Book 2, Chapter 54
Original Latin
110 Quid vero habet auctoritatis furor iste, quem divinum vocatis, ut, quae sapiens non videat, ea videat insanus, et is, qui humanos sensus amiserit, divinos adsecutus sit? Sibyllae versus observamus, quos illa furens fudisse dicitur. Quorum interpres nuper falsa quadam hominum fama dicturus in senatu putabatur eum, quem re vera regem habebamus, appellandum quoque esse regem, si salvi esse vellemus. Hoc si est in libris, in quem hominem et in quod tempus est? callide enim, qui illa composuit, perfecit, ut, quodcumque accidisset, praedictum videretur hominum et temporum definitione sublata.
111 Adhibuit etiam latebram obscuritatis, ut iidem versus alias in aliam rem posse accommodari viderentur. Non esse autem illud carmen furentis cum ipsum poëma declarat (est enim magis artis et diligentiae quam incitationis et motus), tum vero ea, quae ἀκροστιχίς dicitur, cum deinceps ex primis <primi cuiusque> versus litteris aliquid conectitur, ut in quibusdam Ennianis: ‘Q. Ennius fecit’. Id certe magis est attenti animi quam furentis.
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Latin in separate source-only tasks and reviewed throughout against it. Both books, all 130 chapters and 282 numbered sections; no historical English translation used. Latin transcription credited to the Perseus Project under CC BY-SA 4.0, Müller’s 1915 Teubner edition.
110 “What authority, really, has this frenzy you call divine? Is a madman to see what a wise man cannot, and someone who has lost his human senses to have gained divine ones? We revere the Sibyl’s verses, which she is said to have poured out in a frenzy. A false rumor recently spread that their interpreter would tell the senate that the man we already had as king in fact must also be called king if we wished to survive. If that is in the books, to what man and what time does it refer? Their composer cleverly omitted all definite persons and dates, ensuring that whatever happened would look like a prediction fulfilled.
111 “He also took refuge in obscurity, so that the same verses could be applied to different events at different times. That this is not the song of a frenzied mind is plain from the poetry itself, which shows more art and care than inspiration and excitement, but especially from what is called an ἀκροστιχίς, an acrostic: the initial letters of successive verses are linked to spell something, as in certain verses of Ennius, ‘Quintus Ennius made this.’ That surely belongs to an attentive mind, not a frenzied one.
Plain English translation
Complete machine-assisted Plain English translation, made independently and directly from the Latin, never from the Musean edition. Both books and every numbered section; a separate Latin-source model review covered the entire text. No human specialist review is claimed.
110 “What authority does this frenzy you call divine really have? Why should a madman see what a wise man cannot, or a man who has lost his human senses have gained divine ones? We heed the Sibyl's verses, said to be the outpouring of her madness. Recently a false report led people to expect her interpreter to tell the senate that our safety required giving the title of king to the man who was already our king in practice. If this is in the books, what man and what time does it refer to? The writer cleverly left out any definite person or time, making it seem that whatever happened had been predicted.
111 “He also used obscurity as a hiding place, so the same verses could seem to fit different events at different times. The poetry itself shows that this is not the work of someone in a frenzy. It shows more craft and care than excitement and passion. Still more telling is the device called an acrostic: the initial letters of successive lines spell out something, as in some verses of Ennius, ‘Quintus Ennius wrote this.’ That certainly belongs to an attentive mind rather than a frenzied one.
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 54 is part of On Divination by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is chapter 112 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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