Obstrepuere avium voces, exhorruit annus nomen, et insanum gemino proclamat ab ore eunuchumque vetat fastis accedere Ianus: sumeret inlicitos etenim si femina fasces, 320 esset turpe minus. Medis levibusque Sabaeis imperat hic sexus, reginarumque sub armis barbariae pars magna iacet: gens nulla probatur, eunuchi quae sceptra ferat. Tritonia, Phoebe, Terra, Ceres, Cybele, Iuno, Latona coluntur: 325 eunuchi quae templa dei, quas vidimus aras? inde sacerdotes; haec intrat pectora Phoebus; inde canunt Delphi; Troianam sola Minervam virginitas Vestalis adit flammasque tuetur: hi nullas meriti vittas semperque profani. 330 nascitur ad fructum mulier prolemque futuram: hoc genus inventum est ut serviat. Herculis arcu concidit Hippolyte; Danai fugere bipennem, Penthesilea, tuam; claras Carthaginis arces creditur et centum portis Babylona superbam 335 femineus struxisse labor. quid nobile gessit * * * * * Page 163 consul, and a man about to grant to others a liberty which he has not yet himself won. He mounts the lofty platform and amid a torrent of self-laudation boasts of a prophetic dream he had in Egypt[94] and of the defeat of tyrants which he foretold. No doubt the goddess of war stayed her avenging hand and waited till that emasculate Tiresias, that unmanned Melampus, could crawl back with oracles culled from farthest Nile. Loud sang the prophetic birds in warning. The year shuddered at the thought of bearing Eutropius’ name, and Janus proclaimed the madness of the choice from his two mouths, forbidding a eunuch to have access to his annals. Had a woman assumed the fasces, though this were illegal it were nevertheless less disgraceful. Women bear sway among the Medes and swift Sabaeans; half barbary is governed by martial queens. We know of no people who endure a eunuch’s rule. Worship is paid to Pallas, Phoebe, Vesta, Ceres, Cybele, Juno, and Latona; have we ever seen a temple built or altars raised to a eunuch god? From among women are priestesses chosen; Phoebus enters into their hearts; through their voices the Delphian oracle speaks; none but the Vestal Virgins approach the shrine of Trojan Minerva and tend her flame: eunuchs have never deserved the fillet and are always unholy. A woman is born that she may bear children and perpetuate the human race; the tribe of eunuchs was made for servitude. Hippolyte fell but by the arrow of Hercules; the Greeks fled before Penthesilea’s axe; Carthage, far-famed citadel, proud Babylon with her hundred gates, are both said to have been built by a woman’s hand. What noble deed did [94] In 394 Arcadius had sent Eutropius to the Thebaid to consult a certain Christian prophet, John, upon the result of Eugenius’ revolt (Sozom. vii. 22. 7, 8).