Book 2, Chapter 61
Original Latin
126 Illud etiam requiro, cur, si deus ista visa nobis providendi causa dat, non vigilantibus potius det quam dormientibus. Sive enim externus et adventicius pulsus animos dormientium commovet, sive per se ipsi animi moventur, sive quae causa alia est, cur secundum quietem aliquid videre, audire, agere videamur, eadem causa vigilantibus esse poterat; idque si nostra causa di secundum quietem facerent, vigilantibus idem facerent, praesertim cum Chrysippus Academicos refellens permulto clariora et certiora esse dicat, quae vigilantibus videantur, quam quae somniantibus. Fuit igitur divina beneficentia dignius, cum consulerent nobis, clariora visa dare vigilanti quam obscuriora per somnum. Quod quoniam non fit, somnia divina putanda non sunt.
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.
126 “I ask this as well: if a god gives us these visions to enable foresight, why does he not give them to us awake rather than asleep? Whether an impulse arriving from outside stirs sleepers’ minds, or the minds move of themselves, or some other cause makes us seem to see, hear, and act during sleep, the same cause could operate while we are awake. If the gods did this in sleep for our sake, they would do the same while we are awake—especially since Chrysippus, arguing against the Academics, says that waking impressions are far clearer and more certain than those of dreamers. It would therefore have been more worthy of divine beneficence, in caring for us, to give us clearer visions awake rather than more obscure ones in sleep. Since this does not happen, dreams should not be considered divine.
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.
126 “Here is another question. If a god gives us these visions so we can foresee things, why not give them while we are awake rather than asleep? Perhaps an impact from outside stirs sleepers' minds, perhaps the minds move by themselves, or perhaps there is some other reason why we seem to see, hear, and act while asleep. Whatever the cause, it could work when we are awake too. If the gods did this for our benefit while we slept, they would do the same when we were awake. This is especially so since Chrysippus, arguing against the Academics, says that what we see awake is far clearer and more certain than what we see in dreams. So if the gods were looking after us, divine generosity called for clearer visions awake, rather than dimmer ones in sleep. Since this does not happen, we should not think dreams divine.
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 61 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 119 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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