The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

Chapter 8 - Sources to Roman Divination
Before we proceed with a detailed investigation of divination in republican Rome, we need to
briefly review the most important sources. The sources to Roman divination are very diverse.
A reasonable picture can only be constructed by piecing together many different kinds of
sources, each with their own history and problems. It is beyond the limits of this thesis to go
in to the detailed historical criticism of all sources used. Indeed just working out the sources
behind for example Valerius Maximus would take a doctoral thesis in itself. In this chapter I
will therefore go through the most important observations about the most important sources
for divination. Space allows us only briefly to consider the most general characteristics of
different writers. The selection is not complete, but based on an assessment of which sources
are most important for the subsequent treatment.
Republican writers
Titus Maccius Plautus (c.250-184 BCE)
Plautus was born in Umbria, probably of humble origin. His plays are adaptations of Greek
new comedy and most often set in Greece. In practice they were completely reworked to fit
Roman culture. Roman comedy differed from Greek comedy in that Roman comedy was
mostly performed for the masses and the audience was much more socially diverse. This
makes Plautus’ plays a unique window into how Romans, especially ordinary people, thought
at his time. He gives us a good indication of the implicit assumptions and explicit knowledge
of the average Roman.
Marcus Terrentius Varro (116-27 BCE)
Varro was an antiquarian collector of facts. He collected from all the sources he could get
hold of, frequently archaic documents. His production was immense, but unfortunately only
two works are still extant: De re rustica, De lingua latina. Already in antiquity he had a great
reputation as a scholar and was subsequently known as the wisest of all. Many fragments of
his works are therefore scattered in later authors. He knew a great deal about religion and
wrote a large work on the subject, Res divina, parts of which are known through Augustine’s
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