17
When Antylus,Some would write Metellus and make it refer to Caecilius Metellus, the Pontifex Maximus; cf. Seneca Rhetor, Controversiae, iv. 2; Pliny, Natural History, vii. 43 (141); cf. also Livy, Periocha, xix. and Ovid, Fasti, vi. 437 ff. one of the noblemen, was on his way to the outskirts of the city, he was checked by crows which struck at him with their wings. Frightened by the omen, he returned to Rome. He saw that the shrine of Vesta was on fire, seized the Palladium, and was blinded. But later he regained his sight when he had placated the goddess. So Aristeides the Milesian in his Italian History.
18
When the Thracians were at war with the Athenians, they received an oracle that they would be victorious if they should spare Codrus; but Codrus took a scythe and, in the guise of a poor man, went to meet the enemy. He slew one and was killed by the second, and thus the Athenians gained the victory. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, vii. 67 (iii. p. 332 Hense). So Socrates in the second book of his Thracian History.
18
When Publius Decius, a Roman, was warring against the Albans, he saw in a dream that, if he should die, his death would bring strength to the Romans. He went into the thick of the battle, slew many, and was himself slain. In like manner did his son Decius also save the Romans in the war against the Gauls. Cf. Livy, viii. 9; x. 28; also Moralia, 499 b. So Aristeides the Milesian.
