Book 2, Chapter 65
Original Latin
134 Defert ad coniectorem quidam somniasse se ovum pendere ex fascea lecti sui cubicularis (est hoc in Chrysippi libro somnium); respondit coniector thensaurum defossum esse sub lecto. Fodit, invenit auri aliquantum, idque circumdatum argento, misit coniectori, quantulum visum est de argento. Tum ille: ‘Nihilne’, inquit, ‘de vitello?’ id enim ei ex ovo videbatur aurum declarasse, reliquum argentum. Nemone igitur umquam alius ovum somniavit? cur ergo hic nescio qui thensaurum solus invenit? quam multi inopes digni praesidio deorum nullo somnio ad thensaurum reperiendum admonentur! Quam autem ob causam tam est obscure admonitus, ut ex ovo nasceretur thensauri similitudo, potius quam aperte thensaurum quaerere iuberetur, sicut aperte Simonides vetitus est navigare?
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.
134 “A man reports to an interpreter that he dreamed of an egg hanging from a strap on his bedroom couch—this dream is in Chrysippus’s book. The interpreter replies that a treasure is buried beneath the couch. The man digs and finds some gold surrounded by silver. He sends the interpreter a little of the silver, as much as he thinks fit. ‘Nothing from the yolk?’ the interpreter asks. He thought the egg had indicated gold by its yolk and silver by the rest. Has no one else ever dreamed of an egg, then? Why did this obscure fellow alone find treasure? How many poor people deserving the gods’ protection receive no dream to guide them to a treasure! And why was his warning so obscure, with an egg made into an image of treasure, instead of an open command to look for treasure, just as Simonides was openly forbidden to sail?
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.
134 “Someone tells an interpreter that he dreamed an egg was hanging from the frame of his bedroom bed. This dream is in Chrysippus' book. The interpreter replied that treasure was buried under the bed. The man dug and found some gold surrounded by silver. From the silver he sent a small share to the interpreter, choosing the amount himself. Then the interpreter said, ‘Nothing from the yolk?’ He thought the yolk of the egg had indicated gold, and the rest of it silver. Has no one else ever dreamed about an egg? Then why did this unknown fellow alone find treasure? How many poor people deserve the gods' help but get no dream telling them how to find treasure! And why was the warning so obscure, with an egg standing for treasure, rather than a plain order to look for treasure, just as Simonides was plainly forbidden to sail?
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 65 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 123 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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