Book 6 — Dream of Scipio
Original Latin
SECTION 9
SOMNIUM
Chapter 9
Chapter 1
Cum in Africam venissem M’. Manilio consuli ad quartam legionem tribunus, ut scitis, militum, nihil mihi fuit potius, quam ut Masinissam convenirem regem, familiae nostrae iustis de causis amicissimum. Ad quem ut veni, conplexus me senex conlacrimavit aliquantoque post suspexit ad caelum et: Grates, inquit, tibi ago, summe Sol, vobisque, reliqui Caelites, quod, ante quam ex hac vita migro, conspicio in meo regno et his tectis P. Cornelium Scipionem, cuius ego nomine ipso recreor; itaque numquam ex animo meo discedit illius optimi atque invictissimi viri memoria. Deinde ego illum de suo regno, ille me de nostra re publica percontatus est, multisque verbis ultro citroque habitis ille nobis consumptus est dies.
SECTION 10
Chapter 10
Post autem apparatu regio accepti sermonem in multam noctem produximus, cum senex nihil nisi de Africano loqueretur omniaque eius non facta solum, sed etiam dicta meminisset. Deinde, ut cubitum discessimus, me et de via fessum, et qui ad multam noctem vigilassem, artior quam solebat somnus complexus est. Hic mihi (credo equidem ex hoc, quod eramus locuti; fit enim fere, ut cogitationes sermonesque nostri pariant aliquid in somno tale, quale de Homero scribit Ennius, de quo videlicet saepissime vigilans solebat cogitare et loqui) Africanus se ostendit ea forma, quae mihi ex imagine eius quam ex ipso erat notior; quem ubi agnovi, equidem cohorrui, sed ille: Ades, inquit, animo et omitte timorem, Scipio, et, quae dicam, trade memoriae.
SECTION 11
Chapter 2
Chapter 11
Videsne illam urbem, quae parere populo Romano coacta per me renovat pristina bella nec potest quiescere? (ostendebat autem Karthaginem de excelso et pleno stellarum illustri et claro quodam loco) ad quam tu oppugnandam nunc venis paene miles. Hanc hoc biennio consul evertes, eritque cognomen id tibi per te partum, quod habes adhuc a nobis hereditarium. Cum autem Karthaginem deleveris, triumphum egeris censorque fueris et obieris legatus Aegyptum, Syriam, Asiam, Graeciam, deligere iterum consul absens bellumque maximum conficies, Numantiam excindes. Sed cum eris curru in Capitolium invectus, offendes rem publicam consiliis perturbatam nepotis mei.
SECTION 12
Chapter 12
Hic tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi, ingenii consiliique tui. Sed eius temporis ancipitem video quasi fatorum viam. Nam cum aetas tua septenos octiens solis anfractus reditusque converterit, duoque ii numeri, quorum uterque plenus alter altera de causa habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint, in te unum atque in tuum nomen se tota convertet civitas, te senatus, te omnes boni, te socii, te Latini intuebuntur, tu eris unus, in quo nitatur civitatis salus, ac, ne multa, dictator rem publicam constituas oportet, si impias propinquorum manus effugeris. Hic cum exclamasset Laelius ingemuissentque vehementius ceteri, leniter arridens Scipio: St! quaeso, inquit, ne me e somno excitetis, et parumper audite cetera.
SECTION 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 3
Sed quo sis, Africane, alacrior ad tutandam rem publicam, sic habeto: omnibus, qui patriam conservaverint, adiuverint, auxerint, certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur; nihil est enim illi principi deo, qui omnem mundum regit, quod quidem in terris fiat, acceptius quam concilia coetusque hominum iure sociati, quae civitates appellantur; harum rectores et conservatores hinc profecti huc revertuntur.
SECTION 14
Chapter 14
Hic ego, etsi eram perterritus non tam mortis metu quam insidiarum a meis, quaesivi tamen, viveretne ipse et Paulus pater et alii, quos nos extinctos arbitraremur. Immo vero, inquit, hi vivunt, qui e corporum vinculis tamquam e carcere evolaverunt, vestra vero, quae dicitur, vita mors est. Quin tu aspicis ad te venientem Paulum patrem? Quem ut vidi, equidem vim lacrimarum profudi, ille autem me complexus atque osculans flere prohibebat.
SECTION 15
Chapter 15
Atque ego ut primum fletu represso loqui posse coepi, Quaeso, inquam, pater sanctissime atque optime, quoniam haec est vita, ut Africanum audio dicere, quid moror in terris? quin huc ad vos venire propero? Non est ita, inquit ille. Nisi enim deus is, cuius hoc templum est omne, quod conspicis, istis te corporis custodiis liberaverit, huc tibi aditus patere non potest. Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum, quem in hoc templo medium vides, quae terra dicitur, iisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus, quae sidera et stellas vocatis, quae globosae et rotundae, divinis animatae mentibus, circulos suos orbesque conficiunt celeritate mirabili. Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus retinendus animus est in custodia corporis nec iniussu eius, a quo ille est vobis datus, ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus humanum adsignatum a deo defugisse videamini.
SECTION 16
Chapter 16
Sed sic, Scipio, ut avus hic tuus, ut ego, qui te genui, iustitiam cole et pietatem, quae cum magna in parentibus et propinquis, tum in patria maxima est; ea vita via est in caelum et in hunc coetum eorum, qui iam vixerunt et corpore laxati illum incolunt locum, quem vides, (erat autem is splendidissimo candore inter flammas circus elucens) quem vos, ut a Graiis accepistis, orbem lacteum nuncupatis; ex quo omnia mihi contemplanti praeclara cetera et mirabilia videbantur. Erant autem eae stellae, quas numquam ex hoc loco vidimus, et eae magnitudines omnium, quas esse numquam suspicati sumus, ex quibus erat ea minima, quae ultima a caelo, citima ⟨a⟩ terris luce lucebat aliena. Stellarum autem globi terrae magnitudinem facile vincebant. Iam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est, ut me imperii nostri, quo quasi punctum eius attingimus, paeniteret.
SECTION 17
Chapter 17
Chapter 4
Quam cum magis intuerer, Quaeso, inquit Africanus, quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris? Novem tibi orbibus vel potius globis conexa sunt omnia, quorum unus est caelestis, extumus, qui reliquos omnes complectitur, summus ipse deus arcens et continens ceteros; in quo sunt infixi illi, qui volvuntur, stellarum cursus sempiterni; cui subiecti sunt septem, qui versantur retro contrario motu atque caelum; ex quibus unum globum possidet illa, quam in terris Saturniam nominant. Deinde est hominum generi prosperus et salutaris ille fulgor, qui dicitur Iovis; tum rutilus horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis; deinde subter mediam fere regionem sol obtinet, dux et princeps et moderator luminum reliquorum, mens mundi et temperatio, tanta magnitudine, ut cuncta sua luce lustret et compleat. Hunc ut comites consequuntur Veneris alter, alter Mercurii cursus, in infimoque orbe luna radiis solis accensa convertitur. Infra autem iam nihil est nisi mortale et caducum praeter animos munere deorum hominum generi datos, supra lunam sunt aeterna omnia. Nam ea, quae est media et nona, tellus, neque movetur et infima est, et in eam feruntur omnia nutu suo pondera.
SECTION 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 5
Quae cum intuerer stupens, ut me recepi, Quid? hic, inquam, quis est, qui conplet aures meas tantus et tam dulcis sonus? Hic est, inquit, ille, qui intervallis disiunctus inparibus, sed tamen pro rata parte ratione distinctis inpulsu et motu ipsorum orbium efficitur et acuta cum gravibus temperans varios aequabiliter concentus efficit; nec enim silentio tanti motus incitari possunt, et natura fert, ut extrema ex altera parte graviter, ex altera autem acute sonent. Quam ob causam summus ille caeli stellifer cursus, cuius conversio est concitatior, acuto et excitato movetur sono, gravissimo autem hic lunaris atque infimus; nam terra nona inmobilis manens una sede semper haeret complexa medium mundi locum. Illi autem octo cursus, in quibus eadem vis est duorum, septem efficiunt distinctos intervallis sonos, qui numerus rerum omnium fere nodus est; quod docti homines nervis imitati atque cantibus aperuerunt sibi reditum in hunc locum, sicut alii, qui praestantibus ingeniis in vita humana divina studia coluerunt.
SECTION 19
Hoc sonitu oppletae aures hominum obsurduerunt; nec est ullus hebetior sensus in vobis, sicut, ubi Nilus ad illa, quae Catadupa nominantur, praecipitat ex altissimis montibus, ea gens, quae illum locum adcolit, propter magnitudinem sonitus sensu audiendi caret. Hic vero tantus est totius mundi incitatissima conversione sonitus, ut eum aures hominum capere non possint, sicut intueri solem adversum nequitis, eiusque radiis acies vestra sensusque vincitur. Haec ego admirans referebam tamen oculos ad terram identidem.
SECTION 20
Chapter 19
Chapter 6
Tum Africanus: Sentio, inquit, te sedem etiam nunc hominum ac domum contemplari; quae si tibi parva, ut est, ita videtur, haec caelestia semper spectato, illa humana contemnito. Tu enim quam celebritatem sermonis hominum aut quam expetendam consequi gloriam potes? Vides habitari in terra raris et angustis in locis et in ipsis quasi maculis, ubi habitatur, vastas solitudines interiectas, eosque, qui incolunt terram, non modo interruptos ita esse, ut nihil inter ipsos ab aliis ad alios manare possit, sed partim obliquos, partim transversos, partim etiam adversos stare vobis; a quibus expectare gloriam certe nullam potestis.
SECTION 21
Chapter 20
Cernis autem eandem terram quasi quibusdam redimitam et circumdatam cingulis, e quibus duos maxime inter se diversos et caeli verticibus ipsis ex utraque parte subnixos obriguisse pruina vides, medium autem illum et maximum solis ardore torreri. Duo sunt habitabiles, quorum australis ille, in quo qui insistunt, adversa vobis urgent vestigia, nihil ad vestrum genus; hic autem alter subiectus aquiloni, quem incolitis, cerne quam tenui vos parte contingat. Omnis enim terra, quae colitur a vobis, angustata verticibus, lateribus latior, parva quaedam insula est circumfusa illo mari, quod Atlanticum, quod magnum, quem Oceanum appellatis in terris, qui tamen tanto nomine quam sit parvus, vides.
SECTION 22
Ex his ipsis cultis notisque terris num aut tuum aut cuiusquam nostrum nomen vel Caucasum hunc, quem cernis, transcendere potuit vel illum Gangen tranatare? Quis in reliquis orientis aut obeuntis solis ultimis aut aquilonis austrive partibus tuum nomen audiet? quibus amputatis cernis profecto quantis in angustiis vestra se gloria dilatari velit. Ipsi autem, qui de nobis loquuntur, quam loquentur diu?
SECTION 23
Chapter 21
Chapter 7
Quin etiam si cupiat proles illa futurorum hominum deinceps laudes unius cuiusque nostrum a patribus acceptas posteris prodere, tamen propter eluviones exustionesque terrarum, quas accidere tempore certo necesse est, non modo {non} aeternam, sed ne diuturnam quidem gloriam adsequi possumus. Quid autem interest ab iis, qui postea nascentur, sermonem fore de te, cum ab iis nullus fuerit, qui ante nati sunt?
SECTION 24
Chapter 22
qui nec pauciores et certe meliores fuerunt viri, praesertim cum apud eos ipsos, a quibus audiri nomen nostrum potest, nemo unius anni memoriam consequi possit. Homines enim populariter annum tantum modo solis, id est unius astri, reditu metiuntur; cum autem ad idem, unde semel profecta sunt, cuncta astra redierint eandemque totius caeli discriptionem longis intervallis rettulerint, tum ille vere vertens annus appellari potest; in quo vix dicere audeo quam multa hominum saecula teneantur. Namque ut olim deficere sol hominibus exstinguique visus est, cum Romuli animus haec ipsa in templa penetravit, quandoque ab eadem parte sol eodemque tempore iterum defecerit, tum signis omnibus ad principium stellisque revocatis expletum annum habeto; cuius quidem anni nondum vicesimam partem scito esse conversam.
SECTION 25
Chapter 23
Quocirca si reditum in hunc locum desperaveris, in quo omnia sunt magnis et praestantibus viris, quanti tandem est ista hominum gloria, quae pertinere vix ad unius anni partem exiguam potest? Igitur alte spectare si voles atque hanc sedem et aeternam domum contueri, neque te sermonibus vulgi dedideris nec in praemiis humanis spem posueris rerum tuarum; suis te oportet inlecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad verum decus, quid de te alii loquantur, ipsi videant, sed loquentur tamen. Sermo autem omnis ille et angustiis cingitur iis regionum, quas vides, nec umquam de ullo perennis fuit et obruitur hominum interitu et oblivione posteritatis extinguitur.
SECTION 26
Chapter 24
Chapter 8
Quae cum dixisset, Ego vero, inquam, Africane, siquidem bene meritis de patria quasi limes ad caeli aditum patet, quamquam a pueritia vestigiis ingressus patris et tuis decori vestro non defui, nunc tamen tanto praemio exposito enitar multo vigilantius. Et ille: Tu vero enitere et sic habeto, non esse te mortalem, sed corpus hoc; nec enim tu is es, quem forma ista declarat, sed mens cuiusque is est quisque, non ea figura, quae digito demonstrari potest. Deum te igitur scito esse, siquidem est deus, qui viget, qui sentit, qui meminit, qui providet, qui tam regit et moderatur et movet id corpus, cui praepositus est, quam hunc mundum ille princeps deus; et ut mundum ex quadam parte mortalem ipse deus aeternus, sic fragile corpus animus sempiternus movet.
SECTION 27
Chapter 25
Nam quod semper movetur, aeternum est; quod autem motum adfert alicui, quodque ipsum agitatur aliunde, quando finem habet motus, vivendi finem habeat necesse est. Solum igitur, quod sese movet, quia numquam deseritur a se, numquam ne moveri quidem desinit; quin etiam ceteris, quae moventur, hic fons, hoc principium est movendi. Principii autem nulla est origo; nam ex principio oriuntur omnia, ipsum autem nulla ex re alia nasci potest; nec enim esset id principium, quod gigneretur aliunde; quodsi numquam oritur, ne occidit quidem umquam. Nam principium exstinctum nec ipsum ab alio renascetur nec ex se aliud creabit, siquidem necesse est a principio oriri omnia. Ita fit, ut motus principium ex eo sit, quod ipsum a se movetur; id autem nec nasci potest nec mori; vel concidat omne caelum omnisque natura et consistat necesse est nec vim ullam nanciscatur, qua a primo inpulsa moveatur.
SECTION 28
Chapter 26
Chapter 9
Cum pateat igitur aeternum id esse, quod a se ipso moveatur, quis est, qui hanc naturam animis esse tributam neget? Inanimum est enim omne, quod pulsu agitatur externo; quod autem est animal, id motu cietur interiore et suo; nam haec est propria natura animi atque vis; quae si est una ex omnibus, quae sese moveat, neque nata certe est et aeterna est.
SECTION 29
Hanc tu exerce optimis in rebus! sunt autem optimae curae de salute patriae, quibus agitatus et exercitatus animus velocius in hanc sedem et domum suam pervolabit; idque ocius faciet, si iam tum, cum erit inclusus in corpore, eminebit foras et ea, quae extra erunt, contemplans quam maxime se a corpore abstrahet. Namque eorum animi, qui se corporis voluptatibus dediderunt earumque se quasi ministros praebuerunt inpulsuque libidinum voluptatibus oboedientium deorum et hominum iura violaverunt, corporibus elapsi circum terram ipsam volutantur nec hunc in locum nisi multis exagitati saeculis revertuntur. Ille discessit; ego somno solutus sum.
Musean translation
All surviving text in Mueller’s 1889 edition, including the Dream of Scipio and fragments. Machine-assisted Musean translation directly from Latin, independently of Plain English, with Latin-source model review. […] marks loss; † marks a corrupt reading. In the Original, braces mark deleted words, which are not translated. Unidentified letter remnants remain in the Original.
SECTION 9
Dream
Chapter 9
Chapter 1
When I came to Africa, as you know, as military tribune of the fourth legion under the consul Manius Manilius, nothing mattered more to me than to meet King Masinissa, for good reasons the closest friend of our family. When I reached him, the old man embraced me and wept. A considerable time later he looked up to heaven and said, “I thank you, supreme Sun, and you, the other gods of heaven, that before I depart this life I behold in my kingdom and under this roof Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose very name refreshes me. Thus the memory of that excellent and utterly unconquerable man never leaves my mind.” Then I questioned him about his kingdom, and he questioned me about our commonwealth; and with much talk back and forth we spent that day.
SECTION 10
Chapter 10
Afterward, entertained with royal splendor, we prolonged our conversation far into the night. The old man spoke of nothing but Africanus, remembering not only all his deeds but also his sayings. Then, when we parted to go to bed, a sleep deeper than usual enfolded me, weary as I was from the journey and from staying awake so far into the night. Here Africanus appeared to me—I believe as a result of our conversation, for our thoughts and talk commonly bring forth something in sleep like what Ennius writes about Homer, of whom he evidently used very often to think and speak while awake. Africanus had the appearance I knew better from his portrait than from the man himself. When I recognized him, I shuddered; but he said, “Take heart, Scipio, put away your fear, and commit what I shall say to memory.”
SECTION 11
Chapter 2
Chapter 11
“Do you see that city which, though compelled by me to obey the Roman people, renews its ancient wars and cannot rest?” He was pointing out Carthage from a lofty place, bright and radiant and full of stars. “You now come to besiege it, little more than a common soldier. Within these two years you will destroy it as consul, and earn for yourself the surname you have so far inherited from us. When you have destroyed Carthage, celebrated a triumph, served as censor, and traveled as envoy through Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you will be elected consul again in your absence and bring a very great war to an end: you will raze Numantia. But when you have ridden in your chariot to the Capitol, you will find the commonwealth thrown into turmoil by my grandson’s schemes.
SECTION 12
Chapter 12
“Here, Africanus, you will have to reveal to your country the light of your spirit, talent, and judgment. But at that time I see, as it were, a branching road of fate. For when your age has completed eight times seven circuits and returns of the sun, and these two numbers, each held to be complete for a different reason, have by their natural revolution made up the sum fated for you, the whole state will turn to you alone and to your name. The senate, all good men, the allies, the Latins will look to you; you alone will be the support on which the state’s safety rests. In short, you must set the commonwealth in order as dictator, if you escape the impious hands of your relatives.” Here Laelius cried out and the others groaned deeply, but Scipio smiled gently and said, “Hush, please! Do not wake me from my dream; listen a little longer to the rest.”
SECTION 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 3
“But to make you more eager, Africanus, to defend the commonwealth, know this: for all who have preserved, aided, or enlarged their country, a certain place is set apart in heaven, where in blessedness they may enjoy everlasting life. For nothing done on earth is more welcome to that supreme god who rules the whole universe than the assemblies and gatherings of men joined in a fellowship of law, which are called states. Their rulers and preservers set out from here, and here return.”
SECTION 14
Chapter 14
Then, although I was terrified, not so much by fear of death as of treachery from my own people, I nevertheless asked whether he himself was alive, and my father Paulus, and the others we considered dead. “Indeed,” he said, “those are alive who have flown out of the bonds of the body as from a prison; but what you call your life is death. Look—do you not see your father Paulus coming toward you?” When I saw him, I poured out a flood of tears, but he embraced and kissed me and told me not to weep.
SECTION 15
Chapter 15
As soon as I had checked my tears and could begin to speak, I said, “Tell me, most revered and best of fathers, since this is life, as I hear Africanus say, why do I linger on earth? Why do I not hurry here to you?” “That is not permitted,” he said. “Unless the god to whom this whole temple you behold belongs has freed you from the body’s imprisonment, the way here cannot lie open to you. For human beings were born under this law: to guard that globe you see in the middle of this temple, which is called the earth. A soul has been given them from those everlasting fires which you call constellations and stars, which, spherical and round, animated by divine minds, complete their circles and orbits with marvelous speed. Therefore you, Publius, and all who are dutiful must keep your souls in the body’s custody. You must not depart human life without the command of him who gave you your soul, lest you seem to have deserted the human duty assigned by God.
SECTION 16
Chapter 16
“But as your grandfather here did, Scipio, and as I who fathered you did, cultivate justice and devotion: great toward parents and relatives, greatest toward one’s country. Such a life is the road to heaven and to this company of those who have finished living and, released from the body, inhabit the place you see”—it was a circle shining among the fires with the most dazzling whiteness—“which, following the Greeks, you call the Milky Way.” From there, as I surveyed everything, all the other sights seemed splendid and marvelous. There were stars we have never seen from here, and all of them were of sizes we had never suspected. The smallest was that one which, farthest from heaven and nearest the earth, shone with borrowed light. The globes of the stars easily surpassed the earth in size. Indeed, the earth itself seemed so small to me that I felt ashamed of our empire, with which we touch scarcely a point of it.
SECTION 17
Chapter 17
Chapter 4
As I gazed at it more intently, Africanus said, “Tell me, how long will your mind remain fixed on the ground? Do you not see what temples you have entered? Everything is joined together in nine circles, or rather spheres. One is the heavenly sphere, the outermost, which embraces all the others: it is itself the supreme god, enclosing and containing the rest. In it are fixed the eternal, revolving courses of the stars. Beneath it are seven spheres turning backward, in a motion opposite to the heavens. One of these belongs to the star which on earth they call Saturn. Next comes that radiance, favorable and beneficent to the human race, which is called Jupiter. Then comes the red star, terrible to the earth, which you call Mars. Below, the sun holds almost the middle region, leader, chief, and governor of the other lights, the mind and ordering principle of the universe, so vast that it illuminates and fills everything with its light. The courses of Venus and Mercury follow it like companions, and in the lowest sphere the moon revolves, lit by the sun’s rays. Below it nothing remains that is not mortal and perishable, except the souls given to the human race by the gift of the gods. Above the moon everything is eternal. For the earth, the ninth sphere at the center, does not move and lies lowest, and all heavy bodies are borne toward it by their own inclination.”
SECTION 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 5
I gazed at these things in wonder; then, coming to myself, I said, “What is this? What is this vast and lovely sound that fills my ears?” “This,” he said, “is the sound produced by the impulse and movement of the spheres themselves, divided by intervals unequal yet distinguished in due proportion; by blending high with low, it creates varied harmonies in even measure. Such great motions cannot be driven on in silence, and nature requires that the extremes at one end sound low, and at the other high. For this reason the highest, star-bearing course of heaven, whose revolution is swifter, moves with a high and piercing sound, while this lowest course, the moon’s, has the deepest sound. The earth, the ninth, remains motionless, always fixed in one place, occupying the center of the universe. Those eight courses, of which two have the same pitch, produce seven sounds separated by intervals; that number is the binding knot of almost everything. Learned men, by imitating this with strings and singing, have opened for themselves a return to this place, as have others who, with outstanding gifts, pursued divine studies in their human lives.
SECTION 19
“Filled with this sound, human ears have grown deaf; and no sense in you is duller. So too, where the Nile plunges from the highest mountains at the falls called Catadupa, the people living there have lost their hearing because of the tremendous sound. But this sound, arising from the immensely swift revolution of the entire universe, is so great that human ears cannot take it in, just as you cannot look straight at the sun: its rays overpower your sight and your perception.” Yet while I marveled at these things, I kept turning my eyes back to the earth.
SECTION 20
Chapter 19
Chapter 6
Then Africanus said, “I see that even now you are gazing at the dwelling and home of humankind. If it seems small to you, as indeed it is, look always at these heavenly things and look down upon those human affairs. For what renown in the talk of men, what glory worth seeking, can you attain? You see that the earth is inhabited only in scattered, narrow places, and that even among these inhabited patches, as it were, vast wildernesses lie between. Those who inhabit the earth are not only cut off so that nothing can pass from one group to another: some stand at a slant to you, some at right angles, and some even opposite you. From these you can certainly expect no glory.
SECTION 21
Chapter 20
“You see, moreover, that this same earth is wreathed and encircled, as it were, by belts. Two of them, farthest apart and resting beneath the very poles of heaven on either side, you see stiffened with frost, while the middle and largest is scorched by the sun’s heat. Two are habitable. The southern one, whose inhabitants press their footprints opposite yours, has no connection with your race. As for this other one, lying beneath the north wind, which you inhabit, see how slender a part of it belongs to you. For all the land you dwell in, narrowed at its ends and broader at its sides, is a small island surrounded by the sea which on earth you call the Atlantic, the great sea, the Ocean. Yet you see how small it is, for all its great name.
SECTION 22
“Even from these very lands, cultivated and known, has your name or that of any of us been able to cross this Caucasus you see, or swim across that Ganges? Who in the remaining farthest regions of the rising or setting sun, of the north or south, will hear your name? With these cut off, you surely see within what narrow confines your glory seeks to spread. And those very people who speak of us—how long will they speak?
SECTION 23
Chapter 21
Chapter 7
“Indeed, even if that succession of future generations should wish to hand down to posterity the praises of each of us as received from their fathers, still, because of the floods and conflagrations across the lands that must occur at appointed times, we cannot attain eternal glory, nor even glory that lasts for long. What difference does it make that those born afterward will speak of you, when those born before you never did,
SECTION 24
Chapter 22
who were no fewer and certainly better men, especially when even among those who can hear our name, no one can attain remembrance lasting a single year? For people commonly measure a year merely by the return of the sun, that is, of one star. But when all the stars have returned to the same place from which they once set out, and after long intervals have restored the same arrangement of the entire sky, then that may truly be called a revolving year. I scarcely dare say how many generations of humankind it contains. For just as once the sun seemed to men to fail and be extinguished when the soul of Romulus entered these very temples, so whenever the sun is eclipsed again in the same quarter and at the same season, then, with all the constellations and stars brought back to their starting point, you may reckon the year complete. Know that not even a twentieth part of that year has yet revolved.
SECTION 25
Chapter 23
“Therefore, if you have despaired of returning to this place, where all things await great and outstanding men, what, after all, is that human glory worth, when it can scarcely extend through a tiny part of a single year? So if you wish to look on high and contemplate this dwelling, this eternal home, you must neither surrender yourself to the multitude’s talk nor place the hopes of your achievements in human rewards. Virtue herself must draw you by her own allurements toward true honor. What others say of you is their concern; yet they will speak. But all such talk is bounded by the narrow limits of the regions you see. It has never been everlasting for anyone; it is buried by the death of men and extinguished by the forgetfulness of posterity.”
SECTION 26
Chapter 24
Chapter 8
When he had said this, I said, “Indeed, Africanus, if a path to the entrance of heaven lies open to those who have served their country well, then, although from boyhood I have followed in my father’s footsteps and yours and have not failed your honor, now, with so great a reward set before me, I shall strive far more watchfully.” And he said, “Strive indeed, and know this: it is not you who are mortal, but this body. For you are not the being your outward form reveals; each person’s mind is his true self, not that figure which can be pointed out with a finger. Know, then, that you are a god, if a god is that which lives, feels, remembers, foresees, and rules, governs, and moves the body over which it is set, just as that supreme god rules this universe. And as the eternal god himself moves the universe, which is mortal in some part, so an everlasting soul moves a frail body.
SECTION 27
Chapter 25
“For what is always in motion is eternal; but what imparts motion to something else and is itself moved from elsewhere must necessarily come to the end of life when its motion ends. Only what moves itself, therefore, since it never abandons itself, never ceases even to move; indeed, it is the source and first principle of motion for all other things that move. A first principle has no origin: everything arises from a first principle, but it cannot itself be born from anything else, for it would not be a first principle if it were generated from elsewhere. And if it never comes into being, neither does it ever perish. For a first principle once extinguished will neither itself be reborn from another nor create another thing from itself, since everything must arise from a first principle. Thus the first principle of motion lies in what moves itself; and this can neither be born nor die. Otherwise the whole heaven and all nature must collapse and stand still, with no power to set them in motion by a first impulse.
SECTION 28
Chapter 26
Chapter 9
“Since it is plain, then, that what moves itself is eternal, who can deny that this nature has been bestowed upon souls? Everything driven by an external impulse is without soul; but what is alive is stirred by an inward motion of its own, for this is the soul’s distinctive nature and power. If it alone of all things moves itself, it certainly has not been born, and is eternal.
SECTION 29
“Exercise this power in the noblest pursuits! The noblest concerns are those for your country’s safety. A soul stirred and exercised by these will fly more swiftly to this dwelling, its own home. It will do so sooner still if, even while enclosed in the body, it reaches outward and, contemplating what lies beyond, draws itself away from the body as much as possible. For the souls of those who have surrendered themselves to bodily pleasures, made themselves their servants, as it were, and, driven by desires obedient to pleasure, violated the laws of gods and men, wheel about the earth itself after slipping from their bodies; nor do they return to this place until they have been tossed about for many ages.” He departed; I awoke from sleep.
Plain English translation
All surviving text in Mueller’s 1889 edition, including the Dream of Scipio and fragments. Machine-assisted Plain English directly from Latin, not from Musean or a historical English edition, with Latin-source model review. […] marks loss; † marks a corrupt reading. In the Original, braces mark deleted words, which are not translated. Unidentified letter remnants remain in the Original.
SECTION 9
Dream
Chapter 9
Chapter 1
“When I came to Africa as a military tribune in the fourth legion under the consul Manius Manilius, as you know, nothing mattered more to me than meeting King Masinissa. With good reason, he was a very close friend of our family. When I came to him, the old man embraced me and wept. After a while he looked up at the sky and said, ‘I thank you, supreme Sun, and you other heavenly beings, because before I leave this life I see Publius Cornelius Scipio in my kingdom and under this roof. His very name gives me new life. The memory of that best and most invincible of men never leaves my mind.’ Then I asked him about his kingdom, and he asked me about our republic. We spent the rest of the day in a long exchange of conversation.”
SECTION 10
Chapter 10
Afterward, we were entertained in royal style and talked late into the night. The old man talked about nothing but Africanus. He remembered everything Africanus had done, and everything he'd said. Then we went off to bed. I was tired from traveling and had stayed awake late into the night. Sleep took hold of me more deeply than usual. Then Africanus appeared to me. I think this came from our conversation. Our thoughts and conversations often produce something similar in our sleep. Ennius writes of such a dream about Homer. Clearly, he'd very often thought and talked about Homer while awake. Africanus's appearance was more familiar to me from his portrait than from the man himself. When I recognized him, I shuddered. But he said, “Be brave, Scipio, and stop being afraid. Remember what I'm going to say.”
SECTION 11
Chapter 2
Chapter 11
“‘Do you see that city? I forced it to obey the Roman people, but it is renewing its old wars and cannot keep quiet.’ He was pointing out Carthage from a high place full of stars, bright and clear. ‘You are now coming to attack it as almost an ordinary soldier. Within these two years, you will destroy it as consul. Then you will earn for yourself the name you so far have inherited from us. After destroying Carthage, celebrating a triumph, serving as censor, and visiting Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece as an envoy, you will be elected consul again in your absence. You will finish a very great war and wipe out Numantia. But when you have ridden in your chariot up to the Capitol, you will find the republic thrown into disorder by the plans of my grandson.’”
SECTION 12
Chapter 12
“At that point, Africanus, you must show your country the light of your courage, talent, and judgment. But I see fate's road branching in two at that time. Your life will complete eight times seven turns and returns of the sun. Each of these two numbers is considered perfect, for different reasons. Together, through nature's cycle, they'll reach the total fate has set for you. Then the whole state will turn to you alone and to your name. The senate will look to you. All good men will look to you. The allies will look to you. The Latins will look to you. You alone will be the person the state's safety rests on. In short, you must put the state in order as dictator—if you escape your relatives' wicked hands.” At this, Laelius cried out, and the others groaned loudly. Scipio smiled gently and said, “Shh! Please don't wake me from my dream. Listen a little longer to the rest.”
SECTION 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 3
“But to make you more eager to protect the state, Africanus, know this. Everyone who has saved, helped, or enlarged their country has a fixed place set aside in heaven. There they enjoy happiness forever. Nothing done on earth pleases the supreme god who rules the whole universe more than human gatherings joined together by law. These are what we call states. Their rulers and protectors came from here and return here.”
SECTION 14
Chapter 14
“At this, although I was terrified—not so much by fear of death as by the thought of a plot by my own relatives—I still asked whether he himself, my father Paulus, and the others we thought dead were alive. ‘Certainly,’ he said. ‘Those who have flown out of the bonds of their bodies, as if from a prison, are the ones who are alive. What you call life is really death. Look! Don’t you see your father Paulus coming toward you?’ When I saw him, I burst into tears. But he embraced and kissed me, and told me not to cry.”
SECTION 15
Chapter 15
As soon as I held back my tears and could speak, I said, “Please, my father, so holy and so good, since this is life, as I hear Africanus say, why stay on earth? Why don't I hurry to join you here?” “That's not how it works,” he said. “The god who owns this whole temple you see must release you from your body's prison. Until then, you can't enter here. People were born with this duty: to guard that globe. You see it in the middle of this temple; it's called earth. Their souls came from those everlasting fires you call constellations and stars. Round and spherical, these fires have divine minds within them. They complete their circles and orbits at an amazing speed. So you, Publius, and all dutiful people must keep your souls imprisoned in your bodies. You mustn't leave human life without permission from the one who gave you your souls. Otherwise, you may seem to have deserted the human task the god assigned you.”
SECTION 16
Chapter 16
“But, Scipio, like your grandfather here, and like me, your father, practice justice and devotion. You owe great devotion to your parents and relatives, but the greatest to your country. That way of life is the road to heaven and to this gathering of those who've already lived their lives. Freed from their bodies, they live in that place you see”—it was a circle shining with dazzling whiteness among the flames—“which you call the Milky Way, a name you took from the Greeks.” As I looked out from there, everything else seemed splendid and wonderful. There were stars we've never seen from down here, and all the heavenly bodies were of sizes we'd never imagined. The smallest of them was the one farthest from heaven and closest to earth, shining with borrowed light. The globes of the stars were easily bigger than the earth. The earth itself now looked so small to me that I felt disappointed in our empire, which covers what amounts to a pinpoint on it.
SECTION 17
Chapter 17
Chapter 4
As I looked at it more closely, Africanus said, “Tell me, how long will your mind stay fixed on the ground? Don't you see what temples you've entered? Everything is joined together in nine rings, or rather spheres. One is the outermost sphere, the heavens, which encloses all the rest. It is the supreme god himself, restraining and containing the others. Fixed in it are the stars' endless circling paths. Beneath it are seven spheres, turning backward, opposite to the heavens. One of these spheres belongs to the star people on earth call Saturn. Next is the bright light called Jupiter, which brings people help and good fortune. Then comes the red one you call Mars, which terrifies the earth. Below that, the sun occupies roughly the middle region. It leads, rules, and directs all the other lights. It is the world's mind and keeps it in balance. It is so large that its light illuminates and fills everything. The paths of Venus and Mercury follow it like companions. The moon circles in the lowest sphere, lit by the sun's rays. Below it, everything dies and passes away, except the souls the gods gave to the human race. Everything above the moon lasts forever. Earth is the ninth sphere, at the center and lowest of all. It doesn't move. All heavy things fall toward it under their own weight.”
SECTION 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 5
I stared at all this in amazement. When I recovered, I said, “What's this? What is this loud, sweet sound that fills my ears?” He said, “The push and movement of these very spheres produce it. The intervals between its notes are unequal, but fixed in exact proportion. It blends high notes with low ones to produce varied, balanced harmonies. Such great movements can't take place in silence. By nature, one extreme produces low sounds, the other high ones. So the highest, star-filled sphere of heaven spins faster and makes a high, piercing sound. This lowest sphere, the moon's, makes the deepest sound. Earth is the ninth, always still in one position, occupying the universe's center. Those eight moving spheres produce seven sounds, each separated by an interval. Two of the spheres have the same pitch. This number ties almost everything together. Learned people copied this music with strings and singing. In doing so, they opened a path back here for themselves. Others did the same by using their outstanding minds to pursue divine studies during human life.”
SECTION 19
“People's ears have been filled with this sound and have grown deaf to it. No sense of yours is duller. It's like the people who live where the Nile plunges from very high mountains at the places called Catadupa: the sheer volume of the sound leaves them unable to hear. The sound here, made by the extremely rapid turning of the whole universe, is so loud that human ears can't take it in. In the same way, you can't look straight at the sun: its rays overwhelm your eyesight and your power to see.” Though I was amazed by all this, I still kept turning my eyes back toward the earth.
SECTION 20
Chapter 19
Chapter 6
Then Africanus said, “I can see you're still looking at humanity's home and dwelling place. If it looks small to you, as it really is, always look at these things in heaven and look down on human affairs. How widely can people ever talk about you? What fame can you gain that's worth wanting? You see that people live only in a few small, widely scattered places on earth. Even within those inhabited patches, huge empty stretches lie between them. The people living on earth aren't just cut off from one another so that nothing can pass from one group to another. Some also stand at an angle to you, some crosswise to you, and some even directly opposite you. You certainly can't expect any fame from them.
SECTION 21
Chapter 20
“You can also see that same earth ringed and surrounded by what look like bands. You see that two of them, the farthest apart from one another and lying right under the sky’s poles, one on either side, are frozen stiff with frost. But the largest band, in the middle, is scorched by the sun’s heat. Two bands can be lived in. The southern one, where people stand with their feet facing yours, has nothing to do with your part of the human race. As for this other one, which lies under the north wind and which you live in, look how small a part of it you occupy. All the land you live on, narrow at its tips and wider at its sides, is just a small island surrounded by that sea which you on earth call the Atlantic, which you call the Great Sea, which you call Ocean. Yet you can see how small it is, despite its great name.
SECTION 22
“‘Even from these inhabited and familiar lands, could your name or the name of any of us cross these Caucasus mountains you see, or swim across that Ganges? Who will hear your name in the other distant regions of sunrise or sunset, of north or south? Once these places are cut out, you can certainly see how cramped the space is in which your glory wants to spread. And those who do talk about us—how long will they talk?’”
SECTION 23
Chapter 21
Chapter 7
“‘Even if that succession of future generations wanted to pass on to their descendants the praises of each of us that they had received from their fathers, floods and burnings of lands must occur at fixed times. Because of these, we cannot achieve glory that is even long-lasting, much less eternal. Besides, what difference does it make that people born later will talk about you, when people born earlier never did,
SECTION 24
Chapter 22
who were no fewer and certainly better men, especially since no one can be remembered for one year, even by those who can hear our name? People commonly measure a year only by the return of the sun, that is, of a single star. But when all the stars have returned to the place they once set out from and, after long intervals, have restored the same arrangement of the whole sky, then that can truly be called the revolving year. I hardly dare say how many human generations that year contains. For just as the sun once seemed to people to fail and go out when Romulus's soul entered these very regions of the sky, so, when the sun is eclipsed again in the same part of the sky at the same time, count the year as complete, with all the constellations and stars returned to their starting point. You should know that not yet a twentieth of that year has turned.”
SECTION 25
Chapter 23
“So if you’ve given up hope of returning to this place, where great and outstanding men have everything, what, after all, is that fame among people worth? It can barely last for a tiny part of a single year. So if you want to look high up and keep your eyes on this resting place and eternal home, don’t give yourself over to what the crowd says or pin your hopes for what you do on human rewards. Goodness itself must draw you toward true honor through its own appeal. What other people say about you is their concern. Still, they will talk. But all that talk is confined within the narrow boundaries of the lands you see. It has never lasted forever for anyone. It’s buried when people die and wiped out when later generations forget.”
SECTION 26
Chapter 24
Chapter 8
When he’d said this, I said, “Yes, Africanus. Since a kind of path to heaven’s entrance lies open to those who’ve served their country well, even though I’ve followed in my father’s footsteps and yours since childhood and haven’t fallen short of the honor you’ve earned, now that such a great reward has been set before me, I’ll work with much greater care.” And he said: “Yes, keep working. And understand this: you’re not mortal; this body is. You aren’t the person that outward shape presents. Each person is their mind, not the shape you can point to with a finger. So know that you’re a god, if a god is a being that lives, that feels, that remembers, that looks ahead, that rules and guides and moves the body it’s in charge of, just as the supreme god rules and guides and moves this universe. And just as the eternal god moves a universe that’s partly mortal, so the everlasting soul moves a frail body.
SECTION 27
Chapter 25
“‘For what is always moving is eternal. But something that gives movement to another thing, and is itself moved by something else, must stop living when its movement ends. Only what moves itself never stops moving, because it never abandons itself. In fact, it is also the source and starting point of movement for everything else that moves. A starting point has no origin. Everything arises from a starting point, but it cannot itself be born from anything else. If it were produced from something else, it would not be a starting point. And if it is never born, it never dies either. If a starting point were destroyed, it could not itself be reborn from anything else or create anything else from itself, since everything must arise from a starting point. It follows that the starting point of movement is what moves itself. It cannot be born or die. Otherwise all heaven and all nature would have to collapse and come to a standstill, and never gain any force to set them moving again from an initial impulse.’”
SECTION 28
Chapter 26
Chapter 9
“So whatever moves itself clearly lasts forever. Who, then, can deny that souls have this nature? Anything moved by an outside push is lifeless. A living thing moves through its own inner motion. This is the soul's special nature and power. If, of all things, it alone moves itself, it certainly was never born and lasts forever.”
SECTION 29
“Exercise your soul in the best pursuits! And the best concerns are those for your country’s safety. Stirred and exercised by them, the soul will fly more quickly to this resting place, its home. And it’ll do that sooner if, while it’s still shut inside the body, it reaches beyond it and, by reflecting on what lies outside, draws itself away from the body as much as it can. For the souls of those who’ve given themselves over to bodily pleasures and made themselves their servants, as it were, and who’ve broken the laws of gods and humans at the urging of desires that obey those pleasures, tumble around the earth itself after slipping free of their bodies. They don’t return to this place until they’ve been driven about for many ages.” He left; I woke up.
About this section
Book 6 — Dream of Scipio is part of On the Republic 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 part 9 of 10 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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