Auguries Synonyms

When Tarquinius Superbus desired to build a temple to Jupiter, the auguries forbade its removal, and it was enclosed within the walls of the new sanctuary, an indication of the immovability of such stones and of the permanence of the Roman territory.

We seem here to have a remnant of the very ancient and widely diffused tree-worship. Sometimes, however, auguries were taken in other manners, being drawn from the moaning of doves in the branches, the murmur of a fountain which rose close by, or the resounding of the wind in the brazen caldrons which formed a circle all round the temple.

These are P. megapodius, called El Turco by the natives, which is noticeable for its ungainly appearance and awkward gait; the P. albicollis, which inhabits barren hillsides and is called tapacollo from the manner of carrying its tail turned far forward over its back; the P. rubecula, of Chiloe, a small timid denizen of the gloomy forest, called the cheucau or chuca, whose two or three notes are believed by the superstitious natives to be auguries of impending success or disaster; and an allied species (Hylactes Tarnii, King) called the guid-guid or barking bird, whose cry is a close imitation of the yelp of a small dog.

His firm fighting alliance with the Roman general Aetius, with whom he had had many a conflict in previous years, was one of the best auguries for the new Europe that was to arise out of the ruins of the Roman empire.