i.
p.121.The same horrid circumstance is likewise told of the sieges of Jerusalem and Paris.

For the latter, compare the tenth book of the Henriade, and the Journal de Henri IV.tom.i.p.

47-83; and observe that a plain narrative of facts is much more pathetic, than the most labored descriptions of epic poetry] [Footnote 77: Zosimus (l.v.p.355, 356) speaks of these ceremonies like a Greek unacquainted with the national superstition of Rome and Tuscany.

I suspect, that they consisted of two parts, the secret and the public; the former were probably an imitation of the arts and spells, by which Numa had drawn down Jupiter and his thunder on Mount Aventine.
Quid agant laqueis, quae carmine dicant, Quaque trahant superis sedibus arte Jovem, Scire nefas homini.
The ancilia, or shields of Mars, the pignora Imperii, which were carried in solemn procession on the calends of March, derived their origin from this mysterious event, (Ovid.Fast.iii.

259-398.) It was probably designed to revive this ancient festival, which had been suppressed by Theodosius.