Book 1, Chapter 57

129 “Nature offers another line of reasoning, revealing how great the soul's power is when separated from the bodily senses, as happens above all in sleep or in states of mental exaltation. For the souls of the gods perceive one another's thoughts without eyes, ears, or tongue; hence human beings, even when silently making a wish or vow, do not doubt that the gods hear it. In the same way, human souls, either released in sleep and free of the body, or stirred to exaltation and moving freely and ardently on their own, perceive things they cannot see while mingled with the body.

130 “It may perhaps be difficult to extend this account of nature to the kind of divination we call artificial; nonetheless Posidonius investigates even this as far as he can. He thinks nature contains certain signs of future events. We have learned, for instance, that every year the people of Ceos carefully observe the rising of the Dog Star and infer, as Heraclides of Pontus writes, whether the year will be healthy or pestilential. If the star appears dim and, as it were, shrouded in mist, the atmosphere is thick and dense, so that its breath will be oppressive and pestilential. But if the star appears bright and clear, it signifies that the atmosphere is light and pure, and therefore healthy.

131 “Democritus, however, thinks the ancients wisely instituted the inspection of sacrificial victims' entrails: their condition and color reveal signs now of health, now of pestilence, and sometimes even of the future barrenness or fertility of the fields. If observation and experience recognized these signs arising from nature, time could have brought many more to be noticed and recorded. Thus the natural philosopher introduced in Pacuvius' Chryses seems to have understood very little of the nature of things:

‘[…] for those who understand the language of birds,And learn more from another's liver than their own,Should, I think, be heard rather than heeded.’

“Why, I ask, when a few lines later you yourself say quite clearly:

‘Whatever this is, it gives all things life and form, nourishes, increases, creates them,Buries and receives all things back into itself, and is the father of all;From that same source the same things rise anew, and there they also perish.’

“Why, then, if we all have one shared home, and if human souls have always existed and always will, should they not be able to discern what follows from each thing and what signifies each event? That,” he said, “is what I had to say about divination.”

129 “Nature supplies another line of argument. It shows how great the mind's power is when separated from the body's senses. This happens especially during sleep or in a state of mental excitement. The minds of the gods perceive what each other thinks without eyes, ears, or tongues. That is why people do not doubt that the gods hear them even when they make a wish or vow in silence. In the same way, human minds see things that minds mixed up with the body cannot see, when sleep releases them and frees them from the body, or when mental excitement lets them move freely, stirred into action on their own.

130 “It may be difficult to extend this explanation drawn from nature to artificial divination. Posidonius nevertheless investigates that connection to the best of his ability. In his view, the natural world provides signs of coming events. We are told that the people of Ceos carefully watch the rising of the Dog Star every year. As Heraclides of Pontus writes, they use it to judge whether the coming year will be healthy or full of disease. If the star appears rather dim and misty, the air is thick and dense, so that breathing it will be oppressive and cause disease. But if the star appears bright and clear, it means the air is thin and pure, and therefore healthy.

131 “Democritus thinks the ancients were wise to establish the practice of inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals. Their condition and color give signs of health or disease, and sometimes also of whether the fields will be barren or fertile. If observation and experience have recognized that these signs come from nature, time could have brought many more things to be observed and recorded. So the character whom Pacuvius presents as a natural philosopher in his Chryses seems to have understood very little about nature:

“‘[…] For those who understand the language of birdsAnd know more from another creature's liver than from their own—I think we should hear them, rather than listen to them.’

“Why, I ask? A few lines later you yourself say quite clearly:

“‘Whatever this is, it gives everything life, shape, nourishment, growth, and birth.It buries everything and takes it back into itself, and is also the father of all.From it the same things all arise afresh, and to it they return in death.’

“Why, then, if there is one home shared by everything, and human minds have always existed and always will, should those minds be unable to see what follows from each thing, and which signs point to which events? That,” he said, “is all I have to offer on divination.”