[+]Timeus, p. 27 c.

186.  Greek Superstition.—­In many cases, naturally, piety runs off into crass superstition.  The gods, everybody knows, frequently make known future events by various signs.  He who can understand these signs will be able to adjust his life accordingly and enjoy great prosperity.  Most educated men take a sensible view of “omens,” and do not let them influence their conduct absurdly.  Some, however, act otherwise.  There is, for instance, Laches, one of the greatest at Prodicus’s feast.  He lives in a realm of mingled hopes and fears, although he is wealthy and well-educated.[*] He is all the time worried about dreams, and paying out money to the sharp and wily “seer” (who counts him his best client) for “interpretations.”  If a weasel crosses his path he will not walk onward until somebody else has gone before him, or until he has thrown three stones across the road.  He is all the time worrying about the significance of sudden noises, meteors, thunder; especially he is disturbed when he sees birds flying in groups or towards unlucky quarters of the heavens.[+] Laches, however, is not merely religious—­although he is always asking “which god shall I invoke now?” or “what are the omens for the success of this enterprise?” His own associates mock him as being superstitious, and say they never trouble themselves about omens save in real emergencies.  Still it is “bad luck” for any of them to stumble over a threshold, to meet a hare suddenly, or especially to find a snake (the companion of the dead) hidden in the house.

[*]See Theophratus’s character, “The Superstitious Man.”

[+]The birds of clearest omen were the great birds of prey—­hawks, “Apollo’s swift messengers,” and eagles, “the birds of Zeus.”  It was a good omen if the birds flew from left to right, a bad omen if in the reverse direction.

187.  Consulting Omens.—­Laches’s friends, however, all regularly consult the omens when they have any important enterprise on hand—­a voyage, a large business venture, a marriage treaty, etc.  There are several ways, not expensive; the interpreters are not priests, only low-born fellows as a rule, whose fees are trifling.  You can find out about the future by casting meal upon the altar fire and noticing how it is burned, by watching how chickens pick up consecrated grain,[*] by observing how the sacrificial smoke curls upward, etc.  The best way, however, is to examine the entrails of the victim after a sacrifice.  Here everything depends on the shape, size, etc., of the various organs, especially of the liver, bladder, spleen, and lungs, and really expert judgment by an experienced and high-priced seer is desirable.  The man who is assured by a reliable seer, “the livers are large and in fine color,” will go on his trading voyage with a confident heart.

[*]A very convenient way,—­for it was a good sign if the chickens ate eagerly and one could always get a fair omen by keeping the fowls hungry a few hours ere “putting the question”!