The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

sometimes performed by an assistant, nothing indicates that he was thought of as the one
responsible for it.
Indirect prestige It is rarely mentioned exactly who is understood as responsible for the
signs. Sometimes it is conceptualized as the gods in general (Liv.5.52.2), but when more
precisely specified, it is Jupiter. The birds were seen as messengers of Jupiter (Cic.Div.2.72).
Jupiter is seen as giving his advice on state matters through the auspices (Cic.Leg.3.43).
Jupiter is the highest god in the Roman pantheon, which can be seen by his epithets: optimus
maximus (highest greatest). We can therefore conclude that the indirect prestige was very
high.
Utility and Credibility value The auspicium always expressed either approval or rejection
of an intended action 128 (Cic.Div.2.78). It was never something in between or a suggestion to
do otherwise or anything at all.
The auspicium ex caelo was used:
1) when magistrates were to assume their magistracies. Technically this is after they were
creati (Valeton 1890: 219-221).
2) when a magistrate is leaving Rome for a war or a province (Liv.22.1.7, Fest.276 L)
The auspicium ex avibus is used:
1) when a dictator is appointed (Liv.9.38.14) and his magister equitus (Cic.Leg.3.39)
2) when an assembly (comitium) was held in which laws or elections were to take place
(Liv.5.52.15, V.Max.1.1.3, Gel.13.15.4) (cf. Valeton 1890: 234f)
3) when holding non-plebeian comitia (Wissowa 1896: 2585)
What is known about the auspices of the censor is that they were taken to approve of an
indictment of a capital offence (Var.L.6.9) and also when a census should be conducted
(Var.L.6.86). 129 They didn't overlap with the auspices of the consul and praetor (Gel.13.15.4).
The auspices of the minor magistrates applied only to the holding of a contio, which was a
gathering like the comitia, but without voting on any measures. They were simply addresses
to the people (Gel.13.16.3) (cf. Michels 1978: 47).
128 A precise formulation by Servius has it that "auspicium autem est volatus avium, qui indicat agendum vel
omittendum esse quod quis coeperit" (Serv.A.3.375): “auspicium is the flight of birds, which indicates
whether what someone is starting should be done or not” (my translation)
129 See further (Valeton 1890: 220).
152