Interrupit hos sermones nocte quae pridie Quinquatrus fuit pluribus simul locis circa forum incendium ortum. Eodem tempore septem tabernae quae postea quinque, et argentariae quae nunc novae appellantur, arsere; conprehensa postea privata aedificia--neque enim tum basilicae erant--conprehensae lautumiae forumque piscatorium et atrium regium. Aedis Vestae vix defensa est tredecim maxime servorum opera, qui in publicum redempti ac manu missi sunt.

Such utterances were interrupted on the night before the Quinquatrus by a fire which broke out in several places at once about the Forum. At the same time the seven shops which later were five, and the bankers' offices, now called Tabernae Novae, caught fire; then private houses took fire--for there were no basilicas then--, the quarter of the Quarries took fire, and the Fish Market and the Atrium Regium. The Temple of Vestae was saved with difficulty chiefly by the aid of thirteen slaves, who were purchased by the state and manumitted.