Fabius actually seems a little irrational in this quote. At first he objects to Augustus’s interpretation because Augustus is not an expert on the interpretation of signs, which is reasonable. But then when Augustus does have an intepretation that’s coming from an augur, Fabius still continues to question it, pitting his view against expert opinion like it was still just the opinion of Augustus. Since it is not established that Fabius would be an augur himself, this seems like motivated cognition / not properly updating on evidence.
Alternatively, it could be that Fabius doesn’t actually believe in omens, but in that case first appealing to the need to get an expert opinion is pretty dishonest.
Of course, Alejandro’s comment below does clarify that Livia is probably lying about the augur’s testimony, but I’m going by the quote as it was posted (and as most people probably read/voted it).
Fabius does not want to argue with a fool more than it is necessary. He engages the heavy guns only when needs to, this time at the end of the dialogue.
Fabius actually seems a little irrational in this quote. At first he objects to Augustus’s interpretation because Augustus is not an expert on the interpretation of signs, which is reasonable. But then when Augustus does have an intepretation that’s coming from an augur, Fabius still continues to question it, pitting his view against expert opinion like it was still just the opinion of Augustus. Since it is not established that Fabius would be an augur himself, this seems like motivated cognition / not properly updating on evidence.
Alternatively, it could be that Fabius doesn’t actually believe in omens, but in that case first appealing to the need to get an expert opinion is pretty dishonest.
Of course, Alejandro’s comment below does clarify that Livia is probably lying about the augur’s testimony, but I’m going by the quote as it was posted (and as most people probably read/voted it).
Fabius does not want to argue with a fool more than it is necessary. He engages the heavy guns only when needs to, this time at the end of the dialogue.
My kind of a (dishonest you say) guy.