Egeria
A nymph of Aricia in Italy, where Diana was particularly worshipped. Egeria was courted by Numa, and, according to Ovid, became his wife. Ovid says that she was disconsolate at the death of Numa, and that she wept so violently that Diana changed her into a fountain. Lord Byron, in the fourth canto of Childe Harold, has a beautiful invocation to the nymph, while describing the fountain of Egeria: "Here did'st thou sit in this enchanted cover, Egeria! thy all heavenly bosom beating For the far footsteps of thy mortal lover; The purple midnight veil'd that mystic meeting With her most starry canopy, and seating Thyself by thine adorer, what befell?
This cave was surely shap'd out for the greeting Of an enamor'd goddess, and the cell Haunted by holy love-the earliest oracle!"