[3,70] Ὁ δὲ τῶν οἰωνοσκόπων ἐπιφανέστατος ὁ τοὺς βωμοὺς μεθιδρυσάμενος καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διὸς τεμενίσας καὶ τἆλλα προλέγων τὰ θεῖα τῷ δήμῳ διὰ μαντικῆς αὐτὸς μὲν ἐκαλεῖτο τὸ κοινὸν ὄνομα καὶ προσηγορικὸν Νέβιος, τὸ δὲ συγγενικὸν Ἄττιος, ὃς ἁπάντων θεοφιλέστατος ὁμολογεῖται γενέσθαι τῶν ἀκριβούντων τὴν τέχνην καὶ μεγίστου τυχεῖν δι´ αὐτὴν ὀνόματος ἀπίστους τινὰς ὑπερβολὰς τῆς οἰωνομαντικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐπιδειξάμενος· ὧν ἐγὼ μίαν, ἣν μάλιστα τεθαύμακα, προχειρισάμενος ἐρῶ προειπὼν ἐξ οἵας ὁρμηθεὶς συντυχίας καὶ τίνας ἀφορμὰς παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου λαβὼν τοσαύτην ἔσχεν ἐπιφάνειαν, ὥστε πάντας ἀζήλους ἀποδεῖξαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀκμάσαντας ἡλικίαν. πένης αὐτῷ πατὴρ ἐγένετο χωρίον εὐτελὲς γεωργῶν, ᾧ τά τε ἄλλα συνειργάζετο παῖς ὢν ὁ Νέβιος, ὅσα τοῖς τηλικούτοις δύναμις ἦν, καὶ τὰς ὗς ἐξελαύνων ἔβοσκεν. ἀποκοιμηθεὶς δέ ποτε καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐξέγερσιν οὐχ εὑρίσκων τινὰς τῶν ὑῶν τέως μὲν ἔκλαιε τὰς πληγὰς ὀρρωδῶν τὰς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ἔπειτ´ ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν καλιάδα τὴν ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ καθιδρυμένην ἡρώων ἠξίου τοὺς ἥρωας συνεξευρεῖν αὐτῷ τὰς ὗς, γενομένου δὲ τούτου θύσειν αὐτοῖς ὑπέσχετο τὸν μέγιστον τῶν ἐκ τοῦ χωρίου βοτρύων. εὑρὼν δὲ μετ´ ὀλίγον τὰς ὗς ἐβούλετο μὲν ἀποδοῦναι τοῖς ἥρωσι τὴν εὐχήν, ἐν ἀπορίᾳ δὲ ἦν πολλῇ τὸν μέγιστον οὐ δυνάμενος ἐξευρεῖν βότρυν. ἀδημονῶν δ´ ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι τοὺς θεοὺς ἠξίου δι´ οἰωνῶν φανερὸν αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι τὸ ζητούμενον. ἔπειτ´ ἐπελθὸν αὐτῷ κατὰ δαίμονα διχῇ νέμει τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, θάτερα μὲν αὐτοῦ λαμβάνων ἐκ δεξιᾶς, θάτερα δ´ ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς, ἔπειθ´ ὑπὲρ ἑκατέρου τῶν μερῶν τοὺς παρακειμένους οἰωνοὺς ἐσκόπει. φανέντων δ´ ἐπὶ θατέρου μέρους ὀρνίθων, οἵων αὐτὸς ἐβούλετο, πάλιν ἐκεῖνο διχῇ διῄρει τὸ χωρίον καὶ τοὺς ὄρνιθας διέκρινε τοὺς παραγινομένους κατὰ τὸ αὐτό. ταύτῃ χρώμενος τῇ διαιρέσει τῶν τόπων καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ὑπὸ τῶν ὀρνίθων ἀποδειχθεῖσαν ἄμπελον ὑπελθὼν εὑρίσκει βότρυος ἄπιστόν τι χρῆμα καὶ αὐτὸν φέρων ἐπὶ τὴν καλιάδα τῶν ἡρώων ὁρᾶται πρὸς τοῦ πατρός. θαυμάσαντι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς σταφυλῆς καὶ πόθεν εἰλήφει πυνθανομένῳ διηγεῖται πάντα ἐξ ἀρχῆς. ὁ δ´ ὑπολαβών, ὅπερ ἦν, ἐμφύτους εἶναί τινας ἀρχὰς μαντικῆς ἐν τῷ παιδί, κομίσας αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν πόλιν γραμμάτων διδασκάλοις συνίστησιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς κοινῆς παιδείας ἀποχρώντως μετέλαβε, Τυρρηνῶν αὐτὸν παραδίδωσι τῷ λογιωτάτῳ τὴν οἰωνοσκοπικὴν τέχνην διδαχθησόμενον. ἔχων δὲ τὴν ἔμφυτον ὁ Νέβιος μαντικὴν καὶ τὴν ἐπίκτητον παρὰ Τυρρηνῶν προσλαβὼν μακρῷ δή που τοὺς ἄλλους οἰωνοσκόπους ἅπαντας, ὡς ἔφην, ὑπερεβάλετο, εἰς ἁπάσας τε τὰς δημοσίας ἐπισκέψεις οἱ τῆς πόλεως οἰωνομάντεις οὐκ ὄντα ἐκ τοῦ συστήματος παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ἐπιτυχίαν τῶν μαντευμάτων καὶ οὐθὲν ὅ τι μὴ δόξειεν ἐκείνῳ προὔλεγον.

[3,70] (p249) The most celebrated of the augurs, the one who changed the position of the altars and marked out the area for temple of Jupiter and in other things foretold the will of the gods to the people by his prophetic art, had for his common and first name Nevius, and for his family name Attius; and he is conceded to have been the most favoured by the gods of all the experts in his profession and to have gained the greatest reputation by it, having displayed some extraordinary and incredible instances of his augural skill. Of these I shall give one, which I have selected because it has seemed the most wonderful to me; but first I shall relate from what chance he got his start and by what opportunities vouchsafed to him by the gods he attained to such distinction as to make all the other augurs of his day appear negligible in comparison. His father was a poor man who cultivated a cheap plot of ground, and Nevius, as a boy, assisted him in such tasks as his years could bear; among his other employments he used to drive the swine out to pasture and tend them. One day he fell asleep, and upon waking missed some of the swine. At first he wept, dreading the blows his father would give him; then, going to the chapel of some heroes that had been built on the farm, he besought them to assist him in finding his swine, promising that if they did so he would offer up to them the largest cluster of grapes on the farm. And having found the swine shortly afterwards, he wished to (p251) perform his vow to the heroes, but found himself in great perplexity, being unable to discover the largest cluster of grapes. In his anxiety over the matter he prayed to the gods to reveal to him by omens what he sought. Then by a divine inspiration he divided the vineyard into two parts, taking one on his right hand and the other on his left, after which he observed the omens that showed over each; and when there appeared in one of them such birds as he desired, he again ddvid that into two parts and distinguished in the same manner the birds that came to it. having continued this method of dividing the places and coming up to the last vine that was pointed out by the birds, he found an incredibly huge cluster. As he was carrying it to the chapel of the heroes he was observed by his father;and when the latter marvelled at the size of the cluster and inquired where he had got it, the boy informed him of the whole matter from the beginning. His father concluded, as was indeed the case, that there were some innate rudiments of the art of divination in the boy, and taking him to the city, he put him in the hands of elementary teachers; then, after he had acquired sufficient general learning, he placed him under the most celebrated master among the Tyrrhenians to learn the augural art. Thus Nevius, who possessed an innate skill of divination and had now added to it the knowledge acquired from the Tyrrhenians, naturally far surpassed, as I said, all the other augurs. And the augurs in the city, even though he was not of their college, used to invite him to their public consultations because of (p253) the success of his predictions, and they foretold nothing without his approval.