Book 2, Chapter 11
Original Latin
26 Sed haec fuerit nobis tamquam levis armaturae prima orationis excursio; nunc comminus agamus experiamurque, si possimus cornua commovere disputationis tuae.
Duo enim genera divinandi esse dicebas, unum artificiosum, alterum naturale; artificiosum constare partim ex coniectura, partim ex observatione diuturna; naturale, quod animus arriperet aut exciperet extrinsecus ex divinitate, unde omnes animos haustos aut acceptos aut libatos haberemus. Artificiosa divinationis illa fere genera ponebas: extispicum eorumque, qui ex fulgoribus ostentisque praedicerent, tum augurum eorumque, qui signis aut ominibus uterentur, omneque genus coniecturale in hoc fere genere ponebas.
27 Illud autem naturale aut concitatione mentis edi et quasi fundi videbatur aut animo per somnum sensibus et curis vacuo provideri. Duxisti autem divinationem omnem a tribus rebus, a deo, a fato, a natura. Sed tamen cum explicare nihil posses, pugnasti commenticiorum exemplorum mirifica copia. De quo primum hoc libet dicere: Hoc ego philosophi non esse arbitror, testibus uti, qui aut casu veri aut malitia falsi fictique esse possunt; argumentis et rationibus oportet, quare quidque ita sit, docere, non eventis, iis praesertim, quibus mihi liceat non credere.
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.
26 “But let that serve as the first skirmish of my argument, a sortie by light-armed troops. Now let us come to close quarters and see whether we can shake the wings of your battle line.
“You said there were two kinds of divination, one artificial, the other natural. Artificial divination rested partly on conjecture, partly on long observation; natural divination was something the mind seized or received from outside, from the divine source out of which all our souls have been drawn, received, or poured. Among the artificial forms you placed chiefly the work of those who inspect entrails or predict from lightning and portents, then that of augurs and those who use signs or omens; broadly speaking, you placed every conjectural form in this class.
27 “Natural divination, on the other hand, seemed to you either to emerge and pour forth, as it were, from an excited mind, or to arise as foresight in a sleeping mind free of sensations and cares. You derived all divination from three sources: god, fate, and nature. Yet, unable to explain anything, you fought your case with an astonishing abundance of fabricated examples. My first comment on this is that I do not consider it a philosopher's business to rely on witnesses whose truth may be accidental or whose falsehood may be maliciously invented. Arguments and reasoning should establish why each thing is so, not reported events, especially events I am entitled not to believe.
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.
26 “Let that be the first skirmish of my argument, like an attack by light-armed troops. Now we must move in for hand-to-hand fighting and try to unsettle the flanks of your argument.
“You said there were two kinds of divination, one artificial and the other natural. Artificial divination depends partly on inference and partly on long observation. Natural divination is something the mind seizes or receives from outside, from the divine source from which all our minds have been drawn, received, or poured out. You put roughly these practices under artificial divination: reading internal organs; making predictions from lightning and portents; then the work of augurs and of people who use signs or omens. You put practically every kind of divination based on inference into this category.
27 “The natural kind, you thought, was either produced and, as it were, poured out through mental excitement, or involved the mind foreseeing things in sleep, when it is free from the senses and cares. You traced all divination to three sources: god, fate, and nature. Yet you could explain nothing, and fought your case with an astonishing supply of made-up examples. Here is the first thing I want to say about that. I do not think a philosopher should use witnesses whose statements might be true by chance or false and invented through dishonesty. He should show why each thing is so by arguments and reasoning, not by stories of events—especially stories I am free to disbelieve.
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 11 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 69 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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