Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control by L.G. Driediger-Murphy

Abstract

Reviewed by: Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control by L.G. Driediger-Murphy Andrzej Gillmeister Driediger-Murphy, L.G. 2019. Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 304. ISBN 978-0-19-883443-4. £75.00. The author of this book has undertaken an interesting and very difficult task. The difficulty arises from the necessity of engaging with the masterful work of Jerzy Linderski, which has been the basic point of reference on augury for over thirty years,2 and also with the critical verification of the most recent literature on the subject, the most significant of which is the excellent work of Yann Berthelet.3 The work reviewed here is composed of an introduction, three well-developed chapters, and a short and a rather insufficient conclusion. Each part of the book is composed of sub-chapters. The extensive introduction (pp. 1–50) is of a largely methodological nature. It contains a competent discussion of the scholarship on the auspices up to the present day and outlines the author's main premises. The first chapter, 'Do as I say, not as I do? Report versus reality in augury' (pp. 51–126), is a masterful analysis of the sources concerning this ritual, aimed at proving the thesis that the rules of the auspices provided those who performed them with much less freedom than researchers had previously thought. Driediger-Murphy concludes that the Romans gave Jupiter the time and freedom to express his will, with which they felt connected. In any case, in the Republican period, 'they did not expect him to be silent' (p. 126). [End Page 264] In Chapter Two, 'Convenience or conversation: why "watching the sky" was more than wishful thinking' (pp. 127–60), the author considers servare de caelo as one of the augural techniques. It is mainly known for its use by M. Calpurnius Bibulus in 59 BC. Bibulus, fulfilling the role of consul along with Julius Caesar, used the sky-watching procedure for obstructive purposes. This commonly known use of augury, treated as proof of political exploitation, is interpreted by Driediger-Murphy as questioning the opinions of the Romans about their own religion and Jupiter's place within it. The chapter ends with a collection of sources concerning the Bibulus affair. The last chapter, 'Out of control: the effects of augury on Roman public life' (pp. 161–202), summarises Driediger-Murphy's comments on the role of the gods, particularly Jupiter, in augury. She argues that the main role in the procedure, binding for those who led the auspices, was played by the gods. The work finishes with a short conclusion (pp. 202–8) which briefly recapitulates the author's points in their entirety. The work contains an extensive bibliography and two useful indexes. Scholars of Roman religion are confronted by numerous limitations, the most basic being the impossibility of properly describing the context of the events referred to in the sources. This can clearly be seen in the case of Roman divination. The main problem for researchers is defining whether it belonged to the political or the religious order. Even taking into account the qualification that in Ancient Rome religion was inextricable from other aspects of social life, it is often assumed that it was of a political nature. But, as Driediger-Murphy rightly points out, this reduces religion, and in particular official divination practices, to a state function. In addition, the sources preserved up to the present day are extremely thin on descriptions or analyses of everyday, oft-repeated events during the lives of the Romans, such as the taking of auspices. Sources often provide information about exceptional situations and departures from the norm, usually not supplying what was actually considered the norm, since for contemporary readers this was obvious. This situation creates difficulties for scholars today for two reasons. First it makes it harder to draw general conclusions and second the danger arises of considering common phenomena to be exceptional. Driediger-Murphy is conscious of this. The main task that Driediger-Murphy has set herself is the reinstatement of the role of Jupiter in Roman augury. The author correctly observes that in the literature up until now, more space...