The sacred chickens and the tripudium, auspices taken into battle
The pullarius, the grain falling from the beak and the defiance of Publius Claudius Pulcher at Drepana in 249 BC: auspices taken from sacred chickens.
Of all the ways of taking the auspices, that of the sacred chickens was the most practical and therefore the one most used by Roman armies. Wild birds could not be commanded, whereas chickens, kept in a cage, could be taken anywhere. Watching them was the job of an attendant, the pullarius, who followed commanders on campaign and announced the response at the appropriate moment.
The sign of the grain
The sign to be observed was the way the chickens ate. When they were let out of the cage and pecked greedily, so much so that food fell from their beaks and touched the ground, the result was the so-called tripudium solistimum, the most favourable sign. If instead they refused to come out or to eat, or wandered away, the omen was negative and the action had to be postponed.
Festus, summarising Verrius Flaccus, lists five kinds of augural signs: those that come from the sky, from birds, from the tripudium, from four-footed animals and from threatening phenomena called dirae. The chickens belonged to the third category. Cicero, in De divinatione, ironically observes that the favourable sign was easy to obtain, because the animals were kept hungry in their cages: it was inevitable that, once released, they would throw themselves on the food.
The defiance of Claudius Pulcher
The most famous episode dates from the First Punic War. In 249 BC the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher was preparing to attack the Carthaginian fleet at Drepana, in Sicily. When the pullarius announced that the chickens would not eat, the consul had them thrown into the sea, saying, according to Cicero, “let them drink, since they will not eat”. The battle was one of Rome's worst naval defeats.
Claudius was recalled to Rome and put on trial. For ancient authors the defeat was due not only to tactical errors but to contempt for the gods. Valerius Maximus and Suetonius repeat the anecdote, which became a classic example of impiety punished. A similar lesson was drawn from the fate of Gaius Flaminius, who in 217 BC ignored unfavourable signs and fell shortly afterwards at Lake Trasimene.
The lying pullarius
Livy recounts an episode of the opposite kind, which took place in 293 BC near Aquilonia, during the war against the Samnites. The chickens would not eat, but the pullarius, knowing that the soldiers were eager to fight, announced a favourable tripudium to the consul Lucius Papirius Cursor. When the lie was discovered, Papirius replied that the auspice remained valid for him and that the guilt fell on whoever had falsified it.
The consul had the pullarii placed in the front line, and the guilty one fell, struck by a javelin, before the battle began. At that very moment, according to Livy, a raven made its voice heard, and Papirius interpreted it as confirmation that the gods were present and had punished the culprit. The battle ended in a Roman victory.
These stories show clearly the nature of Roman auspices. The aim was not to know the future but to obtain divine consent through a correct procedure. Responsibility fell on whoever carried it out: those who falsified it paid in person, those who ignored it exposed the state to ruin. In this system even a simple hungry chicken could become the voice of the gods.