ootsteps would have guided
the search of their owner thither, he therefore drew the most beautiful
of them, one by one, by the tails, backwards into a cave. Hercules,
awaking at day-break, when he had surveyed his herd, and observed that
some of them were missing, goes directly to the nearest cave, to see if
by chance their footsteps would lead him thither. But when he observed
that they were all turned from it, and directed him no other way,
confounded, and not knowing what to do, he began to drive his cattle
out of that unlucky place. Upon this, some of the cows, as they usually
do, lowed on missing those that were left; and the lowings of those that
were confined being returned from the cave, made Hercules turn that way.
And when Cacus attempted to prevent him by force, as he was proceeding
to the cave, being struck with a club, he was slain, vainly imploring
the assistance of the shepherds. At that time Evander, who had fled from
the Peloponnesus, ruled this country more by his credit and reputation
than absolute sway. He was a person highly revered for his wondrous
knowledge of letters,[13] a discovery that was entirely new and
surprising to men ignorant of every art; but more highly respected on
account of the supposed divinity of his mother Carmenta, whom these
nations had admired as a prophetess, before the coming of the Sibyl into
Italy. This prince, alarmed by the concourse of the shepherds hastily
crowding round the stranger, whom they charged with open murder, after
he heard the act and the cause of the act, observing the person and mien
of the hero to be larger, and his gait more majestic, than human, asked
who he was? As soon as he was informed of his name, his father, and his
native country, he said, "Hail! Hercules! son of Jupiter, my mother, a
truth-telling interpreter of the gods, has revealed to me, that thou
shalt increase the number of the celestials; and that to thee an altar
shall be dedicated here, which some ages hence the most powerful people
on earth shall call Ara Maxima, and honour according to thy own
institution." Hercules having given him his right hand, said, "That he
accepted the omen, and would fulfil the predictions of the fates, by
building and consecrating an altar." There for the first time a
sacrifice was offered to Hercules of a chosen heifer, taken from the
herd, the Potitii and Pinarii, who were then the most distinguished
families that inhabited these parts, having been invited
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