a few prodigies were expiated in the places where they had happened; for instance,
the hermaphrodite found at Ferentinum in 133bcwas drowned in the local river
(Obsequens 27a). The status of the territory on which a prodigy had occurred was
not crucial. The Romans took care of many prodigies happening on ager peregrinus,
on territory not directly belonging to Rome (Rasmussen 2003: 219– 40). Therefore,
dealing in Rome with prodigies from cities outside Rome was an important means
of communication. While the Romans showed that they cared for the other cities,
they also underlined Rome’s position as the high court to deal with matters of reli-
gion. Even if we do not know if other Italian cities used the category “prodigy” at
all – the concept of prodigy may have been exported by the Romans – the expia-
tion of prodigies at Rome helped to create a common identity. About 80 percent of
Italian prodigies were announced from cities located in a stretch between the area
of Caere in the north and that of Capua in the south, between the sea in the west
and the Apennines in the east. This region corresponds to the extension of Roman
territory in the middle of the fourth century bc; it was densely populated with Roman
citizens. Therefore the importance of prodigies as a means of communication with
the Etruscan socii, allegedly a reason why the Etruscan cities sided with the rebel-
lious Italians during the Social War (91– 89 bc), only shortly before the end of the
conflict if at all (MacBain 1982: 60 – 81), has to be revised. The centre at Rome
used prodigies mainly to communicate with its citizens outside the urbs, not with
the socii. After the end of the Social War, when Roman citizenship had been granted
to all Italians, prodigies were not needed any longer to symbolically differentiate cities
with Roman citizenship from the socii. This is one of the reasons for the decline
of the prodigy system during the first centurybc– the practice of reporting and
expiating prodigies declined significantly after the Social War and ended in the early
empire. Another factor in this highly complex phenomenon is the rise of individual
generals to power: while they attempted to control divine signs, they suppressed the
constantly negative prodigies and preferred positive signs signifying divine favor. As
a group, the nobileslost influence.
Augurs, Magistrates, and Auspices
Augurs did not foretell the future, they only expressed the approval or disapproval
of the gods. Thus, augury is comparable to the interpretation of prodigies. In his
classic article on the augural law, Jerzy Linderski (1986) distinguished between the
individual augurs and the college of the augurs, composed, to be clear about this
point, of the individual augurs. The number of the college of the augurs was con-
stantly increased: from three to nine members in 300bc, to 15 by Sulla, and 16 by
Caesar. The task of the college of the augurs was observation and explication of the
auspices and auguria. When a vitium occurred, the college of the augurs was
consulted. Vitium, a mistake in the performance of a ritual, could happen at the
elections, at the legislative assemblies, or especially in connection with military
operations. As in the case of a priestly college offering explanation of a prodigy, the
senate was free either to accept or to reject the advice. When Marcus Claudius Marcellus
was about to enter upon his consulship in 215bc, there was a clap of thunder. The298 Veit Rosenberger