Latin — 1533, repaired
Caeterum autem in augurio fulgurum et fulminum ostentorumque, et quomodo portenta et prodigia interpretanda sunt, Hetrusci vates et sacerdotes scientiam tradiderunt. Statuerunt enim sedecim caeli regiones, et cuique sua numina adscripta; praeterea undecim fulminum genera, et novem deos qui ea iacularentur, rationesque prodendo quid ex quaque parte significent. Portenta vero, et prodigia, ostentaque, quotiescunque contingunt, semper aliquid magnum praenuntiare certum est.
Oportet autem illorum interpretem esse similitudinum optimum coniectorem, ac simul curiosum indagatorem eorum quae in tempore illo versantur, principum provinciarumque negotia. Solorum siquidem principum, et populorum, provinciarumque, ea caelestium cura est, ut prae caeteris per astra, per sydera, per portenta, perque prodigia praefigurentur, admoneanturque. Quod si etiam praeteritis saeculis idem aliquod, vel consimile quid apparuerit, id ipsum quoque et quid inde secutum sit considerare oportebit, et iuxta haec, vel eadem, vel consimilia praedicere, quia eadem sunt signa rebus eisdem, similiaque similibus.
Sic multos excellentes viros et reges prodigia praevenerunt in ortu aut obitu: ut de Mida puero refert Cicero, cui dormienti formicae tritici grana in os coniecere, quod omen fuit magnarum divitiarum. Sic Platoni, cum in cunis dormienti apes in ore consedissent, orationis suavitas pronuntiata est. Hecubae Paridem paritura visum fuit parere ardentem facem, quae Troiam et totam Asiam incenderet. Matri Phalaridis visum fuit Mercurii simulacrum sanguinem in terram effundere, quo tota domus inundaret. Genitrici Dionysii visum fuit parere satyriscum, quae prodigio fasti somnia [†sense uncertain, see flag], ipse eventus secutus est et comprobavit. Tarquinii Prisci uxori vides flammam lambere Servii Tullii caput, regnum illi praedixit. Simili modo, post captam Troiam, dissertante Aenea cum Anchisa patre de fuga, apparuit flamma verticem lambens Ascanii, nullamque illi inferens laesionem: quod cum Ascanio regnum portenderet, discedere persuasit; omnes et insignes clades portentis et prodigiis praemonstratae sunt.
Sic legimus apud Plinium: M. Attilio et C. Portio consulibus, lacte sanguinem pluisse, quod sequenti anno pestem validam Romam invasuram praenuntiavit. Item in Lucanis pluit ferrum, spongiarum ferme simile, anno antequam M. Crassus in Parthis interemptus est: omnesque Lucani milites, quorum magnus numerus in exercitu erat, cum eo occisi sunt. Item L. Paulo, et C. Marcello consulibus, lana fluit circa castellum Corfinium, iuxta quod post annum T. Annius Milo occisus est. Item Cimbricis bellis, armorum crepitus et tubae sonitus e caelo auditus est. Et Livius de bello Macedonico: "Anno," inquit, "quo discessit Hannibal, per biduum pluit sanguis." Idem de secundo bello Punico refert aquam sanguine permixtam de caelo descendisse in modum pluviae, tempore quo Hannibal lacerabat Italiam. Lacedaemoniis paulo ante Leuctricam calamitatem, in fano Herculis arma sonuerunt, et eodem tempore Thebis, in templo Herculis, valvae clausae repagulis se ipsas aperuerunt, et arma parietibus adfixa humi inventa sunt.
Similes eventus de similibus prognosticare convenit, quemadmodum diversis temporibus olim ex illis aliquid praedivinatum est. Sed et oportet circa ista etiam caelestium influxuum iudicia non negligere, de quibus latius loquemur in posterioribus.
Close translation
As for the rest, however, concerning the augury of lightnings and thunderbolts and portents, and how portents and prodigies are to be interpreted, the Etruscan seers and priests handed down the science. For they established sixteen regions of the sky, and to each its own assigned divinities; besides eleven kinds of thunderbolts, and nine gods who hurled them, and rules setting forth what each part signifies. But portents, and prodigies, and omens, however often they occur, always certainly foretell something great.
It is fitting, however, that the interpreter of these things be the best conjecturer of resemblances, and at the same time a curious investigator of the affairs of princes and of provinces that are current at that time. For it is the concern of the heavenly powers over princes and peoples and provinces alone, that these be prefigured and forewarned before all others through the stars, through the constellations, through portents, and through prodigies. And if in past ages the same thing, or something similar, has also appeared, one ought to consider that very thing too, and what followed from it, and to predict accordingly the same, or similar, outcomes, because the same signs belong to the same things, and like signs to like things.
Thus prodigies have gone before many excellent men and kings at their birth or death: as Cicero relates of the boy Midas, into whose mouth, as he slept, ants cast grains of wheat, which was an omen of great riches. Thus for Plato, when bees settled on his mouth as he slept in his cradle, the sweetness of his oratory was foretold. To Hecuba, about to bear Paris, it seemed in a dream that she bore a burning torch, which would set Troy and all Asia ablaze. To the mother of Phalaris it seemed that a statue of Mercury poured blood upon the ground, with which the whole house was flooded. To the mother of Dionysius it seemed that she bore a little satyr, which [†the fate/outcome the dream portended is unclear in the source, see flag]; the outcome itself followed and confirmed it. The wife of Tarquinius Priscus saw a flame lick the head of Servius Tullius, which foretold to him the kingship. In like manner, after Troy was captured, while Aeneas was discussing flight with his father Anchises, a flame appeared licking the crown of Ascanius's head, bringing him no harm at all: which, since it portended kingship for Ascanius, persuaded them to depart; and all notable disasters have been foreshown by portents and prodigies.
Thus we read in Pliny: in the consulship of M. Attilius and C. Portius, it rained blood mixed with milk, which foretold that in the following year a violent plague would strike Rome. Likewise among the Lucanians it rained iron, nearly resembling sponges, the year before M. Crassus was killed among the Parthians; and all the Lucanian soldiers, of whom a great number were in his army, were killed along with him. Likewise, in the consulship of L. Paulus and C. Marcellus, wool rained down around the fortress of Corfinium, near which, a year later, T. Annius Milo was killed. Likewise, in the Cimbrian wars, a clattering of arms and the sound of trumpets was heard from the sky. And Livy, concerning the Macedonian war, says: "In the year in which Hannibal departed, it rained blood for two days." The same author reports, concerning the Second Punic War, that water mixed with blood descended from the sky in the manner of rain, at the time when Hannibal was ravaging Italy. For the Lacedaemonians, a little before the disaster at Leuctra, arms sounded in the shrine of Hercules, and at the same time at Thebes, in the temple of Hercules, the closed doors opened themselves from their bars, and weapons fixed to the walls were found on the ground.
It is fitting to forecast similar events from similar signs, just as at various times in the past something has been divined in advance from them. But one must also, in these matters, not neglect the judgments of the celestial influences, of which we shall speak more fully in what follows.
Modern rendering
As for the rest — the augury of lightning, thunderbolts, and other omens, and how to interpret portents and strange occurrences — the Etruscan seers and priests passed down a whole system for this. They mapped the sky into sixteen regions, each assigned its own governing power, along with eleven kinds of thunderbolt and nine gods who hurled them, plus rules for what each part of the sky signifies. Whenever portents, prodigies, or omens occur, they reliably signal something significant.
But the person interpreting them needs to be an excellent reader of resemblance, and at the same time a careful investigator of what's currently happening in the affairs of rulers and provinces. Only rulers, peoples, and provinces get this kind of attention from the heavens — being forewarned ahead of everyone else through stars, constellations, portents, and prodigies. And if something the same or similar has appeared in past ages, you should consider what followed from it then, and predict the same or a similar outcome now, since the same signs point to the same things, and like signs to like things.
Portents have preceded the birth or death of many outstanding men and rulers. Cicero tells the story of the boy Midas: as he slept, ants dropped grains of wheat into his mouth, an omen of future great wealth. Likewise for Plato: bees settled on his mouth as he slept in his cradle, foretelling the sweetness of his oratory. Hecuba, about to give birth to Paris, dreamed she bore a burning torch that would set Troy and all of Asia on fire. Phalaris's mother dreamed that a statue of Mercury poured blood onto the ground, flooding the whole house. Dionysius's mother dreamed she gave birth to a little satyr [†the specific meaning or outcome of this dream is unclear in the source, see flag], and the actual outcome later confirmed the omen. Tarquinius Priscus's wife saw a flame licking the head of Servius Tullius, foretelling that he would become king. Similarly, after the fall of Troy, while Aeneas was discussing escape with his father Anchises, a flame appeared licking the top of young Ascanius's head without harming him at all — since this meant kingship for Ascanius, it convinced them to leave. Every major disaster in history has likewise been foreshadowed by portents and prodigies.
Pliny records: under the consuls M. Attilius and C. Portius, it rained blood mixed with milk, foretelling a severe plague that struck Rome the following year. Among the Lucanians it once rained something like iron, resembling sponges, the year before M. Crassus was killed fighting the Parthians — and a large number of Lucanian soldiers serving in his army died with him. Under the consuls L. Paulus and C. Marcellus, it rained wool near the fortress of Corfinium, where a year later T. Annius Milo was killed. During the Cimbrian wars, the clash of weapons and the sound of trumpets were heard coming from the sky. Livy writes of the Macedonian war that in the year Hannibal withdrew, it rained blood for two days straight; and of the Second Punic War, that blood-streaked water fell from the sky like rain while Hannibal was ravaging Italy. Shortly before the disaster at Leuctra, weapons clattered inside the shrine of Hercules at Sparta, and at the same time in Thebes the barred doors of Hercules's temple flew open on their own, and weapons that had been mounted on the walls were found lying on the ground.
It makes sense to predict similar outcomes from similar signs, the way people have successfully divined things from them before, at various points in history. But you also shouldn't ignore the influence of the heavens in reading these signs — a subject we'll cover more fully later on.
Editorial flags — draft status
- uncertain: 'Genitrici Dionysii visum fuit parere satyriscum, quae prodigio fasti somnia' — this clause does not resolve cleanly; the OCR fragment 'quae prodigio fasti somnia' does not parse as clean Latin and the intended sense (likely something like a soothsayer's interpretation of the dream, or a further clause describing what the prodigy foretold) could not be confidently reconstructed. Kept ambiguous in all three columns with an explicit [†] marker rather than inventing a resolution.
- table: The opening paragraph's numerology (sixteen regions of the sky, eleven kinds of thunderbolt, nine gods who hurl them) is exactly the kind of correspondence-table content the spec flags in rule 3 — the numbers themselves read clearly in the OCR (sedecim/undecim/novem) but Agrippa does not spell out the regions/gods/thunderbolt-types individually in this chapter, so there is no further list to verify beyond the totals given.
- uncertain: Consular names 'M. Attilio et C. Portio' and 'L. Paulo, et C. Marcello' are standard Roman consular-pair forms but were not independently cross-checked against a consular fasti in this pass; flag for manual verification against Pliny's Natural History source passages.