by Horatius Piscinus on Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:43 pm
Salvete Sodales
Next installment, and a rather lengthy post I'm afraid, and still not covering everything that would be involved, but here goes.
"The Romans long continued to observe this rule (of Romulus) relating to the auspices… Those who are preparing to assume a magistracy spend the night out of doors, rise at day-break and pronounce certain prayers in the open air. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.6)."
Rising at midnight, spending the next several hours in performing rites for the Manes, establishing the auguli and greeting the sunrise, the auspex has by now entered into the ritual consciousness required for taking the auspices. A particular feature of the auspicundi ritus is the requirement that the auspex must remain seated throughout the rite. If he should rise for any reason, the rite would end and everything done up to that point would be vitiated. This requirement of being seated goes along with the other features of having the auspex sit just inside a tabernaculum, thereby screening his peripheral vision, and the employment of tibicenes whose flute-playing drowned out any unwanted sounds. A practical side to these features of the rite, I think, were precautions against the auspex from losing his ritual consciousness. A particular story that is repeated in a couple places warned what could happen if the auspex would be disturbed in anyway.
"The disturbing sound of a shrewmouse squeaking gave cause to Fabius Maximus to lay down his Dictatorship and C. Flaminius his Mastership of the Horse (Val. Max. 1.1.5; Plut. Marc. 5)."
The auspex sat on a stone seat, 'sella solida,' that would not creak or collapse beneath him during the ceremony. All of the other participants stood silently outside the tabernaculum. Once the auspex rises from his seat, for any reason, the auspicia is ended, and if not yet completed by then, the entire ceremony would be vitiated. It is probable that the auspex was ritually seated at his station by the attending augur. We don’t know if this would always be true. Someone like Consul Tiberius Gracchus, father of the famed Tribuni Plebis, was himself an augur, and in the one story told about him taking the auspices while seated in the garden of his political rival and father-in-law, Scipio Africanus, the impression we get is that he seated himself. In another story, where the participants were two women, Caecilia Metella seated herself in a shrine for a private auspicium. There, too, the rite ended when she gave her seat over to her niece, and thereby also provided the omen for the result she sought (see Valerius Maximus1.5.4 and Cicero On Divination 1.104, 2.83). But then there is the story of Numa, as told by Livy, where we see what might possibly had been used at public ausipicia, with the auspex being led and seated by the augur who then laid his right hand on the head of Numa.
"Accordingly an augur, who thereafter, as a mark of honor, was made a priest of the State in permanent charge of that function, conducted him to the citadel called the Arx and caused him to sit down on a stone facing towards the south. The augur seated himself on Numa's left, having his head covered, and holding in his right hand the crooked staff without a single knot which they call a lituus. Then, looking out over the city and the country beyond, he prayed to the gods, and marked off the heavens by a line from east to west, designating as 'right' the regions to the south, as 'left' those to the north, and fixing in his mind a landmark opposite to him and as far away as the eye could reach; next shifting the lituus to his left hand and, laying his right hand on Numa's head, he uttered the following prayer, 'Father Jupiter, if it is Heaven's will that this man Numa Pompilius, whose head I am touching, be king in Rome, do you exhibit to us unmistakable signs within those limits which I have set.' He then specified the auspices which he desired should be sent, and upon their appearance Numa was declared king, and so descended from the augural station (Livy Ab Urbe Condita I.xviii.6-10)."
After the auspex is seated he performs a sacrificial rite in the usual manner. There should be before him a pit and an altar or brazier to receive the offerings, and these wil necessarily have to be within arm’s reach. The ritual follows the Numa tradition, and thus would not include an immolatio and the libations should be honeyed milk rather than wine. We may gather something of the prayer of the praecatio that was used for this rite from a passage in the Aeneid 12.176-182
'esto nunc Sol testis et haec mihi terra vocanti,
quam propter tantos potui perferre labores,
et Pater omnipotens et tu Saturnia coniunx
(iam melior, iam, diva, precor), tuque inclute Mavors,
cuncta tuo qui bella, Pater, sub numine torques;
fontisque fluviosque voco, quaeque aetheris alti
religio et quae caeruleo sunt numina ponto:
"Be now my witness, Sol, and the spirits of this land to whom I now call, then, too, Almighty Father, and You also, Daughter of Saturnus, more kindly to us now, Goddess, I pray, and You, as well, glorious Mavors, under Your providence joined with us in war, I call upon the spirits of the springs and streams of this land, and upon all the divine powers, both in high heaven and in the deepest seas:"
In his commentary on the 'Aeneid' Servius Honorius wrote, "This is taken from the example of the augurs, what is called the Great Prayer. Moreover the Great Prayer is addressed to many gods, as in the following parts of the augury rite they pray for good results to come about in order that they may enjoy the outcome even better (Serv. Ad Aen. 12.176)." At this point the auspex would explain to all of the Gods what pending action is intended and for what reason, therefore the Gods, are being consulted. Later the same matter would be made into a "yes or no" question.
The actual taking of the auspices occurs during the middle of the sacrificatio of the augur's rite. That is something to keep in mind that as in other Roman rituals the auspicium is a special rite within another rite. In an augurium where auspices were taken on behalf of the State, it was Jupiter Himself who was called upon to provide the signs. In private auspicia the Lares, Picus or Picumnus were more likely called upon for family matters, where other deities might be called instead depending on the matter of concern. One begins the sacrificatio by offering incense and a libation, and then part of a cake, but the sacrifice is not completed until after the auspices are taken. When you get to that point, the seated auspex uses a lituus to mark out the celestial templum. "A lituus is the curved staff of the augur that is used to designate the measured space of the sky, for it was not permitted to use the hand (Servius, Ad Aeneis 7.187)." There is not a specific formula for marking out the celestial templum. Varro does give us one example, but even in what he said, he indicated that this was just one of the ways that a celestial templum was designated in the formal rites performed in the auguraculum on the Arx.
"Let the boundaries of my templa and the wild lands (tesca) be as I declare them with my words. That tree of whatever kind it is which I deem myself to have named, let it be the boundary of my templum and the wild land to the right. That tree, of whatever kind it is, insofar as I deem myself to have named it, let it be the boundary of my temple and the wild land on the left. Between these points I have established the templa and the wild lands by means of directing (conregione), viewing (conspicione), reflecting (cortumiones) as far as I have been most rightly aware of it within this limit" (Varro: On the Latin Language, VII.8 )
The intended action is then reworded into a question. An example form is provided by Livy, "Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and all You other gods and spirits whom it is proper to invoke, I ask that if it is good and right that (the proposed action) be done, that You will send clear and certain signs within the boundaries that I have marked." In our particular case where the intention is to designate a space that will be used as a sanctuary, you have to be very specific in stating what will be the sanctuary's boundaries. You can designate them by a point to point method. The stones that you set up as aguli should be inside the templum intended for your sanctuary, but other markers like them can be laid out for this purpose. You would at one stage perform something similar to Romulus' foundation rite where where the area on either side of the ploughed boundary was marked off by stones to designate the pomerium. Some sacred groves had a boundary designated by a treeline and outside of it, as part of the terrestrial templum, there were set stones or painted markers. You can do something like that first, or use natural markers to designate the templum of the sanctuary. The other way is what was used for tombs. Remember that a tomb is built within a religious templum. Outside the actual tomb were markers to designate the templum and some of these inscribed markers describe the templum. Mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum hic dabat. From Horace, "This pillar marked an area of 1000 feet in frontage and 300 feet in depth (Satires 1.8.12-13)." You find the same formula in some funerary inscriptions, "in fronte pedes... in agrum pedes..." You have to be very specific because not just any land can be consecrated as a sanctuary. See Cicero, De Legibus 2.18.45. The whole point of this process of establishing a sanctuary is to set it off from other land, and the point of taking the auspices is to attain approval of the Gods for doing this. Cicero quotes from Plato, "The earth, therefore, like the hearth in a dwelling, is sacred to all the Gods; wherefore no one should consecrate it a second time." By establishing a sanctuary you are, in effect, withdrawing its area from the other Gods, including the genius loci of the place, which is why this whole process has to be done properly. And this is a contract between you and all the Gods, so be very specific in what you are asking.
At this point the auspex next states exactly what kind of signs he will use as auspicia. Recall the Iguvium Tablets. The auspex says to the augur, "Demand that I observe a green woodpecker on the right, a crow on the right, a woodpecker on the left, a magpie on the left, birds on the left, sacred calling birds on the left." The magistrate shall make these demands in these words: "There observe a green woodpecker on the right, a crow on the right, a woodpecker on the left, a magpie on the left, birds on the left, sacred calling birds on the left, for me, for the city of Iguvium, for this station which has been established." What actual signs you might use depends on your particular location. There were traditional signs used for the auguria of State rites, but auspicia privita used a variety of signs in accordance with family traditions. Sometime we will have to take up a discussion of the sort of things that can be taken as signs and how they can be interpreted. Servius said, "to be certain, the older and greater auspices are those taken other than the tripudium, and not those used along with prayer (and sacrifice; i.e haruspices) (Ad Aeneis 3.374)." Cicero mentions, too, that "an old ruling of our college says that any bird may make a tripudium (On Divination 2.35.73)." The auspicia are the highest form of augury in the Roman tradition, relying upon the flight of birds first, and the calls of birds secondly, but there were also other signs used in the auspicia as well. As long as you designate first what signs you will use or not, just about anything can be used as a sign. Just keep in mind that you do not have to limit yourself to only those signs that were mentioned in Latin texts. Then, again from Servius. we know that this question was followed by the phrase: DA PATER AUGURIUM. Or, from Vergil, Da, Pater, augurium atque animis inlabere nostris. – "Grant, Father, an augury, and flow into our hearts" (Vergil, Aeneid 3.89).
Obviously there is much more to be said about how one takes the auspices and we shall have to cover that at some later time. Important though is that no sign by itself can be used, but must be confirmed by another sign. One example, "I recognize You, Mightiest of the Gods; Be present now, Father, and confirm the omen of Your eagle." Nosco te, summe deorum / adsis o firmesque tuae, pater, alitis omen. (Silius Italicus, Punica 4.126-7)
The sacrifices are then completed. The auspex remains seated for a moment to see if there appears any signs that might vitiate the sacrifice. Rising, the taking of the auspices is completed, but the caeremonia would still continue as the participants would join with the auspex in performing the litatio. The Gods called as witnesses are thanked, and once more a circuit is made of all the auguli while making offerings, and thereby the set-off space is sanctified. As part of the litatio one says, "Di prohibete minas." In the Aeneid, Vergil has this prayer spoken by Anchises at the conclusion of sacrifices that were offered in reply to a dire prediction given by Celano while she was in the form of a bird (Aeneis 3.265-266). Di, prohibete minas; Di, talem avertite casum et placidi servate pios. "Prohibit, Gods, any menace. Avert disasters and kindly preserve Your pious worshippers."
The auspicium takes signs that are impetrativa. That is, they are signs designated by the auspex. The auspices would still have to be confirmed by oblativa signs, which can occur during the litatio or later. But it is the performance of the entire ritual, and not just the taking of the auspices themselves, that sanctifies your space. It is now set off from the surrounding area and needs next to be dedicated and consecrated to its purpose.
Valete optime et vadete in pace Deorum
Piscinus
M Horatius Piscinus
Sapere aude!