up the rear of that little
company.

NINTH CAR, OF THE MOON.

The ninth car, all silvered, of the Moon, drawn by two horses, one black
and the other white, was seen passing in no less lovely fashion after
the last; the Moon, draped, as is customary, in a white and delicate
veil, guiding the silver reins with grace most gracious; and, like the
others, it was seen adorned with no less beauty and pomp by four of her
fables. For the first of these that most gentle Goddess, flying from the
fury of Typhoeus, was seen constrained to transform herself into a cat;
even as in the second she was seen fondly embracing and kissing
beautiful Endymion as he lay asleep, and in the third she was seen, won
over by a delicate fleece of white wool, making her way into a dark
forest, there to lie with the enamoured Pan, the God of Shepherds. In
the fourth was seen how the same Endymion named above, for the grace
acquired with her, was given pasture for his white flock; and for a
better representation of him who was so dear to the Moon, he was then
seen walking first before the car, crowned with dittany, and in his
company a fair-haired child, with a serpent in the hand, and also
crowned with leaves of the plane, representing the Good Genius, and a
great black man, awful in aspect, with the beard and hair all
dishevelled and with an owl in the hand, representing the Evil Genius.
These were followed by the God Vaticanus, who is believed to be able to
bring succour to the wailing of little infants, robed in a handsome
tawny habit, and with an infant in his arms; and with him was likewise
seen coming, in a splendid and well-varied dress, with a key in the
hand, the Goddess Egeria, who is also invoked in aid of pregnant women;
and with them the other Goddess, Nundina, who likewise protects the
names of little babes, in a venerable habit, with a branch of laurel and
a sacrificial vase in the hands. Then after these Vitumnus was seen
walking, who was reputed to breathe the soul into children at their
birth, figured after the Egyptian custom, and with him Sentinus, who
likewise was believed by the ancients to give to the newly-born the
power of the senses, on which account, he himself being all white, there
were seen in his head-dress the heads of those five animals that are
believed to have the five senses more acute than any of the others; that
of an ape, namely, that of a vulture, that of a wild-boar, that of a
lynx, and that--or rather, the