Aufĭdus, a river of Apulia falling into the Adriatic sea, and now called Ofanto. It was on its banks that the Romans were defeated by Hannibal at Cannæ. The spot is still shown by the inhabitants, and bears the name of the field of blood. Horace, bk. 3, ode 30; bk. 4, ode 9.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 405.
Auga, Auge, and Augea, daughter of Aleus king of Tegea by Neæra, was ravished by Hercules, and brought forth a son, whom she exposed in the woods to conceal her amours from her father. The child was preserved, and called Telephus. Aleus was informed of his daughter’s shame, and gave her to Nauplius to be put to death. Nauplius refused to perform the cruel office, and gave Auge to Teuthras king of Mysia, who, being without issue, adopted her as his daughter. Some time after the dominions of Teuthras were invaded by an enemy, and the king promised his crown and daughter to him who could deliver him from the impending calamity. Telephus, who had been directed by the oracle to go to the court of Teuthras, if he wished to find his parents, offered his services to the king, and they were accepted. As he was going to unite himself to Auge, in consequence of the victory he had obtained, Auge rushed from him with secret horror, and the gods sent a serpent to separate them. Auge implored the aid of Hercules, who made her son known to her, and she returned with him to Tegea. Pausanias says, that Auge was confined in a coffer with her infant son, and thrown into the sea, where, after being preserved and protected by Minerva, she was found by king Teuthras. Apollodorus, bks. 2 & 3.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 4.—Hyginus, fables 99 & 100.
Augarus, an Arabian who, for his good offices obtained the favours of Pompey, whom he vilely deceived. Dio Cassius.——A king of Osroene, whom Caracalla imprisoned, after he had given him solemn promises of friendship and support. Dio Cassius, bk. 78.
Augeæ, a town of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 21.——Another of Locris.
Augias and Augeas, son of Eleus, or Elius, was one of the Argonauts, and afterwards ascended the throne of Elis. He had an immense number of oxen and goats, and the stables in which they were kept had never been cleaned, so that the task seemed an impossibility to any man. Hercules undertook it, on promise of receiving as a reward the tenth part of the herds of Augias, or something equivalent. The hero changed the course of the river Alpheus, or, according to others, of the Peneus, which immediately carried away the dung and filth from the stables. Augias refused the promised recompense on pretence that Hercules had made use of artifice, and had not experienced any labour or trouble, and he further drove his own son Phyleus from his kingdom, because he supported the claims of the hero. The refusal was a declaration of war. Hercules conquered Elis, put to death Augias, and gave the crown to Phyleus. Pausanias says, bk. 5, chs. 2 & 3, that Hercules spared the life of Augias for the sake of his son, and that Phyleus went to settle in Dulichium; and that at the death of Augias his other son, Agasthenes succeeded to the throne. Augias received, after his death, the honours which were generally paid to a hero. Augias has been called the son of Sol, because Elius signifies the sun. The proverb of Augean stable is now applied to an impossibility. Hyginus, fables 14, 30, 157.—Pliny, bk. 17, ch. 9.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Apollodorus, bk. 2.
Augĭlæ, a people of Africa, who supposed that there were no gods except the manes of the dead, of whom they sought oracles. Mela, bk. 1.
Augīnus, a mountain of Liguria. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 2.
Augŭres, certain officers at Rome who foretold future events, whence their name, ab avium garritu. They were first created by Romulus, to the number of three. Servius Tullius added a fourth, and the tribunes of the people, A.U.C. 454, increased the number to nine; and Sylla added six more during his dictatorship. They had a particular college, and the chief amongst them was called Magister collegii. Their office was honourable; and if any one of them was convicted of any crime, he could not be deprived of his privileges; an indulgence granted to no other sacerdotal body at Rome. The augur generally sat on a high tower to make his observations. His face was turned towards the east, and he had the north to his left, and the south at his right. With a crooked staff he divided the face of the heavens into four different parts, and afterwards sacrificed to the gods, covering his head with his vestment. There were generally five things from which the augurs drew omens. The first consisted in observing the phænomena of the heavens, such as thunder, lightning, comets, &c. The second kind of omen was drawn from the chirping or flying of birds. The third was from the sacred chickens, whose eagerness or indifference in eating the bread which was thrown to them, was looked upon as lucky or unlucky. The fourth was from quadrupeds, from their crossing or appearing in some unaccustomed place. The fifth was from different casualties, which were called Dira, such as spilling salt upon a table, or wine upon one’s clothes, hearing strange noises, stumbling or sneezing, meeting a wolf, hare, fox, or pregnant bitch. From such superstitious notions did the Romans draw their prophecies. The sight of birds on the left hand was always deemed a lucky object, and the words sinister and lævus, though generally supposed to be terms of ill luck, were always used by the augurs in an auspicious sense. Cicero, de Divinatione.—Livy, bk. 1, &c.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.—Ovid, Fasti.
[♦]Augurīnus Julius, a Roman knight who conspired against Nero, &c. Tacitus, [♠]Annals, bk. 15, ch. 70.
[♦] ‘Tugurīnus Julius’ replaced with ‘Augurīnus Julius’
Placed in correct alphebetical order.