[27]
This is why, as he told me himself, he had
time and again abandoned a journey even though
he might have been travelling for many days. By
the way, that was a very noble utterance of his
which he made after Caesar had deprived him of his
tetrarchy and kingdom,1 and had forced him to pay
an indemnity too. 'Notwithstanding what has
happened,' said he,' I do not regret that the auspices
favoured my joining Pompey. By so doing I enlisted
my military power in defence of senatorial authority,
Roman liberty, and the supremacy of the empire.
The birds, at whose instance I followed the course
of duty and of honour, counselled well, for I value
my good name more than riches.' His conception
of augury, it seems to me, is the correct one.
"For with us magistrates make use of auspices,
but they are 'forced auspices,'2 since the sacred
chickens in eating the dough pellets thrown must
let some fall from their beaks.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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