Book 2, Chapter 29
Original Latin
62 Quod etiam coniector quidam et interpres portentorum non inscite respondisse dicitur ei, qui quondam ad eum rettulisset quasi ostentum, quod anguis domi vectem circumiectus fuisset: ‘Tum esset’, inquit, ‘ostentum, si anguem vectis circumplicavisset.’ Hoc ille responso satis aperte declaravit nihil habendum esse, quod fieri posset, ostentum.
C. Gracchus ad M. Pomponium scripsit duobus anguibus domi conprehensis haruspices a patre convocatos. Qui magis anguibus quam lacertis, quam muribus? Quia sunt haec cotidiana, angues non item; quasi vero referat, quod fieri potest, quam id saepe fiat. Ego tamen miror, si emissio feminae anguis mortem adferebat Ti. Graccho, emissio autem maris anguis erat mortifera Corneliae, cur alteram utram emiserit; nihil enim scribit respondisse haruspices, si neuter anguis emissus esset, quid esset futurum. At mors insecuta Gracchum est. Causa quidem, credo, aliqua morbi gravioris, non emissione serpentis; neque enim tanta est infelicitas haruspicum, ut ne casu quidem umquam fiat, quod futurum illi esse dixerint.
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Latin in separate source-only tasks and reviewed throughout against it. Both books, all 130 chapters and 282 numbered sections; no historical English translation used. Latin transcription credited to the Perseus Project under CC BY-SA 4.0, Müller’s 1915 Teubner edition.
62 “A certain interpreter and expounder of portents is also said to have given a shrewd answer to a man who reported, as a portent, that a snake had coiled around a bar in his house. ‘It would be a portent,’ he said, ‘if the bar had coiled around the snake.’ By this reply he made it clear enough that nothing capable of happening should be regarded as a portent.
“Gaius Gracchus wrote to Marcus Pomponius that his father summoned the haruspices when two snakes were caught in his house. Why snakes rather than lizards or mice? Because the latter are everyday creatures and snakes are not—as though, when something can happen, it mattered how often it happens. Still, I wonder: if releasing the female snake meant death for Tiberius Gracchus, while releasing the male was fatal to Cornelia, why did he release either? Gaius never writes what the haruspices said would happen if neither snake was released. ‘But death did follow for Gracchus.’ Through some rather serious illness, I imagine, not through the release of a snake. The haruspices are not so unlucky that even by chance nothing they predict ever happens.
Plain English translation
Complete machine-assisted Plain English translation, made independently and directly from the Latin, never from the Musean edition. Both books and every numbered section; a separate Latin-source model review covered the entire text. No human specialist review is claimed.
62 “A certain predictor and interpreter of portents is said to have made a clever reply on this point. Someone once reported to him, as a portent, that a bar in his house had a snake wrapped around it. His reply was, ‘For a portent, you would need the bar to have wrapped itself around the snake.’ This reply made his meaning clear enough: nothing that can happen should be regarded as a portent.
“Gaius Gracchus wrote to Marcus Pomponius that his father called in the haruspices after two snakes were caught in his house. Why for snakes rather than lizards or mice? Because those are everyday things, and snakes are not. As if it mattered how often something happened, when it can happen! But here is what puzzles me. Why let either snake go, if letting the female go would kill Tiberius Gracchus and letting the male go would kill Cornelia? Gaius does not write that the haruspices gave any answer about what would happen if neither snake was released. ‘But Gracchus died afterward.’ From some serious illness, I suppose, not from releasing a snake. Haruspices are not so unlucky that what they predict never happens even by chance.
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 29 is part of On Divination by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is chapter 87 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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