Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius

flute, who would stand secretly behind him when he was addressing the assembly, a man who was skilled; who would quickly blow that sound which would either excite him if he was slack, or recall him from intensity. 17. Moreover, that custom of entering battle to the rhythms of flute-players was instituted by the Lacedaemonians, as Aristotle wrote in his books of Problems, so that the security and eagerness of the soldiers might become more manifest and better tested. 18. For, he says, it is not at all consistent with an entry of this kind to have diffidence and fear; and the sorrowful and fearful are far removed from this so intrepid and so decorous modulation of marching. 19. I have placed a few words of Aristotle on that subject: Why, when they are about to face danger, do they march to the flute? So that they might know the cowards who are behaving unbecomingly. original: "Διὰ τί, ἐπειδὰν κινδυνεύειν μέλλωσι, πρὸς αὐλὸν ἐμβαίνουσιν; ἵνα τοὺς δειλοὺς ἀσχημονοῦντας γινώσκωσιν."

CHAPTER XII.

1. Those who have written about the taking of a [Vestal] virgin, of whom Labeo Antistius has written most diligently, have denied that it is lawful for one to be taken who is younger than six years old, or older than ten. 2. Likewise, one who is not the daughter of a living father and mother. 3. Likewise, one who has a weak tongue or a diminished sense of hearing or is marked by some other bodily defect. 4. Likewise, one whose father is emancipated, even if he is in the power of his grandfather while the father is still living. 5. Likewise, one whose parents have both or either served in slavery, or are engaged in sordid businesses: but they say that she whose sister has been chosen for that priesthood earns an exemption. 6. Likewise, whose father is a flamen, or an augur, or one of the fifteen for the performance of sacrifices, or who is one of the seven for feasts, or a Salian priest. 7. An exemption from that priesthood is also usually granted to the daughters of the betrothed of a pontiff and a sacred flute-player. 8. Furthermore, Capito Atteius left it written that the daughter of a man who...