phenomena connected with the behaviour of birds.
A couple of friends of mine are thinking about buying a house, and they're having trouble deciding which one. It's a big decision. I sympathize.
My approach to dealing with this problem, as with so many, is divination. Bring a chicken, cut it open, and divine the omens from its liver. If we're squeamish (and I might be squeamish, to say nothing of untrained,) we can at least bring a chicken, scatter some grain, and see if it eats.
There is, after all, ample historical precedent.
He lost the Battle of Drepana against the Carthaginians after ignoring a bad omen when the sacred chickens refused to eat. According to Valerius Maximus, Suetonius[1] and Cicero, Claudius threw them into the sea, ut biberent, quando esse nollent ("so that they might drink, since they refused to eat").
My approach to dealing with this problem, as with so many, is divination. Bring a chicken, cut it open, and divine the omens from its liver. If we're squeamish (and I might be squeamish, to say nothing of untrained,) we can at least bring a chicken, scatter some grain, and see if it eats.
There is, after all, ample historical precedent.
He lost the Battle of Drepana against the Carthaginians after ignoring a bad omen when the sacred chickens refused to eat. According to Valerius Maximus, Suetonius[1] and Cicero, Claudius threw them into the sea, ut biberent, quando esse nollent ("so that they might drink, since they refused to eat").