Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

I74 AUGUR. AUG UR.
probation and confirmation to the act of his ward. reason to doubt this statement as Hartung does
Though a pupillus had not a capacity to do any act (Die Religion der PRWmcr, vol. i. p. 99), on the
which was prejudicial to him, he had a capacity to authority of Servius (ad Virg. Aen. i. 402, iii. 20).
receive or assent to any thing which was for his The authority of Plutarch is further supported by
benefit, and in such case the auctoritas of the tutor the fact, that in Roman marriages the person who
was not necessary. represented the diviner of ancient times, was
The authority of decided cases was called called auspex and not augur. (Cic. de Div. i. 16).
sireiliter judicatorum auctoritas. The other mean- Rubino (Rl0misch. Verfissung, p. 45) draws a disings of auctoritas may be easily derived from the tinction between the meaning of the words auspex
primary meaning of the word, and from the ex- and asskur, though he believes that they were used
planatioins here given. [G. L.] to indicate the sanle person, the former referring
AUDITO'RIUM, as the name implies, is any simply to the observation of the signs, and the latter
place for hearing. It was the practice among the to the interpretation of them. This view is cerRomans for poets and others to read their comnposi- tainly supported by the meaning of the verbs
tions to their friends, who were sometimes called auspicari and augurari, and the samle distinction
the auditorium (Plin. Ep. iv. 7); but the word seems to prevail between the words auzspiciunz and
was also used to express any place in which any augzurium, when they are used together (Cic. de
thing was heard, and under the empire it was Div. ii. 48, de Nat. Deor. ii. 3), though they are
applied to a court of justice. Under the republic often applied to the same signs. The word cuispe
the place for all judicial proceedings was the comi- was supplanted by augur, but the scientific term
tium and the forum. (Ni pagunt in comitio aut for the observation continued on the contrary to be
in foro ante meridiem causam coniicito quum per- auspiciums and not augurizum. The etymology of
orant ambo praesentes. Dirksen, Uebersiclht, &c. auspwex is clear enough (from avis, and the root
p. 725.) But for the sake of shelter and conve- spec or spic), but that of augur is not so cernience, it became the practice to hold courts in the tain. The ancient grammarians derived it from
Basilicae, which contained halls, which were also avis and peso (Festus, s. v. augur; Serv. ad
called auditoria. In the dialogue de Oratoribus Viyg. Aen. v. 523), while some modern writers
(c. 39), the writer observes that oratory had lost suppose the root to be aug, signifying " to see,"
much by cases being generally heard in "auditoria and the same as the Sanscrit akshli, the Latin
et tabularia." It is first under M. Aurelius that oculus, and the German awge, and ur to be a terthe auditorium principis is mentioned, by which mination; the word would thus correspond to the
we must understand a hall or room in the imperial English seer. Others again believe the word to
residence; and in such a hall Septimius Severus be of Etruscan origin, which is not incompatible
and the later emperors held their regular sittings with the supposition, as we shall show below, that
when they presided as judges. (Dig. 36. tit. 1. the auspices were of Latin or Sabine origin, since
s. 22, 49. tit. 9. s. 1; Dion Cass. lxxvi. 11; Dig. 4. the word augur may thus have been introduced
tit. 4. s. 18.) The provincial governors also under along with Etruscan rites, and thus have superseded
the empire sometimes sat on their tribunal as in the the original term auspex. There is, however, no
republic, and sometimes in the praetorium or in an certainty on the point; and, although the first
auditorium. Accordingly, the latest jurists use the mentioned etymology seems improbable, yet from
word generally for any place in which justice was the analogy of au-spex and au-ceps, we are inclinvd
administered. (Dig. 1. tit. 22. s. 5.) In the time to believe that the former part of the word is of
of Diocletian, the auditorium had got the name of the same root as avis, and the latter may be consecretarluriom; and in a constitution of Constantine nected with gero, more especially as Priscian (i. 6.
(Cod. Th. i. tit. 16. s. 6), the two words seem to ~ 36) gives auger and augeratzss, as the more an
be used as equivalent, when he enacts that both cient forms of augur and auguratus. By Greek
criminal and civil cases should be heard openly writers on Roman affairs, the augurs are called
(before the tribunal), and not in auditoria or oicvo7red'ot, olcvoseo'vrroi, olove-eai, o E'ir' olcvooLS
secretaria. Valentinianus and. VYalens allowed repels. The augurs formed a collegium at Rome,
causes to be heard either before the tribunal or in but their history, functions, and duties will be better
the secretarium, but yet with open doors. From explained after we have obtained a clear idea of
the fifth century, the secretarium or secretum was what the auspices were, and who had the power
the regular place for hearing causes, aid the people of taking them.
were excluded by lattice-work (cancellae) and An acquaintance with this subject is one of
curtains (vela); but this may have been as much primary importance to every student of Roman hisfor convenience as for any other purpose, though it tory and antiquities. In the most ancient times,
appears that at this late period of the empire there no transaction took place, either of a private or a
were only present the magistrate and his officers, public nature, without consulting the auspices, and
and the parties to the cause. Only those whom hence we find the question asked in a well-known
the magistrate invited, or who had business, or passage of Livy (vi. 14),'[ Auspiciis hlianc rbem
persons of certain rank (honorati) had admission conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace, domo milito the courts, under the despotic system of the late tiaeque omnia geri, quis est, qui ignoret?" An
empire. (Cod. 1. tit. 48. s. 3; Hollweg, Handbucl outline of the most important facts connected with
des Civilprozesses, p. 215.) [G. L.] the auspices, which is all that our limits will allow,
AUGUR, AUGU'RIUM; AUSPEX, AUS- therefore, claims our attentive consideration.
PI'CIUM. Augur or auspex meant a diviner by All the nations of antiquity were impressed with
birds, but came in course of time, like the Greek the firm belief, that the will of the gods and future
olowvs, to be applied in a more extended sense: events were revealed to men by certain signs,
his art was called augurgiusm or auspicium'. Plutarch which were sent by the gods as marks of their
relates that the augures were originally termed favour to their sincere worshippers. Hence, the
auspices (Q~uest, Roms. c. 72), and there seems no arguments of the Stoics that if there are gods,