in antiquity, a statue of the goddess Pallas, supposed to have dropped down from heaven, preserved in Troy, whereon the fate of that city is said to have depended. It is said that there was anciently a statue of Pallas preserved at Rome, in the temple of Vesta, which some pretended to be the true palladium of Troy, brought into Italy by Æneas: it was kept among the sacred things of the temple, and only known to the priests and vestals. It was esteemed the destiny of Rome; and there were several others made perfectly like it to secure it from being stolen,