Book 2, Chapter 20

45 “What does he accomplish by hurling a thunderbolt into the open sea? Or onto the highest mountains, as usually happens? Or into deserted wildernesses? Or onto the shores of peoples who do not even observe these things?

“‘But the head was found in the Tiber.’ As though I denied these men had a system of some kind! What I deny is divination. The division of the sky I mentioned earlier, and the recording of particular observations, tell us where the thunderbolt came from and where it went. No reasoning tells us what it signifies. But you press me with my own verses:

“‘For the Father, thundering high, enthroned on starry Olympus,Himself once struck his own hills and temples,And hurled his fires upon the Capitol's shrines.’

“Then Natta's statue, then images of the gods, and Romulus and Remus with the beast that nursed them, were struck by a thunderbolt and fell; and the haruspices gave responses about these things that proved entirely true.

46 “‘What is astonishing is that at the very time when evidence of the conspiracy was being given in the Senate, the statue of Jupiter was being set up on the Capitol, two years after it had been commissioned. Will you really bring yourself’—this was how you pressed me—‘to defend that case against your own actions and writings?’ You are my brother; that makes me hesitate. Yet what is really troubling you here? The nature of the case, or my desire to uncover the truth? I make no counterclaim; I ask you for an explanation of the whole art of haruspicy. But you have slipped into a marvelous hiding place. You understood that you would be hard pressed when I demanded the causes of each form of divination, and so you spent many words insisting that, since you saw the facts, you did not ask for a reason or a cause: what happened was relevant, not why. As though I conceded that these things happened, or as though it were a philosopher's business not to inquire into the cause

45 “What does he achieve by throwing a thunderbolt into the middle of the sea? Or onto the highest mountains, as he very often does? Or into empty wildernesses? Or onto the coasts of peoples who do not even watch for these signs?

“‘But the head was found in the Tiber.’ As if I were denying that these men have any skilled method! I reject the claim to predict the future. By dividing up the sky as I described and keeping records of particular facts, they can establish a thunderbolt’s starting point and destination. But no reasoning teaches what it means. You press me with my own verses:

“‘For the Father whose thunder sounds above, supported by star-filled Olympus,Once took aim himself at his own hills and templesAnd hurled fire onto the buildings of the Capitol.’

“Then a thunderbolt struck with such force that down fell Natta’s statue, the gods’ images, and Romulus and Remus together with their animal nurse. And the haruspices’ predictions about these events proved completely true.

46 “‘But the amazing thing is that the installation of Jupiter’s statue on the Capitol coincided exactly with the disclosure of the conspiracy to the senate; the contract had been awarded two years earlier. Can you really bring yourself’—this is how you argued with me—‘to defend a case that goes against your own actions and writings?’ You are my brother, and that makes me hesitate. But what is working against you here? The facts, which are what they are? Or me, because I want the truth explained? So I am not contradicting you. I am asking you for a reasoned account of the whole practice of the haruspices. But you have found an extraordinary hiding place. You knew you would be pressed hard when I asked you for the causes of each kind of divination. So you spoke at length about not asking for reasons and causes when you saw the facts: what happened mattered, not why it happened. As if I either agreed that it happened, or it were a philosopher’s business not to ask the cause