Chapter 57

The Mother's words to the daughter about how Rome must first be cleansed of the tares with a sharp iron sickle, then with fire, then with a pair of oxen.

The Mother speaks: ’Rome is like the field in which the tares had sprung up. It must first be cleansed with a sharp iron sickle, then purged with fire, and afterward plowed by a pair of oxen. I shall deal with you like a person transferring plants to a different place. A punishment is being prepared for this city, as if the judge were to say: ‘Strip all its hide off, remove all the blood from its flesh, cut up all its meat into bits, and crush its bones so that all the marrow is drained off.'”