§ i  A fascinating poem of ca. 160 CE, in an inscription placed by Herodes Atticus at a shrine to Demeter and Faustina on his late wife Regilla's family estate along the Appian Way outside Rome. The poem traces their ancestry back to mythical heroes. The author might be Marcellus of Side, immortalized in a cure for lycanthropy. Greek text at IGUR III 1155 (PHI)

§ 1  By Marcellus
Come, daughters of Tibur, to this shrine, ladies
Who bring incense offerings to the abode of Regilla;
She was born of the wealthy race of Aeneas,
The famed stock of Anchises and Idean Aphrodite;

§ 5  She married into Marathon. The heavenly goddesses
Old and New Demeter honor her, goddesses
In whose shrine the image of the lovely-girded woman
Is dedicated. She herself, however, dwells with the heroines
In the Isles of the Blessed where Kronos is King.

§ 10  She has received this as reward for her virtuous mind,
Since Zeus pitied her mourning mate,
Lying in withered age in a widowed bed,
Since the snatching black Fates carried off

§ 15  More than half his children from his blameless halls.
Two children still were left him, very young and pure, innocent of all wrong,
From whom pitiless fate snatched such a mother
Before she had attained the old woman’s spindle.
Zeus gave him [Herodes] a gift in his unceasing grief,

§ 20  And [so did] the Emperor (βασιλεύς), like to Zeus in his nature and mind.
Zeus brought his blooming wife to Ocean with
Elysian breezes of Zephyr;
While he [the Emperor] gave Herodes’ son the starry footgear
To wear about his ankles, which they say Hermes also wore

§ 25  When he led Aeneas out of battle with the Greeks
Through shadowy night. And on his feet, the shining savior,
Was a [broad] circle like the moon.
And this circle the descendents of Aeneas once upon a time sewed onto their shoes
To be the privilege of well-born Ausonians.

§ 30  Do not begrudge him, descendant of Kekrops though he be,
The ancient ankle-insignia of the Tyrian [Etruscan] men, [he is]
Descendant of Herse and Hermes, if true it is
That Keryx is the ancestor of Thesean Herodes.
For this reason he is honored and eponymous [consul ordinarius],
Enrolled, on the one hand, in the ruling Senate,

§ 35  where are the front-row [consular] seats,
And in Greece, on the other hand, there is no one more regal (βασιλεύτερος) in birth or speech
Than Herodes; they call him ‘the tongue of Athens.’
She herself, the fair-ankled descendant of Aeneas
and of Ganymede, was also of the Dardanian race

§ 40  Of Tros, son of Erichthonios. But you, if you will, make offerings
And sacrifices. But sacrifices are not needed from the unwilling;
It is good, though, for the pious to pay heed also to the heroes.
She is not a mortal, but neither was she made a goddess.
Wherefore she received neither a sacred temple nor a tomb,

§ 45  Not honors due to mortals, nor those due to the gods.
There is a temple-like monument for her in the city of Athena,
But her soul tends the scepter of Radamanthes.
This statue [of Regilla] stands as a gift in honor of Faustina
In the Triopion, where there were formerly her broad fields,

§ 50  A choir of vineyards, and olive orchards.
The goddess would not dishonor her, queen of women,
To be the handmaid of her honors and attendant nymph.
For Artemis, arrow-pourer of the lovely throne, scorned not Iphigenia,
Nor did Gorgon-faced Athena scorn Herse,

§ 55  Nor will the corn-bearing mother of mighty Caesar,
Guardian-goddess for the nymphs of old, overlook her as she
Enters the dance of the earlier demi-goddesses,
For it is her [Faustina’s] prerogative to superintend the dances of Elysium
With blessed Alcmene and Kadmos’ daughter.

§ 60  [Stele II] Lady Tritogeneia, sovereign of the Athenians,
And you who oversee the works of men, Rhamnousian Nemesis,
Next-door neighbors of hundred-gated Rome,
Honor this rich land also, Goddess,

§ 65  The home friendly to strangers of Triopian Demeter
As long as the Triopeiai are counted among the immortals.
As once you came to Rhamnous and Athens of the broad dancing floors,
Leaving the house of your father the thunderer,
So strengthen likewise this vineyard rich in clusters,
Visiting the standing corn, the trees heavy with vines,

§ 70  And the luxuriant tresses of the meadows.
Herodes released this land to be sacred for you,
An extent crowned by a smoothly-running wall,
To remain unmoved and sacrosanct for generations
To come. Athena granted, shaking her helmet-crest

§ 75  Terribly from her immortal head,
That [no one can] move one clod or rock
Without penalty, since the dooms of the Fates
Are to be reckoned with if anyone do mischief to the seats of the gods.
Listen, neighboring landowners and laborers,

§ 80  The ground is sacred, and the Goddesses,
Immovable, and honored, are ready to lend an ear.
Let no one take a mattock, servant of dark Hades,
To the rows of vines or groves of trees
Or verdant meadows luxuriant with fodder,

§ 85  To build a new tomb here or plunder the old one.
For it is sacrilege to bury a body here with hallowed soil
Except for relatives and future descendants of the family.
For them it is not improper, since the founder is the avenger.
For even Athena herself, you see, once put King Erichthonios

§ 90  In her temple to be partner in her cult.
If someone fails to heed these warnings and does not obey them,
But dishonors [the sanctuary], let this not go unavenged—
But dire Nemesis and an avenging whirlwind
Will pay him back and roll him in abominable evil.

§ 95  For the strength of Triopas son of Aeolos
Availed him little when he sacked Demeter’s temple.
Shun the punishment and the story that explains the place’s name,
Lest the Triopian Fury catch up with you!