As early as the time of the first Punic war, a consul was bold enough
to jest at the auspices in public. Superstitions and impostures
flourished, the astrology of ancient Chaldea spread, the Oriental
ceremonies were introduced with the pomps that accompanied the
reception of the unformed boulder which the special embassy brought
from Pessinus when the weary war with Hannibal had rendered any source
of hope, even the most futile, inspiring. [Footnote: B.C. 204. See page
153.] Then the abominable worship of Bacchus came in, and thousands
were corrupted and made vicious throughout Italy before the authorities
were able to put a stop to the midnight orgies and the crimes that
daylight exposed.
Cato the elder, who would have nothing to do with consulting Chaldeans
or magicians of any sort, asked how it were possible for two such
ministers to meet each other face to face without laughing at their own
duplicity and the ridiculous superstition of the people they deceived.
[Footnote: It had been in early times customary to dismiss a political
gathering if a thunder-storm came up, and the augurs had taken
advantage of the practice to increase their own power by laying down an
occult system of celestial omens which enabled them to bring any such
meeting to a close when the legislation promised to thwart their plans.
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