Vesta and Her Virgins, Ovid, Fasti 6.283-294

Vesta and Her Virgins:

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Fasti  6.283 – 294

You may ask, “Why is the goddess Vesta worshipped by virgin priestesses?”

I’ve found her reasons why.

They say that Juno and Ceres were born

from Ops and Saturn; Vesta was their third daughter.

The first two got married and had kids;

Of the three, only Vesta remained indifferent to men.

So it’s not surprising that a virgin will enjoy

Having virgin priestesses and

Chaste hands taking care of her sacred rites.

And don’t just imagine Vesta as a living flame;

You’ll find nothing born of flames.

Instead, Vesta is a virgin woman, who rightly

Neither conceives or receives, and

Loves companions in her virginity.     

Vesta and Her Virgins

Cur sit virginibus, quaeris, dea culta ministris?
inveniam causas hac quoque parte suas.
Ex Ope Junonem memorant Cereremque creatas               
semine Saturni; tertia Vesta fuit.
Utraque nupserunt, ambae peperisse feruntur;
de tribus impatiens restitit una viri.
Quid mirum, virgo si virgine laeta ministra
admittit castas ad sua sacra manus?               
Nec tu aliud Vestam quam vivam intellege flammam;

nataque de flamma corpora nulla vides.
Iure igitur virgo est, quae semina nulla remittit
nec capit, et comites virginitatis amat.

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.