At Delphi and at Athens the priestesses were not virgins, as at the other temples, but widows who were past the time of marriage. […] The virtues are at his side: at his feet the eagle who bears the thunderbolt. […] From their union sprang Memnon, who was killed by Achilles at the siege of Troy. […] The worship of Vulcan was well established, particularly in Egypt, at Athens, and at Rome. […] This celebrated instrument was a rod entwined at one end by two serpents.