Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2016 10:48:40 GMT
CHAP. XXXVII.
Of Augurie.
AVgurie, or marking the Entrails of Fowls, of which there are many sorts, is an Art which was held in great Veneration in Ancient times; even so great was the esteem thereof, that nothing of those things that belong'd either to publick or private Affairs was acted, before the Entrails of Beasts were inspected. This most ancient Art, as Pomponius Laetus testifies, was
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receiv'd by the Greeks from the Caldees; the first among whom Amphiateus, Tyresias, Mopsus, Aphilotes and Calchas, were accompted the chief: from the Graecians it passed to the Hetrurians, and from them to the Latines. Romulus himself was a Soothsayer, who first Ordain'd, that the choice of Magistrates should be con∣firm'd by Augury: and Dionysius tells us, That the Art of Soothsaying was most ancient even in the time of the Aborigines: and Ascanius before he put his Battle in Array against Mezentius, made an Inspection into the Fowl; and seeing the Augury answered his expecta∣tion, he Fought and overcame. The Phrygians also, Pisidians, Cilicians, Arabians, Vmbrians, Tuscans, and many others, observed the Ceremonies of Soothsaying. The Lacedemonians always had an Augur to attend up∣on their Kings, whom they appointed to be always at∣tending in Publick Councils; and among the Romans there was a Colledge of Augurs. They who first brought this Art in request, were those that taught how that there were certain Lights of discovery and Revelation that descended from the Heavenly Bodies upon the Inferiour, as it were certain Signes constituted and setled in their Motion, Lying, Resting, Gesture, Walk∣ing, Flying, Voice, and Feeding, in their Colour and Working; wherein, by a certain occult Force, and si∣lent Harmony, they do so far sympathize with the Ce∣lestial Bodies, with whose qualities they are affected, that thereby they are enabled to foretel whatever those Celestial Bodies intend to act. From whence it is apparent, that this sort of Divination depends only upon Conjecture, grounded partly upon the Influences of the Stars, partly taken from parabolical Simili∣tudes, than which there is nothing more deceitful. Therefore Panaetius and Carneades, Cicero, Chrysippus, Diogenes, Antipater, Josephus, and Philo, held it very •idiculous: besides, the Law and the Church condemn
Page 105
it. Of this sort are those Mysteries of the Caldaeans and Aegyptians, which the Hetrurians of old, then the Romans, and now the vulgar sort of Superstitious Hea∣thens adore.
Of Augurie.
AVgurie, or marking the Entrails of Fowls, of which there are many sorts, is an Art which was held in great Veneration in Ancient times; even so great was the esteem thereof, that nothing of those things that belong'd either to publick or private Affairs was acted, before the Entrails of Beasts were inspected. This most ancient Art, as Pomponius Laetus testifies, was
Page 104
receiv'd by the Greeks from the Caldees; the first among whom Amphiateus, Tyresias, Mopsus, Aphilotes and Calchas, were accompted the chief: from the Graecians it passed to the Hetrurians, and from them to the Latines. Romulus himself was a Soothsayer, who first Ordain'd, that the choice of Magistrates should be con∣firm'd by Augury: and Dionysius tells us, That the Art of Soothsaying was most ancient even in the time of the Aborigines: and Ascanius before he put his Battle in Array against Mezentius, made an Inspection into the Fowl; and seeing the Augury answered his expecta∣tion, he Fought and overcame. The Phrygians also, Pisidians, Cilicians, Arabians, Vmbrians, Tuscans, and many others, observed the Ceremonies of Soothsaying. The Lacedemonians always had an Augur to attend up∣on their Kings, whom they appointed to be always at∣tending in Publick Councils; and among the Romans there was a Colledge of Augurs. They who first brought this Art in request, were those that taught how that there were certain Lights of discovery and Revelation that descended from the Heavenly Bodies upon the Inferiour, as it were certain Signes constituted and setled in their Motion, Lying, Resting, Gesture, Walk∣ing, Flying, Voice, and Feeding, in their Colour and Working; wherein, by a certain occult Force, and si∣lent Harmony, they do so far sympathize with the Ce∣lestial Bodies, with whose qualities they are affected, that thereby they are enabled to foretel whatever those Celestial Bodies intend to act. From whence it is apparent, that this sort of Divination depends only upon Conjecture, grounded partly upon the Influences of the Stars, partly taken from parabolical Simili∣tudes, than which there is nothing more deceitful. Therefore Panaetius and Carneades, Cicero, Chrysippus, Diogenes, Antipater, Josephus, and Philo, held it very •idiculous: besides, the Law and the Church condemn
Page 105
it. Of this sort are those Mysteries of the Caldaeans and Aegyptians, which the Hetrurians of old, then the Romans, and now the vulgar sort of Superstitious Hea∣thens adore.