[72]
33. "But those methods of divination which
are dependent on conjecture, or on deductions from
events previously observed and recorded, are, as I
have said before,1 not natural, but artificial, and
include the inspection of entrails, augury, and the
interpretation of dreams. These are disapproved of
by the Peripatetics and defended by the Stoics.
Some are based upon records and usage, as is
evident from the Etruscan books on divination by
means of inspection of entrails and by means of
thunder and lightning, and as is also evident from
the books of your augural college; while others are
dependent on conjecture made suddenly and on the
spur of the moment. An instance of the latter
kind is that of Calchas in Homer, prophesying the
number of years of the Trojan War from the number
of sparrows.2 We find another illustration of conjectural divination in the history of Sulla in an
occurrence which you witnessed. While he was
offering sacrifices in front of his head-quarters in the
Nolan district3 a snake suddenly came out from
[p. 305]
beneath the altar. The soothsayer, Gaius Postumius,
begged Sulla to proceed with his march at once.
Sulla did so and captured the strongly fortified
camp of the Samnites which lay in front of the town
of Nola.
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