[95]
43. "But who fails to observe that auspices
and all other kinds of divination flourish best in the
best regulated states? And what king or people
has there ever been who did not employ divination? I do not mean in time of peace only, but
much more even in time of war, when the strife
and struggle for safety is hardest. Passing by our
own countrymen, who do nothing in war without
examining entrails and nothing in peace without
taking the auspices, let us look at the practice of
foreign nations The Athenians, for instance, in
every public assembly always had present certain
priestly diviners, whom they call manteis. The
Spartans assigned an augur to their kings as a
judicial adviser, and they also enacted that an augur
should be present in their Council of Elders, which
is the name of their Senate. In matters of grave
concern they always consulted the oracle at Delphi,
or that of Jupiter Hammon or that of Dodona.
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