XII. [1] But in fact, Domitius says that that it was not circles of wheat, as was said above, but celery²⁶ (of which there was a great abundance in the area), used in place of tables for the purpose of taking up food, that was spread out underneath; they ate this itself when the other edible things had been consumed, and they understood immediately afterwards that it was those tables that it had been foretold they would eat. [2]  When meanwhile the sow had been sprinkled with meal and they were finishing the sacrifice on the shore, it is reported that the Argive fleet which Ulysses was on turned towards them; and although he was afraid that he would be recognised by the enemy and be placed in danger, and he was also thinking that interrupting holy business was a terrible evil, he covered his head with a veil and completed the rites with the full ceremony. So from then that manner of sacrificing was handed down, as Marcus Octavius writes in his first book.

[3] But in fact, Domitius in his first book teaches that Aeneas was advised by an oracle of Delphian Apollo to make for Italy and to found a city at the place where he came upon two seas and ate a lunch including his tables. [4] And so he went out into the Laurentine region, and when he had advanced a little from the shore, he arrived at two pools of salty water next to each other. He washed himself there and restored himself with food, and also consumed the celery which had then been spread out underneath in place of a table, Then, judging without doubt that those were the two seas, because in those lakes was the likeness of sea-water, and that he had eaten his tables, which were made out of a spread of celery, he founded a city in that place, and called it Lavinium because he had washed [laverit] in the pool. Then five hundred iugera ²⁷ were given to him by King Latinus of the Aborigines for him to live in.

[5] But Cato in The Origin of the Roman People teaches as follows: the sow gave birth to thirty piglets in that place where Lavinium is now, and when Aeneas decided to found a city there and was disheartened because of the infertility of the soil, the images of the divine Penates appeared to him in his sleep encouraging him to persevere in founding the city that he had begun; for after as many years as there had been offspring of the sow, the Trojans would migrate to a fertile place and more productive soil, and would found the city with the most famous name in Italy.