Time Scout by Robert Asprin & Linda Evans

”Cybele?” Margo whispered

Malcolm just nodded He was listening to the chanting priests. What were they saying? The crowd took up the chant, too, as the Magna Mater passed regally by Some people tossed coins which weeping priests scooped off the paving stones and drop into little bowls. Behind the gilded image came two priests who led a great black bull with scarlet robes draped across its back. At the rear of the procession came trumpeters, flute players, and a host of young men who stumbled along with glazed eyes, beating themselves with flails and wailing. They carried no reed scepters.

”Who are they?” Margo asked.

”Initiates. They’ll dedicate themselves to Attis today. But I rather doubt they’ll do it in the traditional Phrygian fashion. Claudius hasn’t legalized that.”

”They look stoned.”

”They probably are.”

She stared. “Why?”

”Purification ritual. Come on, if we scramble, I know a way up the hill.”

Margo followed his lead as they dodged up the Palatine through narrow alleys that led past the imperial palace toward the crowning Temple of Magna Mater. Crowds had gathered there, too. In a courtyard at the front of the temple they found space to jam themselves close enough to watch. The shrill of flutes, trumpets, and wailing voices drew nearer as the procession wound its way up the far side of the Palatine.

”They’re passing through the Forum,” Malcolm explained, “down the Sacra Via. Look, here they come.”

Margo stood on tiptoe, anxious not to miss anything. What exactly was going on? She didn’t know anything about Attis or Cybele-and Malcolm was so caught up in the moment she didn’t want to interrupt to ask for explanations. The High Priest arrived first and took a position near a long, deep trench which had been dug in the courtyard. Planks capped it, arranged so that gaps showed. The images of Attis, Cybele, and the pine tree were carried up the steps to the entrance of the temple. The leashed lions snarled at the crowd The roar vibrated against Margo’s chest, bringing a prickle of unreasoning terror to the back of her neck.