Book 1, Chapter 38
Original Latin
81 Obiciuntur etiam saepe formae, quae reapse nullae sunt, speciem autem offerunt; quod contigisse Brenno dicitur eiusque Gallicis copiis, cum fano Apollinis Delphici nefarium bellum intulisset. Tum enim ferunt ex oraclo ecfatam esse Pythiam:
Ego próvidebo rem ístam et albae vírgines.
Ex quo factum, ut viderentur virgines ferre arma contra et nive Gallorum obrueretur exercitus.
Aristoteles quidem eos etiam, qui valetudinis vitio furerent et melancholici dicerentur, censebat habere aliquid in animis praesagiens atque divinum. Ego autem haud scio an nec cardiacis hoc tribuendum sit nec phreneticis; animi enim integri, non vitiosi est corporis divinatio.
82 Quam quidem esse re vera hac Stoicorum ratione concluditur: ‘Si sunt di neque ante declarant hominibus, quae futura sint, aut non diligunt homines aut, quid eventurum sit, ignorant aut existumant nihil interesse hominum scire, quid sit futurum, aut non censent esse suae maiestatis praesignificare hominibus, quae sunt futura, aut ea ne ipsi quidem di significare possunt; at neque non diligunt nos (sunt enim benefici generique hominum amici) neque ignorant ea, quae ab ipsis constituta et designata sunt, neque nostra nihil interest scire ea, quae eventura sunt, (erimus enim cautiores, si sciemus) neque hoc alienum ducunt maiestate sua (nihil est enim beneficentia praestantius) neque non possunt futura praenoscere;’
83 ‘non igitur sunt di nec significant futura; sunt autem di; significant ergo; et non, si significant, nullas vias dant nobis ad significationis scientiam (frustra enim significarent), nec, si dant vias, non est divinatio; est igitur divinatio.’
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.
81 “Often, too, forms appear before us that have no real existence, but present themselves to sight. This is said to have happened to Brennus and his Gallic forces when he launched his sacrilegious attack on the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. Then, they say, the Pythia spoke from the oracle:
‘I will see to this, with the white maidens.’
“And so it happened that maidens were seen bearing arms against them, and the Gallic army was buried in snow.
“Aristotle indeed thought that even those who were maddened by illness and called melancholics had something prophetic and divine in their souls. But I am inclined to think that we should grant this neither to sufferers from heart disease nor to the delirious: divination belongs to a sound soul, not to a disordered body.
82 “That divination really exists is established by this Stoic argument: ‘If gods exist and do not declare the future to human beings in advance, either they do not love humanity, or they do not know what will happen, or they think it is of no concern to humanity to know the future, or they do not think it consistent with their majesty to foretell the future to human beings, or even the gods themselves cannot signify it. But they do not fail to love us, for they are beneficent and friendly to the human race; nor are they ignorant of what they themselves have ordained and determined; nor is it of no concern to us to know what will happen, for with knowledge we shall be more cautious; nor do they consider it beneath their majesty, for nothing surpasses beneficence; nor are they unable to foreknow the future;
83 “‘therefore it is not the case that gods exist and do not signify the future. But gods do exist; therefore they signify it. And if they signify it, they do not fail to give us ways of understanding their signs, for otherwise their signs would be pointless; nor, if they give us such ways, can divination fail to exist. Therefore divination exists.’
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.
81 “People are also often confronted with shapes that do not really exist, but appear to them. Brennus and the Gallic army are said to have seen such appearances during his unholy assault on Apollo's sanctuary at Delphi. They say that the Pythian priestess then declared from the oracle:
“‘The white maidens and I will take care of this.’
“As a result, maidens seemed to take up arms against the Gauls, and their army was buried in snow.
“Aristotle thought that even people who were mad through illness, and were called melancholics, had something prophetic and divine in their minds. But I am inclined to think we should attribute this neither to people with heart disease nor to the delirious. Divination belongs to a healthy mind, not to a sick body.
82 “The Stoics establish that it really exists by the following argument: ‘If there are gods and they do not tell people beforehand what will happen, then either they do not love people, or future events are unknown to them, or in their view people gain nothing by knowing what lies ahead, or they think it beneath their dignity to give people advance warning, or even the gods themselves cannot give these signs. But it is not true that they do not love us: they are generous and friendly to the human race. Nor are they ignorant of events they have themselves decided and arranged. Nor does it make no difference to us to know what will happen: knowing will make us more careful. Nor do they think it beneath their dignity: nothing is finer than doing good. Nor are they unable to know the future beforehand.
83 “‘So it cannot be that there are gods but they do not give signs of the future. There are gods. Therefore they give signs. And if they give signs, they must give us ways to understand them; otherwise their signs would be pointless. If they give us such ways, divination must exist. So divination exists.’
About this section
Book 1, Chapter 38 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 38 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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