Book 2, Chapter 40
Original Latin
83 Haec quanta dissensio est! Quid? quod aliis avibus utuntur, aliis signis, aliter observant, alia respondent, non necesse est fateri partim horum errore susceptum esse, partim superstitione, multa fallendo?
Atque his superstitionibus non dubitasti etiam omina adiungere. Aemilia Paulo Persam perisse, quod pater omen accepit; Caecilia se sororis filiae sedes suas tradere. Iam illa: Favete linguis et praerogativam, omen comitiorum. Hoc est ipsum esse contra se copiosum et disertum. Quando enim ista observans quieto et libero animo esse poteris, ut ad rem gerendam non superstitionem habeas, sed rationem ducem? Itane? si quis aliquid ex sua re atque ex suo sermone dixerit et eius verbum aliquod apte ceciderit ad id, quod ages aut cogitabis, ea res tibi aut timorem adferet aut alacritatem?
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.
83 “What an immense disagreement! And when they use different birds and different signs, observe them differently and give different answers, must we not admit that some of these practices were adopted in error, some through superstition, and many through fraud?
“To these superstitions you did not hesitate to add spoken omens: Aemilia telling Paullus that Persa was dead, which her father accepted as an omen; Caecilia surrendering her seat to her sister’s daughter. Then those familiar instances: ‘Speak only favorable words,’ and the voting century chosen to vote first, the omen for the election. This is precisely what it means to plead eloquently and at length against yourself. When will you ever have a peaceful, unfettered mind if you attend to such things, taking superstition rather than reason as your guide to action? Really? If someone, speaking about his own affairs, happens to use a word that fits something you are doing or thinking about, is that to fill you with fear or lift your spirits?
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.
83 “What a huge disagreement! And they use different birds and different signs, observe them differently, and give different answers. Mustn't we admit that some of these practices arose from mistakes, some from superstition, and many from fraud?
“You did not hesitate to add spoken omens to these superstitions. Aemilia told Paullus that Persa was dead, and her father accepted that as an omen. Caecilia said she was handing her place over to her sister's daughter. Then there are ‘Keep a respectful silence’ and the first voting unit, the omen of the election. This is exactly what it means to speak fully and eloquently against yourself. If you watch for these things, when will your mind ever be peaceful and free? When will reason, not superstition, guide your actions? Really! Suppose someone says something about his own business in his own conversation. If one of his words happens to fit something you are doing or thinking, will that make you afraid or hopeful?
About this section
Book 2, Chapter 40 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 98 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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