[1] Two churches here contain paintings of interest in the history of
Abruzzese art, and one of them, the Madonna del Campo, contained
fragments of a temple of considerable size.
AUGEAS, or AUGEIAS, in Greek legend, a son of Helios, the sun-god, and
king of the Epeians in Elis. He possessed an immense wealth of herds,
including twelve bulls sacred to Helios, and white as swans. Eurystheus
imposed upon Heracles the task of clearing out all his stalls unaided in
one day. This he did by turning the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through
them. Augeas had promised him a tenth of the herd, but refused this,
alleging that Heracles had acted only in the service of Eurystheus.
Heracles thereupon sent an army against him, and, though at first
defeated, finally slew Augeas and his sons.
Apollodorus ii. 5, 7; Pindar, _Olympia_, xi, 24; Diodorus iv. 13;
Theocritus, _Idyll_ 25.
AUGER (from the O. Eng. _nafu-gar_, nave-borer; the original initial n
having been lost, as in "adder," through a confusion in the case of a
preceding indefinite article), a tool for boring (q.v.) or drilling.
AUGEREAU, PIERRE FRANCOIS CHARLES, duke of Castiglione (1757-1816),
marshal of France, was born in Paris in a humble station of life. At the
age of seventeen he enlisted in the carabineers and thereafter came into
note as a duellist. Having drawn his sword upon an officer who insulted
him, he fled from France and roamed about in the Levant. He served in
the Russian army against the Turks; but afterwards escaped into Prussia
and enlisted in the guards. Tiring of this, he deserted with several
others and reached the Saxon frontier. Service in the Neapolitan army
and a sojourn in Portugal filled up the years 1788-1791; but the events
of the French Revolution brought him back to his native land. He served
with credit against the Vendeans and then joined the troops opposing the
Spaniards in the south. There he rose rapidly, becoming general of
division on the 23rd of December 1793. His division distinguished itself
even more when transferred to the army of Italy; and under Bonaparte he
was largely instrumental in gaining the battle of Millesimo and in
taking the castle of Cosseria and the camp of Ceva. At the battle of
Lodi (May 10, 1796), the turning movement of Augereau and his division
helped to decide the day. But it was at Castiglione that he rendered the
most signal services. Marbot describes him as encouraging even Bonaparte
himself in the confused situation that prevailed before that battle,
and, though this is exaggerated, there is no doubt that Augereau largely
decided the fortunes of those critical days. Bonaparte thus summed up
his military qualities: "Has plenty of character, courage, firmness,
activity; is inured to war; is well liked by the soldiery; is fortunate
in his operations." In 1797 Bonaparte sent him to Paris to encourage the
Jacobinical Directors, and it was Augereau and the troops led by him
that coerced the "moderates" in the councils and carried through the
_coup d'etat_ of 18 Fructidor (4th of September) 1797. He was then sent
to lead the united French forces in Germany; but peace speedily ensued;
and he bore a grudge against the Directors and Bonaparte for their
treatment of him at that time. He took no part in the _coup d'etat_ of
Brumaire 1799, and did not distinguish himself in the Rhenish campaign
which ensued. Nevertheless, owing to his final adhesion to Bonaparte's
fortunes, he received a marshal's baton at the beginning of the Empire
(May 19, 1804). In the campaign of 1805 he did good service around
Constance and Bregenz, and at Jena (October 14, 1806) his corps
distinguished itself. Early in 1807 he fell ill of a fever, and at the
battle of Eylau he had to be supported on his horse, but directed the
movements of his corps with his wonted bravery. His corps was almost
annihilated and the marshal himself received a wound from which he never
quite recovered. When transferred to Catalonia, he gained some successes
but tarnished his name by cruelty. In the campaign of 1812 in Russia and
in the Saxon campaign of 1813 his conduct was little more than mediocre.
Before the battle of Leipzig (October 16, 18, 19, 1813), Napoleon
reproached him with not being the Augereau of Castiglione; to which he
replied, "Give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you
that I am." In 1814 he had command of the army of Lyons, and his
slackness exposed him to the charge of having come to an understanding
with the Austrian invaders. Thereafter he served Louis XVIII., but,
after reviling Napoleon, went over to him during the Hundred Days. The
emperor repulsed him and charged him with being a traitor to France in
1814. Louis XVIII., when restored to the throne, deprived him of his
military title and pension. He died at his estate of La Houssaye on the
12th of June 1816. In person he was tall and commanding, but his loud
and vulgar behaviour frequently betrayed the soldier of fortune.
As authorities consult: Kock's _Memoires de Massena_; Bouvier,
_Bonaparte en Italie_; Count A.F. Andreossi, _La Campagne sur le
Mein, 1800-1801_; Baron A. Ducasse, _Precis de la campagne de l'armee
de Lyon en 1814_; and the _Memoirs_ of Marbot. (J. Hl. R.)
AUGHRIM, or AGHRIM, a small village in Co. Galway, Ireland, 4 m. W. by
S. of Ballinasloe. It is rendered memorable by the decisive victory
gained here on the 12th of July 1691 by the forces of William III. under
General Ginkel, over those of James II. under the French general St
Ruth, who fell in the fight. The Irish numbering 25,000, and strongly
posted behind marshy ground, at first maintained a vigorous resistance;
but Ginkel having penetrated their line of defence, and their general
being struck down by a cannon ball at this critical moment, they were at
length overcome and routed with terrible slaughter. The loss of the
English did not exceed 700 killed and 1000 wounded; while the Irish, in
their disastrous flight, lost about 7000 men, besides the whole material
of the army. This defeat rendered the adherents of James in Ireland
incapable of further efforts, and was speedily followed by the complete
submission of the country.
AUGIER, GUILLAUME VICTOR EMILE (1820-1889), French dramatist, was born
at Valence, Drome, on the 17th of September 1820. He was the grandson of
Pigault Lebrun, and belonged to the well-to-do _bourgeoisie_ in
principles and in thought as well as by actual birth. He received a good
education and studied for the bar. In 1844 he wrote a play in two acts
and in verse, _La Cigue_, refused at the Theatre Francais, but produced
with considerable success at the Odeon. This settled his career.
Thenceforward, at fairly regular intervals, either alone or in
collaboration with other writers--Jules Sandeau, Eugene-Marie Labiche,
Ed. Foussier--he produced plays which were in their way eventful. _Le
Fils de Giboyer_ (1862)--which was regarded as an attack on the clerical
party in France, and was only brought out by the direct intervention of
the emperor--caused some political excitement. His last comedy, _Les
Fourchambault_, belongs to the year 1879. After that date he wrote no
more, restrained by an honourable fear of producing inferior work. The
Academy had long before, on the 31st of March 1857, elected him to be
one of its members. He died in his house at Croissy on the 25th of
October 1889. Such, in briefest outline, is the story of a life which
Augier himself describes as "without incident"--a life in all senses
honourable. Augier, with Dumas _fils_ and Sardou, may be said to have
held the French stage during the Second Empire. The man respected
himself and his art, and his art on its ethical side--for he did not
disdain to be a teacher--has high qualities of rectitude and
self-restraint. Uprightness of mind and of heart, generous honesty, as
Jules Lemaitre well said, constituted the very soul of all his dramatic
work. _L'Aventuriere_ (1848), the first of Augier's important works,
already shows a deviation from romantic models; and in the _Mariage
d'Olympe_ (1855) the courtesan is shown as she is, not glorified as in
Dumas's _Dame aux Camelias_. In _Gabrielle_ (1849) the husband, not the
lover, is the sympathetic, poetic character. In the _Lionnes pauvres_
(1858) the wife who sells her favours comes under the lash. Greed of
gold, social demoralization, ultramontanism, lust of power, these are
satirized in _Les Effrontes_ (1861), _Le Fils de Giboyer_ (1862),
_Contagion_, first announced under the title of _Le Baron d'Estrigaud_
(1866), _Lions et renards_ (1869)--which, with _Le Gendre de M. Poirier_
(1854), written in collaboration with Jules Sandeau, reach the
high-water mark of Augier's art; in _Philiberte_ (1853) he produced a
graceful and delicate drawing-room comedy; and in _Jean de Thommeray_,
acted in 1873 after the great reverses of 1870, the regenerating note of
patriotism rings high and clear. His last two dramas, _Madame Caverlet_
(1876) and _Les Fourchambault_ (1879), are problem plays. But it would
be unfair to suggest that Emile Augier was a preacher only. He was a
moralist in the great sense, the sense in which the term can be applied
to Moliere and the great dramatists--a moralist because of his large and
sane outlook on life. Nor does the interest of his dramas depend on
elaborate plot. It springs from character and its evolution. His men and
women move as personality, that mysterious factor, dictates. They are
real, several of them typical. Augier's first drama, _La Cigue_, belongs
to a time (1844) when the romantic drama was on the wane; and his almost
exclusively domestic range of subject scarcely lends itself to lyric
outbursts of pure poetry. But his verse, if not that of a great poet,
has excellent dramatic qualities, while the prose of his prose dramas is
admirable for directness, alertness, sinew and a large and effective
wit. Perhaps it wanted these qualities to enlist laughter on his side in
such a war as he waged against false passion and false sentiment.
(F. T. M.)
AUGITE, an important member of the pyroxene (q.v.) group of rock-forming
minerals. The name (from [Greek: augae], lustre) has at various times
been used in different senses; it is now applied to aluminous pyroxenes
of the monoclinic series which are dark-greenish, brownish or black in
colour. Like the other pyroxenes it is characterized
crystallographically by its distinct cleavages parallel to the
prism-faces (M), the angle between which is 87 deg. A typical crystal is
represented in fig. 1, whilst fig. 2 shows a crystal twinned on the
orthopinacoid (r'). Such crystals, of short prismatic habit and black in
colour, are common as phenocrysts in many basalts, and are hence known
as "basaltic augite"; when the containing rock weathers to a clayey
material the augite is left as black isolated crystals, and such
specimens, usually from Bohemia, are represented in all mineral
collections. Though typical of basaltic rocks, augite is also an
important constituent of many other kinds of igneous rocks, and a rock
composed almost wholly of augite is known as augitite. It also occurs in
metamorphic rocks; for example, in the crystalline limestones of the
Fassathal in Tirol, where the variety known as fassaite is found as
pistachio-green crystals resembling epidote in appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Chemically, augite resembles diopside in consisting mainly of CaMgSi2O6,
but it contains in addition alumina and ferric iron as (Mg, Fe") (Al,
Fe"')2 SiO6; the acmite (NaFe"'Si2O6,) and jadeite (NaAlSi2O6)
molecules are also sometimes present. Variations in the amount of iron
in mixtures of these isomorphous molecules are accompanied by variations
in the optical characters of the augite. (L. J. S.)
AUGMENT (Lat. _augere_, to increase), in Sanskrit and Greek grammar the
vowel prefixed to indicate the past tenses of a verb; in Greek grammar
it is called _syllabic_, when only the [epsilon] is prefixed;
_temporal_, when it causes an initial vowel in the verb to become a
diphthong or long vowel.
AUGMENTATION, or enlargement, a term in heraldry for an addition to a
coat of arms; in music, for the imitation in longer notes of an original
theme; in biology, an addition to the normal number of parts; in Scots
law, an increase of a minister's stipend by an action called "Process of
Augmentation." The "Court of Augmentation" in Henry VIII.'s time was
established to try cases affecting the suppression of monasteries, and
was dissolved in Mary's reign.
AUGSBURG, a city and episcopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of
Bavaria, chief town of the district of Swabia. Pop. (1885) 65,905;
(1900) 89,109; (1905) 93,882. It lies on a high plateau, 1500 ft. above
the sea, between the rivers Wertach and Lech, which unite below the
city, 39 m. W.N.W. from Munich, with which, as with Regensburg,
Ingolstadt and Ulm, it is connected by main lines of railway. It
consists of an upper and a lower town, the old Jakob suburb and various
modern suburbs. Its fortifications were dismantled in 1703 and have
since been converted into public promenades. Maximilian Street is
remarkable for its breadth and architectural beauty. One of its most
interesting edifices is the Fugger Haus, of which the entire front is
painted in fresco. Among the public buildings of Augsburg most worthy of
notice is the town-hall in Renaissance style, one of the finest in
Germany, built by Elias Holl in 1616-1620. One of its rooms, called the
"Golden Hall," from the profusion of its gilding, is 113 ft. long, 59
broad and 53 high. The palace of the bishops, where the memorable
Confession of Faith was presented to Charles V., is now used for
government offices. Among the seventeen Reman Catholic churches and
chapels, the cathedral, a basilica with two Romanesque towers, dates in
its oldest portions from the 10th century. The church of St Ulrich and
St Afra, built 1474-1500, is a Late Gothic edifice, with a nave of
magnificent proportions and a tower 300 ft. high. The church stands on
the spot where the first Christians of the district suffered martyrdom,
and where a chapel was erected in the 6th century over the grave of St
Afra. There are also a Protestant church, St Anne's, a school of arts, a
polytechnic institution, a picture gallery in the former monastery of St
Catherine, a museum, observatory, botanical gardens, an exchange,
gymnasium, deaf-mute institution, orphan asylum, several remarkable
fountains dating from the 16th century, &c. Augsburg is particularly
well provided with special and technical schools. The newer buildings,
all in the modern west quarter of the city, include law courts, a
theatre, and a municipal library with 200,000 volumes. The "Fuggerei,"
built in 1519 by the brothers Fugger, is a miniature town, with six
streets or alleys, three gates and a church, and consists of a hundred
and six small houses let to indigent Roman Catholic citizens at a
nominal rent. The manufactures of Augsburg are of great importance. It
is the chief seat of the textile industry in south Germany, and its
cloth, cotton goods and linen manufactories employ about 10,000 hands.
It is also noted for its bleach and dye works, its engine works,
foundries, paper factories, and production of silk goods, watches,
jewelry, mathematical instruments, leather, chemicals, &c. Augsburg is
also the centre of the acetylene gas industry of Germany.
Copper-engraving, for which it was formerly noted, is no longer carried
on; but printing, lithography and publishing have acquired a
considerable development, one of the best-known Continental newspapers
being the _Allgemeine Zeitung_ or _Augsburg Gazette_. On the opposite
side of the river, which is here crossed by a bridge, lies the township
of Lechhausen.
Augsburg (the _Augusta Vindelicorum_ of the Romans) derives its name
from the Roman emperor Augustus, who, on the conquest of Rhaetia by
Drusus, established here a Roman colony about 14 B.C. In the 5th century
it was sacked by the Huns, and afterwards came under the power of the
Frankish kings. It was almost entirely destroyed in the war of
Charlemagne against Tassilo III., duke of Bavaria; and after the
dissolution and division of that empire, it fell into the hands of the
dukes of Swabia. After this it rose rapidly into importance as a
manufacturing and commercial town, becoming, after Nuremberg, the centre
of the trade between Italy and the north of Europe; its merchant
princes, the Fuggers and Welsers, rivalled the Medici of Florence; but
the alterations produced in the currents of trade by the discoveries of
the 15th and 16th centuries occasioned a great decline. In 1276 it was
raised to the rank of a free imperial city, which it retained, with many
changes in its internal constitution, till 1806, when it was annexed to
the kingdom of Bavaria. Meanwhile, it was the scene of numerous events
of historical importance. It was besieged and taken by Gustavus Adolphus
in 1632, and in 1635 it surrendered to the imperial forces; in 1703 it
was bombarded by the electoral prince of Bavaria, and forced to pay a
contribution of 400,000 dollars; and in the war of 1803 it suffered
severely. Of its conventions the most memorable are those which gave
birth to the Augsburg confession (1530) and to the Augsburg alliance
(1686).
See Wagenseil, _Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg_ (Augs., 1820-1822);
Werner, _Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg_ (1899); Roth, _Augsburg's
Reformationsgeschichte_ (1902).
AUGSBURG, CONFESSION OF, the most important Protestant statement of
belief drawn up at the Reformation. In summoning a diet for April 1530,
Charles V. offered a fair hearing to all religious parties in the
Empire. Luther, Justus Jonas, Melanchthon and Johann Bugenhagen were
appointed to draw up a statement of the Saxon position. These "Torgau
Articles" (March 1530) tell merely why Saxony had abolished certain
ecclesiastical abuses. Melanchthon, however, soon found that, owing to
attacks by Johann Eck of Ingolstadt ("404 Articles"), Saxony must state
its position in doctrinal matters as well. Taking the Articles of
Marburg (see MARBURG, COLLOQUY OF) and of Schwabach as the point of
departure, he repudiated all connexion with heretics condemned by the
ancient church. On the 11th of May he sent the draft to Luther, who
approved it, adding that he himself "could not tread so softly and
gently." On the 23rd of June the Confession, originally intended as the
statement of Electoral Saxony alone, was discussed and signed by a
number of other Protestant princes and cities, and read before the diet
on the 25th of June. Articles 1-21 attempt to show that the Evangelicals
had deviated from current doctrine only in order to restore the pure and
original teaching of the church. In spite of significant omissions (the
sole authority of scripture; rejection of transubstantiation), the
Confession contains nothing contradictory to Luther's position, and in
its emphasis on justification by faith alone enunciates a cardinal
concept of the Evangelical churches. Articles 22-28 describe and defend
the reformation of various "abuses." On the 3rd of August, shorn of much
of its original bitterness, the so-called _Confutatio pontificia_ was
read; it well expresses the views approved in substance by the emperor
and all the Catholic party. In answer, Melanchthon was ordered to
prepare an Apology of the Confession, which the emperor refused to
receive; so Melanchthon enlarged it and published the _editio princeps_
of both Confession and Apology in 1531.
As he felt free to make slight changes, the first edition does not
represent the exact text of 1530; the edition of 1533 was further
improved, while that of 1540, rearranged and in part rewritten, is
known as the _Variata_. Dogmatic changes in this seem to have drawn
forth no protest from Luther or Brenz, so Melanchthon made fresh
alterations in 1542. Later, the _Variata_ of 1540 became the creed of
the Melanchthonians and even of the Crypto-calvinists; so the framers
of the Formula of Concord, promulgated in 1580, returned to the text
handed in at the Diet. By mistake they printed from a poor copy and
not from the original, from which their German text varies at over 450
places. Their Latin text, that of Melanchthon's _editio princeps_, is
more nearly accurate. The _textus receptus_ is that of the Formula of
Concord, the divergent Latin and German forms being equally binding.
Acceptance of the Confession and Apology was made a condition of
membership in the Schmalkalden League. The Wittenberg Concord (1536)
and the Articles of Schmalkalden (1537) reaffirmed them. The Confession
was the ultimate source of much of the Thirty-nine Articles. The
Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) recognized no Protestants save
adherents of the Confession; this was modified in 1648. To-day the
_Invariata_ is of symbolical authority among Lutherans generally, while
the _Variata_ is accepted by the Reformed churches of certain parts of
Germany (see Lober, pp. 79-83.)
Editions of the received text: J.T. Muller, _Die symbolischen Bucher
der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche_ (10th ed., Gutersloh, 1907), with
a valuable historical introduction by Th. Kolde; Theodor Kolde, _Die
Augsburgische Konfession_ (Gotha, 1896), (contains also the Marburg,
Schwabach and Torgau Articles, the _Confutatio_ and the _Variata_ of
1540). For translations of these, as well as of Zwingli's Reckoning of
his Faith, and of the Tetrapolitan Confession, see H.E. Jacobs, _The
Book of Concord_ (Philadelphia, 1882-83). The texts submitted to the
emperor, lost before 1570, are reconstructed and compared with the
_textus receptus_ by P. Tschackert, _Die unveranderte Augsburgische
Konfession_ (Leipzig, 1901). For the genesis of the Confession, see
Th. Kolde, _Die alteste Redaktion der Augsburger Konfession_
(Gutersloh, 1906), also Kolde's article, "Augsburger Bekenntnis," in
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_ (3rd ed., vol. ii., Leipzig, 1897).
The standard commentary is still G.L. Plitt, _Einleitung in die
Augustana_ (Erlangen, 1867 ff.); compare also J. Ficker, _Die
Konfutation des Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses in ihrer ersten Gestalt_
(Leipzig, 1891); also A. Petzold, _Die Konfutation des
Vierstadtebekenntnisses_ (Leipzig, 1900). On its present use see G.
Lober, _Die im evangelischen Deutschland geltenden
Ordinationsverpflichtungen geschichtlich geordnet_ (Leipzig, 1905), 79
ff. (W. W. R.*)
AUGSBURG, WAR OF THE LEAGUE OF, the name applied to the European war of
1688-1697. The league of Augsburg was concluded on the 9th of July 1686
by the emperor, the elector of Brandenburg and other princes, against
the French. Spain, Sweden, England and other non-German states joined
the league, and formed the Grand Alliance by the treaty of Vienna (July
12, 1689). (See GRAND ALLIANCE, WAR OF THE.)
AUGURS, in ancient Rome, members of a religious college whose 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_[1]
fell into disuse and was replaced by _augur_, _auspicium_ was retained
as the scientific term for the observation of signs.
The early history of the college is obscure. Its institution has been
attributed to Romulus or Numa. It probably consisted originally of three
members, of whom the king himself was one. This number was doubled by
Tarquinius Priscus, but in 300 B.C. it was only four, two places,
according to Livy (x. 6), being vacant. The Ogulnian law in the same
year increased the number to nine, five plebeian being added to the four
patrician members. In the time of Sulla the number was fifteen, which
was increased to sixteen by Julius Caesar. This number continued in
imperial times; the college itself was certainly in existence as late as
the 4th century. The office of augur, which was bestowed only upon
persons of distinguished merit and was much sought after by reason of
its political importance, was held for life. Vacancies were originally
filled by co-optation, but by the Domitian law (104) the selection was
made, by seventeen out of the thirty-five tribes chosen by lot, from
candidates previously nominated by the college. The insignia of office
were the _lituus_, a staff free from knots and bent at the top, and the
_trabea_, a kind of toga with bright scarlet stripes and a purple
border. The science of augury was contained in various written works,
which were consulted as occasion arose: such were the _libri augurum_, a
manual of augural ritual, and the _commentarii augurum_, a collection of
decrees or answers given by the college to the senate in certain
definite cases.
The natural region to look to for signs of the will of Jupiter was the
sky, where lightning and the flight of birds seemed directed by him as
counsel to men. The latter, however, was the more difficult of
interpretation, and upon it, therefore, mainly hinged the system of
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 mark out with his staff the templum or
consecrated space within which his observations were intended to be
made. The method of procedure was as follows. At midnight, when the sky
was clear and there was an absence of wind, the augur, in the presence
of a magistrate, took up his position on a hill which afforded a wide
view. After prayer and sacrifice, he marked out the templum both in the
sky and on the ground and dedicated it. Within its limits he then
pitched a tent, in which he sat down with covered head, asked the gods
for a sign, and waited for an answer. As the augur looked south he had
the east, the lucky quarter, on his left, and therefore signs on the
left side were considered favourable, those on the right unfavourable.
The practice was the reverse in Greece; the observers of signs looked
towards the north, so that signs on the right were regarded as the
favourable ones, and this is frequently adopted in the Roman poets. The
augur afterwards announced the result of his observations in a set form
of words, by which the magistrate was bound. Signs of the will of the
gods were of two kinds, either in answer to a request (_auspicia
impetrativa_), or incidental (_auspicia oblativa_). Of such signs there
were five classes: (1) Signs in the sky (_caelestia auspicia_),
consisting chiefly of 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 mere appearance, in either
direction, all business in the public assemblies was suspended for the
day. Since the person charged to take the auspices for a certain day was
constitutionally subject to no other authority who could test the truth
or falsehood of his statement that he had observed lightning, this
became a favourite device for putting off meetings of the public
assembly. Restrictions were, however, imposed in later republican times.
When a new consul, praetor or quaestor entered on his first day of
office and prayed the gods for good omens, it was a matter of custom to
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 eagle and the vulture; to the
second, called _oscines_, the owl, the crow and the raven. The mere
appearance of certain birds indicated good or ill luck, while others had
a reference only to definite persons or events. In matters of 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 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 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
general use, particularly in the 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 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 case they formed a divine 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 haruspices, when the incident was not already provided for by a
rule, as, for example, that it was unlucky for a person leaving his
house to meet a raven, that the sudden death of a person from epilepsy
at a public 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 Apollo (in the hands of the college _sacris
faciundis_), but chiefly the examination of the entrails of animals
slain for sacrifice (see OMEN). Anything abnormal found there was
brought under the 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
rank, belonged the right of taking _auspicia maxima_; to the inferior
offices of aedile and quaestor, the _auspicia minora_; the differences
between these, however, must have been small. The subjects for which
_auspicia publica_ were always taken were the election of magistrates,
their entering on office, the holding of a public assembly to pass
decrees, the setting out of an army for war. They could only be taken in
Rome itself; and in case of a commander having to renew his _auspicia_,
he must either return to Rome or select a spot in the foreign country to
represent the hearth of that city. The time for observing auspices was,
as a rule, between midnight and 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 crossing a river. The founding of
colonies, the beginning of a battle, the calling together an army, the
sittings of the senate, decisions of peace or war, were occasions, not
always but frequently, for taking auspices. The place where the ceremony
was performed was not fixed, but selected with a view to the matter in
hand. A spot being selected, the 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 error
(_vitium_) occurred in the auspices, the augurs could, of their own
accord or at the request of the senate, inform themselves of the
circumstances, and 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 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 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 dans l'antiquite_ (1879), and his articles, with
bibliography, in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquites_,
also articles "Augures," "Auspicium," by Wissowa in Pauly's
_Realencyclopadie_ (II. pt. ii., 1896), and by L.C. Purser (and
others) in Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (3rd
ed., 1890). (See also DIVINATION, OMEN, ASTROLOGY, &c.)