Vestah.

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Chap. 3.]

never go out.” Levit. vi, 13. The practice is still kept up by the Jews and also by Roman catholics . The origin of the custom is unknown; hutthe Jews, Persians , Greeks, &c. are generally supposed to have derived itfrom the Egyptians. Upon the consecration of a temple, this ‘ holy fire’was not obtained from ordinary sources, i. e. from other fires, but was pro-duced by the rubbing of two sticks together; or, according Io Plutarch,was drawn directly from the sun. “ If it happen (he observes in his Lifeof Nuraa) by any accident to be put out, as the sacred lamp is said tohave been at Athens, under the tyranny of Aristion—at Delphi, whenthe temple was burned by the Medes—and at Rome in the Mithridatic, asalso in the civil war, when not only the fire was extinguished but thealtar itself overturned—it is not to be lighted again from another fire, butnew fire is to be gained by drawing a pure and unpolluted flame fromthe beams of the sun. This is done generally with concave vessels ofbrass.”

Among the Romans a certain number of virgins were consecrated withsolemn ceremonies to the Goddess Vesta. They were named vestals,and it was their peculiar duty to take Charge of the sacred fire. Theywere greatly honored for their purity and the importance of their office.“ What is there in Rome, (exclaimed Tiberius Gracchus in his address tothe people) so sacred and venerable as the vestal virgins who keep theperpetual fire 1” The most valuable and sacred deposites were oftenplaced in their hands for security. The wills of rieh Romans weresometimes committed to their care; hence we read of Augustus forcing from them that of Antony, while the latter was in Egypt . Thevestals enjoyed many privileges ; among others, when they went abroad,the fasces (emblems of authority) were carried by a lictor before them ;and it was death for any one to go under the litter or chair in which theywere carried ; and if they met a criminal going to execution, his life wasspared. The vestal daughter of Appius Claudius protected him frombeing arrested by the Tribunes. On the other hand, they were punishedwith extreme rigor if found to have broken any of their vows. To per-mit the perpetual or holy fire to go out was an unpardonable act, for itwas believed to betoken some national calamity, and if one was foundguilty of unchastity she was buried alive. “ The criminal (says Plutarch)is carried to punishment through the forum in a litter, well covered with-out, and bound up in such a manner that her cries cannot be heard. Thepeople silently make way for the litter and follow it with marks of ex-treme sorrow and dejection. There is no spectacle more dreadful thanthis, nor any day which the city spends in a more. nielancholy manner.When the litter comes to the place appointed the officers loose the cords,the high priest with hands lifted up towards heaven offers some privateprayers just before the fatal minute; then takes out the prisoner, who iscovered with a veil, and places her upon the Steps which lead down intothe cell, [grave;] after this he retires with the rest of the priests, and whenshe is gone down, the Steps are taken away and the cell is covered withearth, so that the place is made level with the rest of the mount.” [Lifeof Numa, Langhorne’s Trans.]

Tutia, who was accused of incontinence, in Order to avoid the horrid pen-alty, passionately called, or afifected so to call, upon the goddess Vesta,to establish by a miracle her innocence. “ Enable me (she cried) to takea sieve full of water from the Tyber, and to carry it full to thy temple.”Upon this appeal her trial was stayed, and it was left to the deity shel>ad invoked, to save her or not; for such a proof of the falsehood of heraccusers could not, if it should take place, be resisted. The result