He describes the Festival of Juno, as celebrated at Falisci, the native place of his wife.

A s my wife was born at Falisci, so fruitful in apples, we repaired to the walls that were conquered, Camillus, by thee. 664 The priestesses were preparing the chaste festival of Juno, with distinguished games, and the heifer of the country. 'Twas a great remuneration for my stay, to be acquainted with the ceremony; although a path, difficult from the ascent, leads the way thither. There stands a grove, ancient, and shaded with numberless trees; look at it, you must confess that a Divinity exists in the spot. An altar receives the prayers, and the votive incense of the pious; an altar made without skill, by ancient hands.

When, from this spot, the pipe has given the signal with its usual note, the yearly procession moves along the covered paths. 665 Snow-white heifers 666 are led, as the crowd applauds, which the Faliscan grass has fed on its own plains; calves, too, not yet threatening with the forehead to inspire fear; and the pig, a smaller victim, from its lowly sty; the leader too, of the flock, with his horns bending back over his hardy temples; the goat alone is odious to the Goddess queen. By her betrayal, discovered in the lofty woods, 667 she is said to have desisted from the flight she had commenced. Even now, by the boys, is she aimed at as a mark; 668 and she is given, as a prize, to the author of her wound. Where the Goddess is to come, the youths and bashful girls sweep the roads before her, with garments 669 as they lie. Their virgin hair is adorned with gold and gems; and the proud mantle conceals their feet, bedecked with gold. After the Grecian manner 670 of their ancestors, clad in white garments, they bear the sacred vessels entrusted to them on their heads, placed beneath. The people hold religious silence, 671 at the moment when the resplendent procession comes up; and she herself follows after her priestesses.

Argive is the appearance of the procession; Agamemnon slain, Halesus 672 fled from both his crime and his father's wealth. And now, an exile, having wandered over both land and sea, he erected lofty walls with prospering hand. He taught his own Falisci the rites of Juno. May they be ever propitious to myself, may they be ever so to her own people.