The Annals and the Histories · Hist. 4.53

The work of rebuilding the Capitol was assigned by him to Lucius Vestinius, a man of the Equestrian order, [p. 630] who, however, for high character and reputation ranked among the nobles. The soothsayers whom he assembled directed that the remains of the old shrine should be removed to the marshes, and the new temple raised on the original site. The Gods, they said, forbade the old form to be changed. On the 21st of June, beneath a cloudless sky, the entire space devoted to the sacred enclosure was encompassed with chaplets and garlands. Soldiers, who bore auspicious names, entered the precincts with sacred boughs. Then the vestal virgins, with a troop of boys and girls, whose fathers and mothers were still living, sprinkled the whole space with water drawn from the fountains and rivers. After this, Helvidius Priscus, the prætor, first purified the spot with the usual sacrifice of a…

Cornelius Tacitus · trans. Church & Brodribb, 1876
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