Quaestiones Romanae

Why of birds is the one called left-hand a bird of good omen?

Is this not really true, but is it the peculiarity of the language which throws many off the track? For their word for left is sinistrum; to permit is sinere: and they say sine when they urge giving permission. Accordingly the bird which permits the augural action to be taken, that is, the avis sinisteria, the vulgar are not correct in assuming to be sinistra and in calling it so.

Or is it, as Dionysius[*](Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, ii. 5. 5; Virgil, Aeneid, ix. 630, and Conington’s note on Virgil, Georgics, iv. 7.) says, that when Ascanius, son of Aeneas, was drawing up his army against Mezentius, and his men were taking the auspices, a flash of lightning, which portended victory, appeared on the left, and from that time on they observe this practice in divination? Or is it true, as certain other authorities affirm, that this happened to Aeneas? As a matter of fact, the Thebans, when they had routed and overpowered their enemies on the left wing at Leuctra,[*](Cf.Life of Pelopidas, xxiii. (289 d-e).) continued thereafter to assign to the left the chief command in all battles.

Or[*](Cf.Moralia, 363 e, 888 b.) is it rather, as Juba[*](Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. p. 471.) declares, that as anyone looks eastward, the north is on the left, and some make out the north to be the right, or upper, side of the universe?

But consider whether it be not that the left is by nature the weaker side, and they that preside over auguries try to strengthen and prop its deficient powers by this method of equalization.

Or was it that they believed earthly and mortal matters to be antithetical to things heavenly and divine, and so thought that whatever was on the left for us the gods were sending forth from the right?

Why was it permitted to take up a bone of a man who had enjoyed a triumph, and had later died and been cremated, and carry it into the city and deposit it there, as Pyrrhon[*](Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. p. 479.) of Lipara has recorded?

Was it to show honour to the dead? In fact, to other men of achievement, as well as to generals, they granted, not only for themselves, but also for their descendants, the right to be buried in the Forum, as they did to Valerius[*](Cf. Life of Publicola, chap. xxiii. (109 d).) and to Fabricius: and they relate that when descendants of these men die and have been conveyed to the Forum, a lighted torch is placed beneath the body and then immediately withdrawn; thus they enjoy the honour without exciting envy, and merely confirm their prerogative.