Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
-The Constitution of the United States of America, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8
As is custom in the American Republic, the President-elect takes his oath of office on January 20th at noon (which date was established following the passage of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933; prior to this, the predominant date was in March just as it was in ancient Rome) and thus begins a four year term. This ceremony marking the transition to a new administration of the executive branch of the Republic is known as the inauguration, a word and practice steeped in Classical allusions. What is the nature of such an event, and how was the transition from one governing administration to another carried out in the ancient Roman Republic? Did the ancient Roman practice influence our modern inauguration in any way?
Firstly, the etymology of the word itself must be examined:
in·au·gu·ra·tion
iˌnôɡ(y)əˈrāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: inauguration; plural noun: inaugurations
"the inauguration of an independent prosecution service"
- the beginning or introduction of a system, policy, or period.
"Truman's second presidential inauguration"
- the formal admission of someone to office.
The word may also be a verb:"the inauguration of the Modern Art Museum"
- a ceremony to mark the beginning of something.
in·au·gu·rate
iˈnôɡ(y)əˌrāt/
verbverb: inaugurate; 3rd person present: inaugurates; past tense: inaugurated; past participle: inaugurated; gerund or present participle: inaugurating
"he inaugurated a new policy of trade and exploration"
- begin or introduce (a system, policy, or period).
synonyms: initiate, begin, start, commence, institute, launch, start off, get going, get underway, set in motion, get off the ground, establish, found, lay the foundations of
"the new president will be inaugurated on January 20"
- admit (someone) formally to public office.
synonyms: admit to office, install, instate, swear in
"the museum was inaugurated on September 12"
- mark the beginning or first public use of (an organization or project).
synonyms: open, declare open, unveil; dedicate, consecrate
The root of both is the Latin verb inauguro which means "to divine, to practice augury, to take omens from bird-signs, to consecrate or approve on the basis of omens". This verb is formed from the suffix in- and the verb auguro, a root which in turn comes from the noun augur, auguris c. "an augur".
So, what is an augur and what is augury?
Augury is a branch of divination by which the will, signs, or warnings of the divine are observed and read in the flights, singing, or eating/pecking habits of certain kinds of birds or other natural phenomena; the practitioner of this art was known as an augur.
The word itself, augury (from the Latin augurium), may derive from a combination of avis, "bird", and the verb garrio, "to chatter", in order to give us something to the effect of "the art of observing the calls of the birds"1. When an augur made these divine-sent observations, he was said to be "taking the auspices" (cf. Eng: "auspicious/inauspicious"). The Latin word auspicium, like augurium, is formed from the root avis, "bird", and the suffix -spex, -spicis, meaning "sight, seeing": the sight of the birds' actions led to either declaring either a "favorable" (auspicious) or "unfavorable" (inauspicious) portent. As evidenced by their etymologies, the auspice (auspicium) was the actual sight (-spex, -spic-) of the sign or portent itself, while the augury (augurium) was the interpretation of that sign or portent by the augur; as the ages passed, the two words became more or less interchangeable, with augur being chosen as the predominant word for the person or office, while the sign or portent itself was more commonly called the auspice. Additionally, though the origins of the words betray the augurs' original focus on birds alone, other signs later fell under the priests' purview, and altogether numbered five:
It is very important to point out as often as possible that "[...] nihil publice sine auspiciis nec domi nec militiae gerebatur - [...] nothing publicly without taking the auspices was accomplished either at home nor on campaign" (Cic. De Div.). The key word here is nihil, "nothing". The Roman college of augurs (collegium augurum; augures publici) took the auspices at the outset of performing every public and governmental action -- these were state actors. Private augurs were classed along with necromancers, fortune-tellers, and other practitioners of arts considered by the Romans to be mere chicanery.
The Roman historian Livy says the same thing as Cicero does about auspices and auguries using almost the exact same words:
Indeed, who is the person who does not know this? Clearly, this is common knowledge.
Therefore, though almost all modern American will think of an inauguration as the "the formal admittance of someone into a new job or office," the ancient Roman would have defined the word as something to the effect of "the approval or disapproval of any action based upon the observation of divinely sent signs and portents which are interpreted by people trained in such phenomenon". The key difference between the Roman and the American Republics, and by extension the difference between our practices of inaugurating magistrates to fill governmental rôle, is, of course, that the workings of the Roman Republic was intertwined with the ancient practices of the Roman state religion; meanwhile, our American Republic is divorced from religious trappings at least in theory and according to law, if not always in actual practice.
To further examine this difference, we must look at the ceremonies which inaugurated magistrates both in ancient Rome and in America today.
The auspices upon which we are to mainly center our attention are those ex caelo, for the observation of lightning was the portent which heralded the beginning of the Roman Consular year. Consuls and Praetors, elected offices of the Roman Republic which bestowed imperium ("the legal right to field and command an army") on their officials, were held in the Campus Martius each July. There, two Consuls-elect (consules designati) were chosen by majority vote and these officially entered into their magistracy on January 1st of the following year to begin their annual term of office. We may learn from the ancient writers the format and ceremonies which marked this inauguration, and we must pay particular attention to the taking of the auspices, without which no Consul could properly embark upon his term of office.
Dionysius of Halikarnassos, a 1st century B.C. Greek writer of Roman history, offers an overview of the augural aspects of a Consular inauguration from the point of view of a non-native:
Livy uses the occasion of a shirking of the Consular inauguration by the errant (and famously doomed) Consul C. Flaminius during the 2nd Punic War to detail the finer religious aspects of the magistrate's duties on the first day of the new year:
In the above selection, Livy cleverly places a rough sketch of the important ceremonies which mark a Consul's inauguration in the mouth of an indignant Senate, thus emphasizing to us the import and weight the Romans gave these rites.
To summarize, on January 1st the Roman Consuls-elect rose at dawn and took the auspices by scanning the sky for signs of lightning (ex caelo). It is important to point out Dionysius' remark that this was known to be a mere formality by his day (mid-1st century B.C.) and the auspicious report was often falsely told to the Consul ("μηνύειν ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν φασιν τὴν οὐ γενομένην") presumably in order to carry on with the ceremonies; though Cicero's cynical and dissembling of auguries and other divinations are in alignment with Dionysius' observation of the ever-growing faithlessness in divining, we should assume that in Rome's earliest days, belief in the taking of the auspices was surely held with the utmost faith. In fact, while Dionysius reports that augurs are present (and paid a stipend by the state), other authors report that it was the Consuls themselves who took the auguries. After receiving Jove's blessing, the Consuls then returned to their homes where they were clothed in their togae praetextae ("purple-bordered toga") in the presence of their household gods ("apud penates suos praetextam sumpturum"). Once dressed appropriately, either Consul received his clientes and fellow senators in a usual salutatio ("morning greeting"), and at the conclusion of this, he then climbed the Capitoline Hill, recited the solemn vows, and made a sacrifice of white bull calves at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jove the Father the Best the Greatest") ("et Capitolium et sollemnem votorum nuncupationem fugisse, ne die initi magistratus Iovis optimi maximi templum adiret").
The historian Cassius Dio, a 2nd century A.D. Roman statemen of Greek extraction, records the disastrous portents observed and recorded at the salutatio and procession of Aelius Sejanus, the much-maligned prefect minister of the emperor Tiberius in the early 1st century A.D:
Of course Sejanus made no note of such ill omens: the man was surely doomed.
When the sacrifices on the Capitoline were accomplished favorably, the Consuls then proceeded to the Senate where they embarked upon their official duties: first, the naming of the year's important religious feast days and festivals, most importantly the Feriae Latinae ("the Latin Feast"). Before departing the city to go into his province, the Consul had to make a propitiary sacrifice to Jupiter Latiar at the Alban Mount (modern-day Monte Cavo, some twelve miles southeast of Rome) ("ne Latinas indiceret Iovique Latiari sollemne sacrum in monte faceret"). With the religious aspects of the year discussed and confirmed, the Consuls then outlined other administrative affairs (the allotting of provinces and other duties, &c.) until they finished their business, and then, having ended the first Senate meeting of their term, completed their official first day.
One should take note that in each of these instances given above in which an author describes a Consular inauguration, he cannot help himself but relate (either in detail or obliquely) how either neglecting outright or somehow ignoring the auspices had dire consequences for the Consul and the state. This should illustrate to us the the prevailing widespread belief in the truth and accuracy of these divinings. However, this cultural observation must not be taken to mean that the business of augury had no critics nor dissenters among the antique Romans. As it has been mentioned before, Cicero, a member of the college of augurs himself, famously spends the duration of the second book of his treatise on divination, De Divinatione (On Divination), on tearing down the entire business of augury. It may be surprising to learn (but it should not be so) that while Cicero concludes that augury and the taking of auspices is altogether nonsense and chicanery, it is important and necessary that such rites and practices continue to be performed in order to maintain oligarchical control over the Republic:
Despite revealing his personal beliefs concerning divination later in his life, such reservations concerning the divine apparently did not stop the famous orator from publicly placing the fault of the Catilinarian Conspiracy which occurred during his own Consulship of 63 B.C. to lack of godly appeasement by the Roman People:
On January 20th of the start of a new presidential term, the President-elect (who was elected some seventy days earlier on the first Tuesday following November 1st) is administered the oath of office, thus beginning a four-year term. The only constitutionally-required component of the inauguration is the administering of the oath of office, which may be given by anyone, anywhere, and witnessed by anyone legally able to be a witness -- for instance, the oath was once given on a grounded Air Force One to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson immediately following the assassination of John F. Kennedy earlier the same day. Additionally, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was at his family home in 1923 when he received word via messenger that President Warren G. Harding had unexpectedly died while visiting San Francisco; early the next morning (around 3:00 AM), Coolidge was administered the oath of office by his father, a notary and justice of the peace, in the family parlor -- the 30th President then returned to bed. Besides these (and a few other occasions) the oath is usually administered by the Chief Justice of the United States of America.
Beside the oath, the rest of the ceremony is marked more by tradition than anything else: the President-Elect typically visits the White House to proceed to the inaugural grounds (usually the Capitol) with the incumbent President. Once the oath is administered at the inauguration ceremony, the newly sworn in President typically gives a speech (called the inaugural address) and then proceeds in a parade from the Capitol to the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue. President Jimmy Carter, in an effort to throw off the trappings of an "imperial presidency", was the first to walk the distance in 1977, and has been matched in spirit (if not in the full distance of approximately one mile) by each successive President since.
1. Another proposed etymology is a derivation from the verb augeo - "to increase" and by further extrapolation to mean "favorable".
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So, what is an augur and what is augury?
Augurs and Augury
Principio huius urbis parens Romulus non solum auspicato urbem condidisse, sed ipse etiam optumus augur fuisse traditur. Deinde auguribus et reliqui reges usi, et exactis regibus nihil publice sine auspiciis nec domi nec militiae gerebatur.
In the beginning, this city's father, Romulus, not only founded this city when he took the auspices, but even he himself was a very good augur -- thus it has been handed down. Later did the rest of the kings employ augurs, and even when driven out were the kings, nothing publicly without taking the auspices was accomplished either at home nor on campaign.
-Cicero De Divinatione I.ii. Trans is my own.
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| A Lar Augusti depicting Augustus (center) acting in his rôle as an augur; he holds the lituus, a curved wand used by augurs to mark out (or, literally, "cut out") a templum, a sacred space either on the ground or in the heavens for the taking of auspices. |
Augury is a branch of divination by which the will, signs, or warnings of the divine are observed and read in the flights, singing, or eating/pecking habits of certain kinds of birds or other natural phenomena; the practitioner of this art was known as an augur.
The word itself, augury (from the Latin augurium), may derive from a combination of avis, "bird", and the verb garrio, "to chatter", in order to give us something to the effect of "the art of observing the calls of the birds"1. When an augur made these divine-sent observations, he was said to be "taking the auspices" (cf. Eng: "auspicious/inauspicious"). The Latin word auspicium, like augurium, is formed from the root avis, "bird", and the suffix -spex, -spicis, meaning "sight, seeing": the sight of the birds' actions led to either declaring either a "favorable" (auspicious) or "unfavorable" (inauspicious) portent. As evidenced by their etymologies, the auspice (auspicium) was the actual sight (-spex, -spic-) of the sign or portent itself, while the augury (augurium) was the interpretation of that sign or portent by the augur; as the ages passed, the two words became more or less interchangeable, with augur being chosen as the predominant word for the person or office, while the sign or portent itself was more commonly called the auspice. Additionally, though the origins of the words betray the augurs' original focus on birds alone, other signs later fell under the priests' purview, and altogether numbered five:
- ex caelo - "from heaven" - these auspices were in the form of lightning and thunder. Lightning sighted "on the left" was meant to be most favorable, unless an election or assembly were being held, at which point all business was suspended. Reports of seeing lightning or hearing thunder were often used by politicians to break up meetings for political gain.
- ex avibus - "from the birds" - these auspices were further divided into two:
- alites - "winged bird" - eagles (aquilae), vultures (vultures), the like were observed based on their flight patterns.
- oscines - "songbirds" - ravens (corvi), crows (cornices), owls (bubones), and hens (gallinae) were observed based on their singing and in what direction their heads turned.
- ex tripudiis - "from the triple-beat dance" - these auspices appeared in the form of the movements of birds while feeding. Any bird could perform the tripudium ("triple-beat foot tap; sacred dance"), but chickens became the most popular and the sole birds employed as time went on. The chicken-keeper (pullarius) would open the cages of the chickens, throw them some bread or cake, and observe their actions: it was considered inauspicious if the birds shrieked, beat their wings, fled, or in general ignored the food; an auspicious omen was observed if the birds attacked the food with such ferocity that crumbs fell from their beaks which then "danced" (tripudium) upon the ground.
- ex quadrupedibus - "from the four-legged beasts" - though not a part of the official augur's auspices and never used for official state purposes, the augur could discern the will of the divine by noticing the movements and behavior of certain quadrupeds.
- ex diris - "from terrible signs" - these auspices were anything else not falling into any of the above categories: sneezing, stumbling, stubbing one's toe, &c.
It is very important to point out as often as possible that "[...] nihil publice sine auspiciis nec domi nec militiae gerebatur - [...] nothing publicly without taking the auspices was accomplished either at home nor on campaign" (Cic. De Div.). The key word here is nihil, "nothing". The Roman college of augurs (collegium augurum; augures publici) took the auspices at the outset of performing every public and governmental action -- these were state actors. Private augurs were classed along with necromancers, fortune-tellers, and other practitioners of arts considered by the Romans to be mere chicanery.
The Roman historian Livy says the same thing as Cicero does about auspices and auguries using almost the exact same words:
"Auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace domi militiaeque omnia geri, quis est qui ignoret?"
"That by the taking of the auspices was this city founded, and by the taking of the auspices are all things done either at war or at peace, at home or on campaign -- who is the person who is does not know this?"
-Livy, Ab Urbe Condita VI.41. Trans is my own.
Indeed, who is the person who does not know this? Clearly, this is common knowledge.
Therefore, though almost all modern American will think of an inauguration as the "the formal admittance of someone into a new job or office," the ancient Roman would have defined the word as something to the effect of "the approval or disapproval of any action based upon the observation of divinely sent signs and portents which are interpreted by people trained in such phenomenon". The key difference between the Roman and the American Republics, and by extension the difference between our practices of inaugurating magistrates to fill governmental rôle, is, of course, that the workings of the Roman Republic was intertwined with the ancient practices of the Roman state religion; meanwhile, our American Republic is divorced from religious trappings at least in theory and according to law, if not always in actual practice.
To further examine this difference, we must look at the ceremonies which inaugurated magistrates both in ancient Rome and in America today.
The Inauguration of the Ancient Roman Consul
The auspices upon which we are to mainly center our attention are those ex caelo, for the observation of lightning was the portent which heralded the beginning of the Roman Consular year. Consuls and Praetors, elected offices of the Roman Republic which bestowed imperium ("the legal right to field and command an army") on their officials, were held in the Campus Martius each July. There, two Consuls-elect (consules designati) were chosen by majority vote and these officially entered into their magistracy on January 1st of the following year to begin their annual term of office. We may learn from the ancient writers the format and ceremonies which marked this inauguration, and we must pay particular attention to the taking of the auspices, without which no Consul could properly embark upon his term of office.
Dionysius of Halikarnassos, a 1st century B.C. Greek writer of Roman history, offers an overview of the augural aspects of a Consular inauguration from the point of view of a non-native:
τότε δ᾽ οὖν ὁ Ῥωμύλος ἐπειδὴ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου βέβαια προσέλαβε, συγκαλέσας τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὰ μαντεῖα δηλώσας βασιλεὺς ἀποδείκνυται πρὸς αὐτῶν καὶ κατεστήσατο ἐν ἔθει τοῖς μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ἅπασι μήτε βασιλείας μήτε ἀρχὰς λαμβάνειν, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον αὐτοῖς ἐπιθεσπίσῃ,διέμεινέ τε μέχρι πολλοῦ φυλαττόμενον ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων τὸ περὶ τοὺς οἰωνισμοὺς νόμιμον, οὐ μόνον βασιλευομένης τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ κατάλυσιν τῶν μονάρχων ἐν ὑπάτων καὶ στρατηγῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ νόμους ἀρχόντων αἱρέσει. πέπαυται δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις, πλὴν οἷον εἰκών τις αὐτοῦ λείπεται τῆς ὁσίας αὐτῆς ἕνεκα γινομένη. ἐπαυλίζονται μὲν γὰρ οἱ τὰς ἀρχὰς μέλλοντες λαμβάνειν καὶ περὶ τὸν ὄρθρον ἀνιστάμενοι ποιοῦνταί τινας εὐχὰς ὑπαίθριοι, τῶν δὲ παρόντων τινὲς ὀρνιθοσκόπων μισθὸν ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου φερόμενοι ἀστραπὴν αὐτοῖς μηνύειν ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν φασιν τὴν οὐ [3] γενομένην. οἱ δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς φωνῆς οἰωνὸν λαβόντες ἀπέρχονται τὰς ἀρχὰς παραληψόμενοι οἱ μὲν αὐτὸ τοῦθ᾽ ἱκανὸν ὑπολαμβάνοντες εἶναι τὸ μηδένα γενέσθαι τῶν ἐναντιουμένων τε καὶ κωλυόντων οἰωνῶν, οἱ δὲ καὶ παρὰ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ θεοῦ κωλύοντος, ἔστι γὰρ ὅτε βιαζόμενοι καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἁρπάζοντες μᾶλλον ἢ λαμβάνοντες.[4] δἰ οὓς πολλαὶ μὲν ἐν γῇ στρατιαὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀπώλοντο πανώλεθροι, πολλοὶ δ᾽ ἐν θαλάττῃ στόλοι διεφθάρησαν αὔτανδροι, ἄλλαι τε μεγάλαι καὶ δειναὶ περιπέτειαι τῇ πόλει συνέπεσον αἱ μὲν ἐν ὀθνείοις πολέμοις, αἱ δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐμφυλίους διχοστασίας, ἐμφανεστάτη δὲ καὶ μεγίστη καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ἡλικίαν, ὅτε Λικίννιος Κρᾶσσος ἀνὴρ οὐδενὸς δεύτερος τῶν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἡγεμόνων στρατιὰν ἦγεν ἐπὶ τὸ Πάρθων ἔθνος, ἐναντιουμένου τοῦ δαιμονίου πολλὰ χαίρειν φράσας τοῖς ἀποτρέπουσι τὴν ἔξοδον οἰωνοῖς μυρίοις ὅσοις γενομένοις. ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τῆς εἰς τὸ δαιμόνιον ὀλιγωρίας, ᾗ χρῶνταί τινες ἐν τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις, πολὺ ἔργον ἂν εἴη λέγειν.
And so then when Romulus did the securities of Heaven receive, he called together the people into the assembly, and, once he showed them the portents, as king was he elected by them; and he established the custom for all who come after him, lest either should anyone the kingdom nor any office take on, until also Heaven gives its own sanction upon them. Long standing was the observance by the Romans of this custom concerning the birdsigns, while not only under the kings' power was the city, but also after the overthrow of the monarchy in the elections of the Hypatoi ("The Supremes", Consuls), the Stratēgoi ("The Generals", Prætors), and all the other officers in accordance with their law. However, this has ceased in these our times, except that some sort of mere appearance of it is left for the sake of form itself. For out of doors pass the night those who are about to take up their offices, and at the break of day they rise and perform certain prayers while under the open sky. And then certain of the birdseers who are present (they are paid a stipend by the state) declare to them that a flash of lightning has appeared on the left -- even if it has not. And, taking the sign from this announcement, some depart so as to take on their offices, that is, those who assume that this sign is fitting enough, that not one sign appeared either opposing or hindering; meanwhile others act in opposition to the will of the god who hinders them. For there have been times when they are violent and seize the offices rather than receive them. Because of these doings, many armies of the Romans on land have been utterly destroyed, while many fleets on the sea have been entirely ruined, men and all. And other great and dreadful reversals of fortune have befallen the city, some in foreign wars, and others in civil dissensions. The most manifest and great downfall of my age was when Licinius Crassus, a man second to none among his fellow commanders, led an army against the nation of the Parthians, though Heaven opposed, bidding a much-to-do farewell to the manifold birdsigns which occurred in opposition to his departure. But in regards to the contempt of Heaven which some have in these times of ours it would take much effort to tell.
-Dionysius of Halikarnassos, Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία, II.6.1-4. Trans. is my own.
Livy uses the occasion of a shirking of the Consular inauguration by the errant (and famously doomed) Consul C. Flaminius during the 2nd Punic War to detail the finer religious aspects of the magistrate's duties on the first day of the new year:
Consulum designatorum alter Flaminius, cui eae legiones quae Placentiae hibernabant sorte evenerant, edictum et litteras ad consulem misit ut is exercitus Idibus Martiis Arimini adesset in castris. Hic in provincia consulatum inire consilium erat memori veterum certaminum cum patribus, quae tribunus plebis et quae postea consul prius de consulatu qui abrogabatur, dein de triumpho habuerat, invisus etiam patribus ob novam legem, quam Q. Claudius tribunus plebis adversus senatum atque uno patrum adiuvante C. Flaminio tulerat, ne quis senator cuive senator pater fuisset maritimam navem, quae plus quam trecentarum amphorarum esset, haberet. Id satis habitum ad fructus ex agris vectandos; quaestus omnis patribus indecorus visus. Res per summam contentionem acta invidiam apud nobilitatem suasori legis Flaminio, favorem apud plebem alterumque inde consulatum peperit. Ob haec ratus auspiciis ementiendis Latinarumque feriarum mora et consularibus aliis impedimentis retenturos se in urbe, simulato itinere privatus clam in provinciam abiit. Ea res ubi palam facta est, novam insuper iram infestis iam ante patribus movit: non cum senatu modo sed iam cum dis immortalibus C. Flaminium bellum gerere. Consulem ante inauspicato factum revocantibus ex ipsa acie dis atque hominibus non paruisse; nunc conscientia spretorum et Capitolium et sollemnem votorum nuncupationem fugisse, ne die initi magistratus Iovis optimi maximi templum adiret, ne senatum invisus ipse et sibi uni invisum videret consuleretque, ne Latinas indiceret Iovique Latiari sollemne sacrum in monte faceret, ne auspicato profectus in Capitolium ad vota nuncupanda, paludatus inde cum lictoribus in provinciam iret. Lixae modo sine insignibus, sine lictoribus profectum clam, furtim, haud aliter quam si exsilii causa solum vertisset. Magis pro maiestate videlicet imperii Arimini quam Romae magistratum initurum et in deversorio hospitali quam apud penates suos praetextam sumpturum. Revocandum universi retrahendumque censuerunt et cogendum omnibus prius praesentem in deos hominesque fungi officiis quam ad exercitum et in provinciam iret. In eam legationem—legatos enim mitti placuit—Q. Terentius et M. Antistius profecti nihilo magis eum moverunt quam priore consulatu litterae moverant ab senatu missae. Paucos post dies magistratum iniit, immolantique ei vitulus iam ictus e manibus sacrificantium sese cum proripuisset, multos circumstantes cruore respersit; fuga procul etiam maior apud ignaros quid trepidaretur et concursatio fuit. Id a plerisque in omen magni terroris acceptum. Legionibus inde duabus a Sempronio prioris anni consule, duabus a C. Atilio praetore acceptis Etruriam per Appennini tramites exercitus duci est coeptus.
Of the Consuls-elect, the one, Flaminius, to whom those legions which were at Placentia wintering had by lot fallen, did a decree and a letter send to the acting Consul that the army on the Ides of March be present at camp at Ariminium. It was here in the province that he planned to embark on his Consulship, for he was mindful of his old rivalries with the state fathers, quarrels while he was People's Tribune and afterwards while he was Consul, the election of which was annulled, and then concerning his triumph. He was also looked upon with ill-will by the state fathers because of that new law which Quintus Claudius, People's Tribune, had against the Senate passed with Flaminius being the only one of the state fathers who had aided in this endeavor: the law stated that no senator or no one whose father had been a senator could possess a sail-able vessel which might carry more than three hundred amphorae. Such a thing was considered enough for the purpose of conveying their goods from their farmlands -- all such gain was seen as unworthy of the state fathers. The bill, passed with the highest opposition, secured an ill will among the nobility for the bill's supporter, Flaminius, while finding him favor among the commons and thence another Consulship. On account of these goings-on, the man reckoned that by means of lying birdsigns, by means of a delay of the Latin Feast, and finally by means of other hindrances which dog a Consul, they would keep him held back in the City; and so, with a journey feigned, as a private citizen did he in secret for the province depart. When the matter was known publicly, a new anger, above and beyond what it was before, did move within the incensed state fathers -- for not only with the Senate, but now with the gods immortal was Gaius Flaminius waging war. Saieth the Senate: that when beforehand he had been made Consul against the auspices, he did not obey the gods and men recalling him from the very line of battle itself. Now, conscious of these wrongs, he had from the Capitoline and the solemn recital of his vows fled, so that, on the day of the start of his term of office, he would not mount the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; nor would he, hated as he was by the Senate, see and consult with that body, which in turn was hated by him alone of all others; nor would he the Latin Feast proclaim; nor would he make the solemn sacrifice to Jove the Latin on the Alban Hill; nor would he in accordance with the auspices set out to the Capitoline to recite his vows, and thence, clothed in a paludamentum, would he set out for his province. In the manner of a sutler had he without his trappings of office, without his lictors made his departure -- secretly, like a thief, no differently than if the charge of exile had sent him from his native soil. Forsooth, saieth the Senate, that it was for the greater good of the power of the office that he should rather at Ariminium than at Rome enter into his term of office; that he should in some wayside inn rather than in the presence of his household gods clothe himself in his toga praetexta. That he must be recalled and dragged back, the Senatorial body as a whole deemed it fitting, and that he, in the presence of gods and men, be forced to discharge all his duties rather than to his army and his province go. Having embarked on that embassage -- for it did please the Senate that envoys be sent -- Quintus Terentius and Marcus Antistius no more moved him than that letter concerning his prior Consulship which had been by the Senate sent. A few days later, Flaminius entered into his term of office, and while making a sacrifice of a bull calf, the animal, when struck, did from the hands of the priests conducting the rites tear itself forth, and the many who stood around it did with gore bespatter. The animal's flight was greater amongst those who, at a distance, did not know what was the commotion was and so a restlessness grew. This was by many accepted to be an omen of great dread. And thence, with the two legions received from Sempronius, the Consul of the previous year, and the two from Gaius Atilius, the Praetor, throughout the footpaths of the Apennines was the army begun to be led.
-Livy, Ab Urbe Condita XXI.63. Trans is my own.Flaminius, of course, met a most inglorious end after leading his army through those Apennine footpaths to the coast of Lake Trasimene, and offered himself upon the altar of History as an exemplar of the missteps an incoming Consul must never take.
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| Joseph-Noël Sylvestre, Ducarius Beheads Flaminius at the Battle of Lake Trasimene - 1882, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Béziers |
In the above selection, Livy cleverly places a rough sketch of the important ceremonies which mark a Consul's inauguration in the mouth of an indignant Senate, thus emphasizing to us the import and weight the Romans gave these rites.
To summarize, on January 1st the Roman Consuls-elect rose at dawn and took the auspices by scanning the sky for signs of lightning (ex caelo). It is important to point out Dionysius' remark that this was known to be a mere formality by his day (mid-1st century B.C.) and the auspicious report was often falsely told to the Consul ("μηνύειν ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν φασιν τὴν οὐ γενομένην") presumably in order to carry on with the ceremonies; though Cicero's cynical and dissembling of auguries and other divinations are in alignment with Dionysius' observation of the ever-growing faithlessness in divining, we should assume that in Rome's earliest days, belief in the taking of the auspices was surely held with the utmost faith. In fact, while Dionysius reports that augurs are present (and paid a stipend by the state), other authors report that it was the Consuls themselves who took the auguries. After receiving Jove's blessing, the Consuls then returned to their homes where they were clothed in their togae praetextae ("purple-bordered toga") in the presence of their household gods ("apud penates suos praetextam sumpturum"). Once dressed appropriately, either Consul received his clientes and fellow senators in a usual salutatio ("morning greeting"), and at the conclusion of this, he then climbed the Capitoline Hill, recited the solemn vows, and made a sacrifice of white bull calves at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jove the Father the Best the Greatest") ("et Capitolium et sollemnem votorum nuncupationem fugisse, ne die initi magistratus Iovis optimi maximi templum adiret").
The historian Cassius Dio, a 2nd century A.D. Roman statemen of Greek extraction, records the disastrous portents observed and recorded at the salutatio and procession of Aelius Sejanus, the much-maligned prefect minister of the emperor Tiberius in the early 1st century A.D:
ἐν δέ τινι νουμηνίᾳ πάντων συνιόντων ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Σεϊανοῦ ἥ τε κλίνη ἡ ἐν τῷ δωματίῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἠσπάζετο, κειμένη πᾶσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου τῶν ἱζησάντων συνετρίβη, καὶ προϊόντος αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας γαλῆ διὰ μέσων σφων διῇξεν. ἐπειδή τε καὶ ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ θύσας ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν κατῄει, οἱ οἰκέται αὐτοῦ οἱ δορυφόροι διά τε τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἐς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἀγούσης ἐξετράποντο, μὴ δυνηθέντες αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου ἐπακολουθῆσαι, καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἀναβασμῶν καθ᾽ ὧν οἱ δικαιούμενοι ἐρριπτοῦντο κατιόντες ὤλισθον καὶ κατέπεσον. οἰωνιζομένου τε μετὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ τῶν μὲν αἰσίων ὀρνίθων ἐπεφάνη οὐδείς, κόρακες δὲ δὴ πολλοὶ περιιπτάμενοι καὶ περικρώξαντες αὐτὸν ἀπέπταντο ἀθρόοι πρὸς τὸ οἴκημα καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἐκαθέζοντο.
τούτων οὖν τῶν τεράτων οὔθ᾽ ὁ Σεϊανὸς οὔτ᾽ ἄλλος τις ἐνθύμιον ἐποιήσατο: πρὸς γὰρ τὴν τῶν παρόντων ὄψιν οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἰ σαφῶς θεός τις προέλεγεν ὅτι τοσαύτη δι᾽ ὀλίγου μεταβολή γενήσοιτο, ἐπίστευσεν ἄν τις.
And on some New Year's Day, when all were present at the home of Sejanus, the couch which was in the atrium, on which the Consul sat, wholly shattered under the crowd of the seated; and when the man himself was leaving the house, a stoat through the midst of them darted. And even when once on the Capitoline he had made the sacrifices and into the Forum descended, his household slaves who were his spear-bearers did along the road leading to the prison turn aside, for not were they able to follow him due to the crowd, and down the steps, down which those who are condemned are thrown, they downward slipped and fell. And after this, while he was taking the birdsigns, no signs of favor appeared, and crows, many of them, having flown about him and cawed at him, flew off in a mass towards the jail and upon it perched.
And so, of these signs neither Sejanus nor anyone else made any note. For in regards to the appearance of things, not even if some saving god foretold that such a change in a short time would occur, none would have trusted it.
-Cassius Dio Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἱστορία LVIII.5.5-6.2. Trans. is my own.
Of course Sejanus made no note of such ill omens: the man was surely doomed.
When the sacrifices on the Capitoline were accomplished favorably, the Consuls then proceeded to the Senate where they embarked upon their official duties: first, the naming of the year's important religious feast days and festivals, most importantly the Feriae Latinae ("the Latin Feast"). Before departing the city to go into his province, the Consul had to make a propitiary sacrifice to Jupiter Latiar at the Alban Mount (modern-day Monte Cavo, some twelve miles southeast of Rome) ("ne Latinas indiceret Iovique Latiari sollemne sacrum in monte faceret"). With the religious aspects of the year discussed and confirmed, the Consuls then outlined other administrative affairs (the allotting of provinces and other duties, &c.) until they finished their business, and then, having ended the first Senate meeting of their term, completed their official first day.
One should take note that in each of these instances given above in which an author describes a Consular inauguration, he cannot help himself but relate (either in detail or obliquely) how either neglecting outright or somehow ignoring the auspices had dire consequences for the Consul and the state. This should illustrate to us the the prevailing widespread belief in the truth and accuracy of these divinings. However, this cultural observation must not be taken to mean that the business of augury had no critics nor dissenters among the antique Romans. As it has been mentioned before, Cicero, a member of the college of augurs himself, famously spends the duration of the second book of his treatise on divination, De Divinatione (On Divination), on tearing down the entire business of augury. It may be surprising to learn (but it should not be so) that while Cicero concludes that augury and the taking of auspices is altogether nonsense and chicanery, it is important and necessary that such rites and practices continue to be performed in order to maintain oligarchical control over the Republic:
"[Cicero] himself was an augur, and in his book On the Republic had written in favour of the maintenance of the rites of augury and of auspices. But these practices were engrafted on the Roman constitution and he advocated their observance because of his belief in obedience to law and because, as a member of the aristocratic party, he thought augury and auspices the best means of controlling the excesses of democracy."
-W. A. Falconer, Loeb introduction to De Divinatione
Despite revealing his personal beliefs concerning divination later in his life, such reservations concerning the divine apparently did not stop the famous orator from publicly placing the fault of the Catilinarian Conspiracy which occurred during his own Consulship of 63 B.C. to lack of godly appeasement by the Roman People:
Quamquam haec omnia, Quirites, ita sunt a me administrata, ut deorum inmortalium nutu atque consilio et gesta et provisa esse videantur. Idque cum coniectura consequi possumus, quod vix videtur humani consilii tantarum rerum gubernatio esse potuisse, tum vero ita praesentes his temporibus opem et auxilium nobis tulerunt, ut eos paene oculis videre possemus. Nam ut illa omittam, visas nocturno tempore ab occidente faces ardoremque caeli, ut fulminum iactus, ut terrae motus relinquam, ut omittam cetera, quae tam multa nobis consulibus facta sunt, ut haec, quae nunc fiunt, canere di inmortales viderentur, hoc certe, quod sum dicturus, neque praetermittendum neque relinquendum est.Nam profecto memoria tenetis Cotta et Torquato consulibus complures in Capitolio res de caelo esse percussas, cum et simulacra deorum depulsa sunt et statuae veterum hominum deiectae et legum aera liquefacta et tactus etiam ille, qui hanc urbem condidit, Romulus, quem inauratum in Capitolio parvum atque lactantem uberibus lupinis inhiantem fuisse meministis. Quo quidem tempore cum haruspices ex tota Etruria convenissent, caedes atque incendia et legum interitum et bellum civile ac domesticum et totius urbis atque imperii occasum adpropinquare dixerunt, nisi di inmortales omni ratione placati suo numine prope fata ipsa flexissent.Itaque illorum responsis tum et ludi per decem dies facti sunt, neque res ulla, quae ad placandos deos pertineret, praetermissa est. Idemque iusserunt simulacrum Iovis facere maius et in excelso conlocare et contra atque antea fuerat ad orientem convertere; ac se sperare dixerunt, si illud signum, quod videtis, solis ortum et forum curiamque conspiceret, fore ut ea consilia, quae clam essent inita contra salutem urbis atque imperii, inlustrarentur, ut a senatu populoque Romano perspici possent. Atque illud signum collocandum consules illi locaverunt; sed tanta fuit operis tarditas, ut neque superioribus consulibus neque nobis ante hodiernum diem collocaretur.Hic quis potest esse, Quirites, tam aversus a vero, tam praeceps, tam mente captus, qui neget haec omnia, quae videmus, praecipueque hanc urbem deorum inmortalium nutu ac potestate administrari? Etenim, cum esset ita responsum, caedes, incendia, interitum rei publicae comparari, et ea per cives, quae tum propter magnitudinem scelerum non nullis incredibilia videbantur, ea non modo cogitata a nefariis civibus, verum etiam suscepta esse sensistis. Illud vero nonne ita praesens est, ut nutu Iovis optimi maximi factum esse videatur, ut, cum hodierno die mane per forum meo iussu et coniurati et eorum indices in aedem Concordiae ducerentur, eo ipso tempore signum statueretur? Quo collocato atque ad vos senatumque converso omnia et senatus et vos, quae erant contra salutem omnium cogitata, inlustrata et patefacta vidistis.Quo etiam maiore sunt isti odio supplicioque digni, qui non solum vestris domiciliis atque tectis sed etiam deorum templis atque delubris sunt funestos ac nefarios ignes inferre conati. Quibus ego si me restitisse dicam, nimium mihi sumam et non sim ferendus; ille, ille Iuppiter restitit; ille Capitolium, ille haec templa, ille cunctam urbem, ille vos omnis salvos esse voluit. Dis ego inmortalibus ducibus hanc mentem, Quirites, voluntatemque suscepi atque ad haec tanta indicia perveni. Iam vero [illa Allobrogum sollicitatio, iam] ab Lentulo ceterisque domesticis hostibus tam dementer tantae res creditae et ignotis et barbaris commissaeque litterae numquam essent profecto, nisi ab dis inmortalibus huic tantae audaciae consilium esset ereptum. Quid vero? ut homines Galli ex civitate male pacata, quae gens una restat quae bellum populo Romano facere et posse et non nolle videatur, spem imperii ac rerum maxumarum ultro sibi a patriciis hominibus oblatam neglegerent vestramque salutem suis opibus anteponerent, id non divinitus esse factum putatis, praesertim qui nos non pugnando, sed tacendo superare potuerint?Quam ob rem, Quirites, quoniam ad omnia pulvinaria supplicatio decreta est, celebratote illos dies cum coniugibus ac liberis vestris. Nam multi saepe honores dis inmortalibus iusti habiti sunt ac debiti, sed profecto iustiores numquam. Erepti enim estis ex crudelissimo ac miserrimo interitu [erepti] sine caede, sine sanguine, sine exercitu, sine dimicatione togati me uno togato duce et imperatore vicistis.
Although all of these things, O Quirites, have been thus managed by me, it is as if by the assent and design of the deathless gods that they both appear be accomplished and foreseen. And with the following conjecture we are able to ascertain this notion of divine assistance: that scarcely doth the guidance of such affairs seem to be able to be of human design. But then, being so nearby in our times of need did they bear might and aid to us that we are nearly able to see them with our own eyes. For I shall not mention the omens, torches seen in the night sky in the West, the heat of the heavens; and yea the lightning bolts and earthquakes, I shall forget them, and I shall not mention the rest of the portents which occurred - so many! -- in my Consulship that these which are happening now the deathless gods seem to be singing! But yet, what I am about to say is certainly neither to be omitted nor forgotten.
For I suppose ye remember when Cotta and Torquatus were Consuls and several objects were struck by lightning from heaven, when the likenesses of the gods were downward cast, the statues of the old heroes were downward thrown, and the bronze tablets of the laws were melted and even touched was touched the statue of him who founded the City, O Romulus! all gilded, standing on the Capitolium, small and suckling, clinging to the wolven teats -- yes, ye recall it. Indeed, at this time when the liver-readers had from Etruria gathered, and spake they that slaughters and also fires, the destruction of the laws, war both civil and domestic, the failing of the whole City and the empire was approaching, unless the deathless gods were appeased by every reason to bend nearly the fates themselves under their mighty sway.
And so, in accordance with their replies, then were games for ten days held, and no affair which pertained to appeasing the gods was excepted. And likewise, they bid to make a greater likeness of Jove and place it in a lofty spot -- contrary to what had been done before -- and towards the East orient it. They spake that they hope that if that statue which ye see should gaze upon the rising sun and the Forum with the Senate-House, then it would come to pass that those plots which secretly had been hatched against the well-being of the City and empire would be lighted upon, that all might be able to be seen and understood by the Senate and the Roman People. And then those Consuls decided that the statue was to be set up -- but there was such a slowdown of the work that neither by the Consuls before me, nor by us before this present day hath it been set up.
Who here is able to be, O Quirites, so obstinate towards the truth, so headstrong, so out of his mind that he would deny all of these things which we see, and that this city is especially guided by the assent and power of the deathless gods? For truly, when this answer had been thus given, that slaughters, fires, the failing of he Republic was being readied and that these things were not only planned by citizens, though such things seemed unbelievable to some people given the great enormity of the wickedness, but that these things not only were thought up by accursed citizens, but even had been undertaken by them! But is it not so at this very time that by the assent of Jove the Best and Greatest that it seemeth to have happened, that when on the morning of the very day the conspirators and their informers were by my command led to the Temple of Concord, at the same time the statue was being set up? And when this statue was set up and towards ye and the Senate turned, both ye and the Senate did see everything which had been plotted against the well-being of all, lighted upon and laid bare.
And yet these bastards, worthy of greater hatred and punishment, are such who not only upon the walls and roofs of your own homes, but even upon the temples of the gods and their shrines did they attempt to inflict death and abomination. If it were I who said that I opposed them, then too much do I take upon myself and I ought not to be endured -- for it was he, he, Jove the Father who opposed them. Wisheth he that the Capitoline be saved, wisheth he that these temples be saved, wisheth he that the rest of the City be saved, wisheth he that all of ye be saved! With the deathless gods as my guides, I have this intention and will, O Quirites undertaken and to the following proofs I have arrived: for that tampering of the Allobroges would never have taken place, a matter of such importance would not have been so madly entrusted by Lentulus and the rest of our domestic enemies of the state to strangers and foreigners -- and with letters written too! -- unless by the very deathless gods was all the cunning in such a daring plot snatched away from him? But what? That men from Gaul came from their state, a state ill at peace with us, a race which altogether makes war on the Roman People, is able to do so, and do not seem to be unwilling to do so, that these men should neglect a hope of an empire and greatest wealth for themselves beyond what was given to them by our Patricians, that they should put your own well-being before their own gains -- do ye not think this to be done by the gods' hands, especially since the Galli would have been able to o'ercome us not by combat, but by remaining silent.
Wherefore, O Quirites, since at all altars a thanksgiving hath been decreed, celebrate those days with your spouses and your children. For often hath many honors been bestowed on the deathless gods been just and owed, but assuredly never more just. For snatched are ye from the most cruel and wretched destruction, snatched without slaughter, without bloodshed, without an army, without a fight. Ye toga-ed civilians have won the day with me, your singular toga-clad leader and general!
-Cicero In Catilinam Oratio Tertia XVIII - XXIII. Trans. is my own.
The Inauguration of the American President
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| The official photos of the crowd size attending two American Presidential Inauguration ceremonies shown side-by-side. One can clearly see that the crowd gathered at President Barack Obama's first inauguration in January of 2009 (left) is larger than the other inauguration (right). |
On January 20th of the start of a new presidential term, the President-elect (who was elected some seventy days earlier on the first Tuesday following November 1st) is administered the oath of office, thus beginning a four-year term. The only constitutionally-required component of the inauguration is the administering of the oath of office, which may be given by anyone, anywhere, and witnessed by anyone legally able to be a witness -- for instance, the oath was once given on a grounded Air Force One to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson immediately following the assassination of John F. Kennedy earlier the same day. Additionally, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was at his family home in 1923 when he received word via messenger that President Warren G. Harding had unexpectedly died while visiting San Francisco; early the next morning (around 3:00 AM), Coolidge was administered the oath of office by his father, a notary and justice of the peace, in the family parlor -- the 30th President then returned to bed. Besides these (and a few other occasions) the oath is usually administered by the Chief Justice of the United States of America.
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| Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is administered the oath of office by Sarah T. Hughes, a district judge, thus making him the 36th President of the United States of America. |
Beside the oath, the rest of the ceremony is marked more by tradition than anything else: the President-Elect typically visits the White House to proceed to the inaugural grounds (usually the Capitol) with the incumbent President. Once the oath is administered at the inauguration ceremony, the newly sworn in President typically gives a speech (called the inaugural address) and then proceeds in a parade from the Capitol to the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue. President Jimmy Carter, in an effort to throw off the trappings of an "imperial presidency", was the first to walk the distance in 1977, and has been matched in spirit (if not in the full distance of approximately one mile) by each successive President since.
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| 39th President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn Carter, walk down Pennsylvania Avenue following the inauguration ceremony. |
1. Another proposed etymology is a derivation from the verb augeo - "to increase" and by further extrapolation to mean "favorable".
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