The ordeal of the Vestal Tuccia

The Vestal Tuccia was accused of breaking her vow of virginity — a crime for which one was buried alive. She demanded an ordeal and addressed the goddess.

The prayer is not a request but a judicial procedure. Si sacris tuis castas semper admovi manus, effice ut hoc hauriam e Tiberi aquam — if I have always brought clean hands to your rites, bring it about that I draw water from the Tiber with this and carry it to your temple. The conditional clause contains the substance of the charge, the main clause a plain impossibility. The goddess is asked to deliver a verdict in the form of a miracle, and the decision will be visible to everyone present.

Hoc — "with this": the object is not named. By tradition it is a sieve. Valerius Maximus leaves the demonstrative standing, as though the thing were being held up.

What this is as a source. Valerius Maximus is a compiler of improving examples, writing two and a half centuries after the events. The story of the sieve was told of other Vestals besides Tuccia, and what we have is testimony not to an occurrence but to what Romans told about their priestesses. The ordeal itself is genuine: an accused Vestal could indeed demand proof, and such cases were tried in earnest.