§2.5.1ὡς δὲ κἀκείνοις ἦν βουλομένοις προειπὼν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ διαμαντεύσασθαι περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔμελλεν, ἐπειδὴ καθῆκεν ὁ χρόνος ἀναστὰς περὶ τὸν ὄρθρον ἐκ τῆς σκηνῆς προῆλθεν· στὰς δὲ ὑπαίθριος ἐν καθαρῷ χωρίῳ καὶ προθύσας ἃ νόμος ἦν εὔχετο Διί τε βασιλεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς, οὓς ἐποιήσατο τῆς ἀποικίας ἡγεμόνας, εἰ βουλομένοις αὐτοῖς ἐστι βασιλεύεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ, σημεῖα οὐράνια φανῆναι καλά.
Since this was also according to their wish, having appointed a day on which he was to consult the gods by augury concerning his sovereignty, when the time arrived, he arose about dawn and went out of his tent; and standing in the open air in a clean place, and having offered the preliminary sacrifices which were customary, he prayed to Jupiter the King and to the other gods whom he had made leaders of the colony, that if it was their will that the city should be ruled by him, auspicious heavenly signs might appear.
§2.5.2μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὐχὴν ἀστραπὴ διῆλθεν ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιά.
After the prayer, a flash of lightning passed from the left to the right.
τίθενται δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ ἀστραπὰς αἰσίους, εἴτε παρὰ Τυρρηνῶν διδαχθέντες, εἴτε πατέρων καθηγησαμένων κατὰ τοιόνδε· τινά, ὡς ἐγὼ πείθομαι, λογισμόν, ὅτι καθέδρα μέν ἐστι καὶ στάσις ἀρίστη τῶν οἰωνοῖς μαντευομένων ἡ βλέπουσα πρὸς ἀνατολάς, ὅθεν ἡλίου τε ἀναφοραὶ γίνονται καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων πλανήτων τε καὶ ἀπλανῶν, ἥ τε τοῦ κόσμου περιφορά, διʼ ἣν τοτὲ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἅπαντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ γίνεται, τοτὲ δὲ ὑπὸ γῆς, ἐκεῖθεν ἀρξαμένη τὴν ἐγκύκλιον ἀποδίδωσι κίνησιν.
Now the Romans consider lightning from the left to the right to be auspicious, whether they were taught this by the Tyrrhenians, or because their ancestors led them according to some such reasoning, as I am persuaded, namely: that the best seat and posture for those who divine by birds is that which looks toward the east, whence occur the risings of the sun, the moon, and the stars both wandering and fixed, and the revolution of the universe, by reason of which all things in it are sometimes above the earth and sometimes under the earth, beginning from there, completes its circular motion.
§2.5.3τοῖς δὲ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς βλέπουσιν ἀριστερὰ μὲν γίνεται τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον ἐπιστρέφοντα μέρη, δεξιὰ δὲ τὰ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν φέροντα· τιμιώτερα δὲ τὰ πρότερα πέφυκεν εἶναι τῶν ὑστέρων.
Now to those who look toward the east, the parts turning toward the north become the left, and those leading toward the south become the right; and the former are by nature more honorable than the latter.
μετεωρίζεται γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν βορείων μερῶν ὁ τοῦ ἄξονος πόλος, περὶ ὃν ἡ τοῦ κόσμου στροφὴ γίνεται, καὶ τῶν πέντε κύκλων τῶν διεζωκότων τὴν σφαῖραν ὁ καλούμενος ἀρκτικὸς ἀεὶ τῇδε φανερός· ταπεινοῦται δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν νοτίων ὁ καλούμενος ἀνταρκτικὸς κύκλος ἀφανὴς κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος.
For from the northern parts rises the pole of the axis about which the revolution of the universe takes place, and of the five circles that gird the sphere, the one called arctic is always visible here; whereas from the southern parts the so-called antarctic circle is depressed and invisible in this region.
§2.5.4εἰκὸς δὴ κράτιστα τῶν οὐρανίων καὶ μεταρσίων σημείων ὑπάρχειν, ὅσα ἐκ τοῦ κρατίστου γίνεται μέρους, ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐστραμμένα πρὸς τὰς ἀνατολὰς ἡγεμονικωτέραν μοῖραν ἔχει τῶν προσεσπερίων, αὐτῶν δέ γε τῶν ἀνατολικῶν ὑψηλότερα τὰ βόρεια τῶν νοτίων, ταῦτα ἂν εἴη κράτιστα.
It is reasonable, therefore, that those of the heavenly and aerial signs are the most powerful which occur from the most excellent part; and since the parts turned toward the east have a more dominant share than those toward the west, and of the eastern parts themselves, the northern are higher than the southern, these would be the most powerful.
§2.5.5ὡς δέ τινες ἱστοροῦσιν ἐκ παλαιοῦ τε καὶ πρὶν ἢ παρὰ Τυρρηνῶν μαθεῖν τοῖς Ῥωμαίων προγόνοις αἴσιοι ἐνομίζοντο αἱ ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἀστραπαί.
But as some historians relate, from ancient times and even before they learned from the Tyrrhenians, lightning from the left was considered auspicious by the ancestors of the Romans.
Ἀσκανίῳ γὰρ τῷ ἐξ Αἰνείου γεγονότι, καθʼ ὃν χρόνον ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν, οὓς ἦγε βασιλεὺς Μεσέντιος, ἐπολεμεῖτο καὶ τειχήρης ἦν, περὶ τὴν τελευταίαν ἔξοδον, ἣν ἀπεγνωκὼς ἤδη τῶν πραγμάτων ἔμελλε ποιεῖσθαι, μετʼ ὀλοφυρμοῦ τόν τε Δία καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αἰτουμένῳ θεοὺς αἴσια σημεῖα δοῦναι τῆς ἐξόδου φασὶν αἰθρίας οὔσης ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἀστράψαι τὸν οὐρανόν.
For they say that when Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, was warred upon and besieged by the Tyrrhenians, whom King Mezentius led, at the time of his last sally, which he was about to make because he already despaired of his situation, as he was entreating Jupiter and the other gods with lamentation to give auspicious signs for his sally, the sky flashed with lightning from the left, although it was clear.
τοῦ δʼ ἀγῶνος ἐκείνου λαβόντος τὸ κράτιστον τέλος διαμεῖναι παρὰ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις αὐτοῦ νομιζόμενον αἴσιον τόδε τὸ σημεῖον.
And since that conflict achieved the most favorable outcome, this sign continued to be considered auspicious among his descendants.