Classical Mythology

(^638) THE NATURE OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
cated to the Camenae, water-nymphs of great antiquity but unknown origin.
Later they were identified with the Greek Muses. The Vestals drew water from
the fountain of the Camenae for the purification of the temple of Vesta. Closely
associated with the spring of the Camenae was the nymph Egeria, said to have
been the counselor and consort of Numa, to whom so much of Roman religious
custom was ascribed. Egeria is also found in the precinct of Diana at Aricia, and
her spring was one of those that fed Lake Nemi. She was the helper of pregnant
women and may indeed have once been a birth-goddess. Another nymph asso-
ciated with the Camenae is Carmentis (or Carmenta), who also has the double
association with water and with birth. As a water-nymph she shared the festi-
val of Juturna, and she is sometimes named as the mother of Evander, the king
of Pallanteum, an earlier city on the site of Rome. Like the Parcae (the Roman
birth-goddesses identified with the three Fates) she had prophetic powers, as is
indicated by her name, for carmen means a song or prophetic utterance.
DIANA
The Italian goddess Diana was worshiped at Aricia with a cult that was established
by members of the Latin League. Aricia is near Lake Nemi, which was known as
"Diana's mirror," perhaps indicating her association with the moon, reflected in
the waters of the lake. This cult was the starting point for Sir James Frazer's The
Golden Bough. The priest of Diana at Aricia was a fugitive slave, who had the title
of "King of the Grove" (rex nemorensis). He became priest by killing his predeces-
sor in single combat, having challenged him by plucking a bough from a sacred
tree. As priest he always went armed, watching for the successor who would kill
him. It is likely that the sacred grove was originally an asylum for runaway slaves
and the sacred bough was the branch carried by suppliants at an altar.
Diana was concerned with the life of women (especially in childbirth). She
was often identified with the Italian goddess Lucina, who brought babies into
the light (Latin, lux, lucis), although Lucina was more commonly a title of Juno.
Diana was also worshiped at Mt. Tifata near Capua. It is possible that this
is where she began to be identified with Artemis. Through Artemis she acquired
her powers as goddess of the hunt and (as Hecate) her association with the Un-
derworld. At Rome she was worshiped upon the Aventine Hill, and her cult
was established by Servius Tullius. Like her cult at Aricia, it was originally shared
by members of the Latin League, being situated outside the early city's walls.
Under Augustus her status as sister of Apollo was emphasized and was dra-
matically expressed in Horace's Carmen Saeculare, sung at the celebration of the
Secular Games in 17 B.c. by antiphonal choirs of boys and girls, standing re-
spectively upon the Palatine and Aventine hills.
Horace embodies the triple functions of Diana (as Artemis, mistress of ani-
mals; Lucina, goddess of childbirth; and Hecate, goddess of the Underworld) in
the following hymn, in which he dedicates a pine tree to her (Odes 3. 22):