Note 1233 — Chapter V · PIACULAR RITES AND THE AMBIGUITY OF THE NOTION OF SACREDNESS
Joseph Ward Swain translation
Piacularia auspicia appellabant quæ sacrificantibus tristia portendebant (Paul ex Fest., p. 244, ed. Müller). The word piaculum is even used as a synonym of misfortune. "Vetonica herba," says Pliny, "tantum gloriæ habet ut domus in qua sita sit tuta existimetur a piaculis omnibus" (XXV, 8, 46).