Note 603 — MENSIS IUNIUS.

Vesta herself was originally simply the fire on the hearth (Frazer, op. cit. 152). Note that the flame was obtained afresh each year on March 1, even in historical times, by the primitive method of the friction of the wood of a ‘lucky’ tree (Festus, 106), or from the sun’s rays. We are not told which priest performed this rite.