Book 2, Chapter 36
Original Latin
76 Sed de hoc loco plura in aliis, nunc hactenus. Externa enim auguria, quae sunt non tam artificiosa quam superstitiosa, videamus. Omnibus fere avibus utuntur, nos admodum paucis; alia illis sinistra sunt, alia nostris. Solebat ex me Deiotarus percontari nostri augurii disciplinam, ego ex illo sui. Di immortales! quantum differebat! ut quaedam essent etiam contraria. Atque ille iis semper utebatur, nos, nisi dum a populo auspicia accepta habemus, quam multum iis utimur? Bellicam rem administrari maiores nostri nisi auspicato noluerunt; quam multi anni sunt, cum bella a proconsulibus et a propraetoribus administrantur, qui auspicia non habent!
77 Itaque nec amnis transeunt auspicato nec tripudio auspicantur. Ubi ergo avium divinatio? quae, quoniam ab iis, qui auspicia nulla habent, bella administrantur, ad urbanas <res> retenta videtur, a bellicis esse sublata. Nam ex acuminibus quidem, quod totum auspicium militare est, iam M. Marcellus ille quinquiens consul totum omisit, idem imperator, idem augur optumus. Et quidem ille dicebat, si quando rem agere vellet, ne impediretur auspiciis, lectica operta facere iter se solere. Huic simile est, quod nos augures praecipimus, ne iuges auspicium obveniat, ut iumenta iubeant diiungere.
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.
76 “But I have said more on this subject elsewhere; for now, enough. Let us examine foreign auguries, which are less a matter of skill than of superstition. They use almost every bird; we use very few. Different signs are favorable for them and for our augurs. Deiotarus used to ask me about our system of augury, and I would ask him about his. Immortal gods, what a difference there was! Some points were even contradictory. He always used his system; how much do we use ours, except while holding the auspices received from the people? Our ancestors would not allow warfare to be conducted without taking auspices; yet for how many years have wars been conducted by proconsuls and propraetors, who do not possess the auspices!
77 “Accordingly, they neither cross rivers under auspices nor take auspices from the birds' feeding. Where, then, is divination from birds? Since wars are conducted by those who have no auspices, it seems to have been retained for civil affairs and removed from military ones. As for signs from spearheads, an entirely military form of auspice, the famous Marcus Marcellus, five times consul, abandoned it altogether—a man outstanding both as commander and as augur. Indeed, he used to say that whenever he wanted to undertake some business without being hindered by the auspices, he would travel in a covered litter. Similar is the instruction we augurs give: to prevent an adverse sign from yoked animals, order the beasts to be unyoked.
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.
76 “I have said more about this subject elsewhere. Enough for now. Let us look at foreign auguries, which involve less trained skill than superstition. Foreign augurs use almost all birds; we use very few. They and our augurs count different things as favorable, ‘left-hand’ signs. Deiotarus and I would question each other: he wanted to know our rules for augury, and I wanted to know his. Immortal gods, what a difference! Some practices were even opposite. He used them all the time. Apart from the period when we hold the right to take auspices received from the people, how much do we use them? Our ancestors would not allow a war to be conducted without first taking auspices. Yet proconsuls and propraetors have been running wars for years now, without holding the right to take auspices!
77 “So they neither cross rivers after taking auspices nor take auspices through the food-dropping sign. Where, then, is divination by birds? Since wars are conducted by men who have no right to take auspices, this divination seems to have been kept for city affairs and removed from warfare. As for signs from spearheads, an entirely military kind of auspice, the Marcus Marcellus who was consul five times abandoned them completely. He was both an excellent commander and an excellent augur. He used to say that whenever he wanted to take action, he traveled in a covered litter so that auspices would not get in his way. This is like our instruction as augurs: to prevent an omen from yoked animals, order the draft animals to be unyoked.
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 36 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 94 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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