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Rome 454, si the folicitation of the tiibtinps, and eleL'tcd 

 from among the common people ; laftl)', Sylla, in the year 

 672, increafed the number to fifteen. They were at firft 

 chofcn, like- the other priefts, by the comttia curiata, but 

 their eleftion afttrwards underwent the fame changes with 

 that of the pontificcs. 



The elded of thefe pre Tided over the reft, and was 

 honoured with the title of " Magifter Collegii." Their 

 •ffice, which terminated only with their death, and of 

 which no crime or forfeiture could deprive them, as it is 

 comprifed in the augural law mentioned by Cicero (De 

 Divin. 1. ii.), was to interpret dr^jinis, oracles, prodigies, 

 &c. and to tell whether any aftion (hould be fortunate or 

 prejudicial to particular perfons, or to the whole ftate. Thus 

 thev were the interpreters of the will of the gods with 

 refpeft to the making of war or peace ; and all were obliged 

 to obey them in fo important an article. 



They bore an augural ftaff, or wand, called Ihuus, as 

 the enfign of their office and authority. The other badges 

 of their office were a kind of robe called trahea, and a cap 

 of a conical (hape like that of the pontitices. No affair 

 of moment could be refolved on, without firft confulting 

 them ; and their advice, be it what it would, was, by a 

 decree of the fenate, appointed to be exaftly and religioufly 

 •bferved. 



The office was important and honourable. It was afpired 

 after by fome of the principal perfons of the Roman ftate. 

 Cato was a member of the college of augurs ; and Cicero 

 aifo was dignified with this title, and perfeftly underftood 

 the whole art praftifed by himfelf and his colleagues. 

 Although he ridicules the profeffion (De Divin. 1. ii.), and 

 demonftrates by various proofs the inutility, impotence, 

 and abfolute impoffibility of the art, and relates a faying 

 of Cato concerning it, " that he could not imagine how one 

 arufpex could look another in the face without laughing ;" 

 yet, notvvithftanding his contempt of its fuperftitions, he 

 blamed thofe generals and magiftrates, who on important 

 occafions had negleiiled them; and maintains, that this prac- 

 tice, though allowed to be fubjeft to many abufes and 

 frauds, ought to be regarded on account of religion and the 

 prejudices of the people. Pliny was alfo raifed by Trajan 

 to the dignity of augur ; and through eveiy period of the 

 Roman ftate, this office was the higheft rank in the prieft- 

 bood to which any fenator could be raifed. Of this 

 Auguftus was fo well apprized, that by feizing the office of 

 high prieft on the death of Lepidus in the year of Rome 

 7^5, B. C. 29, he, and his fuccelTors in the empire, ob- 

 tained a control over all religious matters ; and by thus 

 placing themfelves at the head of all the colleges of priefts, 

 augurs, and keepers of the Sibylhne books and others, they 

 became the fole arbitrators in all facred as well as profane 

 concerns. For an abftratt of the hiftory and office of augurs, 

 fee Augury. 



Augur, \n Entomology, a fpecies of Cimex, of a rufous 

 colour, with the antenm, under-wings, and legs black. A 

 native of the Eaft Indies, and the cape of Good Hope, 



Augur, a fpecies of PhaljEna [No9ua), with brown 

 wrngs, charaftered with black. Inhabits Germany. Fabricius. 



Augur, a fpecies of Muse a that inhabits New Holland. 

 It is cinereous ; abdomen blueilh ; fides teftaceous and dia- 

 phanous. Fabricius, &c. 



AUGURAL, fomething relating to the Augurs. 



The augural inftniments are reprefented on feveral an- 

 cient medals. Evelyn on Medals, chap. ii. 



AvGVK&i. /upper, citna auguraHs, that given by a prieft 

 on his firft admiffion into the order, called alfo by Vano 

 0djicialis. De Re Ruftic. lib. iii. cap. 6. 



Augural looks, idii augur aks, thofe wherein the dif- 



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cipline and rules of augury were laid down. Cic. de Divis, 

 lib. i. cap. 33. Prifcian (1. 708.) fays, that Julius Ccefar 

 compofed augural books. 



AUGURALE, the place in a camp where the general 

 tookaufpicia. Thisanfwcred to thertK^fura/or/Vw in the city, 



AuGURALE is alfo ufed, in Seneca, lor the enfign or 

 badge of an augur, as the Ihuus. De Tranquil, cap. xii. 



AUGURATORIUM, a building on the Pdatinc 

 Mount, where public auguries were taken. This is alfo 

 called au^uracnlum and arx. 



AUGURELLO, Giovanni Aurelio, in Bhgrr.phyy 

 a learned Italian, was born at Rimini about 1441, ftudied 

 at Padua, and became profeflbr of polite' literature at Tre- 

 vigi, where he had a canonry, and where he di^d in IJ24. 

 He was addifted to the ttudy of alchemy ; and it is faid 

 that pope Leo X. in return for the dedication of his Latin 

 poem, intitlcd " Chryfoposia," gave him a large empty 

 purfe, faying, that he knew how to fill it. Fi-om this poem, 

 however, it appears that Augurello was no beli;ver in the 

 art. He publifhed, befides the Chryfopccia. many Latin 

 poems, odes, elegies, and cantos ; fome of which pofl'efs 

 elegance and purity. The poems in his own hnguage were 

 not publiflied till 1765. Tirabofchi. Gen. Biog. 



AUGURY, the difcipline of the augurs, or the praftiee 

 of confulting the gods, and learning their will, by divers 

 kirids of omens. 



The obfervation of auguries is very ancient, as having 

 been prohibited by Mofes in Leviticus. — The cup put in 

 Ber.jamin's fack, in Egypt, is faid to have been that ufid 

 by jofeph for making auguries. 



However this be, augury was undcrtibtedly a very ancient 

 fuperftition. Hefiod informs us, that the operation? of agri- 

 cidture were rejjulated by the migration of birds ; and it 

 had probably been in ufe long before his time, for marking 

 the changes of the feafons. At length the flight of birds 

 was more particularly obferved ; and their different motions 

 were thought to be of fuch confequcnce, that no concern of 

 importance, either private or public, was undertaken with- 

 out confulting them. Abfurd as this fuperftition may now 

 appear, and as it certain". ■_, was in the extenfive application 

 and ufe of it, it feems to have derived its origin from nature. 

 The appearance and difappearance of particular birds at 

 different feafons, would probably fuggeft to thofe who 

 were ignorant of the places to which they migrated, and 

 from which they occafionally returned, that they might vifit 

 the ethereal regions, and there converfe with the gods, and 

 acquire an inftincl or faculty for foretelling future events. 

 A luperftitious people might argue in this manner ; and 

 as birds are found capable of imitating the human voice, 

 fome impoftor might have availed himfelf of this circum- 

 ftance, and deduced prefumptions in favour of the falla- 

 cious fyftem of augury. An ingenious writer fuggetls (fee 

 Stillingflect's Calendar of Flora), that this might have been 

 the cafe ; and it is alleged, that the inftitution of augury 

 feems to have been more ancient than that of arufpicy; for 

 Homer fuppHes us with feveral inftances of the former, 

 but none of the latter. Upon the whole, it is not improba- 

 ble that natural augury gfive rife to religious augury ; and 

 this again, by a tranfition not unnatural, to arufpicy. A 

 palTage in Ariftophanes furnifhes a hint that led to thefe 

 obfervations. In his comedy of the birds, he reprefents one 

 of them as faying, " The greateft bleffing which can happen 

 to you, mortals, are derived from us ; firft, we (liew you 

 the feafons, fprlng, autumn, and winter ; the crane points 

 out the time for lowing, when ftie flies with her warning 

 notes into Egypt; fhe bids the failor hang up his nidder 

 and take his reif, and every prudent man provide himfelf 

 with winter garments ; the kite appears next, announcing 



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