acquaintance of a man, whom she met in
the groves. She knew well that by doing so she made herself subject
to the most dreadful penalties in case her fault should become known.
Still she yielded to the temptation, and allowed herself to be
persuaded to remain with the stranger. She said afterward, when the
facts were brought to light, that her meeting with this companion was
wholly unintentional on her part. She saw a wolf in the grove, she
said, and she ran terrified into a cave to escape from him, and that
the man came to her there, to protect her, and then compelled her to
remain with him. Besides, from his dress, and countenance, and air,
she had believed him, she said, to be the God Mars himself, and
thought that it was not her duty to resist his will.

However this may be, her stolen interview or interviews with this
stranger were not known at the time, and Rhea perhaps thought that her
fault would never be discovered. Some weeks after this, however, it
was observed by her companions and friends that she began to appear
thoughtful and depressed. Her dejection increased day by day; her face
became wan and pale, and her eyes were often filled with tears. They
asked her what was the cause of her trouble. She said that she was
sick. She was soon afterward excused from her duties in the Vestal
temple, and went away, and remained for some time shut up in
retirement and seclusion. There at length two children, twins, were
born to her.

It was only through the influence of Antho, Rhea's cousin, that the
unhappy vestal was not put to death by Amulius, before her children
were born, at the time when her fault was first discovered. The laws
of the State in respect to vestal virgins, which were inexorably
severe, would have justified him in causing her to be executed at
once, but Antho interceded so earnestly for her unhappy cousin, that
Amulius for a time spared her life. When, however, her sons were born,
the anger of Amulius broke out anew. If she had remained childless he
would probably have allowed her to live, though she could of course
never have been restored to her office in the temple of Vesta. Or if
she had given birth to a daughter she might have been pardoned, since
a daughter, on account of her sex, would have been little likely to
disturb Amulius in the possession of the kingdom. But the existence of
two sons, born directly in the line of the succession, and each of
them having claims superior to his own, end