ed, and
with the army in the field it became the regular practice to take the
auspices from the feeding of the sacred chickens (_pulli_): the best
sign being obtained if, in their eagerness to feed, they let fall some
of the grain from their beaks (_tripudium solistimum_)--a result not
difficult to secure by previous treatment and a careful selection of
the kind of grain supplied to them. But besides this deliberate 'asking
for signs,' public business might at any moment be interrupted if the
gods voluntarily sent an indication of disapproval (_oblativa_): the
augurs then had always to be at hand to advise the magistrates whether
notice should be taken of such signs, and, if so, what was their
signification, and they even seem to have had certain rights of
reporting themselves (_nuntiatio_) the occurrence of adverse ones. The
sign of most usual occurrence would be lightning--sometimes such an
unexpected event as the seizure of a member of the assembly with
epilepsy (_morbus comitialis_)--and we know to what lengths political
obstructionists went in later times in the observation of fictitious
signs, or even the prevention of business by the mere announcement of
their intention to see an unfavourable omen (_servare de caelo_). The
complications and ramifications of the augur's art are infinite, but
the main idea should by now be plain, and it must be remembered that
the kindred art of the soothsayer (_haruspex_), oracles, and the
interpretation of fate by the drawing of lots (_sortes_) are all later
foreign introductions: auspice and augury are the only genuine Roman
methods for interpreting the will of the gods.

Here then in household, fields, and state, we have a second type of
relation to the gods, running parallel to the ordinary practice of
sacrifice and prayer, distinct yet not fundamentally different. As it
is man's function to propitiate the higher spirits and prevent, if
possible, the wrecking of his plans by their opposition, so it is his
business, if he can, to find out their intentions before he engages on
any serious undertaking. As in the _ius sacrum_ his legal mind leads
him to assume that the deities accept the responsibility of the
contract, when his own part is fulfilled, so here, like a practical man
of business, he assumes their construction of a code of communication,
which he has learned to interpret. In its origin it is a notion common
to many primitive religions, but in its elaboration it is pecu