aruspex

• “Dante+ in any living face; an aruspex might have read a lecture upon him without exenteration, his flesh being so consumed, that he might, in a manner, have discerned his bowels without opening of him; so that to be carried, sexta cervice+ to the grave, was but a civil unnecessity; and the complements of the coffin might outweigh the subject of it.”

  Letter to a Friend

• “In the first victim the aruspex showed him the liver without a head; in the second the head appeared of unusual size, and all the other indications highly promising.”

  The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

• “The aruspex is said to have shown to Decius the head of the liver wounded on the side relating to himself, in other respects the victim was acceptable to the gods; whilst Manlius obtained highly favourable omens from his sacrifice.”

  The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08

• “After he heard that he was an aruspex, being a man whose mind was not without a tincture of religion, pretending that he wished to consult him on the expiation of a private portent, if he could aid him, he enticed the prophet to a conference.”

  The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08

• “For Papirius the dictator, returning to Rome in order to take the auspices anew, in consequence of a caution received from the aruspex, left strict orders with the master of the horse to remain in his post, and not to engage in battle during his absence.”

  The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08

• “A fabulous narrative is introduced here, that, when the king of the Veientians was offering sacrifice, the voice of the aruspex, declaring that the victory was given to him who should cut up the entrails of that victim, having been heard in the mine, incited the”

  The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08

• “The story runs that Camillus, having carried his _cuniculus_ under the Temple of Juno within the citadel, overheard the Etruscan _aruspex_ declare to the king of Veii that victory would rest with him who completed the sacrifice.”

  Pagan and Christian Rome

• “According to some accounts there was this difference between the “hariolus” and the “aruspex,” that the former foretold human events, the latter those relating to the Deities.”

  The Comedies of Terence Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes

• “I never more lively beheld the starved characters of Dante [III. j] in any living face; an aruspex might have read a lecture upon him without exenteration, his flesh being so consumed, that he might, in a manner, have discerned his bowels without opening of him; so that to be carried, sexta cervice [III. k] to the grave, was but a civil unnecessity; and the complements of the coffin might outweigh the subject of it.”

  Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend

• “a sacred personage as an aruspex or diviner: I mean the poisoning by incantation.”

  Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection

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