Gli auspici e i confini

Boundary lines interacted with the auspices in different ways. On the one hand there were legal or natural boundaries such as streams or the fines of agri, which did not prevent the continuity of the auspicium, provided that some rituals were performed. Because of this continuity the augures did not create special categories of auspicia according to place. They only gave special names to the auspices that survived the crossing: the auspicium was called peremne when the boundary was a stream of water, and pertermine when it was a territorial border. On the other hand there was the pomerium, which had specific rules: its crossing prevented any continuity between the auspices taken domi and those taken militiae, and it is likely that because of this discontinuity the augures created the categories of the auspicia urbana and militaria.