approbation of the birds.  Other forms and results of
divination were even passed by without regard,
unless confirmed by the birds.  At Lacedæmon
the king and senate had always an augur
attending upon them to advise them, and kings
themselves used to study the art.  A college of
augurs figures in the very dawn of Roman
history, consisting of a select four members,
chosen from the patricians, but afterwards
increased to six, and eventually opened to the
plebeian class.  Augustus, however, gave them
the power of electing new augurs at pleasure,
so that thenceforth the company was no longer
select and definite in number.

The authority and influence of these augurs
must have been immense, since no event of
political or social importance could take place
without their sanction.  Unless the augury
proved favourable, the election of king, consul,
dictator, and prætor, of every civil officer and
religious functionary, was null and void.  No
general could engage in battle, no public land
could be allotted, no marriage or adoption was
held valid, unless the auspices —bird-sights—
were first taken and proved favourable.  In war,
these auspices were taken by the commander-in-
chief, and the victory obtained by any portion
of the army under his command, was said to be
won " under his auspices," an expression which
in our own day bears a similar meaning, viz.
that the patron lends the influence of his name.

The augur who accompanied the Lacedæmonian
king was robed in white, and wore a
crown of gold upon his head.  Seated upon his
divining-chair his face was directed towards the
north, and he had, therefore, the east upon his
right hand, and the auguries which appeared
upon that side were esteemed fortunate, while
those from the opposite or western side were
unlucky.  The Roman custom, however, was
different; clothed in purple or scarlet, the
Roman augur faced the south, and his right
hand, therefore, pointed west.  Hence has
arisen some confusion in the two languages in
reference to the right or left hand, when taken
in the sense of fortunate or unfortunate.  But
the Latin poets often adopted the Greek form,
and the right hand was usually accounted
fortunate.  For this reason wine was always passed
from left to right, and in drawing lots the same
order was observed.

Birds, then, were fortunate or unfortunate,
either by their own nature, or by the place and
manner of their appearance; for the same birds
at different times have foreboded different and
contrary events.  If, however, a flock of all
sorts of birds came flying about any man, it
was an excellent omen, and portended some
very great luck.  It is said to have happened
to Gordius the Phrygian, the inventor of the
celebrated knot which bears his name, and who,
originally a peasant, was raised to a throne.

As might be expected, the eagle, the august
bird of Jove, was a bird of good omen.  If one
appeared sporting in the air, clapping its wings,
and flying about from right to left, it was the
best of all omens; and various auguries were
founded upon the way in which it was observed
to seize its prey.  Of this we have illustrations
in the Iliad and Odyssey.  On one occasion,
Telemachus, being at Sparta in search of Ulysses,
observed an eagle flying at his right hand,
carrying a tame goose in its claws.  From this
omen it was foretold that Ulysses would return
and surprise all the suitors of Penelope in
his house.  And such circumstances sometimes
brought about the very events which they appeared
to indicate, as when the Greeks, disheartened
and cast down, saw an eagle dragging
a fawn by the feet, and casting it down upon
the altar of Jupiter Panomphæus, they took
courage, and gave the Trojans a signal defeat.
When, on the other hand, Hector was about to
attempt the destruction of the Grecian fleet, the
appearance of an eagle upon his left hand caused
him presently to desist from his enterprise.

The swan also was a lucky bird; and just as
Pliny relates that the halcyon, or kingfisher,
was a bird of good omen, and at breeding-time
foretold tranquil and calm weather, so the swan
was precious to seamen as a sign of fair weather;
and the reason given by the Latin poet
Æmilius is, that the swan never sinks beneath
the waves, but ever floats buoyantly upon the
surface.  The dove also was lucky; and the
circus, or harrier, was, Pliny tells us, very
auspicious to persons engaged in affairs of money
or marriage.  The robin has always been regarded
with tenderness.  Popular tradition, even
earlier than the date of the story of the Children
in the Wood, has made him our sexton:

           No burial this pretty pair
           Of any man receives,
           Till robin redbreast painfully
           Did cover them with leaves.

It is noted in Grey's Shakespeare,* that, according
to the oldest traditions, if the robin finds
the dead body of a human being, he will cover
the face at least with moss or leaves:

    Cov'ring with moss the dead's unclosed eye
    The little redbreast teacheth charitie.
                                                 Drayton's Owl.

The wren is also credited with similar
charity.  In Reed's old plays we read:

     Call for the robin redbreast and the wren,
         Since o'er shady groves they hover,
     And with leaves and flow'rs do cover
         The friendless bodies of unburied men.

Here is another quaint quotation expressive
of the tradition from Stafford's Niobe dissolved
into a Nilus: "On her (the nightingale) waites
Robin in his redde livorie: who sits as a crowner
on the murthred man; and seeing his body
naked, plays the sorrie tailour to make him a
mossy rayment."  Bird-murderers have always
been warned against killing the robin.

        Whoever kills the robin or the wren
        Will never prosper, boys or men.

For

         A robin and a wren
         Are God Almighty's cock and hen.

The wren is not everywhere so well protected
as the robin.  A strange ceremonial was

* Vol. ii., p. 226