DĪVĪNĀTĬO

( μαντική ), a power in man which foresees future things by means of those signs which the gods throw in his way. Among the Greeks the manteis ( μάντεις ), or seers, who announced the future, were supposed to be under the direct influence of the gods, chiefly that of Apollo. In many families of seers the inspired knowledge of the future was considered to be hereditary, and to be transmitted from father to son. To these families belonged the Iamids, who from Olympia spread over a considerable part of Greece; the Branch i dae, near Miletus; the Eumolpids, at Athens and Eleusis; the Telliads, the A carn an i an seers, and others. Along with the seers we may also mention the Bacides and the Sibyllae. Both existed from a very remote time, and were distinct from the manteis so far as they pretended to derive their knowledge of the future from sacred books ( χρησμοί ) which they consulted, and which were in some places, as at Athens and Rome, kept by the government or some especial officers, in the acropolis and in the most revered sanctuary. The Bacides are said to have been descended from one or more prophetic nymphs of the name of Bacis. The Sibyllae were prophetic women, probably of Asiatic origin, whose peculiar custom seems to have been to wander with their sacred books from place to place. The Sibylla, whose books gained so great an importance at Rome, is reported to have been the Erythraean: the books which she was said to have sold to one of the Tarquins were carefully concealed from the public, and only acce ible to the duumvirs. Besides these more respectable prophets and prophete es, there were numbers of diviners of an inferior order ( χρησμολόγοι ), who made it their busine to explain all sorts of signs, and to tell fortunes. They were, however, more particularly popular with the lower orders, who are everywhere most ready to believe what is most marvellous and least entitled to credit. No public undertaking of any consequence was ever entered upon by the Greeks and Romans without consulting the will of the gods, by observing the signs which they sent, especially those in the sacrifices offered for the purpose, and by which they were thought to indicate the succe or the failure of the undertaking. For this kind of divination no divine inspiration was thought nece ary, but merely experience and a certain knowledge acquired by routine; and although in some cases priests were appointed for the purpose of observing and explaining signs [ Augur ; Haruspex ], yet on any sudden emergency, especially in private affairs, any one who met with something extraordinary, might act as his own interpreter. The principal signs by which the gods were thought to declare their will, were things connected with the offering of sacrifices, the flight and voice of birds, all kinds of natural phenomena, ordinary as well as extraordinary, and dreams.—The interpretation of signs of the first cla ( ἱερομαντεία or ἱεροσκοπία , haruspicium or ars haruspicina ) was, according to Aeschylus, the invention of Pro me the us. It seems to have been most cultivated by the Etruscans, among whom it was raised into a complete science, and from whom it pa ed to the Romans. Sacrifices were either offered for the special purpose of consulting the gods, or in the ordinary way; but in both cases the signs were observed, and when they were propitious, the sacrifice was said καλλιερεῖν . The principal points that were generally observed were, 1. The manner in which the victim approached the altar. 2. The nature of the intestines with respect to their colour and smoothne ; the liver and bile were of particular importance. 3. The nature of the flame which consumed the sacrifice. Especial care was also taken during a sacrifice, that no inauspicious or frivolous words were uttered by any of the bystanders: hence the admonitions of the priests, εὐφημεῖτε and εὐφημία , or σιγᾶτε, σιωπᾶτε , favete linguis , and others; for improper expre ions were not only thought to pollute and profane the sacred act, but to be unlucky omens.—The art of interpreting signs of the second cla was called οἰωνιστική , augurium , or auspicium . It was, like the former, common to Greeks and Romans, but never attained the same degree of importance in Greece as it did in Rome. [ Auspicium . ] The Greeks, when observing the flight of birds, turned their face toward the north, and then a bird appearing to the right (east), especially an eagle, a heron, or a falcon, was a favourable sign; while birds appearing to the left (west) were considered as unlucky signs. Of greater importance than the appearance of animals, at least to the Greeks, were the phenomena in the heavens, particularly during any public transaction. Among the unlucky phenomena in the heavens ( διοσημεῖα , signa , or portent a ) were thunder and lightning, an eclipse of the sun or moon, earthquakes, rain of blood, stones, milk, . Any one of these signs was sufficient at Athens to break up the a embly of the people.—In common life, things apparently of no importance, when occurring at a critical moment, were thought by the ancients to be signs sent by the gods, from which conclusions might be drawn respecting the future. Among these common occurrences we may mention sneezing, twinkling of the eyes, tinkling of the ears, .—The art of interpreting dreams ( ὀνειροπολία ), which had probably been introduced into Europe from Asia, where it is still a universal practice, seems in the Homeric age to have been held in high esteem, for dreams were said to be sent by Zeus. In subsequent times, that cla of diviners who occupied themselves with the interpretation of dreams, seems to have been very numerous and popular; but they never enjoyed any protection from the state, and were chiefly resorted to by private individuals.—The subject of oracles is treated in a separate article. [ Oraculum . ]—The word divinatio was used in a particular manner by the Romans as a law term. If in any case two or more accusers came forward against one and the same individual, it was, as the phrase ran, decided by divination , who should be the chief or real accuser, whom the others then joined as subscript ores; i.e. by putting their names to the charge brought against the offender. This transaction, by which one of several accusers was selected to conduct the accusation, was called divinatio , as the question here was not about facts, but about something which was to be done, and which could not be found out by witne es or written documents; so that the judices had, as it were, to divine the course which they had to take. Hence the oration of Cicero, in which he tries to show that he, and not Q. Caecilius Niger, ought to conduct the accusation against Verres, is called Divinatio in Caecilium .