Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius

did not have a residence in Italy, and that the father of three children should be excused. 9. Moreover, a Vestal Virgin, as soon as she has been taken and led into the Atrium of Vesta and handed over to the pontiffs, is at that very moment released from her father’s power without the need for emancipatio formal release from paternal power or capitis minutio diminution of legal status, and she obtains the right to make a will. 10. Regarding the manner and ritual of taking a virgin, no older records exist, except that the first one who was taken was taken by King Numa. 11. However, we find the Lex Papia, by which it is provided that twenty virgins should be selected from the people at the discretion of the Pontifex Maximus, and that a drawing of lots should take place in the assembly from that number; and that the pontiff should take whichever virgin is drawn, and she should become Vesta’s. 12. But that drawing of lots by the Lex Papia is now usually considered unnecessary. For if anyone born of an honorable family approaches the Pontifex Maximus and offers his daughter for the priesthood, provided only that her candidacy can be considered while respecting the observances of the religious rites, she is admitted through the Senate by the favor of the Papian law. 13. A virgin seems to be called "taken" because, being grasped by the hand of the Pontifex Maximus, she is led away from the parent in whose power she is, as if taken in war. 14. In the first book of Fabius Pictor, the words that the Pontifex Maximus must say when he takes a virgin are written. These words are: "I TAKE THEE, AMATA original: "Beloved", AS THE VESTAL PRIESTESS, WHO IS TO PERFORM THE SACRED RITES, WHO IS LEGALLY ENTITLED TO PERFORM THE VESTAL PRIESTESS’S DUTIES FOR THE ROMAN PEOPLE OF THE QUIRITES, JUST AS SHE WAS TAKEN UNDER THE BEST LAW." 15. Many, however, think that only a virgin is said to be "taken." But the Flamens Dialis, as well as the pontiffs and augurs, were also said to be "taken." 16. L. Sulla, in the second book of his Res Gestae Achievements, wrote thus: P. Cornelius, upon whom the surname Sulla was first imposed, was taken as Flamen Dialis. 17. M. Cato, when he accused Ser. Galba regarding the Lusitanians, said: Yet they say he wanted to defect. I now want to understand the pontifical law perfectly: will I be taken as a pontiff for that reason? If I want to hold augury perfectly, would anyone take me as an augur for that reason? 18. Further-