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LIBER X · CAPUT 13

BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST

BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST. Complete modern editorial illustration created specifically for this chapter.
BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST · EDITORIAL PLATE X.13 · modern editorial plate
BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST. Complete modern editorial illustration created specifically for this chapter.

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Inauspicata est et incendiaria avis, quam propter saepenumero lustratam urbem in annalibus invenimus, sicut L. Cassio C. Mario cos., quo anno et bubone viso lustratam esse. quae sit avis ea, non reperitur nec traditur. quidam ita interpretantur, incendiariam esse quaecumque apparuerit carbonem ferens ex aris vel altaribus; alii spinturnicem eam vocant, sed haec ipsa quae esset inter aves, qui se scire diceret non inveni.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

An inauspicious bird also is that known as the “incendiary;” on account of which, we find in the Annals, the City has had to be repeatedly purified; as, for instance, in the consulship of L. Cassius and C. Marius, in which year also it was purified, in consequence of a horned owl being seen. What kind of bird this incendiary bird was, we do not find stated, nor is it known by tradition. Some persons explain the term this way; they say that the name “incendiary” was applied to every bird that was seen carrying a burning coal from the pyre, or altar; while others, again, call such a bird a “spinturnix”; though I never yet found any person who said that he knew what kind of bird this spinturnix was.