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AUGURS

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 904 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AUGURS , in See also:

ancient See also:Rome, members of a religious See also:college whose See also:duty it was to observe and interpret the signs (auspices) of approval or disapproval sent by the gods in reference to any proposed undertaking. The augures were originally called auspices, but, while auspex' See also:fell into disuse and was replaced by augur, auspicium was retained as the scientific See also:term for the observation of signs. The See also:early See also:history of the college is obscure. Its institution has been attributed to See also:Romulus or Numa. It probably consisted originally of three members, of whom the See also:king himself was one. This number was doubled by Tarquinius See also:Priscus, but in 300 B.C. it was only four, two places, according to See also:Livy (x. 6), being vacant. The Ogulnian See also:law in the same See also:year increased the number to nine, five plebeian being added to the four patrician members. In the See also:time of See also:Sulla the number was fifteen, which was increased to sixteen by See also:Julius See also:Caesar. This number continued in imperial times; the college itself was certainly in existence as See also:late as the 4th See also:century. The See also:office of augur, which was bestowed only upon persons of distinguished merit and was much sought after by See also:reason of its See also:political importance, was held for See also:life. Vacancies were originally filled by co-optation, but by the See also:Domitian law (104) the selection was made, by seventeen out of the See also:thirty-five tribes chosen by See also:lot, from candidates previously nominated by the college.

The insignia of office were the See also:

lituus, a See also:staff See also:free from knots and See also:bent at the See also:top, and the trabea, a See also:kind of toga with See also:bright See also:scarlet stripes and a See also:purple border. The See also:science of augury was contained in various written See also:works, which were consulted as occasion arose: such were the libri augurum, a See also:manual of augural See also:ritual, and the See also:commentarii augurum, a collection of decrees or answers given by the college to the See also:senate in certain definite cases. ' There is no doubt that auspex=avi-spex (" observer of birds "), but the derivation of augur is still unsettled. The following have been suggested: (I) augur (or augus) is a substantive originall meaning increase " (related to See also:augustus as robur to robustus~, then transferred to the See also:priest as the giver of increase or blessing; (2) =avi-gur, the second See also:part of the word pointing to (a) garrire, " chatter," or (b) gerere, the augur being conceived as " carrying or guiding the See also:flight of the birds; (3) from a lost verb augo =` tell," " declare." It is now generally agreed that the science of augury is of See also:Italian, not See also:Etruscan, origin. AUGURS 903 The natural region to look to for signs of the will of See also:Jupiter was the See also:sky, where See also:lightning and the flight of birds seemed directed by him as counsel to men. The latter, however, was the more difficult of See also:interpretation, and upon it, therefore, mainly hinged the See also:system of See also:divination with which the augurs were occupied. It was the duty of the augur, before the auspices properly so called (those from the sky and from birds) were taken, to See also:mark out with his staff the templum or consecrated space within which his observations were intended to be made. The method of See also:procedure was as follows. At midnight, when the sky was clear and there was an See also:absence of See also:wind, the augur, in the presence of a See also:magistrate, took up his position on a See also:hill which afforded a wide view. After See also:prayer and See also:sacrifice, he marked out the templum both in the sky and on the ground and dedicated it. Within its limits he then pitched a See also:tent, in which he sat down with covered See also:head, asked the gods for a sign, and waited for an See also:answer. As the augur looked See also:south he had the See also:east, the lucky See also:quarter, on his See also:left, and therefore signs on the left See also:side were considered favourable, those on the right unfavourable.

The practice was the See also:

reverse in See also:Greece; the observers of signs looked towards the See also:north, so that signs on the right were regarded as the favourable ones, and this is frequently adopted in the See also:Roman poets. The augur afterwards announced the result of his observations in a set See also:form of words, by which the magistrate was See also:bound. Signs of the will of the gods were of two kinds, either in answer to a See also:request (auspicia impetrativa), or incidental (auspicia oblativa). Of such signs there were five classes: (I) Signs in the sky (caelestia auspicia), consisting chiefly of See also:thunder and lightning, but not excluding falling stars and other phenomena. Lightning from left to right was favourable, from right to left unfavourable; but on its See also:mere See also:appearance, in either direction, all business in the public assemblies was suspended for the See also:day. Since the See also:person charged to take the auspices for a certain day was constitutionally subject to rio other authority who could test the truth or false-See also:hood of his statement that he had observed lightning, this became a favourite See also:device for putting off meetings of the public See also:assembly. Restrictions were, however, imposed in later republican times. When a new See also:consul, See also:praetor or See also:quaestor entered on his first day of office and prayed the gods for See also:good omens, it was a See also:matter of See also:custom to See also:report to him that lightning from the left had been seen. (2) Signs from birds (signa ex avibus) , with reference to the direction of their flight, and also to their singing, or uttering other sounds. To the first class, called alites, belonged the See also:eagle and the See also:vulture; to the second, called oscines, the See also:owl, the See also:crow and the See also:raven. The mere appearance of certain birds indicated good or See also:ill See also:luck, while others had a reference only to definite persons or events. In matters of See also:ordinary life on which divine counsel was prayed for, it was usual to have recourse to this form of divination.

For public affairs it was, by the time of See also:

Cicero, superseded by the fictitious observation of lightning. (3) Feeding of birds (auspicia ex tripudiis), which consisted in observing whether a bird—usually a fowl—on See also:grain being thrown before it, let fall a particle from its mouth (tripudium sollistimum). If it did so, the will of the gods was in favour of the enterprise in question. The simplicity of this ceremony recommended it for very See also:general use, particularly in the See also:army when on service. The fowls were kept in cages by a servant, styled pullarius. In imperial times decuriales pullarii are mentioned. (4) Signs from animals (pedestria auspicia, or ex quadrupedibus), i.e. observation of the course of, or sounds uttered by, quadrupeds and See also:reptiles within a fixed space, corresponding to the observations of the flight of birds, but much less frequently employed. It had gone out of use by the time of Cicero. (5) Warnings (signa ex diris), consisting of all unusual phenomena, but chiefly such as boded ill. Being accidental in their occurrence, they belonged to the auguria oblativa, and their interpretation was not a matter for the augurs, unless occurring in the course of some public transaction, in which See also:case they formed a divine See also:veto against it. Otherwise, reference was made for an interpretation to the pontifices in olden times,afterwards frequently to the Sibylline books,or the Etruscan See also:haruspices, when the incident was not already provided for by a See also:rule, as, for example, that it was unlucky for a person leaving his See also:house to meet a raven, that the sudden See also:death of a person from See also:epilepsy at a public See also:meeting was a sign to break up the assembly. Among the other means of discovering the will of the gods were the casting of lots, oracles of See also:Apollo (in the hands of the college sacris faciundis), but chiefly the examination of the entrails of animals slain for sacrifice (see See also:OMEN).

Anything abnormal found there was brought under the See also:

notice of the augurs, but usually the Etruscan haruspices were employed for this. The persons entitled to ask for an expression of the divine will on a public affair were the magistrates. To the highest offices, including all persons of consular and praetorian See also:rank, belonged the right of taking auspicia See also:maxima; to the inferior offices of See also:aedile and quaestor, the auspicia minora; the See also:differences between these, however, must have been small. The subjects for which auspicia publica were always taken were the See also:election of magistrates, their entering on office, the holding of a public assembly to pass decrees, the setting out of an army for See also:war. They could only be taken in Rome itself; and in case of a See also:commander having to renew his auspicia, he must either return to Rome or select a spot in the See also:foreign See also:country to represent the See also:hearth of that See also:city. The time for observing auspices was, as a rule, between midnight and See also:dawn of the day fixed for any proposed undertaking. In military affairs this course was not always possible, as in the case of taking auspices before See also:crossing a See also:river. The See also:founding of colonies, the beginning of a See also:battle, the calling together an army, the sittings of the senate, decisions of See also:peace or war, were occasions, not always but frequently, for taking auspices. The See also:place where the ceremony was performed was not fixed, but selected with a view to the matter in See also:hand. A spot being selected, the See also:official charged to make the observation pitched his tent there some days before. A matter postponed through adverse signs from the gods could on the following or some future day be again brought forward for the auspices. If an See also:error (vitium) occurred in the auspices, the augurs could, of their own See also:accord or at the request of the senate, inform themselves of the circumstances, and See also:decree upon it.

A consul could refuse to accept their decree while he remained in office, but on retiring he could be prosecuted. Auspicia oblativa referred mostly to the See also:

comitia. A magistrate was not bound to take notice of signs reported merely by a private person, but he could not overlook such a report from a See also:brother magistrate. For example, if a quaestor on his entry to office observed lightning and announced it to the consul, the latter must delay the public assembly for the day. On the subject generally, see A. Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la divination clans 1'antiquiti 879), and his articles, with bibliography, in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire See also:des antiquitis; also articles "Augures," "Auspicium," by Wissowa in Pauly's Realencyclopadie (II. pt. ii., 1896), and by L. C. See also:Purser (and others) in See also:Smith's See also:Dictionary of See also:Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed., 1890).

End of Article: AUGURS

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