Book 1, Chapter 12

19 “‘And all those things that came to pass at last with the years,The father of the gods himself foretold would come,Repeating his clear, unceasing signs through earth and heaven.Now all that the Lydian haruspex of the Tuscan peopleOnce proclaimed when Torquatus and Cotta were consuls,Your year brings together and fulfills, fixed and certain.For the father who thunders on high, enthroned on starry Olympus,Once struck his own hills and templesAnd hurled his fires upon the Capitol’s heights.Then Natta’s ancient, venerated bronze imageFell, and the laws slipped from their age-old sacred keeping,And the lightning’s blaze destroyed the images of the gods.

20 “‘Here stood the woodland nurse of the Roman name,The wolf of Mars, who with her swollen udders fed life’s dewTo the little sons sprung from the seed of Mavors.Then she and the boys fell beneath the blazing thunderbolt,Torn away, leaving the imprints of her feet.Who then did not unroll the writings and records of the art,And draw grim utterances from the Etruscan scrolls?All warned against a vast disaster, a plague upon the stateArising from noble stock;Or with unchanging voice foretold the overthrow of laws,And urged that the gods’ temples and the city itself be snatched from flames,And dreadful slaughter and massacre be feared.These things stood fixed and rooted in a heavy destiny,Unless a holy image of Jupiter, beautifully fashionedAnd raised on a lofty column, first looked toward the bright dawn.Then the people and the sacred Senate would be ableTo see the hidden plot, if, turned toward sunrise,It looked from there upon the seat of Senate and people.

19 “‘And those things which at last came about with the passage of time,The father of the gods himself repeatedly foretoldWith constant, clear signs in heaven and on earth.Now all those warnings which the Lydian haruspexOf the Etruscan people gave when Torquatus and Cotta were consulsAre being brought together and settled by your year in office.For once the father who thunders on high, resting on starry Olympus,Struck his own hills and templesAnd hurled fire at his home on the Capitol.Then the ancient, honored bronze statue of NattaFell, and the laws dropped down, their age-old sacred force gone,And the blaze of lightning destroyed the images of the gods.

20 “‘In this place stood the forest nurse who raised the Roman people,The wolf of Mars, feeding the small sons of MarsFrom her full breasts with the nourishing dew of life.Then she fell with the boys, struck by the blazing thunderbolt,Torn away from the footprints her feet left behind.Who then did not search the writings and records of the craft,And draw words of sorrow from Etruscan books?All warned against a huge disaster and destruction for the citizens,Arising from a noble family.Or they steadily declared that the laws would fall.They ordered us to save the temples of the gods and the city itselfFrom the flames, and to fear terrible slaughter and bloodshed.They said this was fixed and firmly rooted in a dreadful fate,Unless first a sacred statue of Jupiter, beautifully made,Was set on a high column, facing the bright sunrise.Then the people and the revered senate would be ableTo see the hidden plots, if, turned toward the rising sun,The statue looked from there upon the home of the senate and people.