The Capture of a Vestal Virgin

So what would happen to a young girl who is chosen as a vestal virgin then? So the tradi n is a process called capture. This could happen in a couple of different ways. Sometimes families will volunteer a child to be put up for consideration and they have to fulfil all the criteria. But there are some periods in rome's history where candidate put forward will be selected. What seems to happen in the late republic is that they have about ten to 20 candidates offered, who all fit the requirements, and are then selected by lot. And that process allows for a more formal idea of capture to come into play. this very weird thing that happens to some priests and to the vest