DĪVĪNĀTĬO (μαντική), a power in man which foresees future things
by means of those signs which the gods throw in his way. Among the
Greeks the _manteis_ (μάντεις), or seers, who announced the future,
were supposed to be under the direct influence of the gods, chiefly
that of Apollo. In many families of seers the inspired knowledge of
the future was considered to be hereditary, and to be transmitted
from father to son. To these families belonged the Iamids, who from
Olympia spread over a considerable part of Greece; the Branchidae,
near Miletus; the Eumolpids, at Athens and Eleusis; the Telliads,
the Acarnanian seers, and others. Along with the seers we may also
mention the Bacides and the Sibyllae. Both existed from a very remote
time, and were distinct from the manteis so far as they pretended
to derive their knowledge of the future from sacred books (χρησμοί)
which they consulted, and which were in some places, as at Athens
and Rome, kept by the government or some especial officers, in the
acropolis and in the most revered sanctuary. The Bacides are said to
have been descended from one or more prophetic nymphs of the name of
Bacis. The Sibyllae were prophetic women, probably of Asiatic origin,
whose peculiar custom seems to have been to wander with their sacred
books from place to place. The Sibylla, whose books gained so great
an importance at Rome, is reported to have been the Erythraean: the
books which she was said to have sold to one of the Tarquins were
carefully concealed from the public, and only accessible to the
duumvirs. Besides these more respectable prophets and prophetesses,
there were numbers of diviners of an inferior order (χρησμολόγοι),
who made it their business to explain all sorts of signs, and to
tell fortunes. They were, however, more particularly popular with
the lower orders, who are everywhere most ready to believe what is
most marvellous and least entitled to credit. No public undertaking
of any consequence was ever entered upon by the Greeks and Romans
without consulting the will of the gods, by observing the signs
which they sent, especially those in the sacrifices offered for the
purpose, and by which they were thought to indicate the success
or the failure of the undertaking. For this kind of divination no
divine inspiration was thought necessary, but merely experience and
a certain knowledge acquired by routine; and although in some cases
priests were appointed for the purpose of observing and explaining
signs [AUGUR; HARUSPEX], yet on any sudden emergency, especially
in private affairs, any one who met with something extraordinary,
might act as his own interpreter. The principal signs by which the
gods were thought to declare their will, were things connected with
the offering of sacrifices, the flight and voice of birds, all
kinds of natural phenomena, ordinary as well as extraordinary, and
dreams.--The interpretation of signs of the first class (ἱερομαντεία
or ἱεροσκοπία, _haruspicium_ or _ars haruspicina_) was, according
to Aeschylus, the invention of Prometheus. It seems to have been
most cultivated by the Etruscans, among whom it was raised into a
complete science, and from whom it passed to the Romans. Sacrifices
were either offered for the special purpose of consulting the gods,
or in the ordinary way; but in both cases the signs were observed,
and when they were propitious, the sacrifice was said καλλιερεῖν. The
principal points that were generally observed were, 1. The manner
in which the victim approached the altar. 2. The nature of the
intestines with respect to their colour and smoothness; the liver
and bile were of particular importance. 3. The nature of the flame
which consumed the sacrifice. Especial care was also taken during
a sacrifice, that no inauspicious or frivolous words were uttered
by any of the bystanders: hence the admonitions of the priests,
εὐφημεῖτε and εὐφημία, or σιγᾶτε, σιωπᾶτε, _favete linguis_, and
others; for improper expressions were not only thought to pollute
and profane the sacred act, but to be unlucky omens.--The art of
interpreting signs of the second class was called οἰωνιστική,
_augurium_, or _auspicium_. It was, like the former, common to Greeks
and Romans, but never attained the same degree of importance in
Greece as it did in Rome. [AUSPICIUM.] The Greeks, when observing
the flight of birds, turned their face toward the north, and then a
bird appearing to the right (east), especially an eagle, a heron, or
a falcon, was a favourable sign; while birds appearing to the left
(west) were considered as unlucky signs. Of greater importance than
the appearance of animals, at least to the Greeks, were the phenomena
in the heavens, particularly during any public transaction. Among the
unlucky phenomena in the heavens (διοσημεῖα, _signa_, or _portenta_)
were thunder and lightning, an eclipse of the sun or moon,
earthquakes, rain of blood, stones, milk, &c. Any one of these signs
was sufficient at Athens to break up the assembly of the people.--In
common life, things apparently of no importance, when occurring at a
critical moment, were thought by the ancients to be signs sent by the
gods, from which conclusions might be drawn respecting the future.
Among these common occurrences we may mention sneezing, twinkling
of the eyes, tinkling of the ears, &c.--The art of interpreting
dreams (ὀνειροπολία), which had probably been introduced into Europe
from Asia, where it is still a universal practice, seems in the
Homeric age to have been held in high esteem, for dreams were said
to be sent by Zeus. In subsequent times, that class of diviners
who occupied themselves with the interpretation of dreams, seems
to have been very numerous and popular; but they never enjoyed any
protection from the state, and were chiefly resorted to by private
individuals.--The subject of oracles is treated in a separate
article. [ORACULUM.]--The word _divinatio_ was used in a particular
manner by the Romans as a law term. If in any case two or more
accusers came forward against one and the same individual, it was, as
the phrase ran, _decided by divination_, who should be the chief or
real accuser, whom the others then joined as _subscriptores;_ _i.e._ by
putting their names to the charge brought against the offender. This
transaction, by which one of several accusers was selected to conduct
the accusation, was called _divinatio_, as the question here was not
about facts, but about something which was to be done, and which
could not be found out by witnesses or written documents; so that
the judices had, as it were, to divine the course which they had to
take. Hence the oration of Cicero, in which he tries to show that he,
and not Q. Caecilius Niger, ought to conduct the accusation against
Verres, is called _Divinatio in Caecilium_.