Book 1, Chapter 21
Original Latin
42 Haec, etiamsi ficta sunt a poëta, non absunt tamen a consuetudine somniorum. Sit sane etiam illud commenticium, quo Priamus est conturbatus, quia
. máter gravida párere <ex> se ardentém facemVisást in somnis Hécuba; quo factó paterRex ípse Priamus sómnio mentís metuPercúlsus curis súmptus suspirántibusExsácrificabat hóstiis balántibus.Tum cóniecturam póstulat pacém petens,Ut se édoceret, óbsecrans Apóllinem,Quo sése vertant tántae sortes sómnium.Ibi éx oraclo vóce divina édiditApóllo, puerum, prímus Priamo quí foretPostílla natus, témperaret tóllere;Eum ésse exitium Tróiae, pestem Pérgamo.
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.
42 “Even if a poet invented this, it is not far removed from the ordinary experience of dreams. Let the dream that troubled Priam also be an invention, because
“‘Hecuba the mother, heavy with child, seemed in sleepTo give birth to a burning torch. At this her husband,King Priam himself, his mind struck with fear by the dream,Consumed by cares and sighing,Sought to avert the curse by sacrificing bleating victims.Then, seeking peace, he begged an interpretation,Imploring Apollo to instruct himWhat such a portentous dream foretold.Then from the oracle Apollo’s divine voiceDeclared: the first boy born to PriamThereafter he must refrain from rearing;That child would be Troy’s ruin, Pergamum’s destruction.’
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.
42 “Even if a poet invented these things, they still fit the way dreams usually work. Let's also allow that the dream which disturbed Priam was made up, because
“‘Hecuba, the pregnant mother, seemed in her dreamsTo give birth to a burning torch. At this the father,King Priam himself, terrified at heartBy the dream, worn out with anxious sighs,Offered up bleating animals in sacrifice.Then, seeking peace with the god, he asked for an interpretation,Begging Apollo to explainWhat such great warnings in the dream were leading to.Then from the oracle Apollo spoke with a divine voice:The first boy born to Priam after thisMust not be allowed to be raised.He would be the destruction of Troy, the ruin of Pergamum.’
About this section
Book 1, Chapter 21 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 21 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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