid amantibus obstas?
quantum erat, ut sineres toto nos corpore iungi,
aut hoc si nimium est, vel ad oscula danda pateres?
Nec sumus ingrati: tibi nos debere fatemur,
quod datus est verbis ad amicas transitus aures.”
Talia diversa nequiquam sede locuti
sub noctem dixere ”vale” partique dedere
oscula quisque suae non pervenientia contra.
Postera nocturnos aurora removerat ignes,
solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas:
ad solitum coiere locum. Tum murmure parvo
multa prius questi, statuunt, ut nocte silenti
fallere custodes foribusque excedere temptent,
cumque domo exierint, urbis quoque tecta relinquant;
neve sit errandum lato spatiantibus arvo,
conveniant ad busta Nini lateantque sub umbra
arboris. Arbor ibi, niveis uberrima pomis
ardua morus, erat, gelido contermina fonti.
Pacta placent. Et lux, tarde discedere visa,
praecipitatur aquis, et aquis nox exit ab isdem.
Callida per tenebras versato cardine Thisbe
egreditur fallitque suos, adopertaque vultum
pervenit ad tumulum, dictaque sub arbore sedit.
Audacem faciebat amor. Venit ecce recenti
caede leaena boum spumantes oblita rictus,
depositura sitim vicini fontis in unda.
Quam procul ad lunae radios Babylonia Thisbe
vidit et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum,
dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.
Ut lea saeva sitim multa conpescuit unda,
dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa
ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.
Serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto
pulvere certa ferae totoque expalluit ore
Pyramus: ut vero vestem quoque sanguine tinctam
repperit, “una duos” inquit “nox perdet amantes.
E quibus illa fuit longa dignissima vita,
nostra nocens anima est: ego te, miseranda, peremi,
in loca plena metus qui iussi nocte venires,
nec prior huc veni. Nostrum divellite corpus,
et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,
o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe, leones.
Sed timidi est optare necem.” Velamina Thisbes
tollit et ad pactae secum fert arboris umbram;
utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti,
“accipe nunc” inquit “nostri quoque sanguinis haustus!”
quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,
nec mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit.
Ut iacuit resupinus humo: cruor emicat alte,
non aliter quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo
scinditur et tenui stridente foramine longas
eiaculatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.
Arborei fetus adspergine caedis in atram
vertuntur faciem, madefactaque sanguine radix
purpureo tingit pendentia mora colore.
Ecce metu nondum posito, ne fallat amantem,
illa redit iuvenemque oculis animoque requirit,
quantaque vitarit narrare pericula gestit.
Utque locum et visa cognoscit in arbore formam,
sic facit incertam pomi color: haeret, an haec sit.
Dum dubitat, tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum
membra solum, retroque pedem tulit, oraque buxo
pallidiora gerens exhorruit aequoris instar,
quod tremit, exigua cum summum stringitur aura.
Sed postquam remorata suos cognovit amores,
percutit indignos claro plangore lacertos,
et laniata comas amplexaque corpus amatum
vulnera supplevit lacrimis fletumque cruori
miscuit et gelidis in vultibus oscula figens
“Pyrame” clamavit “quis te mihi casus ademit?
Pyrame, responde: tua te carissima Thisbe
nominat: exaudi vultusque attolle iacentes!”
Ad nomen Thisbes oculos iam morte gravatos
Pyramus erexit, visaque recondidit illa.
Quae postquam vestemque suam cognovit et ense
vidit ebur vacuum, “tua te manus” inquit “amorque
perdidit, infelix. Est et mihi fortis in unum
hoc manus, est et amor: dabit hic in vulnera vires.
Persequar exstinctum letique miserrima dicar
causa comesque tui; quique a me morte revelli
heu sola poteras, poteris nec morte revelli.
Hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,
o multum miseri meus illiusque parentes,
ut quos certus amor, quos hora novissima iunxit,
conponi tumulo non invideatis eodem.
At tu quae ramis arbor miserabile corpus
nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum,
signa tene caedis pullosque et luctibus aptos
semper habe fetus, gemini monimenta cruoris.”
Dixit, et aptato pectus mucrone sub imum
incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat.
Vota tamen tetigere deos, tetigere parentes:
nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater,
quodque rogis superest, una requiescit in urna.”
Desierat, mediumque fuit breve tempus, et orsa est
dicere Leuconoe: vocem tenuere sorores.

In the months of December and January they were held in Rome several feasts  (the annual calendar was full of them), the Saturnalia, New Year, … that have come together and made their mark on our celebrations of Christmas and New Year. See article  https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/christmas-birth-of-jesus-mithras

This survival  certainly helps us to better understand these ancient rites, despite the differences; Consider that in this way we celebrate the arrival of a new year over two thousand years.

As today, these festivals  had a public and official dimension (inauguration of the new consuls, expressing loyalty to the emperor by asking for it and making him gifts that are called "STRENA" (I will later comment on them); today's  they are the message of king or political leader, new budgets, public horseback riding, etc.);  and a private party (visits to the homes of relatives and friends, mutual congratulations, exchanging hugs, kisses, gifts and good wishes votes, all with some ritual value …).

In three days of rites, official and private acts and practices of purification and augural, the Romans lived closed the year and opened a new era under the protection of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, bifrons Ianus and the Lares (household gods).

As I said, it is essential to start things right: the good start is a good premonition of further development and therefore the first name pronounced in a solemn celebration should be a good omen, the name of the first recruited soldier should express happiness, the name of the persons who led the victim to the slaughter should also mean happiness, etc. Therefore any action usually begins with the formula "quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset", "may it be good, fortunate, happy and prosperous."

The first day of the year, full of force, of a special "Virtus" also should be happy as a determinant premonition of a year full of goods and then  at that time gifts were made and wises of a happy new year with the formula "annum novum faustum felicem (tibi, vobis precor, adprecor, … etc.), sometimes with "annum novum faustum  felicem fortunatum”,  similar to the general formula, which are nothing but rites and magic acts aimed at ensuring a favorable future ..

We have certainty of this formula in at least two letters and on numerous objects, some of which are precisely the  gifts which were exchanged at this time, especially chandeliers or lamps (lucerna), about  which I will speak immediately.

In addition to an explicit reference in Pliny, the formula appears repeatedly in imperial coins and medals and in dedication of some monuments. We can conclude from all this that the formula "annum novum faustum felicem" was so prevalent at this time as our "happy new year".

The Vindolanda tablets are a wooden tablets the size of a postcard with texts written in ink, of the first and second centuries that appeared at the foot of the famous Hadrian's Wall that separates the warring tribes of northern Britain from dominated part by legions. They appeared in the fort  Vindolanda and military and  personal issues them of the  garrison encamped are there  reflected. They were discovered as late as 1973. There are 752 tablets (still they appear) that have been translated and published in 2010. They are the oldest documents written in Latin in the British Isles.

Note: For anyone interested on them,  I offer a link to the website where you can find complete information http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

Well, the tablet number 261 is testimony to the use of the formula in question.

"Hostilius Flavianus to his Cerealis, greetings. A fortunate and happy New Year …"

 1  Hostilius Flauianus Cereali / 2  suo salutem / 3 / 4  annum nouom faustum felicem / . . . . . . .

Probably this Hostilius Flavianus is a prefect who in his letter to Cerealis, whom is considered "brother", refers to a sacrifice on the occasion of the new year, as we infer from the tablet number 265, although nothing authorizes link the two tablets, which says:

"… to his Cerialis, greetings. Just as you wished, brother, I have consecrated the day of the Kalends by a sacrifice …"

1  ]..s Ceriali suo / 2  salutem / 3  ego, fráter, sacrificio diem / 4  Kalendarum sic- / 5  ut uoluerás dedi- / 6  traces / . . . . . . . .

Often the expression "diem Kalendarum"  without reference to the month, refer to the Kalendae par excellence, “Kalendas Ianuarias”, the New Year.

There is also a letter of Marcus Cornelius Fronto (approximately lived between 95 and 165), the greatest orator on his time, to Caesar Marcus Aurelius,  in which he congratulated the New Year:

Fronto: Ad M. Caesarem 5.45 [77 Hout; 1.228 Haines] (30)

To my Lord.

A happy New Year and a prosperous in all things that you rightly desire to you and our Lord your Father and your mother and your wife and daughter, and to all others who deservedly share your affection –that is my prayer! In my still feeble state of healt I was afraid to trust myself to the crowd and crush. I shall see you, please God, the day after to.morrow offering up your vows. Farewell, my most sweet Lord. Greet my Lady. (Translate by C.R. Haines, (1919) Loeb Classical Library)

Domino meo.
Annum novum faustum tibi et ad omnia, quae recte cupis, prosperum cum tibi tum domino nostro patri tuo et matri et uxori et filiae ceterisque omnibus quos merito diligis, precor. Metui ego invalido adhuc corpore turbae et inpressioni me committere. Si dei juvabunt, perendie vos vota nuncupantis videbo.
Vale, mi domine dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Pliny attests us the custom of wishing a happy new year in Natural History, 28, 5 (22)

I would appeal, too, for confirmation on this subject, to the intimate experience of each individual. Why, in fact, upon the first day of the new year, do we accost one another with prayers for good fortune, and for luck’s sake, wish each other a happy new year?. (Translated by John Bostock M.D, y H.T. Riley

Libet hanc partem singulorum quoque conscientia coarguere. cur enim primum anni incipientis diem laetis precationibus invicem faustum ominamur?

Tibullus relates the rite of burning bay leaves and the observation  whether they  crackle on the fire, good signal, or do not it, with the omen  of a new year:

Tibullus, II, 5, 79 ss.

With these portents the former times were scard
But Phoebus kindly better Fates award:
These Prodegies avert and turn away,
Imers’d beneath the surges of the sea.
May cracking Laurel in the flame declare,
The omen of a sacred happy year.
(Translated by Mr. Dart. London. 1720)

sed tu iam mitis, Apollo,
prodigia indomitis merge sub aequoribus,
et succensa sacris crepitet bene laurea flammis,
omine quo felix et sacer annus erit.

The New Year's greeting is accompanied by special gifts: dates, dried figs and honey are given away, as still happens; all sweets products that I enjoyed especially when child, now extended with the inevitable nougat, as an expression of best wishes.

They are also given bronze coins with the image of the two-faced god Janus, god of the end and the beginning, god facing the past and the future,  and therefore closing the old year and opens again the new year.

Janus, Ianus, is precisely the god who gives name to the month of January, Ianuarius, with it is open the Roman year since 153 BC on the occasion of the Celtiberic wars (Spain); previously the year began in March.

This gift coin has its continuity in our Christmas bonus, “aguinaldo” on Spanish language, word whose origin  the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy says: "Perhaps from  Latin hoc in anno 'on this year'. "

These gifts were called STRENA, whence the Spanish “estrenar” and "estrena"  that the Dictionary of the Royal Academy defines as "" gift, jewelry or given  by sign and demonstration of taste, happiness or benefit received," and French "étrenne”.

The Latin word STRENA probably from Sabine origin, means "good omen" and especially "gift made as a sign of good omen" in the sense that says Festus, 410, 21:

Strenae: So it is called the gift  that was made in a day consecrated by religion as a sign of good omen, from the number that  meants  to come second and third in the same advantages as if it is said “trena”, prepending an "S" as the ancients used to do in the  words  “loco” (locus) and lite (litis).

Strenam vocamus, quae datur die religioso ominis boni gratia, a numero, quo significatur, alterum, tertiumque venturum similis commodi, veluti trenam, praeposita S littera, ut in loco, et lite solebant antiqui.

They are very special the gifts which at this time are made to the emperors in recognition of his  authority and government. Serve as an example Suetonius on Augustus.

Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 57:

How much he was beloved for his worthy conduct in all these respects, it is easy to imagine. I say nothing of the decrees of the senate in his honour, which may seem to have resulted from compulsion or deference. The Roman knights voluntarily, and with one accord, always celebrated his birth for two days together; and all ranks of the people yearly, in performance of a vow they had made, threw a piece of money into the Curtian lake,  as an offering for his welfare. They likewise, on the calends [first] of January, presented for his acceptance new-year's gifts in the capitol, though he was not present: with which donations he purchased some costly images of the Gods, which he erected in several streets of the city: as that of Apollo Sandaliarius, Jupiter Tragoedus,  and others. When his house on the Palatine hill was accidentally destroyed by fire, the veteran soldiers, the judges, the tribes, and even the people, individually, contributed, according to the ability of each, for rebuilding it; but he would accept only of some small portion out of the several sums collected, and refused to take from any one person more than a single denarius. Upon his return home from any of the provinces, they attended him not only with joyful acclamations, but with songs. It is also remarked, that as often as he entered the city, the infliction of punishment was suspended for the time. (Translation by  Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Pro quibus meritis quanto opere dilectus sit, facile est aestimare. Omitto senatus consulta, quia possunt videri vel necessitate expressa vel verecundia. Equites R. natalem eius sponte atque consensu biduo semper celebrarunt. Omnes ordines in lacum Curti quotannis ex voto pro salute eius stipem iaciebant, item Kal. Ian. strenam in Capitolio etiam absenti, ex qua summa pretiosissima deorum simulacra mercatus vicatim dedicabat, ut Apollinem Sandaliarium et Iovem Tragoedum aliaque. In restitutionem Palatinae domus incendio absumptae veterani, decuriae, tribus atque etiam singillatim e cetero genere hominum libentes ac pro facultate quisque pecunias contulerunt, delibante tantum modo eo summarum acervos neque ex quoquam plus denario auferente. Revertentem ex provincia non solum faustis ominibus, sed et modulatis carminibus prosequebantur. Observatum etiam est, ne quotiens introiret urbem, supplicium de quoquam sumeretur.

Inscription on the pedestal of the sculpture dedicated to Vulcan by Augustus with the money paid as “strena” in new year (CIL 06 00457)

The emperor Caesar Augustus, son of the divine emperor Pontifex Maximus for the thirteenth time, consul for the eleventh, with tribunician power for the fifteenth, dedicated (this statue) to Vulcan with the money the Roman people gave him absent  in new year, at the consulate of Nero Claudius Drusus and  Titus Quintius Crispinus.

Imp(erator) Caesar divi f(ilius) Augustus / pontifex maximus imp(erator) XIII
co(n)s(ul) XI trib(unicia) potest(ate) XV / ex stipe quam populus
Romanus / anno novo apsenti contulit / Nerone Claudio Druso
co(n)s(ulibus) / T(ito) Quinctio Crispino / Volcano

The word STRENA probably is from Sabine origin. It is affirmed by Symmachus when he gives the custom of giving gifts to the Sabine king Tatius. The text appears in some older editions as the letter number 28 or number 35, according to the edition, of the tenth book of His letters. Modern the text appears as the Report 15 of his work "Relations". It also refers to the custom that remains three centuries after Augustus, to give the strena to emperor.

Symmachus. Epistulae, 10,  28 (al. 35), or Relationes, 15:

To our lords, Theodosius and Arcadius always august, Symmachus, very famous man, prefect of the City (384)

The practice of the strena  was developed almost from the birth of the City of Mars by the impulse of King Tatius, who was the first to accept some branches of a fruitful tree from sacred forest of Strenia, as good auspices for  the new year, my emperors lords. The name suggests that strenae  marry with the strong, “strenous”,  men due to their  value, and therefore a distinction of this kind is due to beings like you, whose divine spirit awaits  rather a testimony  to their surveillance than to  an omen. Receive therefore, advocates of public welfare, modest gifts made of gold, according to custom, not to you  rejoice with an offering of precious metal but to  testify  the opulence of a happy time with our gift. We consecrate  good acquired wealth as gifts to good princes. You who condemn the hidden payments, receive a manifest obsequiousness from the dignitaries. We offer rightly to you, because you are  the deities of our safety,  the traditional pateras with five solids (solidus=coin)  each one. With them they are not overwhelmed  your modesty or our property. Persist long time that practice of consideration for you and an endless succession of years  renew the homage of your mercy. The prefecture, which must be granted to strong (strenuos) men willingly will satisfy the traditional strenae (gifts).

DD. VALENTINIANO, THEODOSIO ET ARCADIO SEMPER AUG. SYMMACHUS V. C. PRAEF. URB.
Ab exortu pene urbis Martiae strenarum usus adolevit, auctoritate Tatii regis, qui verbenas felicis arboris ex luco Strenuae anni novi auspices primus accepit, DD. imperatores. Nomen indicio est viris strenuis haec convenire ob virtutem: atque ideo vobis hujusmodi insigne deberi; quorum divinus animus magis testimonium vigilantiae quam omen exspectat. Sumite igitur defensores publicae salutis solemniter auro ducta munuscula: non quia divitis metalli honore gaudetis, sed ut nostra devotio felicis saeculi testetur opulentiam. Bonis principibus bene parta libamus. Suscipite a judicibus aperta obsequia, qui pretia occulta damnatis. Merito vobis solemnes pateras, cum quinis solidis, ut numinibus integritatis offerimus: quibus nec vester pudor, nec noster census oneratur. Maneat aevum talis circa nos usus officii: et honorem clementiae vestrae interminus annorum recursus instauret. Libenter strenis solemnibus praefectura fungetur, strenuis deferendis.

On the custom of giving gifts, especially to the guests of the banquets, read them articles, on Saturnalia  https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/christmas-birth-of-jesus-mithras

and on Christmas gifts https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/xenia-apophoreta-martial-petronius-satyr

We can see on these gifts, sometimes laden with irony, a precedent of "twisted roll of kings" that is widespread in Spain. In the roulade it is hidden a "bean", vegetable-laden deep and strange ritual value to the Romans, (the Pythagoreans  are forbidden to eat beans), and also it is hidden also another "positive" figure, which can be a king, probably reminding the figure of "king of the feast", who regulated  the intake of wine during the celebration.

I reproduce an epigram of Martial on which he refers to the custom of giving  gifts at New Year time.

Martial, VIII, 33

Paulus had sent M. a cup of such thin metal that it could hardly be called a cup. An epigram against paltry gifts.

From your praetor's crown, Paulus, you send me a leaf and require this to be called a bowl. With this film your platform  was lately coated, and the pale stream of red saffron  washed it away. Or rather was it a flake I think, belonging to the leg of your couch scraped off by the nail of a cunning slave ? It can from a distance feel the fluttering of a gnat, and be wafted by the wing of the very smallest butterfly ; it floats in air, kept up by the heat of a tiny lamp, and, splashed with wine even lightly sprinkled, it dissolves. With such a layer is coated on the Kalends of January the nut  which a shabby client brings as a gift together with small coin. Pliant Egyptian beans grow with a less slender filament, of thicker mould are lily leaves that fall beneath the overpowering sun ; nor does the spider dart about a web so slender, nor the pendulous silkworm ply a work so light. Denser stands the chalk on old Fabulla's face, denser swells the bubble in tumbled water, and stronger is the bladder-net that confines knotted locks, and the Batavian pomade l that transforms Latin tresses. With skin like this is clothed the chick in a swan's egg, such are the patches that rest on a crescent-plastered brow. What use have you for a bowl when you can send me a tablespoon, when you can send me even a snail-pick I am suggesting too great things when you can send me a snail-shell : in a word, when you, Paulus, can send me nothing? (Translated by Walter C.A. Ker, M.A.  The Loeb Classical Library)

De praetoricia folium mihi, Paule, corona
Mittis et hoc phialae nomen habere iubes.
Hac fuerat nuper nebula tibi pegma perunctum,
Pallida quam rubri diluit unda croci.
An magis astuti derasa est ungue ministri
Brattea, de fulcro quam reor esse tuo?
Illa potest culicem longe sentire volantem
Et minimi pinna papilionis agi;
Exiguae volitat suspensa vapore lucernae
Et leviter fuso rumpitur icta mero.
Hoc linitur sputo Iani caryota Kalendis,
Quam fert cum parco sordidus asse cliens.
Lenta minus gracili crescunt colocasia filo,
Plena magis nimio lilia sole cadunt;
Nec vaga tam tenui discurrit aranea tela,
Tam leve nec bombyx pendulus urguet opus.
Crassior in facie vetulae stat creta Fabullae,
Crassior offensae bulla tumescit aquae;
Fortior et tortos servat vesica capillos
Et mutat Latias spuma Batava comas.
Hac cute Ledaeo vestitur pullus in ovo,
Talia lunata splenia fronte sedent.
Quid tibi cum phiala, ligulam cum mittere possis,
Mittere cum possis vel cocleare mihi, –
Magna nimis loquimur – cocleam cum mittere possis,
Denique cum possis mittere, Paule, nihil?

Saint Agustine, criticizing the abundant pagan gods, refers to the goddess Strenia, cited in the text above, who makes strong the men because “strong” on Latin is said "strenuus". It is said in two chapters of the book IV of his work  De civitate Dei, 11 and 16.  I reproduce the chapter XVI:

Saint Agustíne, De civitate Dei (The City of God  , IV, 16

What Was the Reason Why the Romans, in Detailing Separate Gods for All Things and All Movements of the Mind, Chose to Have the Temple of Quiet Outside the Gates.
But I wonder very much, that while they assigned to separate gods single things, and (well near) all movements of the mind; that while they invoked the goddess Agenoria, who should excite to action; the goddess Stimula, who should stimulate to unusual action; the goddess Murcia, who should not move men beyond measure, but make them, as Pomponius says, murcid— that is, too slothful and inactive; the goddess Strenua, who should make them strenuous; and that while they offered to all these gods and goddesses solemn and public worship, they should yet have been unwilling to give public acknowledgment to her whom they name Quies because she makes men quiet, but built her temple outside the Colline gate. Whether was this a symptom of an unquiet mind, or rather was it thus intimated that he who should persevere in worshipping that crowd, not, to be sure, of gods, but of demons, could not dwell with quiet; to which the true Physician calls, saying, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls? (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm)

Miror autem plurimum, quod, cum deos singulos singulis rebus et paene singulis motibus adtribuerent, uocauerunt deam Agenoriam, quae ad agendum excitaret, deam Stimulam, quae ad agendum ultra modum stimularet, deam Murciam, quae praeter modum non moueret ac faceret hominem, ut ait Pomponius, murcidum, id est nimis desidiosum et inactuosum, deam Streniam, quae faceret strenuum, his omnibus diis et deabus publica sacra facere susceperunt, Quietem uero appellantes, quae faceret quietum, cum aedem haberet extra portam Collinam, publice illam suscipere noluerunt. Vtrum indicium fuit animi inquieti, an potius ita significatum est, qui illam turbam colere perseueraret non plane deorum, sed daemoniorum, eum quietem habere non posse? ad quam uocat uerus medicus dicens: Discite a me, quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde, et inuenietis requiem animabus uestris.

But the most special gift for the occasion is a Lucerne or oil lamp, usually ceramic, where the inscription in question appears: novum annum faustum felicem (tibi, …).

This gift is obviously in relation to the fact that  the ancient Romans celebrated the new year on December 25, the birthday of the "unconquered Sun", is the "dies natalis Solis invicti", "the birthday of the god unconquered Sun ". See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/mithraisme-christianity-winter-solstice

The lamp represents the "new light", the "new Sun", the "Novum annum" that  begins at that day.

Two “lucernae”  very similar, one made of terracotta and the other of bronze. The terracotta  made is in the Museum of the City of Milan. The exceptional of bronze appears for sale on a website trade or auction of various objects, without context  and without special historical value because all archaeological information relating to the site is disappeared.

On them it appears a winged Victory with a pin or palm in his hand, breads, nuts and Janus coin, with the shield on which is inscribed the phrase :

A  happy new year  for you.  annum novum felicem tibi

Among the numerous inscriptions on lamps, in addition to the above, only two, I will reproduce this one from Spain. So this from Hispania Citerior (Madrid), of uncertain origin: CIL 02, 04,969.03; EDCS-20301000

Annum / nov(u)m Faus/tum fel/icem mih(i) / hu(n)c

Or this one of Bruttium et Lucania, Eboli / Eburum: CIE 10 08053,005ª; EDCS-22900527 in which the inscription is on the shield held  by the Victoria:

Annum / nov(u)m fau/stum fel/icem mi/hi

Other objects, like this glass engraved with the usual motifs are also given: dates, figs, bay leaves, coin with the image of Janus, a temple, etc

Or these terracotta medallions with the inscriptions we  try and one with the symbols above.

In the following text of Ovid these customs are explained, because  citizens of the time seem not to explain them. For “as” gift or bronze coin with bifrons Janus on the obverse and a ship on the back,  Ovid's contemporaries seem to show a complete lack of explanation. I reproduce the text, without the last detail of the ship on the reverse of the coin for not to be excessively long. In any case, the interested reader will find the text easily, or I can help if you show me your interest in it.

Ovid, Fasti, I, v. 145 y ss.

So far he spoke, and his benignant eye
Seemed to invite to further colloquy ;
I plucked up courage, made acknowledgment, 
And thus pursued, but with mine eyes down bent.
" O tell me wherefore is the new year born
In frost and cold, when all is chill and lorn ?
Surely its birthday should in Spring have been
When meads are blossoming and woods are green ; 
When the young buds are bursting from the bines,
And elms are gorgeous, garmented with vines,
When corn blades upward shoot and the sweet bird,
In purest ether, carolling is heard ;
When flocks are wanton, and the swallow guest 
Beneath the roof and rafter frames her nest ;
When sunshine blesses all, the steer and share,
Should not this be the birthday of the year ? "
So did I ask with fervency ; so he
Responded with contrasting brevity : — 
" The winter Solstice doth the years divide ;
Annus and Phoebus, both claim Brumaltide."
I pondered on and asked why New Year's-day
From legal pleas should not exempted be ?
" Then learn ; " he said ; " inestimable time 
Must not be lost, but seized on at the prime ;
A bad beginning would usurp the year :
Therefore I will, that each man in his sphere
Work ere he play — and show his willingness."
I asked him next — " Wherefore, when I address 
My prayers, Janus, to the gods on high,
Do I bring wine and frankincense to thee ? "
" Because I hold the threshold, keep the door ;
Access to them, through me, must you implore."
" Why, Janus, on thy Kalends do we greet 
With compliments and wishes those we meet ? "
Then he, incumbent on his staff, replied :
" Omens are from first indexes supplied ;
Your timid ears catch the first spoken word,
The Augur answers from the first seen bird, 
Then ears of gods are open, and their fanes,
And then the votary his wish obtains."
He paused — -my question trod on his reply —
" Say what the date and dry fig signify,
And candid honey in white earthen ware 
We offer then ? " " All that is sweet and fair ;
A sign prognostic that the year may run
Its destined course as blandly as begun."
" I see the cause of sweets, now tell the cause
For the small coin, and I shall know thy laws." 
He laughed and said : " thou of little wit,
The habits of all time account for it ;
Why e'en when Saturn reigned on earth, e'en then,
Nought sweeter was than money unto men.
The passion grew with time ; it grew, but now 
It culminates, and can no further grow.
Wealth now predominates ; not so of yore
When Rome was little and the Romans poor.
Quirinus, Mars-begotten, laid his head
In a thatched hut, beside the river's bed 
The reeds amidst.
(Translation  By JOHN BENSON EOSE.

Dixerat, et vultu, si plura requirere vellem, 145
  Se mihi difficilem non fore, fassus erat:
Sumpsi animum, gratesque deo non territus egi,
  Verbaque sum spectans pauca locutus humum:
Dic, age, frigoribus quare novus incipit annus,
  Qui melius per ver incipiendus erat? 150
Omnia tunc florent, tunc est nova temporis aetas,
  Et nova de gravido palmite gemma tumet,
Et modo formatis operitur frondibus arbos,
  Prodit et in summum seminis herba solum,
Et tepidum volucres concentibus aëra mulcent, 155
  Ludit et in pratis luxuriatque pecus.
Tum blandi soles, ignotaque prodit hirundo,
  Et luteum celsa sub trabe fingit opus.
Tum patitur cultus ager, et renovatur aratro.
  Haec anni novitas jure vocanda fuit. 160
Quaesieram multis: non multis ille moratus,
  Contulit in versus sic sua verba duos:
Bruma novi prima est, veterisque novissima solis:
  Principium capiunt Phoebus et annus idem.
Post ea mirabar, cur non sine litibus esset 165
  Prima dies. Causam percipe, Janus ait.
Tempora commisi nascentia rebus agendis,
  Totus ab auspicio ne foret annus iners.
Quisque suas artes ob idem delibat agendo,
  Nec plus quam solitum testificatur opus. 170
Mox ego: Cur, quamvis aliorum numina placem,
  Jane, tibi primo tura merumque fero?
Ut per me possis aditum, qui limina servo,
  Ad quoscumque voles, inquit, habere deos.
At cur laeta tuis dicuntur verba Kalendis, 175
  Et damus alternas accipimusque preces?
Tum deus incumbens baculo, quem dextra gerebat,
  Omina principiis, inquit, inesse solent.
Ad primam vocem timidas advertitis aures,
  Et primum visam consulit augur avem. 180
Templa patent auresque deûm, nec lingua caducas
  Concipit ulla preces, dictaque pondus habent.
Desierat Janus: nec longa silentia feci,
  Sed tetigi verbis ultima verba meis:
Quid vult palma sibi rugosaque carica, dixi, 185
  Et data sub niveo Candida mella cado?
Omen, ait, causa est, ut res sapor ille sequatur,
  Et peragat coeptum dulcis ut annus iter.
Dulcia cur dentur, video: stipis adjice causam,
  Pars mihi de festo ne labet ulla tuo. 190
Risit, et, O quam te fallunt tua saecula, dixit,
  Qui stipe mel sumpta dulcius esse putes!
Vix ego Saturno quemquam regnante videbam,
  Cujus non animo dulcia lucra forent.
Tempore crevit amor, qui nunc est summus, habendi; 195
  Vix ultra, quo jam progrediatur, habet.
Pluris opes nunc sunt, quam prisci temporis annis,
  Dum populus pauper, dura nova Roma fuit,
Dum casa Martigenam capiebat parva Quirinum,

And still Ovid is singing happy first age and explaining how there it is now an excessive desire for wealth and gold …

Seneca also refers to dried floured figs,  which remain today especially at New Year, on  Epistula 87.3:

Our repast was such, that nothing could be spared from it, nor did it take up much time in dressing. I am satisfied with a few dried figs and dates. When I have any bread, the figs serve me for a dainty dish; when I have no bread, they supply its place. They make me fancy it to be New-year’s day; which endeavour to render auspicious and happy, by harbouring good thoughts, and keeping up a greatness of foul; which is never greater, than when it hath withdrawn itself from all external things; and hath obtained  for itself peace, by fearing nothing, and wealth by coveting nothing. (Translation by Thomas Morrell,  D.D.

De prandio nihil detrahi potuit; paratum fuit non magis hora, nusquam sine caricis, numquam sine pugillaribus. Illae, si panem habeo, pro pulmentario sunt, si non habeo, pro pane. Cotidie mihi annum novum faciunt, quem ego faustum et felicem reddo bonis cogitationibus et animi magnitudine, qui numquam maior est, quam ubi aliena seposuit et fecit sibi pacem nihil timendo, fecit sibi divitias nihil concupiscendo.

The inscription discussed with initial A.N.F.F., which we transcribe as Annum Novum Faustum Felicem, also it appears on coins of several emperors, particularly of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Alexander Severus, usually with a laurel garland and sometimes accompanied with  OPTIMO PRINCIPI words (to our best Prince) . Remember the custom to congratulate the emperor and offer the "strenae"   as recognition. The inscription  can be:

S. P. Q. R. A. N. F. F. OPTIMO PRINCIPI (o HADRIANO AVG. P. P.),

Senatus Populusque Romanus, Annum Novum Faustum Felicem Optimo Principi [i.e. adprecatur.]

The Senate and the Roman People pray for a prosperous and happy New Year to the best prince.

 Photograph taken from the book  “Antonini Pii Augusti Nummus de Anni Novi Auspiciis explicatus. Romae, Typiis Iac. Dragondelli. 1676)

All these rites and formulas, extended even with others from the conquered provinces, as some Celtic as the cult of the god-deer, spread throughout the empire and have survived to this day in some way, despite the surprisingly shock with Christian celebration that inevitably was occurred when Christianity was imposed. Pagan experience of "natural time", which is renewed every year, clashes with the Christian conception of time that does not expect anything from concrete time in expectation of eternal life. The apologist Parents of the Church, as Ambrosius and Tertullian, argument strongly against paganism, and in part they were successful, although these rites and customs have largely survived to this day.

And St. Ambrosius (339-397) says in his "Commentarium in Epistolam Beati Pauli ad Galatas, IV, versiculum 10 (Migne, PLXVII):

You take care of  days and months and seasons and years (Galat.IV, v.10). He clears now the aforementioned elements. The sun makes the day, the courses of the moon make the months; the seasons  are spring, summer, autumn and winter; these four, once completed its own number, they make a year. Those who say, for example, we can not travel tomorrow, after tomorrow you should not start anything, and they so more and more often deceive themselves, take care of the days. However they worship the months who analyze  the movements of the moon and say, for example, in the seventh moon it should not be construed instruments; and again in the ninth moon, for example, it should not take home a purchased slave; and with these things they tend to easily take care of adversity. Instead they take care of the seasons stations when they say:  today is the beginning of spring, today is a holiday; Vulcanalia (feasts of Vulcan) are day after tomorrow . And they also say these things: the next day, you can not leave home. And they give worship to the years when they say, with the Kalends of January there is a new year, as if the years were not completed every day. But because they  keep the worship to the memory of that famous Janus, they are still serving this superstition, which should be away from the servants of God. For if you love God with all your heart, being he favorable, there should be no fear, no worry about these things. As it has happened just prosperously everything is done under the devotion of God.

“Dies observatis, et menses, et tempora, et annos” (Galat. IV) .  Quae elementa dixerit, nunc declarat.  Diem sol facit,menses cursus lunae; tempora vere sunt ver, aestas,autumnus, hiems: quatuor haec, completo numero proprio, faciunt annum. Dies ergo observant, qui dicunt, ut puta, crastino proficiscendum non est, post crastinum enim non debet aliquid inchoari, et sic solent magis decipi. Hi autem colunt menses, qui cursus perscrutantur lunae dicentes, ut puta, septima luna instrumenta confici non debent; nona iterum luna, ut puta emptum servum domum duci non oportet: et per haec facilius solent adversa provenire. (0263D) Tempora vero sic observant cum dicunt: Hodie veris initium est, festivitas est; post cras Vulcanalia sunt. Et talia iterum aiunt: Posterum est, domum egredi non licet. Annos sic colunt cum dicunt, Kalendis Ianuariis novus est annus quasi non quotidie anni impleantur. Sed ut Iani illius recolant memoriam  bifrontis, hac superstitione utuntur, quae longe debet esse a servis Dei. Si enim Deus ex toto corde diligitur, ipso propitio nulla debet esse formido, neque suspicio harum rerum. Prospere enim potest cedere, quidquid simpliciter sub Dei devotione fit.

And Du Cange, citing a text by Maximus Taurinensis, Homily on Kalendis Ianuariis, in his Glossarium mediae et infimæ latinitatis, on the term annus novus says:

New Year. Maximus of Turin. Homily for the Kalends of January:

In severe and absolute wickedness it has fallen the hearts of those who disregard God's warnings with sacrilegious speeches, love vanities and follow  falsities and besides all call a certain days New Year to complete his offense.  Although according to them conveniently, they call  New the Year, because they renew perversity and shamelessness of a false honesty with nefarious feasts. They call New the Year like the sky or the earth reveal something new. They call New Year  to Kalendas of January when they get dirty with always old error and horror.

Annus Novus. S. Maximus Taurinensis Hom. de Kalendis Januariis :
Gravi utique eorum cor est, atque omni impietate depressum, qui per sacrilegos logos divinis monitis illudentes, vana diligunt, et falsa sectantur, et post omnia ad offensionis plenitudinem dies ipsos Annum Novum vocant. Quamquam non inconvenienter secundum se, Novum appellant Annum : quoniam per nefandas ferias de honestate falsa turpitudo et perversitas innovatur. Novum vocant Annum, quasi novi aliquid aut cœlum tunc ostendat, aut terra. Novum Annum Januarias appellant Kalendas, cum vetusto semper errore et horrore sordescant.

Tertullian meanwhile refers for example to four feasts, probably the most popular in the city of Cartago where he lives: Roman Saturnalia, the Kalends of January, the winter solstice and Matronalia. Tertullian can not bear  that Christians participate in these celebrations, sometimes overflowing and with worship pagan gods. He says in his De Idolatria, (On Idolatry), 14,6:

Chapter XIV.-Of Blasphemy. One of St. Paul's Sayings.

But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear "the Name be blasphemed." Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which "the Name" is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been said, "By your means My Name is blasphemed," we all perish at once; since the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails "the Name" with wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, not the overstepping, of discipline; while we are being approved, not while we are being reprobated. Oh blasphemy, bordering on martyrdom, which now attests me to be a Christian, while for that very account it detests me! The cursing of well-maintained Discipline is a blessing of the Name. "If," says he, "I wished to please men, I should not be Christ's servant." But the same apostle elsewhere bids us take care to please all: "As I," he says, "please all by all means." No doubt he used to please them by celebrating the Saturnalia and New-year's day! [Was it so] or was it by moderation and patience? by gravity, by kindness, by integrity? In like manner, when he is saying, "I have become all things to all, that I may gain all," does he mean "to idolaters an idolater? ""to heathens a heathen? ""to the worldly worldly? "But albeit he does not prohibit us from having our conversation with idolaters and adulterers, and the other criminals, saying, "Otherwise ye would go out from the world," of course he does not so slacken those reins of conversation that, since it is necessary for us both to live and to mingle with sinners, we may be able to sin with them too. Where there is the intercourse of life, which the apostle concedes, there is sinning, which no one permits. To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. "Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies," says He, "My soul hateth." By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, the Saturnalia and New-year's and Midwinter's festivals and Matronalia are frequented-presents come and go-New-year's gifts-games join their noise-banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord's day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any indulgence is to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say your own days, but more too; for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually: you have a festive day every eighth day. Call out the individual solemnities of the nations, and set them out into a row, they will not be able to make up a Pentecost.  (Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.]

XIV. Sed enim plerique iam induxerunt animo ignoscendum esse, si quando, quae  ethnici, faciunt, ne nomen blasphemetur. Porro blasphemia, quae nobis omni modo deuitanda est, haec opinor est, si qui nostrum ad iustam blasphemiam ethnicum deducat aut fraude aut iniuria aut contumelia aliaue materia dignae querelae, in qua nomen merito percutitur, ut merito irascatur et dominus. Ceterum si de omni blasphemia dictum est, uestra causa nomen meum blasphematur, perimus uniuersi, cum totus circus scelestis suffragiis nullo merito nomen lacessit. Desinamus, et non blasphemabitur. Immo blasphemetur, dum sumus in obseruatione, non in exorbitatione disciplinae, dum probamur, non dum reprobamur.  O blasphemiam martyrii adfinem, quae tunc me testatur Christianum, cum propterea me detestatur ! Benedictio est nominis maledictio custoditae disciplinae. Si hominibus, inquit, uellem placere, seruus Christi non essem. Sed idem alibi iubet, omnibus placere curemus. Quemadmodum ego, inquit, omnibus per omnia placeo. Nimirum Saturnalia et Kalendas Ianuarias celebrans hominibus placebat ? An modestia et patientia ? An grauitate, an humanitate, an integritate ? Proinde cum dicit, omnibus omnia factus sum, ut omnes lucrifaciam: numquid idololatris idololatres ? Numquid ethnicis ethnicus ? Numquid saecularibus saecularis ? Sed etsi non prohibet nos conuersari cum idololatris et adulteris et ceteris criminosis dicens, ceterum de mundo exiretis, non utique eas habenas conuersationis inmittit, ut, quoniam necesse est et conuiuere nos et commisceri cum peccatoribus, idem et compeccare possimus. Vbi est commercium uitae, quod apostolus concedit, ibi peccare, quod nemo permittit. Licet conuiuere cum ethnicis, commori non licet. Conuiuamus cum omnibus; conlaetemur ex communione naturae, non superstitionis. Pares anima sumus, non disciplina, compossessores mundi, non erroris. Quod si nobis nullum ius est communionis in huiusmodi cum extraneis, quanto scelestius est haec inter fratres frequentare. Quis hoc sustinere aut defendere potest ? Iudaeis dies suos festos exprobrat spiritus sanctus. Sabbata, inquit, uestra et numenias et ceremonias odit anima mea. Nobis, quibus sabbata extranea sunt et numeniae et feriae a deo aliquando dilectae, Saturnalia et Ianuariae et Brumae et Matronales frequentantur, munera commeant et strenae, consonant lusus, conuiuia constrepunt.O melior fides nationum in suam sectam, quae nullam sollemnitatem Christianorum sibi uindicat ! Non dominicum diem, non pentecosten, etiamsi nossent, nobiscum communicassent ; timerent enim, ne Christiani uiderentur. Nos ne ethnici pronuntiemur, non ueremur. Si quid et carni indulgendum est, habes, non dicam tuos dies tantum, sed et plures. Nam ethnicis semel annuus dies quisque festus est, tibi octauo quoque die. Excerpe singulas sollemnitates nationum et in ordinem exsere : pentecosten implere non poterunt.

Note: some information and some images were obtained from http://hortushesperidum.blogspot.com/2013/12/annum-novum-faustum-felicem-tibi.html

Well,  Christianity triumphed somewhat in this controversy , since it is imposed as the official and only religion in the Roman Empire, ending the pagan religion, but he did it at the price of maintaining these customs and traditions which have not stopped held today and shows remarkable vitality, albeit under the guise of traditional Christian motifs.

In the poem number XI Prudentius sings the martyrdom of Hippolytus, who suffered a death similar to mythical Hippolytus,  torn to pieces by horses. Prudentius tells us further that on his poem he is describing the paint on the tomb of Hippolytus that represents his death. It is an example of ekphrasis or description in words, verbally, of a visual work, in this case, a paint.. See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/hyppolitus-phaedra-martyr-prudentius .

Well, in the poem number IX also Prudentius tells the death of another martyr, Cassian of Imola,  inspired no doubt on other torture of the mythical-legendary Roman times, the death of the teacher  of Falerias at the hands of his pupils.

Cassian is a school teacher, specialized in shorthand, martyr suffering a painful death at the hands of his disciples also, punished by refusing to worship pagan gods. The horror of the description of execution binds the distaste they are just the young and tender students who pay in this way  the cares of the teacher.

And as in the case of Hippolytus, also he tells us now he describes the painting in the tomb which represents the death of the martyr, which incidentally also happened on August 13, as Hippolytus. It is therefore another example of ekphrasis.

The description of the painting is no less gruesome and baroque in this case than the poem XI on Hippolytus, certainly responding to the literary model of the time and the desire to move a devoted audience but easily impressionalbe by the detailed and prolonged suffering, that here it is imposed on the glorious death of every martyr because of their beliefs. Interestingly, Prudentius entertains in detail, we would say morbid, in describing the torment, but he does not say the attitude and how Cassianus suffer, about  sensations he tells us nothing.

I offer below the full text of the poem IX of Prudentius.

Saint Cassian therefore endures  a fanciful penalty, but curiously related to a pagan literary tradition. The Roman historian Livy describes in his Ab urbe condita (History since the founding of the city -Roma-) a mythical legendary episode in which Prudentius certainly is inspired to recreate the Martyrdom of Cassian.

Livy tells us in 5, 27, how a schoolteacher of Falisci children, simulating go to the field outside the walls, took them to the Romans, with whom they fought, offering them as a tool for achieving the surrender of the Falisci; the Romans of that time, men of honor, did not accept this offer but they  gave the teacher to the Falisci and their  sons for these   were these who will implement the deserved punishment; the Falisci, impressed by the virtue  of the Romans, immediately signed the surrender and peace.

As I said, Prudentius would have been inspired on this legendary episode from Rome. But this episode, although it is lost in the mist of the legend of the early fourth century BC, seems more credible and believable than the story of Prudentius in the IV-V century AD.

I also offer below the text of Livy.

In any case mythical pagan tradition served as repertory and model to shape some stories of Christian martyrs.

Painting of the early sixteenth century by Innocenzo Francucci

The Passion of St Cassian of Forum Cornelii.

Cornelius Sulla « established a Forum, and so the Italians call the town, after its founder's name. Here when I was journeying towards thee, Rome, the world's capital, there sprang up in my heart a hope of Christ's favour.

I was bowed to the ground before the tomb which the holy martyr Cassian honours with his consecrated body ; and while in tears I was thinking of my sins and all my life's distresses and stinging pains, I lifted my face towards heaven, and there stood confronting me a picture of the martyr painted in colours, bearing a thousand wounds, all his parts torn, and showing his skin broken with tiny pricks. Countless boys round about (a pitiful sight !) were stabbing and piercing his body with the little styles " with which they used to run over their wax tablets, writing down the droning lesson in school.

I appealed to the verger and he said : " What you are looking at, stranger, is no vain old wife's tale. The picture tells the story of what happened ; it is recorded in books and displays the honest assurance of the olden time. He had been in charge of a school for boys and sat as a teacher of reading and writing with a great throng round him, and he was skilled in putting every word in short signs and following speech quickly with swift pricks on the wax. But at times the young mob, feeling his teaching harsh and stern, were moved with anger and fear, for the teacher is ever distasteful to the youthful learner and childhood never takes kindly to training. Noav there came a cruel tempest battering the faith and pressing hard on the people devoted to the Christian glory. The governor of the flock of pupils was dragged from the midst of his class because he had scornfully refused to worship at the altars, and when the contriver of punishments asked of what profession this man of such high and unruly spirit was, they answered :

' He teaches a company of young children, giving them their first lessons in writing down words with signs invented for the purpose.' ' Take him away,' he cried, ' take him
away a prisoner, and make the children a present of the man who used to flog them. Let them make sport of him as they please, give them leave to mangle him at will, let them give their hands a holiday and dip them in their master's blood. It is a pleasant thought that the strict teacher should himself furnish sport to the pupils he has too much held down.'

" So he is stripped of his garments and his hands are tied behind his back, and all the band are there, armed with their sharp styles. All the hatred long conceived in silent resentment they each vent now, burning with gall that has at last found freedom.
Some throw their brittle tablets and break them against his face, the wood flying in fragments when it strikes his brow, the wax-covered box-wood splitting with a loud crack as it is dashed on his blood-stained cheeks, the broken slab wet and red from the blow. Others again launch at him the sharp iron pricks, the end with which by scratching strokes the wax is written upon, and the end with which the letters that have been cut are rubbed out and the roughened surface once more made into a smooth, glossy space. With the one the confessor of Christ is stabbed, with the other he is cut ; the one end enters the soft flesh, the other splits the skin. Two hundred hands together have pierced him all over his body, and from all these wounds at once the blood is dripping.

A greater torturer was the child who only pricked the surface than he who bored deep into the flesh ; for the light hitter who will not wound to the death has the skill to be cruel with only the piercing pains, but the other, the farther he strikes into the hidden vitals,
gives more relief by bringing death near. ' Be stout, I beg,' he cries, ' and outdo your years with your strength. What you lack in age let a savage spirit make up.' But the young boys from lack of vigour fail in their efforts and begin to be fatigued; the torments worsen while the tormentors grow faint.

' Why do you complain ? ' calls one ; ' you yourself as our teacher gave us this iron and put the weapon in our hands. You see we are giving you back all the thousands of characters which as we stood in tears we took down from your teaching. You cannot be angry with us for writing ; it was you who bade us never let our hand carry an idle style. We are no longer asking for what was so often refused when we were under your instruction, you stingy teacher, — a holiday from school. We like making pricks, twining scratch with scratch and linking curved strokes together. You may examine and correct our lines in long array, in case an erring hand has made any mistake. Use your authority; you have power to punish a fault,if any of your pupils has written carelessly on you.'

Such sport the boys had on their master's body, and yet the long-drawn suffering was not releasing him from his weariness. At length Christ, taking pity from heaven on his struggles, commands that the bands be loosened from his soul, undoes the irksome hindrances that detain his spirit and hold his life, and opens out its confined seat. The blood follows the open ways from its source in the veins within and leaves the heart, and through the many holes pierced in the body the pulsing warmth of life in the flesh departs.

" This, stranger, is the story you wonder to see represented in liquid colours, this is the glory of Cassian. Declare now any upright and worthy wish you have, any hope, any desire that burns in your heart. The martyr, you may be sure, hears with all favour every prayer, and fulfils those that he finds acceptable."

I obeyed, clasping the tomb and shedding tears,warming the altar with my lips, the stone with my breast. Then I reviewed all my private distresses, and murmured my desires and fears, with a prayer for the home I had left behind me in the uncertainty of fortune, and my hope, now faltering, of happiness to come. I was heard. I visited Rome, and found all things issue happily, I returned home and now proclaim the praise of Cassian.  (Translation BY H. J. THOMSON)

PASSIO SANCTI CASSIANI FOROCORNELIENSISI
Sylla Forum statuit Cornelius; hoc Itali urbem
uocant ab ipso conditoris nomine.
Hic mihi, cum peterem te, rerum maxima Roma,
spes est oborta prosperum Christum fore.
Stratus humi tumulo aduoluebar, quem sacer ornat
martyr dicato Cassianus corpore.
Dum lacrimans mecum reputo mea uulnera et omnes
uitae labores ac dolorum acumina,
erexi ad caelum faciem, stetit obuia contra
fucis colorum picta imago martyris
plagas mille gerens, totos lacerata per artus,
ruptam minutis praeferens punctis cutem.
Innumeri circum pueri—miserabile uisu—
confossa paruis membra ligebant stilis,
unde pugillares soliti percurrere ceras
scholare murmur adnotantes scripserant.
Aedituus consultus ait: 'quod prospicis, hospes,
non est inanis aut anilis fabula;
historiam pictura refert, quae tradita libris
ueram uetusti temporis monstrat fidem.
Praefuerat studiis puerilibus et grege multo
saeptus magister litterarum sederat,
uerba notis breuibus conprendere cuncta peritus
raptimque punctis dicta praepetibus sequi.
Aspera nonnumquam praecepta et tristia uisa
inpube uulgus mouerant ira et metu;
doctor amarus enim discenti semper efybo
nec dulcis ulli disciplina infantiae est.
Ecce fidem quatiens tempestas saeua premebat
plebem dicatam christianae gloriae.
Extrahitur coetu e medio moderator alumni
gregis, quod aris supplicare spreuerat.
Poenarum artifici quaerenti, quod genus artis
uir nosset alto tam rebellis spiritu,
respondent: 'agmen tenerum ac puerile gubernat
fictis notare uerba signis inbuens.'
'Ducite', conclamat, 'captiuum ducite, et ultro
donetur ipsis uerberator paruulis.
Vt libet, inludant, lacerent inpune manusque
tinguant magistri feriatas sanguine;
ludum discipulis uolupe est ut praebeat ipse
doctor seuerus, quos nimis coercuit.'
Vincitur post terga manus spoliatus amictu,
adest acutis agmen armatum stilis.
Quantum quisque odii tacita conceperat ira,
effundit ardens felle tandem libero.
Coniciunt alii fragiles inque ora tabellas
frangunt, relisa fronte lignum dissilit,
buxa crepant cerata genis inpacta cruentis
rubetquc ab ictu curta et umens pagina.
Inde alii stimulos et acumina ferrea uibrant,
qua parte aratis cera sulcis scribitur,
et qua secti apices abolentur et aequoris hyrti
rursus nitescens innouatur area.
Hinc foditur Christi confessor et inde secatur,
pars uiscus intrat molle, pars scindit cutem.
Omnia membra manus pariter fixere ducente
totidemque guttae uulnerum stillant simul.
Major tortor erat, qui summa pupugerat infans,
quam qui profuuda perforarat uiscera,
ille leuis, quoniam percussor morte negata
saeuire solis scit dolorum spiculis,
hic, quanto interius uitalia condita pulsat.
plus dat medellae, dum necem prope applicat.
'Este, precor, fortes et uincite uiribus annos,
quod defit aeuo, suppleat crudelitas!'
Sed male conatus tener infirmusque laborat,
tormenta crescunt, dum fatiscit carnifex.
'Quid gemis?' exclamat quidam, 'tute ipse magister
istud dedisti ferrum et armasti manus.
Reddimus ecce tibi tam milia multa notarum,
quam stando, flendo te docente excepimus.
Non potes irasci, quod scribimus; ipse iubebas,
numquam quietum dextera ut ferret stilum.
Non petimus totiens te praeceptore negatas,
auare doctor, iam scholarum ferias.
Pangere puncta libet sulcisque intexere sulcos,
flexas catenis inpedire uirgulas.
Emendes licet inspectos longo ordine uersus,
mendosa forte si quid errauit manus,
exerce imperium, ius est tibi plectere culpam,
si quis tuorum te notauit segnius.'
Talia ludebant pueri per membra magistri
nec longa fessum poena soluebat uirum.
Tandem luctantis miseratus ab aethere Christus
iubet resolui pectoris ligamina
difficilesque moras animae ac retinacula uitae
relaxat artas et latebras expedit.
Sanguis ab interno uenarum fonte patentes
uias secutus deserit praecordia
totque foraminibus penetrati corporis exit
fibrarum anhelans ille uitalis calor.
'Haec sunt, quae liquidis expressa coloribus, hospes,
miraris, ista est Cassiani gloria.
Suggere, si quod habes iustum uel amabile uotum,
spes si qua tibi est, si quid intus aestuas!
Audit, crede, preces martyr prosperrimus omnes
ratasque reddit, quas uidet probabiles.'
Pareo: conplector tumulum, lacrimas quoque fundo,
altar tepescit ore, saxum pectore.
Tunc arcana mei percenseo cuncta laboris,
tunc, quod petebarn, quod timebam, murmuro:
et post terga domum dubia sub sorte relictam
et spem futuri forte nutantem boni.
Audior, 'urbem adeo, dextris successibus utor,
domum reuertor, Cassianum praedico.

Livy, Ab urbe condita, 5, 27

It was customary amongst the Faliscans to employ the same person as teacher and attendant of their children, and they used to intrust a number of lads at the same time to the care of one man, a practice which still obtains in Greece.  The children of the chief men, as is commonly the case, were under the tuition of one who was regarded as their foremost scholar. This man had in time of peace got into the way of leading the boys out in front of the city for play and exercise, and during the war made no change in his routine, but would draw them sometimes a shorter, sometimes a longer distance from the gate, with this and that game and story, until being farther away one day than usual, he seized the opportunity  to bring them amongst the enemy's outposts, and then into the Roman camp, to the headquarters of Camillus.  He then followed up his villainous act with an even more villainous speech, saying that he had given Falerii into the hands  of the Romans, having delivered up to them the children of those whose fathers were in power there.  On hearing this Camillus answered: “Neither the people nor the captain to whom you are come, you scoundrel, with your scoundrel's gift, is like yourself. Between us and the Faliscans is no fellowship founded on men's covenants; but the fellowship which nature has implanted in both sides is there and will abide.  There are rights of war as well as of peace, and we have learnt to use them justly no less than bravely. We bear no weapons against those tender years which find mercy even in the storming of a city, but against those who are armed themselves, who, without wrong or provocation at our hands, attacked the Roman camp at Veii.  Those people you have done your best to conquer by an unheard-of crime. I shall conquer them, as I conquered Veii, in the Roman way, by dint of courage, toil, and arms.”  He then had the fellow stripped, his hands bound behind his back, and gave him up to the boys to lead back to Falerii, providing them with rods to scourge the traitor as they drove him into town.  To behold this spectacle, there was at first a great gathering together of the people, and presently the magistrates called a meeting of the senate about the strange affair, and men underwent such a revulsion of feeling, that those who a short time before, in the fury of their hate and resentment would almost have preferred the doom of Veii to the peace of Capena, were now calling for peace, with the voice of an entire city.  The honesty of the Romans, and the justice of their general, were praised in market-place and senate-house, and, with the consent of all, envoys proceeded to Camillus in his camp, and thence, by his permission, to the Roman senate, to surrender Falerii. Being introduced into the Curia they are said to have spoken as follows: “Conscript Fathers, you and your general have won a victory over us which no one, whether God or man, could begrudge you, and we give ourselves into your hands, believing (than which nothing can be more honourable to a victor) that we shall be better off under your government than under our own laws.  The outcome of this war has afforded the human race two wholesome precedents: you have set fair-dealing in war above immediate victory; and we, challenged by your fair-dealing, have freely granted you that victory. We are under your sway; send men to receive our arms and hostages, and our city, the gates of which stand open. Neither shall you be disappointed in our fidelity nor we in your rule.” Camillus was thanked both by his enemies and by his fellow citizens. The Faliscans were commanded to pay the soldiers for that year, that the Roman People might be exempted from the war tax. Peace being granted, the Roman army was led home. (Translated by Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.)

 mos erat Faliscis eodem magistro liberorum et comite uti, simulque plures pueri, quod hodie quoque in Graecia manet, unius curae demandabantur. principum liberos, sicut fere fit, qui scientia videbatur praecellere erudiebat.  is cum in pace instituisset pueros ante urbem lusus exercendique causa producere, nihil eo more per belli tempus intermisso, modo brevioribus modo longioribus spatiis trahendo eos a porta lusu sermonibusque variatis, longius solito ubi res dedit progressus inter stationes eos hostium castraque inde Romana in praetorium ad Camillum perduxit.  ibi scelesto facinori scelestiorem sermonem addit,  Falerios se in manus Romanis tradidisse, quando eos pueros quorum parentes capita ibi rerum sint in potestatem dediderit.  quae ubi Camillus audivit, “non ad similem” inquit “tui nec populum nec imperatorem scelestus ipse cum scelesto munere venisti.  nobis cum Faliscis  quae pacto fit humano societas non est: quam ingeneravit natura utrisque est eritque. sunt et belli sicut pacis iura, iusteque ea non minus quam fortiter didicimus gerere.  arma habemus non adversus eam aetatem cui etiam captis urbibus parcitur, sed adversus armatos et ipsos, qui nec laesi nec lacessiti a nobis castra Romana ad Veios oppugnarunt.  eos tu quantum in te fuit novo scelere vicisti: ego Romanis artibus, virtute opere armis, sicut Veios vincam.”  denudatum deinde eum manibus post tergum inligatis reducendum Falerios pueris tradidit, virgasque eis quibus proditorem agerent in urbem verberantes dedit.  ad quod spectaculum concursu populi primum facto, deinde a magistratibus de re nova vocato senatu tanta mutatio animis est iniecta ut qui modo efferati odio iraque Veientium exitum paene quam Capenatium pacem mallent, apud eos pacem universa posceret civitas.  fides Romana, iustitia imperatoris in foro et curia celebrantur; consensuque omnium legati ad Camillum in castra, atque inde permissu Camilli Romam ad senatum, qui dederent Falerios proficiscuntur.  introducti ad senatum ita locuti traduntur: “patres conscripti, victoria cui nec deus nec homo quisquam invideat victi a vobis et  imperatore vestro dedimus nos vobis, rati, quo nihil victori4 pulchrius est, melius nos sub imperio vestro quam legibus nostris victuros.  eventu huius belli duo salutaria exempla prodita humano generi sunt: vos fidem in bello quam praesentem victoriam maluistis; nos fide provocati victoriam ultro detulimus.  sub dicione vestra sumus; mittite qui arma, qui obsides, qui urbem patentibus portis accipiant.  nec vos fidei nostrae nec nos imperii vestri paenitebit.” Camillo et ab hostibus et a civibus gratiae actae. Faliscis in stipendium militum eius anni, ut populus Romanus tributo vacaret, pecunia imperata. pace data exercitus Romam reductus.
 

For example, designed the stars as living beings, we may think they have diseases, they weaken and may even die. Lucretius (99-ca. 55 BC), for example explains it in his poem De Rerum Natura V, vv. 751-770):

  As due to several causes. For, indeed,
Why should the moon be able to shut out
Earth from the light of sun, and on the side
To earthward thrust her high head under sun,
Opposing dark orb to his glowing beams-
And yet, at same time, one suppose the effect
Could not result from some one other body
Which glides devoid of light forevermore?
Again, why could not sun, in weakened state,
At fixed time for-lose his fires, and then,
When he has passed on along the air
Beyond the regions, hostile to his flames,
That quench and kill his fires, why could not he
Renew his light? And why should earth in turn
Have power to rob the moon of light, and there,
Herself on high, keep the sun hid beneath,
Whilst the moon glideth in her monthly course
Athrough the rigid shadows of the cone?-
And yet, at same time, some one other body
Not have the power to under-pass the moon,
Or glide along above the orb of sun,
Breaking his rays and outspread light asunder?
And still, if moon herself refulgent be
With her own sheen, why could she not at times
In some one quarter of the mighty world
Grow weak and weary, whilst she passeth through
Regions unfriendly to the beams her own?
(Translated by William Ellery Leonard. E. P. Dutton. 1916.)

Solis item quoque defectus lunaeque latebras
pluribus e causis fieri tibi posse putandumst.
nam cur luna queat terram secludere solis
lumine et a terris altum caput obstruere ei,
obiciens caecum radiis ardentibus orbem,
tempore eodem aliut facere id non posse putetur
corpus, quod cassum labatur lumine semper?
solque suos etiam dimittere languidus ignis
tempore cur certo nequeat recreareque lumen,
cum loca praeteriit flammis infesta per auras,
quae faciunt ignis interstingui atque perire?
et cur terra queat lunam spoliare vicissim
lumine et oppressum solem super ipsa tenere,
menstrua dum rigidas coni perlabitur umbras,
tempore eodem aliud nequeat succurrere lunae
corpus vel supra solis perlabier orbem,
quod radios inter rumpat lumenque profusum?
et tamen ipsa suo si fulget luna nitore,
cur nequeat certa mundi languescere parte,
dum loca luminibus propriis inimica per exit?
menstrua dum rigidas coni perlabitur umbras.

A similar idea is that the philosopher Diogenes Laertius assigns to Leucipus  in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, IX, 33

…Eclipses of the sun are rare; eclipses of the moon constantly occur, and this because their orbits are unequal. As the world is born, so, too, it grows, decays and perishes, in virtue of some necessity, the nature of which he does specify.

It is curious the view of Manilius, astronomical poet, when he says that the stars lose their strength during eclipses, in his Astronomy, IV, verses 841-852:

The reason is clear because moon, suffering eclipse in some signs and deprived of her brother [Phoebus, the sun] and plunged into the darkness of the night, when the earth comes between and  intercepts the rays of Phoebus and Delia [the moon] does not attract the light wherewith she shines usually,  also those signs [zodiacal, eg. effective] languish along with their planet [the moon] and arching at the same time and losing their customary power, mourn Phoebe as though she was at her burial.  

The cause itself is reflected in its name: the ancients called them "ecliptic" signs. However, signs suffer while in pairs, and not those who are neighbors, but those who shine in opposite places, like the moon is eclipsed on her circle only when it does not see Phoebus running in the opposite sign .

causa patet, quod, Luna quibus defecit in astris
orba sui fratris noctisque immersa tenebris,
cum medius Phoebi radios intercipit orbis
nec trahit assuetum quo fulget Delia lumen,
haec quoque signa suo pariter cum sidere languent               
incurvata simul solitoque exempta vigori
et velut elatam Phoeben in funere lugent.
ipsa docet titulo se causa: ecliptica signa
dixere antiqui. pariter sed bina laborant,
nec vicina loco sed quae contraria fulgent,                 
sicut Luna suo tum tantum deficit orbe
cum Phoebum adversis currentem non videt astris.

Of course, some found the scientific explanation, they offer us very clearly: the eclipses are caused by the interposition of the moon or earth between the sun and the star that eclipses. This is the key theory in antiquity and so they are many authors that expose it. We will cite a few:

Aristotle uses this theory to prove that the stars are spherical, because the shadow cast by the Earth on the moon can be seen that way; in his On the Heavens, (De caelo,) II, 11, 291b24:

Moreover astronomical arguments give additional confirmation; why no other hypothesis explains the form of increased disk of solar eclipses. Therefore, if any one of the stars is spherical, it is obviously necessary that the rest stars will be spherical also.

Geminus (I century  BC.), in his Introduction to the phenomena (of Aratus), Chapter X , speaks  of solar eclipses and in XI of lunar eclipses.

Geminus, Introduction to the Phenomena, X, XI:
X

……….

The eclipses of the Sun occur because of the interposition of the Moon. Because  the Sun moves higher and the Moon lower,  when the Sun and Moon are at the same degree, the Moon passing under the sun, blocks the sun's rays coming toward our direction. Therefore,  we should not speak of them properly as eclipses, but rather as interposition. Indeed, one part of the sun is never eclipsed; it becomes invisible to us through  the interposition of the Moon.
….

That the sun is eclipsed because the interposition of the Moon  is the greatest proof that eclipses do not occur on another day, but only 30th, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun, and since then the magnitude of the eclipse is due to the geographical locations.

XI
Eclipses of Moon are caused by the incidence of the Moon on the shadow casted  by the Earth. Just as the other bodies illuminated by the sun cast shadows, so the Earth, illuminated by the sun casts a shadow. In addition it occurs that, because of the size of the Earth, the shadow is evident and profound.

When the Moon is diametrically opposite to the Sun, then the shadow casted  by the Earth is also diametrically opposed to the Sun; therefore  the moon, when it moves closer than the shadow falls logically in the shadow casted by the Earth.

The portion of the moon which affects the Earth's shadow is always deprived of sunlight because of the interposition of the earth; therefore at this moment they are at the same line the Sun, the Earth, the shadow of the Earth and the Moon. Therefore eclipses of Moon do not occur on another day, but on the full moon; therefore  the moon is diametrically opposite to the sun.

The Hispanic Roman Higinus (64 BC-17 AD), who according to Luis Vives was born in Valencia and who has given his  name to one of the lunar craters, also proposes  this theory in his Astronomy, IV, 14, 3:

You can also understand what happens. As when someone approaches his flat hand to his eyes, if closer it is,  less he can see, and  if farther away it is,  more all things will appear to him. Similarly when the moon reaches the position of the sun, then it seems to be near it and obstructs  its rays, and it  can not eject its  light. However, when the moon is far from that place, then the sun casts its light, and so it comes knocking on our bodies.The lunar eclipse therefore occurs when the moon is near by its size and the sun runs below the earth. Thus, if you drew a straight line down the middle of the earth , the line could touch the sun under the earth and the moon above the earth. When this happens, necessarily sunlight, by the magnitude of the earth, are deflected, so that its light, with which the moon looks, can not get to it, and so it is thought to produce the eclipse of moon.

Quod evenire sic etiam potest intellegi. Ut si quis alicui manum planam ad oculos admoverit, quanto magis sic fecerit, hoc minus ille videre poterit; et quanto longius ab eo discesserit, hoc magis illi omnia poterunt apparere. Simili ratione cum luna ad solis locum pervenit, tunc proxima eius videtur esse et radios eius obturare, ut lumen eicere non possit. Cum autem luna ab eo loco discesserit, tunc sol lumen eicit, et ita ad corpora nostra adicit.

Lunae autem eclipsis sic evenit, cum prope dimensione sit luna, cum abierit sol sub terram, dumtaxat hoc modo, ut per mediam terram si quid directum traieceris, contingere possit solem sub terra, lunam autem supra terram; quod cum ita evenit, necesse est solis radios propter magnitudinem terrae ita esse dimissos, ut lumen eius, quo luna lucet, non possit ad eam pervenire, et ita existimatur fieri eclipsis lunae.

Also Pliny the Elder (AD 62-113) gives this explanation in his Natural History, II, 7, 47:

For it is evident that the sun is hid by the intervention of the moon, and the moon by the opposition of the earth, and that these changes are mutual, the moon, by her interposition, taking the rays of the sun from the earth, and the earth from the moon. As she advances darkness is suddenly produced, and again the sun is obscured by her shade; for night is nothing more than the shade of the earth. The figure of this shade is like that of a pyramid or an inverted top; and the moon enters it only near its point, and it does not exceed the height of the moon, for there is no other star which is obscured in the same manner, while a figure of this kind always terminates in a point. (Translated by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

Quippe manifestum est solem interuentu lunae occultari lunamque terrae obiectu ac uices reddi, eosdem solis radios luna interpositu suo auferente terrae terraque lunae. Hac subeunte repentinas obduci tenebras rursumque illius umbra sidus hebetari. Neque aliud esse noctem quam terrae umbram, figuram autem umbrae similem metae ac turbini inuerso, quando mucrone tantum ingruat neque lunae excedat altitudinem, quoniam nullum aliud sidus eodem modo obscuretur et talis figura semper mucrone deficiat.

The ancients were aware of the danger involved directly observing the eclipses of the sun, which can cause irreversible blindness. So Plato (ca. 427-347 BC) in his dialogue Phaedo, 99d tells us:

SOCRATES: do you wish me, Cebes,” said he, “to give you an account of the way in which I have conducted my second voyage in quest of the cause?”

“I wish it with all my heart,” he replied.

“After this, then,” said he, “since I had given up investigating realities, I decided that I must be careful not to suffer the misfortune which happens to people who look at the sun and watch it during an eclipse. For some of them ruin their eyes unless they look at its image in water  or something of the sort. I thought of that danger, and I was afraid my soul would be blinded if I looked at things with my eyes and tried to grasp them with any of my senses.  (Translated by Harold North Fowler)

Seneca also reminds us how we must observe the eclipse of Sun:

Whenever we wish to observe an eclipse of the sun, we place on the ground basins filled with oil or pitch. The thick liquid is not easily disturbed, and therefore retains the images it receives.  Images, I may observe, cannot be seen except in a liquid at rest. Then we are in the habit of noting how the moon obstructs the sun, and by the interposition of her body hides his, which is so much larger, sometimes partially, if it so fall out that she only encounter a portion of his orb, sometimes completely. The latter is called a total eclipse : it quite shuts out the light and shows us the stars ; it occurs when the centre of the two bodies lies in the same straight line.  ( Translation by John Clarke, M.A., 1910)

[12,1] Quotiens defectionem solis uolumus deprehendere, ponimus pelues, quas aut oleo aut pice implemus, quia pinguis umor minus facile turbatur et ideo quas recipit imagines seruat; apparere autem imagines non possunt nisi in liquido et immoto. Tunc solemus notare, quemadmodum luna soli se opponat et illum tanto maiorem obiecto corpore abscondat, modo ex parte, si ita competit, ut in latus eius incurreret, modo totum; haec dicitur perfecta defectio, quae stellas quoque ostendit et intercipit lucem, tunc scilicet cum uterque orbis sub eodem libramento stetit.

They say that Thales was the first to predict an eclipse that have taken place in 585 BC but he had announced a year earlier. Current astronomers consider this prediction impossible and the news as a result of a somewhat hagiographic view of Thales.

Herodotus tells us (ca. 639-ca. 547 BC) in Book I of his history:  the kings of Lydia and Media, terrorized by the same eclipse, signed an armistice as soon as their  armies were ready to engage. Both monarchs interpreted the darkness of the sun as a sign from heaven to end hostilities.

Herodotus, The Stories, I, 74

After this, since Alyattes would not give up the Scythians to Cyaxares at his demand, there was war between the Lydians and the Medes for five years; each won many victories over the other, and once they fought a battle by night.

They were still warring with equal success, when it happened, at an encounter which occurred in the sixth year, that during the battle the day was suddenly turned to night. Thales of Miletus had foretold this loss of daylight to the Ionians, fixing it within the year in which the change did indeed happen.

So when the Lydians and Medes saw the day turned to night, they stopped fighting, and both were the more eager to make peace. Those who reconciled them were Syennesis the Cilician and Labynetus the Babylonian; (Translated by A.D. Godley)

It was this question of predictability certainly an issue that impassioned ancients.

At the beginning of the article I commented the discovery of the famous cycle "Saros" that the Greeks took from the Babylonians, and I give  two texts, from Pliny and from Ptolemy, to corroborate his knowledge.

Pliny referred to Hipparchus (ca.190-120 BC) as the astronomer who understood these cycles. Strabo in his Geography, I, 1, 13  says about Hipparcus:

Many have testified to the amount of knowledge which this subject requires, and Hipparchus, in his Strictures on Eratosthenes, well observes, ‘that no one can become really proficient in geography, either as a private individual or as a professor, without an acquaintance with astronomy, and a knowledge of eclipses. For instance, no one could tell whether Alexandria in Egypt were north or south of Babylon, nor yet the intervening distance, without observing the latitudes.43 Again, the only means we possess of becoming acquainted with the longitudes of different places is afforded by the eclipses of the sun and moon.’ Such are the very words of Hipparchus.  (H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed. 1903).

Cicero (106-43 BC) also says that eclipses (of Moon) were provided in advance by studying the regular motions of the Moon in De divinatione II, 17

 "How can anything be foreseen that has no cause and no distinguishing mark of its coming? Eclipses of the sun and also of the moon are predicted for many years in advance by men who employ mathematics in studying the courses and movements of the heavenly bodies; and the unvarying laws of nature will bring their predictions to pass. Because of the perfectly regular movements of the moon the astronomers calculate when it will be opposite the sun and in the earth's shadow —which is 'the cone of night '1 —and when, necessarily, it will become invisible. For the same reason they know when the moon will be directly between the earth and the sun and thus will hide the light of the sun from our eyes. They know in what sign each planet will be at any given time and at what time each day any constellation will rise and set. You see the course of reasoning followed in arriving at these predictions. (Translated by William Armistead Falconer, 1923)

 Qui potest provideri quicquam futurum esse, quod neque causam habet ullam neque notam, cur futurum sit? Solis defectiones itemque lunae praedicuntur in multos annos ab iis, qui siderum motus numeris persequuntur; ea praedicunt enim, quae naturae necessitas perfectura est. Vident ex constantissimo motu lunae, quando illa e regione solis facta incurrat in umbram terrae, quae est meta noctis, ut eam obscurari necesse sit, quandoque eadem luna subiecta atque opposita soli nostris oculis eius lumen obscuret, quo in signo quaeque errantium stellarum quoque tempore futura sit, qui exortus quoque die signi alicuius aut qui occasus futurus sit. Haec qui ante dicunt, quam rationem sequantur, vides.

The famous mechanical device known as the Antikythera Mechanism, dating from 87 BC, we will discussed about it on another occasion, is a kind of gear-based calculator to predict the position of the Sun, the Moon and some planets. It allowed to calculate the cycle "saros" I was talking about at the beginning and therefore it helped  to provide for the existence of eclipses.

The determination of these cycles like  "saros", the millennial observation of the movements, creating instruments to reproduce the movements of the stars, all provided them great experience and made them walk in the right direction and from Mesopotamia, especially  referring to the eclipses of moon; but experts agree in saying that the instruments available at this time were unable to set in advance and accurately the occurrence of an eclipse. Only very recently it has achieved great precision in this regard.
In any case, astronomy (astrology) enjoyed great recognition in antiquity. Indeed, attempts to explain the stars and their movements, theoretical speculations and practices that incorporate and develop knowledge of mathematics and geometry, are a real scientific endeavor.

Pliny, whom we have mentioned several times, extols science and courage of the men trying to find out the causes of things. In the passage quoted above in relation to Sulpicius  Galus before the battle of Pydna, he follows commenting:

Pliny, Natural History II, 9 (12) (54)

These were indeed great men, superior to ordinary mortals, who having discovered the laws of these divine bodies, relieved the miserable mind of man from the fear which he had of eclipses, as foretelling some dreadful events or the destruction of the stars. This alarm is freely acknowledged in the sublime strains of Stesichorus and Pindar, as being produced by an eclipse of the sun. And with respect to the eclipse of the moon, mortals impute it to witchcraft, and therefore endeavour to aid her by producing discordant sounds. In consequence of this kind of terror it was that Nicias, the general of the Athenians, being ignorant of the cause, was afraid to lead out the fleet, and brought great distress on his troops. Hail to your genius, ye interpreters of heaven! ye who comprehend the nature of things, and who have discovered a mode of reasoning by which ye have conquered both gods and men! For who is there, in observing these things and seeing the labours which the stars are compelled to undergo (since we have chosen to apply this term to them), that would not cheerfully submit to his fate, as one born to die? I shall now, in a brief and summary manner, touch on those points in which we are agreed, giving the reasons where it is necessary to do so; for this is not a work of profound argument, nor is it less wonderful to be able to suggest a probable cause for everything, than to give a complete account of a few of them only. ( John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London.)

 viri ingentes supraque mortalia, tantorum numinum lege deprehensa et misera hominum mente iam soluta, in defectibus scelera aut mortem aliquam siderum pavente — quo in metu fuisse Stesichori et Pindari vatum sublimia ora palam est deliquio solis — aut in luna veneficia arguente mortalitate et ob id crepitu dissono auxiliante — quo pavore ignarus causae Nicias Atheniensium imperator veritus classem portu educere opes eorum adflixit —: macte ingenio este, caeli interpretes rerumque naturae capaces, argumenti repertores,  quo deos hominesque vicistis! quis enim haec cernens et statos siderum (quoniam ita appellare placuit) labores non suae necessitati mortales genitos ignoscat?
Nunc confessa de iisdem breviter atque capitulatim attingam ratione admodum necessariis locis strictimque reddita, nam neque instituti operis talis argumentatio est neque omnium rerum afferri posse causas minus mirum est quam constare in aliquis.

Ovid also  appreciates the extraordinary courage of those who studied the stars, in Fasti, I, 295 et seq .:

What is to stop me if I should tell also of the stars, their risings and their settings? That was part of my promise. Ah happy souls, who first took thought to know these things and scale the heavenly mansions! Well may we believe they lifted up their heads alike above the frailties and the homes of men. Their lofty natures neither love nor wine did breaks, nor civil business nor the toils of war; no low ambition tempted them, nor glory’s tinsel sheen, nor lust of hoarded pelf. The distant stars they brought within our ken, and heaven itself made subject to their wit. So man may reach the sky: no need that Ossa on Olympus should be piled, and that Pelion’s peak should touch the topmost stars. Under these leaders we, too, will plum the sky and give their own days to the wandering signs. (Translated by Frazer, James George. Loeb Classical Library)

Quis vetat et stellas, ut quaeque oriturque caditque,
dicere? promissi pars fuit ista mei.
felices animae, quibus haec cognoscere primis
inque domus superas scandere cura fuit!
credibile est illos pariter vitiisque locisque
altius humanis exeruisse caput.
non Venus et vinum sublimia pectora fregit
officiumque fori militiaeve labor;
nec levis ambitio perfusaque gloria fuco
magnarumque fames sollicitavit opum.
admovere oculis distantia sidera nostris
aetheraque ingenio supposuere suo.
sic petitur caelum: non ut ferat Ossan Olympus,
summaque Peliacus sidera tangat apex.
nos quoque sub ducibus caelum metabimur illis
ponemusque suos ad vaga signa dies.

In the classic texts there are numerous references to eclipses actually incurred. I pick up some from article “La explicación de los eclipses en la Antigüedad Grecolatina”("The explanation of eclipses in Greco-Latin antiquity") of the authors Roberto Casazza Alejandro Gangui ,University of Buenos Aires, who in turn cite Couderc, 1969: 128-134. They are considered historic or described by reliable historical sources  the following :: Assyrian eclipse canon (June 15, 763 BC); eclipse of Ashurbanipal  (June 27, 661 BC); eclipse of Archilochus  (April 6, 648 B.C.);  eclipse of Thales (May 28, 585 BC) (-there dense discussions of this eclipse); eclipse of Pindar  (April 30, 463 BC); eclipse of Thucydides (August 3, 431 B.C.); eclipse of Agatocles  (August 15, 310 BC); eclipse of Hipparchus  (November 20 129 BC); eclipse of Phlegon  (November 24, 29 A.D.); eclipse of Plutarch  (March 20, 71 A.D.); eclipse of Theon (June 16, 364 AD Here are also doubtfully). Quoted from Couderc, 1969: 128-134.