Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda
Majestate loci, si robora sacra ferirent
In sua credebant redituras membra secures. (Lucan. iii. 419).
"Is it true" (said Augustus to a veteran of Italy, at whose house he supped) "that the man who gave the first blow to the golden statue of Anaitis was instantly deprived of his eyes and of his life?" — "I was that man" (replied the near-sighted veteran), "and you now sup on one of the legs of the goddess." (Plin. Hist. Natur. cxxiii. 24).