In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, another
famous prodigy is recorded. The king had resolved to increase the
number of the Roman cavalry. Romulus had raised the first body with
the customary ceremony of augury. Tarquinius proposed to proceed in
the present case, omitting this ceremony. Accius Navius, the chief
augur, protested against the innovation. Tarquin, in contempt of his
interference, addressed Accius, saying, "Come, augur, consult your
birds, and tell me, whether the thing I have now in my mind can be
done, or cannot be done." Accius proceeded according to the rules of
his art, and told the king it could be done. "What I was thinking of,"
replied Tarquinius, "was whether you could cut this whetstone in two
with this razor." Accius immediately took the one instrument and the
other, and performed the prodigy in the face of the assembled people.
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