Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LIV — Of Divers Certain Animals, and Other Things, Which Have a Signification in Auguries · 4 of 5 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter LIV, Section 1d
If the foal of an ass meet any one going to an augury, he signifies labor, patience and hinderances.
A wolf meeting any one is a good sign, the effect whereof was seen in Hiero of Sicilia, from whom a wolf, snatching away a book whilst he was at school, confirmed to him the success of the kingdom, but yet the wolf makes him speechless whom he sees first.
A wolf rent in pieces a watchman of P.
Africanus and C.
Fulvius at Minturn, when the Roman army was overcome by the fugitives in Sicilia.
He signifies perfidious men, such as you can give no credit to, which was known in the progeny of Romans.
For the faith which they long since sucked from their mother, the wolf, and kept to themselves from the beginning, as by a certain law of nature, passed over to their posterity.
To meet a lion, seeing he is amongst animals the strongest and striking terror into all the rest, is good.
But for a woman to meet a lioness is bad, because she hinders conception, for a lioness brings forth but once.
To meet sheep and goats is good.
It is read in the Ostentarian of the Tuscians, if this animal shall wear any unusual color, it portends to the emperor plenty of all things, together with much happiness.
Whence Virgil to Pollio sings thus: But, in the meadows, Rams shall scarlet bear, And changing, sometimes golden fleeces wear.
It is good also to meet oxen treading out corn, but better to meet them plowing, which although breaking the way, hinder thy journey, yet by the favor of their Auspicium will recompense thee again.
A dog in a journey is fortunate, because Cyrus, being cast into the woods, was nourished by a dog until he came to the kingdom; which, also, the angel, companion of Tobit, did not scorn as a companion.
The castor, because he biteth himself sorely, so as to be seen by hunters, is an ill omen and portends that a man will injure himself.
Also, amongst small animals, mice signify danger, for the same day that they did gnaw gold in the capitol, both the consuls were intercepted by Hannibal by way of ambush, near Tarentum.
The locust making a stand in any place, or burning the place, hinders one from their wishes and is an ill omen; and on the contrary the grasshopper promotes a journey and foretells a good event of things.
The spider weaving a line downwards, is said to signify hope of money to come.
Also the ants, because they know how to provide for themselves, and to prepare safe nests for themselves, portend security and riches, and a great army.
Hence, when the ants had devoured a tame dragon of Tiberius Cæsar, it was advised that he should take heed of the tumult of a multitude.
If a snake meet thee, take heed of an ill-tongued enemy; for this creature hath no power but in his mouth.
A snake creeping into the palace of Tiberius, portended his fall.
Two snakes were found in the bed of Sempronius Gracchus, wherefore a soothsayer told him, if he would let the male or the female escape, either he or his wife would shortly die; and he, preferring the life of his wife, killed the male and let the female go, and within a few days he died.
So a viper signifies lewd women and wicked children; and an eel signifies a man displeased with everybody, for she lives apart from all other fishes, nor is ever found in the company of any.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Cosmic Sympathycosmology
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The passage presupposes hidden affinities binding animal encounters to human outcomes (a wolf snatching a book foretells kingship; mice gnawing gold in the Capitol coincide with the consuls' ambush), which is the metaphysical substrate of augury as a divinatory practice.
All passages →Divinationpraxis
The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. Distinct from gnosis_direct_knowledge (unmediated inner apprehension of ultimate truth, not a technique applied to an external medium) and cosmic_sympathy (the underlying doctrine of hidden affinity that many divinatory techniques presuppose, rather than the practice of consulting it).
The passage is an extended catalogue of augural signs — the structured technique of reading animal encounters, colors, and behaviors to discern future events and hidden causes — making divination its central and defining subject.
All passages →Related passages · 7 parallels
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