When the Carthaginians and Siceliots were negotiating an alliance against the Romans, Vesta was the only divinity to whom Metellus, the general, did not sacrifice. She, accordingly, sent a contrary wind against his ships. Gaius Julius, the augur, said that it would abate if Metellus should sacrifice his daughter. Forced by necessity, he brought forward his daughter Metella. But Vesta took pity, substituted a heifer, transported the maiden to Lanuvium,Cf. Propertius, iv. 8. 3. and appointed her priestess of the serpent that is worshipped by the people there. So Pythocles in the third book of his .

The like fate of Iphigeneia at Aulis in Boeotia Menyllus relates in the first book of his .