The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

Conclusion
In this section I will summarize the results of the empirical analysis in light of the theoretical
model developed in chapters three through six.
Motivation
We found that divination was typically motivated by situations of actual or potential
misfortune as was stipulated in the theoretical chapter. It could be before a battle (auspicium
ex tripudio/ ex caelo/ ex avibus), in situations of danger to the nation (Sibylline Books), the
allotment of provinces (public sortition), and in a private context, for example before a
wedding (auspicium nuptiarum). Some techniques are not so obviously connected to actual
or potential misfortune: public extispicy could be said to merely ascertain whether a sacrifice
was good or bad, but frequently it is seen to indicate whether the consul or other sacrificers
will prosper or die. Auspicium peremne is in general quite enigmatic. The private techniques
are very poorly attested. It is clear though that private divination practices were sought for
knowledge on, for example the future fortune of a child, disease, love or marriage. In general,
the Roman sources indicate the same sort of uncertanties related to the ideal life found in
chapter four that motivate people to use divination today.
It may seem self-evident that questions were about actual or potential misfortune, but they
could as well have been about the origin of words (a deep rooted concern of Varro), the
nature of the Gods (the subject of a treatise by Cicero), the true nature of lightning (the focus
of prolonged arguments by Seneca, Pliny the Elder). These are questions that also greatly
interested the Romans, but were never put to divinatory inquiry.
The motivations of the Romans to engage in divination were in short: perceptions of actual
or potential misfortune or lack of fortune.
Ritualization
All divination techniques in the survey employed ritualized action in the sense stipulated in
chapter four. They featured a displacement of the intention of the operator which provoked a
deficiency in the intentional representation of the action. This was often achieved by asking
of a question and performing an action that would allow the production of signs without the
direct control of the operator. These signs were subsequently represented as stemming from a
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