X. Kal. 22nd
However great thy haste to conquer, O Caesar, I would not have thee march, if the auspices forbade. Be Flaminius and the Trasimenian shores thy witnesses that the kind gods give many warnings by means of birds. If you ask the date of that ancient disaster, incurred through recklessness, it was the tenth day from the end of the month.
IX. Kal. 23rd
The next day is luckier: on it Masinissa defeated Syphax, and Hasdrubal fell by his own sword.
VIII. Kal. 24th
‘’ Time slips away, and we grow old with silent lapse of years; there is no bridle that can curb the flying days. How quickly has come round the festival of Fors Fortuna! Yet seven days and June will be over. Come, Quirites, celebrate with joy the goddess Fors! On Tiber’s bank she has her royal foundations. Speed some of you on foot, and some in the swift boat, and think no shame to return tipsy home from your ramble. Ye flower-crowned skiffs, bear bands of youthful revellers, and let them quaff deep draughts of wine on the bosom of the stream. The common folk worship this goddess because the founder of her temple is said to have been of their number and to have risen to the crown from humble rank. Her worship is also appropriate for slaves, because Tullius, who instituted the neighbouring temples of the fickle goddess, was born of a slave woman.
VII. Kal. 25th. VI. Kal. 26th
Lo, returning from the suburban shrine, a maudlin worshipper thus hails the stars: “Orion, thy belt is now invisible, and perhaps it will be invisible to-morrow: after that it will be within my ken.” But if he had not been tipsy, he would have said that the solstice would fall on the same day.
V. Kal. 27th
Next morn the Lares were given a sanctuary on the spot where many a wreath is twined by deft hands. At the same time was built the temple of Jupiter Stator, which Romulus of old founded in front of the Palatine hill.
III. Kal. 29th
When as many days of the month remain as the Fates have names, a temple was dedicated to thee, Quirinus, god of the striped gown.
Pr. Kal. 30th
To-morrow is the birthday of the Kalends of July. Pierides, put the last touches to my undertaking. Tell me, Pierides, who associated you with him to whom his stepmother was forced to yield reluctantly. So I spoke, and Clio answered me thus: “Thou dost behold the monument of that famous Philip from whom the chaste Marcia is descended, Marcia who derives her name from sacrificial Ancus, and whose beauty matches her noble birth. In her the figure answers to the soul; in her we find lineage and beauty and genius all at once. Nor deem our praise of figure base; on the same ground we praise great goddesses. The mother’s sister of Caesar was once married to that Philip. O glorious dame! O lady worthy of that sacred house!” So Clio sang. Her learned sisters chimed in; Alcides bowed assent and twanged his lyre.
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