But this depiction of Bellona as a Fury would also serve as a point of reconciliation. This depiction may have paradoxically helped the Senate justify their continued usage of the temple
of Bellona Victrix in a post-Sulla Rome. Furies are only dispatched when something has gone terribly wrong. Someone has been slighted, some corruption has been unleashed, something
or someone has thrown the cosmos out of balance. The Dirae are invoked in the wake of this disruption not with the purpose of worsening the condition of the cosmos, but rather with the
intent of rectifying the situation. They are unleashed upon the assailant, sent to utterly destroy the source of the unbalance, like removing a malignant cancer from an otherwise healthy body. This role echoes the Roman idea of ius bellum. The Romans always acted in defence of some slight, either upon them or an ally. Their retribution matched that of a Fury. The Romans prided themselves in never relenting until either the enemy was destroyed or the affront had been resolved. When the Senate met in her halls to discuss potential wars, they were essentially pleading their case to a Fury.
If indeed there was some slight, then Bellona, the embodiment of the Roman warrior, bearer of vengeance, would deliver swift retribution. When the Senate greeted foreign emissaries in the temple, it was a not so subtle reminder to the visitors that a Fury was watching. Her vengeance would not come meekly should whatever treaty was being ratified, whatever agreement was being made, be breached. Even if the visitors did not share the same understanding of Bellona’s role as a Fury, the Senate would have been aware of her presence, and it would colour the temple’s spatial identity. Bellona, as both deity of war and vengeance, seems like the natural agent to dole out the Senate’s justice. But this was a dangerous tool and Bellona’s fury was fickle. As the works of Vergil, Ovid, Statius, Seneca among others clearly demonstrate, Bellona’s rage could easily turn inward. To echo Rüpke, Bellona’s role as a Fury was “context-bound. Depending on the situation, Bellona’s nature as a Fury could either be a boon or a curse. At times, she was the aggressor of instability, at others, she was Rome’s deliverer.
