Text #3288
. "A Book of Prodigies After the 505th year of Rome"[Ch. 24 ]
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24. M. Aemilio C. Hostilio Mancino coss. AUC 617/137 BC
When they were taking the auspices at Lavinium, the chickens flew from their coops into the Laurentine wood and could not be found. At Praeneste a blazing torch was seen in the sky, and it thundered on a tranquil day. At Terracina the praetor M. Claudius burst into flames from a thunderbolt on his ship. The Fucine lake overflowed for almost five thousand paces in all directions. In the Graecostasis and in the place of assembly it flowed with blood. On the Esquiline a foal with five feet was born. Many places were shattered by lightning. The consul Hostilius Mancinus at the gate of Hercules when he had embarked on his ship as he headed for Numantia, heard an unexpected voice: “Stay, Mancinus.” When he had left and afterwards embarked on a ship at Genua, a snake was found on the ship and escaped from his hands. The consul himself was defeated, then handed over to the Numantines.