One should not separate the games from another form of public religion, auspica-tion.3 Taking the auspices (auspicia) was basically the prerogative and activity (auspicium) of magistrates. Private auspication existed but did not concern the public, except when it conferred a short-term immunity from the draft (Gell. NA 16.4.4).39 Consuls and praetors had to ask Jupiter for his consent before every major activity, and that consent was valid for that day only. If the activity could not be completed on the same day or consent was not given, the divinatory procedure would have to be repeated another day. At Rome, the normal procedure was for the magistrate to rise before dawn, choose a place for the observation (spectio), and wait for a sign. The ritual definition of his field of observation, called a templum, while usual for auspication in the daylight, was probably not performed for observations in the dark. Apart from traditional positive or negative signs, which permitted or forbade action, the magistrate himself could define signs that he would consider positive. Once the aural signs had been received (or lightning seen, which conveyed a strong prohibition), the spectio was finished, and the action the magistrate intended could be tackled.40
This divinatory system produced a piecemeal legitimation of the use of power. Legitimation was given on a daily basis only. A general, who had taken the auspices (after his election as a magistrate) upon entering office, on the day of his departure from Rome, upon crossing rivers, and on many other occasions, also had to repeat the procedure on the morning he proposed to fight a battle. The procedure could be enormously simplified. Generals in the field did not get up after midnight to watch for signs, but had chickens carried around in cages. To take the auspices before battle, generals ordered the chicken keeper (pullarius) to feed them and observe how they ate and whether their eating was greedy, which was the best sign (the tripudium solistimum, e. g., Livy 10.40.4). The necessity of renewed legitimation remained. Stories about generals’ neglect of the auspices resulting in military catastrophes - Flaminius’ defeat at the Lake Trasimene, for example (Cic. Div. 1.77) - drove home the same point. Coins bearing augural symbols, in particular the augural crozier (lituus), also stressed the importance of augural legitimation. Furthermore, obnun-tiatio, the observation and announcement of adverse signs, was possible. Such augural protests were often debated and even neglected, but the system worked and even intensified into the very late Republic.41
Claims easily conflicted. Because the rituals and their outcomes were not visible, utterances counted, not verifiable observations. The augures, the priestly college that advised and judged in these matters, possessed high prestige. Being in the center of political decisions, special regulations applied to these augures. Two members of the same family were not permitted to be members of the collegium at the same time, and membership was not cancelled even in cases of exile (a debateable privilege, however). Members were equal in competence, and were not ruled by an augur maximus corresponding to the pontifex maximus. The term augur maximus meant simply the oldest, that is, the longest serving, augur.
Augural legitimation by the gods was not insulated from politics. Religious legitimation went further. Even public votes involved elements of sortition, that is, divine intervention by lot to determine the sequence of the voting units. Other public actions relied on the lot, for example, the assignment of provinces to magistrates and promagistrates.42 It is obvious to us, and it was obvious to the Romans, that many procedures such as casting lots were open to manipulation, and accusations of manipulation were sure to spark controversy and debate. Thus, their functioning could not be guaranteed by technical procedures but only by the undeniable involvement of the gods, who were even more aware of fictitious signs than contemporary humans. The gods alone were able to ensure effective legitimation by such procedures. To be able to do so, they had to be intensively present, to be talked about, and represented by frequent and lavish cult. Mos maiorum (the custom of the ancestors) functioned similarly. Appeal to the forefathers could only be effective if the ancestors were permanently present in statues, rituals, rhetorical exempla (exemplary stories), and literature.
World History
