hade, or, more probably, because of the suckling of
the children there, for the ancients called the nipple _rouma_.
Moreover, they call the goddess who appears to have watched over the
children Roumilia, and to her they sacrifice offerings without wine, and
pour milk as a libation upon her altar.

It is said that while the infants were lying in this place, the she-wolf
suckled them, and that a woodpecker came and helped to feed and watch
over them. Now these animals are sacred to the god Mars; and the Latins
have a peculiar reverence and worship for the woodpecker. These
circumstances, therefore, did not a little to confirm the tale of the
mother of the children, that their father was Mars, though some say that
she was deceived by Amulius himself, who, after condemning her to a life
of virginity, appeared before her dressed in armour, and ravished her.
Others say that the twofold meaning of the name of their nurse gave rise
to this legend, for the Latins use the word _lupa_ for she-wolves, and
also for unchaste women, as was the wife of Faustulus, who brought up
the children, Acca Laurentia by name. To her also the Romans offer
sacrifice, and in the month of April the priest of Mars brings libations
to her, and the feast is called Laurentia.

V. The Romans also worship another Laurentia, for this reason: The
priest of Hercules, weary with idleness, proposed to the god to cast the
dice on the condition that, if he won, he should receive something good
from the god, while if he lost, he undertook to provide the god with a
bountiful feast and a fair woman to take his pleasure with. Upon these
conditions he cast the dice, first for the god, and then for himself,
and was beaten. Wishing to settle his wager properly, and making a point
of keeping his word, he prepared a feast for the god, and hired
Laurentia, then in the pride of her beauty, though not yet famous. He
feasted her in the temple, where he had prepared a couch, and after
supper he locked her in, that the god might possess her. And, indeed,
the god is said to have appeared to the lady, and to have bidden her go
early in the morning into the market-place, and to embrace the first man
she met, and make him her friend. There met her a citizen far advanced
in years, possessing a fair income, childless, and unmarried. His name
was Tarrutius. He took Laurentia to himself, and loved her, and upon his
death left her heiress to a large and valuable property, the greater
p