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Augur

Etymology
Change to ‘Augur’ is said to have derived from Avis, a bird, and the root gar, in the Latin garrire, to chatter(1). It may alternately have derived from Old Latin augos (genitive augeris) "increase," and is related to augere "increase"(2). Ref: 1:Significant Etymology: Or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language By James Mitchell

Public Role
Well before the creation of the Roman republic Augurs were given stately appointments believed to have originated with Numa, as all Roman religious practices are perceived to have taken form during this time. Titus Livius in his first book of The History of Rome, notes Numa reserved a lifelong state position for the augur who crowned him during his inauguration as king.

Augurs, auguria and auspices
An example of interpreting the birds’ flight path comes from Against Apion written by Flavius Josephus. In his travels, Jewish archer and horseman Mosollam encountered an augur who beckoned to him to heed the instructions of the augury bird to continue his journey. The augur noted if the bird "staid where he was, they ought all to stand still; but that if he got up, and flew onward, they must go forward; but that if he flew backward, they must retire again." . Augurs, in their interpretations of such flight patterns aimed to prescribe a course of action which would please the gods. Omit "The science of interpretation of signs was vast and complex." Omit "Observation conditions were rigorous and required absolute silence for validity of the operation."

Should be split into a new section

Fraudulent uses
During the last centuries of the republic the auspices ex caelo and ex tripudiis supplanted other types, as they could be easily used in a fraudulent way, i.e. bent to suit the desire of the asking person. It sufficed to say that the augur or magistrate had heard a clap of thunder to suspend the convocation of the comitia.[30] Such uses even lead Cicero to condemn the fraudulent use and denounce the decline in the level of knowledge of the doctrine by the augurs of his time.[31] In fact the abuse developed from the protective tricks devised to avoid being paralysed by negative signs. For an instance see the conversation between king Numa and Jupiter in Ovid, Fasti III, 339–344. Against the negative auspicia oblativa the admitted procedures included: 1) actively avoiding to see them. 2) repudiare refuse them through an interpretative sleight of hands. 3) non observare by assuming one had not paid attention to them. 4) naming something that in fact had not appeared. 5) choosing the time of the observation (tempestas) at one's will. 6) making a distinction between observation and formulation (renunciatiatio). 7) resorting to acknowledging the presence of mistakes (vitia). 8) repeating the whole procedure.