VALERIUS MAXIMUS

Manlius Torquatus, during the Latin War A conflict (340–338 BCE) between the Roman Republic and its neighboring Latin allies.—a grave and dangerous
struggle—had pitched camp not far from the base of Mount Vesuvius.
Both he and his colleague The other Consul, Decius Mus. saw a vision during the stillness of sleep.
For to each of them, a certain figure foretold that from one battle line a commander,
and from the other an army, was owed to the Spirits of the Dead original: "Dis Manibus," the collective spirits of deceased ancestors who required propitiation. and to Mother Earth.
Whichever general attacked the enemy's forces and then
offered himself as a sacrifice would secure the victory.
At dawn the next day, the Consuls original: "COSS." (Consulibus), the two highest elected officials of Rome. performed a sacrifice,
either to avert the omen if it could be turned away, or—if the gods'
warning appeared certain—to carry it out. The entrails of the sacrificial
victims agreed with the dream. It was agreed between them that
the one whose wing of the army first began to falter
should pay the debt of the fatherland’s fate with his own life.
Since neither man feared this, the fates demanded Decius.

There follows a dream pertaining equally to public religion.
During the Plebeian Games, a certain head of a household had
driven his slave through the Circus Flaminius A large, circular entertainment space in Rome used for games and assemblies. before
the sacred procession was led in. The slave had been punished with
lashes while forced under a fork original: "furca," a V-shaped wooden yoke used to humiliate and punish slaves. toward his execution.
Jupiter commanded a Latin man from the commoners in his
sleep to tell the Consuls that the "lead dancer" original: "praesultorem." Jupiter ironically refers to the twitching, tortured slave as the leader of the dance that preceded the religious festival. at the recent
Circus Games had displeased him. Unless the games were
renewed with careful attention to expiate this,
no small danger would follow for the city.
That man, fearing that he might involve the supreme
government in a religious matter to his own detriment, remained silent.
Immediately, his son was snatched away by the
sudden violence of a disease and died.
The man himself was asked again during his rest
by the same god whether he had paid a great enough penalty for
neglecting the divine command. Persisting in his purpose,
he was struck with a paralysis of the body.
Finally, acting on the advice of his friends,
he was carried in a litter to the tribunal of the Consuls
and from there to the Senate. Once the sequence of his entire
ordeal was explained, to the great amazement of all,
the strength of his limbs was recovered...