New Britain Herald Newspaper, February 11, 1927, Page 27

“SCHOOL OF THE VES- TALS,’* from the celebrated painting by Mertot LeRoux, the great French artist. In this picture the painter shows a group of young women gathered in the temple that stood in the Ro- man Forum and receiving in- structions in the care of the sa- cred flame and the other rites that were con- tinually per- formed there to honor the god- dess Vesta and win her favor for home and nation little circular Temple of Vesta has for centuries clung to its de- caying foundations in the Roman Forum, a broken symbol of the very heart and soul of the Rome that was the capital of the ancient world. For a thousand years, the fairest and purest daughters of the empire re- nounced the world that the sacred fire t within the temple might béJej§ ablaze A to hold the favor of the mythlel Vesta, protectress of the state and' gb'ddeas of 4he domestic hearth. o L Then, about the year 38" when the Emperor Constantine ndopted'fifistian- ity as the state religion of e, Vesta was thrown out with the Tesdt of the pagan gods and goddesses and her tem- ple was abandoned to vandals and the ravages of time. ! The sacred flame that had burned for /'ten centuries flickered and went out, and / {ts romantic symbolism was forgotten. The last survivor of the Vestal Virgins was thrown from the temple in an at- tempt to stop a woman from stealing a valuable necklace from one of the statues in the holy place; the richly decorated marble panels were stripped from the walls and the shrine of a na- tion ‘becamé a deserted ruin. Now, after fifteen centuries, the Italian government is to restore the beautiful little circular temple. Its graceful marble colonnade, its pure white walls will rise from the dust and again encircle the altar on which the sacred flame will be rekindled. The recent announcement that the Temple of Vesta is to be rebuilt has aroused world-wide interest, for the wondrous story of the rise and fall of Rome is the property-of all nations and the symbolism of Vesta's sdcred fire a priceless page in the history of the human race. The remnants of the building are hardly sufficient for the skilled workers who will restore it to carry out their task, but the likeness of the beautiful circular structure is preserved on an- ¢ient Roman coins which will be used as models in the reconstruction work. But why, some have asked, go to all the trouble and expense of rebuilding a pagan temple that means little in this enlightened day? Because the story of the goddess Vesta and the Vestal Virgins is one of the most romantic in history, and be- cause the colorful background of the Italian nation is centered in' the sacred flame that was kept alive for a thousand years. The most generally accepted Latin legend concerning the Temple of Vesta relates that Numa Pompilius built the temple when he established Rome as the capital of the Roman Empire, and that he placed four priestesses in charge of a central fire near the spring of Juturna, supposed to be the source of holy water. These priestesses, then known as “ritual daughters of the king,” were charged to mind both the fire and the water and their duties were deemed of the highest importance to the life of the nation. That the Emperor Numa and the Romans of his day should attach so much importance to the keeping of a ’I\HE weather-scarred skeleton of the , concave fire is easy to under- stand when one re- members that, in the earliest days of Rome, the making of a fire was a difficult task which had to be done by rubbing dry sticks together or striking a spark from flint. Evéry Yrimitive Ro- man village was built about a hut in which a fire was kept continu- ally burning so that flame could be bor- rowed by the in- habitants at any time of the day or night. The task of tending the fire was, natu- rally, given to voung girls net strong enough to work the soil nor old enough to be burdened with maternal cares. With the pass- ing of time easier methods of mak- ing fires were found—the burn- ing glass and the mirror. But the vastly important busi- ness of keeping the fire had be- come so much a part of the life of the nation that it became a part of religion. And Vesta, Goddess of the Domestic Hearth, became protectress of the state and the only female among the first group of Rome’s mythical dieties. It was in her worship that the Em- peror Numa established the central fire watched over by the ‘ritual daughters of the king,” who later came to be called the Vestal Virgins. A later king increased the number of Vestals to six, and a still later ruler of Rome added a seventh virgin to serve at the national shrine. How were these maidens chosen from the many beautiful girls in Rome? How old or how young did they have to be? Who selected them? What were their duties? And how long did they have to serve? It is in the answers to these questions that the romance of the Vestal Virgins is found, and the reason why the time- worn skeleton of a tiny temple is being restored s national shrine. History teils us that the four “ritual daughters” of Numa were selected by the ‘Emperor himself, but that later, when the College of Vestals consisted of six maidens, the Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, chose them from the fairest and purest daughters of the em- pire. Only the daughters of free-born citi- zens of Italy were eligible for the honor of serving the goddess Vesta; the appli- cant must be not 1 than six nor more The Square Bocca della Verita in Rome showing (on the right) the temple that is erroneously called the Temple of Vesta. It has the same number of columns and is in other respects quite similar to the famous shrine that stood in the Forum and is now to be restored than ten years old; both her parents myst he living and free from the least suggestion of both in their public and in their private lives; the child had to be physically beauti- ful and mentally sound. Imagine the excitement of a little Roman maid when she left her father and mother to become a sort of nun in the beautiful temple “in the Forum and to live in the luxuriovs marble that- s the home of Vestals. social taint h he Some of her playmates en- r the life of distint service that awaited hers were told by their that the little girl might as well as beginning a task t over for thirty years. would nc g which t she must keep hers pleasures of the world and never k apart fron the joy of loving and being loved a man. It was true, they said, tha held a high place in the life pire, that she was free from taxes and might be driven through t} carriages in the manner of - that she was treated as a being at the most brilliant temple and the For a thousand years, the fair- est and purest daughters of the Roman Em- pire renounced the vanities and pleasures of the world in order that the sacred fire on the altar of Vesta might be kept ablaze. Robed in spot- less white, they poured rich wines and oils on the flame and offered up continual prayers for the welfare of the nation, espe- cially in time of danger and ca- lamity Italy to Restore the Ruined Temple Where the Loveliest Maidens | of Ancient Rome _ Devoted T heir Lives) to the Worship of the Goddess Vesta ——— e of religious and 9N political nature, and that she would live in a marble palace and have slaves to wait upon her. But thirty loveless years was a long time. However, the High Pr 1 no who were o bring oddess Vesta shown in ancient statue she enteréc ting duties d not be up lady, too ract a young Roma and world. lace seemed a her h 1s tree, t ceremony ladies wh r off and. With Strange and Solemn Religious Ceremonies No one called her by her right name; every one called her “Amata,” the beloved, and she had so many things to learn. Sometimes she was homesick and longed to go back to her mama and papa and to play in the streets with her little brothers and si: But the white-robed ladies told her why she couldn’t go home and she soon became accustomed to the strict life of the keepers of the sacred fire. In time her hair grew out again and after ten long years of learning the duties of a Vestal she was permitted to perform the highest religious rites of a great nation. She tended the holy fire and brought water from the sacred spring of Egeria to be used in cleansing the shrine of ti goddess Vesta. She offered s: 1 salt cakes and poured ric he fire, and made d welfare of the Roman cially in times of danger or ca E s i After ten years of service at the altar the little circular temple she was of her duties and be to teach the exacting routine of the Vestals to the little novices who came to the shrine in the Forum just as she had twenty veard befofe. Ten years as a teacher in the School f the Vestals and back to the came, even to marn history was free to go world from whence records few when Vestals became brides and settled down to the domestic life of the empire. instances If a virgin became 2o lax in her duties as to let the fire die, she was severely beaten by rods, but such cases were rare. What happened to a Vestal in the still rarer cases when her vows of chastity were broken? ¢ Death, the most inable e death imag- living buri First the erring Vestal was beaten by her judges and ipped in a hearse that was driven slowly through the Forum while her relatives and friends wailed their grief in the streets. The tragic procession ended at the Campus Sceleratus where the fair of- fender, crazed by the horror of the end that awaited her, was forced to walk rse to a gaping hole in the re a lad nded to the » wounds left by the » she erawled down 1 was pulled up that vel in the mound of he grave of the ed the air in her in agony until ne V thus buri more than of any ‘wrong, was The cruel Emperor he would dis- h the sacrifice of achieved his terrible ng a friend to ac- aking her sacred a trial built upon Domitian t tinguish | a Vestal and he er in vows and condu lies > story of the little it is to be restored en centuries during he winds that sweep he historic Roman ¢ once beautiful e of discolored marble, The rekindln curling wisp of d fire will again send a smoke off across Rome’s IS as a reminder that the civili- zation of Rome and of the world could rieved without fire, r vu.u the mythical Vesta and her virgins were at the very heart of a ati t needed them until Chris. tianity put the an gods to rout, never have been and