Greek and Roman Parallel Stories (20)

When Erechtheus was at war with Eumolpus,[*] he learned that he would conquer if he sacrificed his daughter before the battle, and, communicating this to his wife Praxithea, he sacrificed his daughter.[*] Euripides[*] records this in the Erechtheus.

When Marius was fighting the Cimbri and was being worsted, he saw in a dream that he would conquer if he sacrificed his daughter before the battle; for he had a daughter Calpurnia. Since he placed his fellow-citizens before the ties of nature, he did the deed and won the victory. And even to this day there are two altars in Germany which at that time of year send forth the sound of trumpets. So Dorotheüs in the fourth book of his Italian History.[*]