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In the time of a great plague in Lacedaemon, they
were told by the oracle, that the pestilence would cease
upon the sacrificing of a noble virgin every year. It fell
one time by lot to Helena, who was brought out and
dressed up ready for the sacrifice. An eagle at that time
flying by took away the sword, and carrying it into a herd
of cattle laid it down upon a heifer; whereupon they
spared the virgin.—Aristodemus, in his Third Collection
of Fables.
There was a dreadful plague in Falerii, which the oracle
said would be removed upon the sacrificing of a virgin to
Juno every year. While this superstition was in course,
it fell to Valeria Luperca's lot to be the sacrifice. An
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eagle flew away with the drawn sword, but laid a stick
upon the fuel prepared for the fire, with a little mallet
fixed to it. The sword he threw upon a heifer feeding
near the temple. The virgin perceiving this sacrificed
the heifer; and taking up the mallet, went about from house
to house, and with a gentle knock called to those that
were sick, bidding them be of good health. And this
was the rise of the ceremony which continues to this day.
—Aristides, in his Nineteenth Book of Italian Histories.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.
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