Talk:Glossary of ancient Roman religion/libri augurales

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Augurales libri: According to George Dumezil, the libri were collated by the end of the regal era; he connects the text of the Lapis Niger to the iuges auspicium. Varro's analysis of the genera agrorum (the classification of land) distinguishes ager Gabinus (Gabine land) from ager peregrinus (foreign land) by its peculiar auspices (auspicia singularia).In Roman tradition, Romulus and Remus were supposed to have studied augury at Gabii.

Most of the listed theonyms (nomina deorum, or the names of the gods) known to Cicero in his capacity as an augur were also attributed to the late regal era. They are the divine objects of augural ceremony and sacrifice, addressed through the precationes augurales. Grammarians of the later Roman era offer the latter as verba desueta (disused words). The same considerations apply in the case of the solemn formulae of inaugurations or in the rite of the definition of the augural temple templum augurale. The oldest of the Twelve Tables seems to have concerned the regulation of the tempus augurii ("augural time") in which signa auguralia were assigned.

Interpretes autem Iovis Optumi Maxumi, publices augures, signis et auspicis postera vidento, disciplinam tenento,sacerdotesque vineta virgetaque et salutem populi auguranto; quique agent rem duelli quique popularem, auspicium praemonento ollique obtemperanto. Divorumque iras providento sisque apparento, caelique fulgura regionibus ratis temperanto, urbemque et agros et templa liberata et efflata habento. Quaeque augur iniusta nefasta vitiosa dira deixerit, inrita infectaque sunto; quique non paruerit, capital esto. Van Den Bruwaene regards this text as "precise dispositions based certainly on an official collection edited in a professional fashion"(M. Van Den Bruwaene "Precison sur la loi religieuse du de leg. II, 19-22 de Ciceron" in Helikon 1, 1961, p.89)Sini proposes the following structure for the libri augurum:

1. Duty to observation of signs and auspices: Interpretes Iovis Optumi Maximi, publices augures, signis et auspicis postera vidento" (signa et auspicia). 2. Duty to muster the doctrine: disciplinam tenento (disciplina). 3. Duty to discharge the inaugurations of sacerdotes and the augurium salutis, annual ceremony for the safety of the Roman people: sacerdotesque vineta virgetaque et salutem populi auguranto (inaugurationes). 4. Duty to take the auspices in matters concerning the res publica: quique agent rem duelli quique popularem, auspicium praemonento ollique obtemperanto (auspicia of the magistrates). 5. Duty to declare and make provision for the wrath of gods: divorumque iras providento sisque apparento" (nomina deorum?). 6. Duty to define the meaning of lightnings according to the regions of the sky where they appear; duty to free and purify the city, the countryside and the templa by pronouncing the relevant specific formulae: caelique fulgura regionibus ratis temperanto, urbemque et agros et templa liberata et efflata habento (definition of the spaces).

The rest of Cicero's text covers the practical discharge of augural functions as a separate subject; it would thus belong to the decreta and responsa which according to Sini were recorded in the Commentarii.(F. Sini ibidem p. 177) In it Cicero summarises the duty of the augur in regard to divine law and human justice; it links "unjust" with nefas (thus faulty or impure according to the laws of augury). Those who refuse to appear and discharge their augural duty shall be liable to capital penalty.(Cicero, De Legibus, II 21) Latin sources Latin writers refer to these books as libri augurales or libri augurum. Quotations are found in the following:

• Libri augurales: Cicero De republica I 63; II 54; De divinatione I 72; Epistolae ad Familiares III 11, 4; Festus p. 298 L: Seneca Epistolae CVIII 31; Servius Danielinus Aen. IX 20.
• Libri augurum: Cicero De domo 39; Ad Atticum IX 3; Varro De lingua Latina V 21, 58; VII 51; Servius Danielinus Aen. III 537; IV 45; VIII 95; Macrobius Saturnalia I 16, 19.

Details specific to authors

• Cicero:

De rep. II 54: the pontifical and augural libri date the provocatio to the regal period. I 63 gives the dictator as magister populi. De domo 39: the augural books were secret (reconditi). They prohibit (negant fas esse) the public discharge (agere cum populo) of matters reserved to Heaven(quum de caelo servatum sit). Ad Atticum IX 9, 3: the consuls could not receive their authority (non esse ius) from the praetor, who was their inferior. De div. I 72: the Etrusca disciplina (Etruscan discipline) relating to the books of the haruspices (haruspicini et fulgurales et rituales libri).

• Varro, L. Lat:

V 58: Heaven and Earth are great gods, the beginning of everything in the doctrine taught by Samothracians, and thus are divi qui potes in the augurales libri. VII 51: supremum is a corruption of superrumum: in the XII Tables is said that the sunset is the supreme time of the day. In the libri augurum it is named supreme time of augury (tempestutem dicunt supremum augurii tempus). V 21: Terra is named after teritur. Thence in augurum libri is written with only one 'R'.

• Servius Danielinus, Commentary on the Aeneid:

I 398: swans are not listed in the Commentarii augurales as birds of augury (aves augurales); but the libri reconditi say that every bird can yield auspices, especially if unsolicited. However most scholars think here he means the Etruscan secret books and not the libri augurum. III 537: an augury taken from yoked oxen: the magistrate should not meet an unyoked plough. This ritual seems to be connected with the iuges auspicium and the ritual recorded on the Lapis Niger as interpreted by Georges Dumezil in La religion romaine archaique Paris 1974, "Remarques preliminaires" IX 20: among the ostenta of the augurales libri is "the breaking open of heaven". IV 45: Juno presides over marriages (pronuba) and auspices. VIII 95: the libri augurum describe the Tiber as colobrum because its course is not straight but curved (flexuosusm). Sini argues that according to Servius Danielinus the libri augurum would have thence contained the grounding principles of the augural doctrine concerning both the augurium (Aen. III 537; IX 20) and the auspicium, besides the solemn formulae of the ritual (as is shown by the term colobrum augural attribute of the Tiber).

According to George Dumezil, the libri were collated by the end of the regal era; he connects the text of the Lapis Niger to the iuges auspicium.(The iuges auspicium (the "yoke auspices": the defecation of yoked oxen was inauspicious.) Varro's analysis of the genera agrorum (the classification of land)- (ager Romanus (Roman), Gabinus (of Gabii), peregrinus (foreign), hosticus (enemy), incertus (uncertain) - distinguishes ager Gabinus (Gabine land) from ager peregrinus (foreign land) by its peculiar auspices (auspicia singularia).(Varro, De Lingua Latina 5, 33.) In Roman tradition, Romulus and Remus were supposed to have studied augury at Gabii. (S. Tondo Leges regiae e paricidas Firenze, Olschki, 1983 p.16-17: Gabii was an important centre of Graeco-Latin culture.)(Plutarch, Romulus, 6, 1 & Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 1, 84, 5.)

Most of the listed theonyms (nomina deorum, or the names of the gods) known to Cicero in his capacity as an augur were also attributed to the late regal era. They are the divine objects of augural ceremony and sacrifice, addressed through the precationes augurales. Grammarians of the later Roman era offer the latter as verba desueta (disused words). The same considerations apply in the case of the solemn formulae of inaugurations or in the rite of the definition of the augural temple templum augurale. The oldest of the Twelve Tables seems to have concerned the regulation of the tempus augurii ("augural time") in which signa auguralia were assigned.

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