The Vestals were considered to be the protectoresses of the city as they maintained the sacred
flame of
Vesta. Any scandal involving any ot them was, therefore, a grave matter of state. It happened on several occasions that Vestals who broke their vows of chastity were entombed alive in a special crypt built for that purpose outside the Colline gate (near the site of the
Baths of
Diocletian). Vows were for terms of thrity years, and as most Vestals took them in childhood, many were
still in their late thirties or early forties when released from them. Those that chose to do so at that time could marry and some did; most stayed with the order, however. The
Vestal order was very wealthy and the Vestals were accorded a high degree of privilege in
Roman society, a degree not afforded to other women, even
Patrician matrons and other priestesses.
The
Vestal order was abolished by the emperor
Theodosius I in 394 AD and the sacred
flame extinguished. Within a year
Theodosius died and the empire was irrevocably split between East and
West. This wasn't like the political divisions that
had occurred previously in Rome's
history, but was a permanent splitting of the
Roman Empire into two separate states, essentially dissolving the empire as it
had existed up to that time. The inept
Honorius ruled the
West and
his equally capable brother
Arcadius the East, which was from that point forward what we think of as
Byzantium. The
West, now on its own, grew progressively weaker; the sack of
Rome by the
Visigoths under Alaric I occurred in 410. Interpret this as you will, but in a very real way the long-held belief that
Rome would permanently crumble were the sacred
flame of
Vestal ever to be extinguished did, in fact, come to pass.
