their stables, their jockeys and their horses. There was no bar
of religious tradition or of social custom which hindered a Vestal
from freely mingling with men visibly in the open daylight in
public. Visiting the stables of the racing companies had long been
a fad with Rome's social leaders, men and women alike. Brinnaria
availed herself of her freedom in this regard and followed her
inclination. She haunted the training-stables of all six corporations,
but mostly of the Greens, always in company with Manlia, or
Flexinna, or Nemestronia or some other of her women friends;
she visited the barracks almost daily, chatted with the charioteers,
grooms and ostlers, watched the exercising of the teams,
inspected the stalls, conned the racers.

She made herself an excellent judge of a jockey and a better
judge of a horse.

She interested herself in the methods by which the companies
obtained and selected their animals. She became an adept on
the entire subject of horse-raising. It engrossed her thoughts.

Then she herself took over the management of several of her
estates in the environs of Rome; of all, in fact, which were near
enough for her to visit personally. She redistributed the force of
slaves that managed them, sold some, bought others and fitted up
the properties as stud-farms. Herself she selected the brood
mares and stallions with which to stock these estates. She herself
laid down the principles guiding their management and she herself
dictated the methods of breeding them. She herself superintended
the carrying out of her orders, visiting each estate frequently and
inspecting everything carefully and intelligently.