Aelius Donatus tells of the birth of Virgil...[Virgil] was born on the ides of October, during the first consulship of Gnaeus Pompeius the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus [i.e., 15 October 70], in a region called Andes, not far from Mantua. 3. While she was pregnant with him, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a laurel branch, which struck root when it touched the earth and sprang up on the spot, so that it looked like a full-grown tree, stuffed with diverse fruits and flowers. And the following day, while she was making for the neighboring fields with her husband, she turned aside from the path, threw herself into a ditch, and disburdened herself by delivering the child. 4. In this manner they say that the child was born, and did not cry, so mild was his countenance; that even then, he gave men no small reason to hope that his birth would prove to be auspicious. 5. Another presage was added to this, when the poplar sprout that is immediately planted in the same place by women who have given birth (according to the custom of the region) actually grew up so fast that it stood level with the poplars sown long before. It is called on that account the "tree of Virgil," and prayers for childbirth and safe delivery are still offered with the greatest reverence there by pregnant women and new mothers.
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