[615] Cic. Leg. ii. 8. 20; Phil. xiii. 5. 12.
[616] They are never called flamines, and no flamen was attached to their office; Wissowa, Relig. u. Kult. d. Römer, 451. The great sacerdotal colleges were more political than religious, and the college of augurs was the most thoroughly political of all; Bouché-Leclerq, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. i. 564.
[617] Cic. Leg. ii. 8. 20; Dio Cass, xxxvii. 24 f.; Aust, Relig. d. Römer, 199; Wissowa, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 2325-30.
[618] Fest. 333. 9: “Spectio in auguralibus ponitur pro aspectione; (data est) et nuntiatio, qui omne ius auspiciorum habent, auguribus non spectio dumtaxat, quorum consilio rem gererent magistratus, ut possent impedire, nuntiando quaecumque vidissent; privatis spectio sine nuntiatione data est, ut ipsi auspicio rem gererent, non ut alios impedirent nuntiando.”—Valeton’s emendation, in Mnemos. xviii (1890). 455 f.
[619] Cic. Leg. ii. 8. 21: “Quique agent rem duelli quique domi popularem, auspicium praemonento ollique obtemperanto;” cf. Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 332.
[620] It generally happened that both the augural and pontifical colleges were filled by statesmen, so that Cicero could lay down the principle that the sacred and political offices were held by the same persons; Div. i. 40. 89; cf. Wissowa, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 2321.
[621] Livy iv. 7. 3; viii. 23. 14-17; xxiii. 31. 13; xlv. 12. 10; Cic. Phil. ii. 33. 83; Leg. ii. 12. 31; N. D. ii. 4. 11. A defect in the auspicia impetrativa was expressed by the formula “vitio tabernaculum captum esse” (Cic. N. D. ii. 4. 11; Div. i. 17. 33; Livy iv. 7. 3; Serv. in Aen. ii. 178), whereas the phrase “vitio creatum esse” or the like (Livy viii. 15. 6; 23. 14; xxiii. 31. 13; xlv. 12. 10; Plut. Marcell. 4) denoted a failure to take the auspices or to heed unfavorable omens; Wissowa, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 2334. On the annulment of laws through augural decrees, see Cic. Leg. 8. 21; 12. 31; Div. ii. 35. 74. The decree was no more than an opinion, on which the senate acted; Rubino, Röm. Verf. 88. n. 3; Aust, Relig. d. Römer, 201.
[622] An example of such boldness was that of C. Flaminius; Livy xxi. 63; cf. Plut. Marcell. 4; Zon. vii. 20. For the case of Appius Claudius Pulcher, see Livy ep. xix; Polyb. i. 52.
[623] P. 112.
[624] Cic. Leg. ii. 8. 21. Strictly it was the templum minus as distinguished from the templum magnum, a region of the sky; Varro, L. L. vii. 7; Fest. 157. 24; Serv. in Aen. i. 92.