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Even those kings which followed him have admired
Fortune as the governess and nurse of Rome, and the city
supporter, as Pindar saith. For proof of this, we may
consider that the temple of Virtue at Rome was but lately
built, many years after the beginning of the city, by that
Marcellus who took Syracuse.1 There is also a temple
dedicated to the Mind, or rather to good counsel, called
Mens, by Scaurus Aemilius, who lived in the time of the
Cimbrian war, when the arms of rhetoric and the sophistry
of logic had crept into the city. And even to this day,
there are no temples built to Wisdom, Temperance,
Patience, and Magnanimity; but the temples of Fortune
are very ancient and splendid, adorned with all sorts of
honors, and divided amongst the most famous parts and
places of Rome. The temple of Manly Fortune was built
by Ancus Marcius, the fourth king; which name was
therefore given it, because Fortune does contribute very
much to valor in obtaining victory. The temple of Feminine Fortune was consecrated by the matrons, when they
drove away Marcius Coriolanus at the head of an army
marching against Rome, as everybody knows. Moreover,
Servius Tullius, who above all the kings did most enlarge
the power of the people and adorn the commonwealth,
who first established a good order for the giving of suffrages
and for the good discipline of the militia, who was the first
censor and overseer of men's lives and sobriety, and is
esteemed a most wise and valiant man,—even he threw
himself upon Fortune, and owned his kingdom to be derived from her. So great was her kindness to him, that
[p. 212]
she is thought to have descended into his house by a gateway
which is now called Fenestella) and there to have conversed familiarly with him. Upon which account he built
two temples to Fortune, one to that which is called Primogenia in the Capitol, i. e. the first born, as one may expound
it; another to that which is called Obsequens, which some
interpret as being obsequious to his desires, and others as
mild and gentle. I will henceforth leave the Roman
names, and endeavor to reckon up and interpret in Greek
the meaning of these temples. There is the temple of
Private Fortune on the Mount Palatine, and that of Viscous
Fortune; which name, though it seems ridiculous, does by
a metaphor explain to us the nature of Fortune, that she
attracts things at a distance, and retains them when they
are brought to contact. At the fountain which is called
Mossy the temple of Virgin Fortune is still to be seen;
and that of Regardful Fortune in Abescymnae. There is
an altar also to Fortune of Good Hope in the long narrow
street; and near to the altar of Venus Epitalaria (Foot-winged) there is a chapel to Male Fortune.
Infinite are the honors and titles of Fortune, the greater
part of which were instituted by Servius, who knew that
‘Fortune is of great weight-nay, is every thing—in all
human affairs,’
2 and more especially had found by experience that by her favor he was preferred from a captive and
hostile nation to be king of the Romans. For when
Corniculum was taken by the Romans, the virgin Ocresia
being taken at the same time, she for her illustrious beauty
and virtue (which the meanness of her fortune could not
hide or obscure) was presented to Tanaquil, the consort
of King Tarquinius, with whom she served till she was
married to one of the retainers whom the Romans call
clients; and of them was born Servius. Others tell the
story after this manner: that the virgin Ocresia using
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often to receive the first-fruits and libations from the royal
table, which were to be offered in sacrifice, it happened on
a time that when, according to the custom, she had thrown
them into the fire, upon the sudden expiration of the flame,
there appeared to come out of it the genital member of a
man. The virgin, being frighted with so strange a sight,
told the whole matter to Queen Tanaquil; who, being a
wise and understanding woman, judged the vision to be
divine, and therefore dressed up the virgin in all her bridal
ornaments and attire, and then shut her up in a room together with this apparition. Some attribute this amour to
Lar the household God, and others to Vulcan; but whichsoever it was, Ocresia was with child, and gave birth to
Servius. And while he was yet an infant, his head was
seen to send forth a wonderful brightness, like lightning
darted from the skies. But Antias tells this story after
a different manner: that when Servius's wife Getania was
dead, he fell into a sleep through grief and dejection of
mind, in the presence of his mother, and then his head
was seen by the woman encompassed by fire; which, as it
was a certain token that he was born of fire, so was a good
omen of that unexpected kingdom which he obtained after
the death of Tarquin, by the means of Tanaquil. This
is so much the more to be wondered at, because he of all
kings seems to have been least fitted by Nature and most
averse by inclination to monarchical government; since he
would have resigned his kingdom and divested himself of
regal authority, if he had not been hindered by the oath
which it appears he made to Tanaquil when she was dying,
that he should continue during his life in kingly power,
and never change that form of government which he had
received from his ancestors. Thus the reign of Servius
was wholly owing to Fortune, because he both received it
beside his expectation, and retained it against his will.
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