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53. "The Divine Will accomplishes like results
in the case of birds, and causes those known as
alites,1 which give omens by their flight, to fly
hither and thither and disappear now here and now
there, and causes those known as oscines, which give
omens by their cries, to sing now on the left and
now on the right. For if every animal moves its
body forward, sideways, or backward at will, it
bends, twists, extends, and contracts its members
as it pleases, and performs these various motions
almost mechanically; how much easier it is for such
results to be accomplished by a god, whose divine
will all things obey!
1 Alites were birds, like the eagle, hawk, and osprey, that gave omens by their flight; oscines were birds, like the raven, crow, and owl, that gave omens by their voices. Cf. Festus, p. 193.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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