Hercules quoque detractae religionis suae et gravem et manifestam poenam exegisse traditur: nam cum Potitii sacrorum eius ritum, quem pro dono genti eorum ab ipso adsignatum velut hereditarium obtinuerant, auctore Appio censore ad humile servorum <publicorum> ministerium transtulissent, omnes, qui erant numero super triginta, puberes intra annum exstincti sunt nomenque Potitium in duodecim familias divisum prope interiit.
Hercules also is said to have exacted a grievous and manifest penalty for the degrading of his cult. The Potitii had held the celebration of his rites as a gift assigned to their clan as in heredity by himself. But at the prompting of Censor Appius they had transferred it into the lowly hands of public slaves. All their adult males, numbering more than thirty, perished within the year, and the name of Potitius, which had been divided among twelve families, almost became extinct.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book1.json