Читать книгу The True Story vs. Myth of Witchcraft - William Godwin - Страница 118

In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, another famous prodigy is recorded. The king had resolved to increase the number of the Roman cavalry. Romulus had raised the first body with the customary ceremony of augury. Tarquinius proposed to proceed in the present case, omitting this ceremony. Accius Navius, the chief augur, protested against the innovation. Tarquin, in contempt of his interference, addressed Accius, saying, “Come, augur, consult your birds, and tell me, whether the thing I have now in my mind can be done, or cannot be done.” Accius proceeded according to the rules of his art, and told the king it could be done. “What I was thinking of,” replied Tarquinius, “was whether you could cut this whetstone in two with this razor.” Accius immediately took the one instrument and the other, and performed the prodigy in the face of the assembled people. ¹¹⁰