[655] Cf. p. 115, 118, n. 2.
[656] Livy v. 52. 15; ix. 38. 15 f.; 39. 1; Dion. Hal. ix. 41. 3; Cic. Att. ii. 7. 2; 12. 1; viii. 3. 3. Hoffmann, Patric. u. pleb. Curien, 29 ff., is of the opinion that the assembly which passed the lex curiata was not auspicated, his idea being that the lex curiata itself conferred the ius auspiciorum publicorum. There is no ground, however, for either of these suppositions.
[657] Cic. N. D. ii. 4. 11; Dion. Hal. vii. 59. 2. On the censorial auspication of the comitia centuriata for the lustrum, see Varro, L. L. vi. 86. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 98, n. 6, supposes this to be the auspication of the censor’s entrance into office (cf. 81, n. 1), believing that assemblies which did not vote were unauspicated. But cf. p. 111, n. 1 below.
[658] Dio Cass. liv. 24. 1; Cic. Fam. vii. 30. 1; cf. Varro, R. R. iii. 2. 1.
[659] Dion. Hal. ix. 41. 3; 49. 5.
[660] This is shown by the Commentarium Anquisitionis of M. Sergius, a quaestor, in Varro, L. L. vi. 91.
[661] Censoriae Tabulae, in Varro, L. L. vi. 86 f.: “Ubi noctu in templum censor auspicaverit atque de caelo nuntium erit ... tum conventionem habet qui lustrum conditurus est.” Mommsen’s interpretation (Röm. Staatsr. i. 81, n. 2, 98, n. 6) which applies these auspices to the censor’s entrance upon his office seems forced. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that this magistrate had to renew the auspices for every day of the census-taking; Mommsen, ibid. i. 113, n. 4.
[662] The current view (cf. Lange, Röm. Alt. ii. 718; Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 98; Karlowa, Röm. Rechtsgesch. i. 380; Liebenam, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iv. 1150) that no contio was auspicated appears therefore to require modification.
[663] Plut. Pomp. 52; Cato Min. 42.
[664] Ael. Don. in Terent. Ad. iv. 2. 8: “Qui malam rem nuntiat, obnuntiat, qui bonam, adnuntiat: nam proprie obnuntiare dicuntur augures, qui aliquid mali ominis scaevumque viderint.” In this late author (350 A.D.) obnuntiatio is ascribed to the augurs. When Cicero says to Antony (Phil. ii. 33. 83) “Augur auguri, consul consuli obnuntiasti,” he does it only to find fault with the proceeding; cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 111, n. 2. These are the only instances known to us in which the distinction is not observed; Mommsen, ibid.; Wissowa, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 2335; Valeton, in Mnemos. xix (1891). 75 ff., 229 ff.; Bouché-Leclerq, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. i. 582.