The burning down of the temple of Iuventas (=Youth) could be interpreted as
foretelling a catastrophe in the system of reproduction, the wolf and the ants in the
Forum as strangers invading Rome, the torches as signs of war: by leaving Rome,
the prodigies seem to say, Augustus had stripped the city of its defense. The pro-
digies illustrate the close connection of the emperor to divine signs. After Augustus,
only few prodigies were expiated. The process of personalization and monopoliza-
tion of divine signs ended with Augustus – signs were reserved for the emperor. Later
biographers would narrate omens at the birth, death, and other significant turning
points in the lives of the emperors. The end of the republican prodigy system and
the political decline of the senate were two facets of the fundamental transforma-
tion of power at Rome between 60bcandad 14.
FURTHER READINGThe fundamental study of ancient divination is still Bouché-Leclerq (1879– 82), a massive work
in four volumes. The slim volume of Bloch (1963) is also helpful. MacBain (1982) studies
the relation between Rome and the Italian cities and offers a list of prodigies. Rosenberger
(1998) interprets prodigies as violations of boundaries which were restored by the expiations.
Rasmussen (2003) approaches Roman divination from a sociological point of view and offers
a list of prodigies. On augurs, see the immensely learned article by Linderski (1982) and Vaahtera
(2001). Essential for our understanding of the political processes in the Roman republic is
Hölkeskamp (2004).Republican Nobiles 303