ABSTRACT
TO complete the above picture and title satisfactorily, I ought first to quote the words of the Catholic doctor Chrysostom, who says in a homily: There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, etc., that there exists no creature which so much desires to know the future as man does, etc.’ 1 2 Having considered this we shall have to admit also that there has never been a nation so polished and so learned, or indeed any so wild or barbarous, that it did not systematically forecast the future, trying to understand and predict it from certain tokens. 2 This especially applies to people in the North, who I find were preoccupied with learning how to prophesy the future, since they thought that by the flight of birds, the leaping and noise of fishes, music wafting from the mountains and the ejection of vapour from them, future events were made known by signs that were quite definite. 3 Neither war nor public business, either at home or on campaign, was carried out without first taking auspices. 4 The skilled practices of soothsayers and diviners, aeromancy, geomancy, pyromancy, necromancy, and over and above these, impressive dreams, should any of them appear to concern the state, were accepted and approved by the chief rulers.
Man desires to know the future
People of the North They know the future by many signs
Training of soothsayers
