Note 687 — Chapter V · THE AUSPICES

Cic. Sest. 36. 78. Probably obnuntiatio against tribunes is referred to by Cic. Phil. v. 3. 7 f. and by Ascon. 68 (the last is the abolition of the Livian laws of 91), but the obnuntiating magistrate is not known. In Cic. Vatin. 7. 17 (“Num quem post urbem conditam scias tribunum pl. egisse cum plebe, cum constaret servatum esse de caelo”) the principle is laid down that any one who has the right to obnuntiate may use this power against a tribune. The validity of the tribunician law for the interdiction of Cicero from fire and water was maintained on the ground that no one was then watching the sky; Cic. Prov. Cons. 19. 45.