Augurs, Auspices, Omens and Portents

On the morning of the day we left, there was sun. And then the long drive home, made strange by the continuing company of sunlight, with which we have become unfamiliar, and by the change to Daylight Savings Time. 

From The Glass Harmonica: a Lexicon of the Fantastical, by Barbara Ninde Byfield (1967):  Augurs are not born as such but are appointed officials of a very high level in charge of reporting the opinion of the Gods on matters of state. Their duty is to observe and interpret signs of approval or disapproval as shown by the Gods through Auspices: bird flights, lightning flashes, entrails of sacrificed animals. A conscientious Augur observes these signs at the appropriate time and place: midnight to dawn in front of a tent on the middle of a plain. Augurs are well rewarded by the State and therefore can be bribed.

Auspices are generally favorable, as opposed to Omens, which seldom are, and Portents, which are ambiguous. (See Extra.)


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