Chapter XXIX: Book VI: Scipio's Dream (1)

I. Therefore you rely upon all the prudence of this rule,
which has derived its very name (_prudentia_) from foreseeing
(_a providendo_). Wherefore the citizen must so prepare
himself as to be always armed against those things which
trouble the constitution of a state. And that dissension of
the citizens, when one party separates from and attacks
another, is called sedition.

And in truth in civil dissensions, as the good are of more
importance than the many, I think that we should regard the
weight of the citizens, and not their number.

For the lusts, being severe mistresses of the thoughts,
command and compel many an unbridled action. And as they
cannot be satisfied or appeased by any means, they urge those
whom they have inflamed with their allurements to every kind
of atrocity.

II. Which indeed was so much the greater in him because
though the cause of the colleagues was identical, not only
was their unpopularity not equal, but the influence of
Gracchus was employed in mitigating the hatred borne to
Claudius.

Who encountered the number of the chiefs and nobles with
these words, and left behind him that mournful and dignified
expression of his gravity and influence.

That, as he writes, a thousand men might every day descend
into the forum with cloaks dyed in purple.

[_The next paragraph is unintelligible._]

For our ancestors wished marriages to be firmly established.

There is a speech extant of Laelius with which we are all
acquainted, expressing how pleasing to the immortal gods are
the * * * and * * * of the priests.

III. Cicero, writing about the Commonwealth, in imitation of
Plato, has related the story of the return of Er the
Pamphylian to life; who, as he says, had come to life again
after he had been placed on the funeral pile, and related
many secrets about the shades below; not speaking, like
Plato, in a fabulous imitation of truth, but using a certain
reasonable invention of an ingenious dream, cleverly
intimating that these things which were uttered about the
immortality of the soul, and about heaven, are not the
inventions of dreaming philosophers, nor the incredible
fables which the Epicureans ridicule, but the conjectures of
wise men. He insinuates that that Scipio who by the
subjugation of Carthage obtained Africanus as a surname for
his family, gave notice to Scipio the son of Paulus of the
treachery which threatened him from his relations, and the
course of fate, because by the necessity of numbers he was
confined in the period of a perfect life, and he says that he
in the fifty-sixth year of his age * * *

IV. Some of our religion who love Plato, on account of his
admirable kind of eloquence, and of some correct opinions
which he held, say that he had some opinions similar to my
own touching the resurrection of the dead, which subject
Tully touches on in his treatise on the Commonwealth, and
says that he was rather jesting than intending to say that
was true. For he asserts that a man returned to life, and
related some stories which harmonized with the discussions of
the Platonists.

V. In this point the imitation has especially preserved the
likeness of the work, because, as Plato, in the conclusion of
his volume, represents a certain person who had returned to
life, which he appeared to have quitted, as indicating what
is the condition of souls when stripped of the body, with the
addition of a certain not unnecessary description of the
spheres and stars, an appearance of circumstances indicating
things of the same kind is related by the Scipio of Cicero,
as having been brought before him in sleep.

VI. Tully is found to have preserved this arrangement with no
less judgment than genius. After, in every condition of the
Commonwealth, whether of leisure or business, he has given
the palm to justice, he has placed the sacred abodes of the
immortal souls, and the secrets of the heavenly regions, on
the very summit of his completed work, indicating whither
they must come, or rather return, who have managed the
republic with prudence, justice, fortitude, and moderation.
But that Platonic relater of secrets was a man of the name of
Er, a Pamphylian by nation, a soldier by profession, who,
after he appeared to have died from wounds received in
battle, and twelve days afterward was about to receive the
honors of the funeral pile with the others who were slain at
the same time, suddenly either recovering his life, or else
never having lost it, as if he were giving a public
testimony, related to all men all that he had done or seen in
the days that he had thus passed between life and death.
Although Cicero, as if himself conscious of the truth,
grieves that this story has been ridiculed by the ignorant,
still, avoiding giving an example of foolish reproach, he
preferred speaking of the relater as of one awakened from a
swoon rather than restored to life.

VII. And before we look at the words of the dream we must
explain what kind of persons they are by whom Cicero says
that even the account of Plato was ridiculed, who are not
apprehensive that the same thing may happen to them. Nor by
this expression does he wish the ignorant mob to be
understood, but a kind of men who are ignorant of the truth,
though pretending to be philosophers with a display of
learning, who, it was notorious, had read such things, and
were eager to find faults. We will say, therefore, who they
are whom he reports as having levelled light reproaches
against so great a philosopher, and who of them has even left
an accusation of him committed to writing, etc. The whole
faction of the Epicureans, always wandering at an equal
distance from truth, and thinking everything ridiculous which
they do not understand, has ridiculed the sacred volume, and
the most venerable mysteries of nature. But Colotes, who is
somewhat celebrated and remarkable for his loquacity among
the pupils of Epicurus, has even recorded in a book the
bitter reproaches which he aims at him. But since the other
arguments which he foolishly urges have no connection with
the dream of which we are now talking, we will pass them over
at present, and attend only to the calumny which will stick
both to Cicero and Plato, unless it is silenced. He says that
a fable ought not to have been invented by a philosopher,
since no kind of falsehood is suitable to professors of
truth. For why, says he, if you wish to give us a notion of
heavenly things and to teach us the nature of souls, did you
not do so by a simple and plain explanation? Why was a
character invented, and circumstances, and strange events,
and a scene of cunningly adduced falsehood arranged, to
pollute the very door of the investigation of truth by a lie?
Since these things, though they are said of the Platonic Er,
do also attack the rest of our dreaming Africanus.

VIII. This occasion incited Scipio to relate his dream, which
he declares that he had buried in silence for a long time.
For when Laelius was complaining that there were no statues of
Nasica erected in any public place, as a reward for his
having slain the tyrant, Scipio replied in these words: "But
although the consciousness itself of great deeds is to wise
men the most ample reward of virtue, yet that divine nature
ought to have, not statues fixed in lead, nor triumphs with
withering laurels, but some more stable and lasting kinds of
rewards." "What are they?" said Laelius. "Then," said Scipio,
"suffer me, since we have now been keeping holiday for three
days, * * * etc." By which preface he came to the relation of
his dream; pointing out that those were the more stable and
lasting kinds of rewards which he himself had seen in heaven
reserved for good governors of commonwealths.

IX. When I had arrived in Africa, where I was, as you are aware, military tribune of the fourth legion under the consul Manilius, there was nothing of which I was more earnestly desirous than to see King Masinissa, who, for very just reasons, had been always the especial friend of our family. When I was introduced to him, the old man embraced me, shed tears, and then, looking up to heaven, exclaimed--I thank thee, O supreme Sun, and ye also, ye other celestial beings, that before I depart from this life I behold in my kingdom, and in this my palace, Publius Cornelius Scipio, by whose mere name I seem to be reanimated; so completely and indelibly is the recollection of that best and most invincible of men, Africanus, imprinted in my mind.

After this, I inquired of him concerning the affairs of his kingdom. He, on the other hand, questioned me about the condition of our Commonwealth, and in this mutual interchange of conversation we passed the whole of that day.

X. In the evening we were entertained in a manner worthy the magnificence of a king, and carried on our discourse for a considerable part of the night. And during all this time the old man spoke of nothing but Africanus, all whose actions, and even remarkable sayings, he remembered distinctly. At last, when we retired to bed, I fell into a more profound sleep than usual, both because I was fatigued with my journey, and because I had sat up the greatest part of the night.

Here I had the following dream, occasioned, as I verily believe, by our preceding conversation; for it frequently happens that the thoughts and discourses which have employed us in the daytime produce in our sleep an effect somewhat similar to that which Ennius writes happened to him about Homer, of whom, in his waking hours, he used frequently to think and speak.

Africanus, I thought, appeared to me in that shape, with which I was better acquainted from his picture than from any personal knowledge of him. When I perceived it was he, I confess I trembled with consternation; but he addressed me, saying, Take courage, my Scipio; be not afraid, and carefully remember what I shall say to you.

XI. Do you see that city Carthage, which, though brought under the Roman yoke by me, is now renewing former wars, and cannot live in peace? (and he pointed to Carthage from a lofty spot, full of stars, and brilliant, and glittering)--to attack which city you are this day arrived in a station not much superior to that of a private soldier. Before two years, however, are elapsed, you shall be consul, and complete its overthrow; and you shall obtain, by your own merit, the surname of Africanus, which as yet belongs to you no otherwise than as derived from me. And when you have destroyed Carthage, and received the honor of a triumph, and been made censor, and, in quality of ambassador, visited Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you shall be elected a second time consul in your absence, and, by utterly destroying Numantia, put an end to a most dangerous war.

But when you have entered the Capitol in your triumphal car, you shall find the Roman Commonwealth all in a ferment, through the intrigues of my grandson Tiberius Gracchus.

XII. It is on this occasion, my dear Africanus, that you show your country the greatness of your understanding, capacity, and prudence. But I see that the destiny, however, of that time is, as it were, uncertain; for when your age shall have accomplished seven times eight revolutions of the sun, and your fatal hours shall be marked put by the natural product of these two numbers, each of which is esteemed a perfect one, but for different reasons, then shall the whole city have recourse to you alone, and place its hopes in your auspicious name. On you the senate, all good citizens, the allies, the people of Latium, shall cast their eyes; on you the preservation of the State shall entirely depend. In a word, _if you escape the impious machinations of your relatives_, you will, in quality of dictator, establish order and tranquillity in the Commonwealth.

When on this Laelius made an exclamation, and the rest of the company groaned loudly, Scipio, with a gentle smile, said, I entreat you, do not wake me out of my dream, but have patience, and hear the rest.

XIII. Now, in order to encourage you, my dear Africanus, continued the shade of my ancestor, to defend the State with the greater cheerfulness, be assured that, for all those who have in any way conduced to the preservation, defence, and enlargement of their native country, there is a certain place in heaven where they shall enjoy an eternity of happiness. For nothing on earth is more agreeable to God, the Supreme Governor of the universe, than the assemblies and societies of men united together by laws, which are called states. It is from heaven their rulers and preservers came, and thither they return.

XIV. Though at these words I was extremely troubled, not so much at the fear of death as at the perfidy of my own relations, yet I recollected myself enough to inquire whether he himself, my father Paulus, and others whom we look upon as dead, were really living.

Yes, truly, replied he, they all enjoy life who have escaped from the chains of the body as from a prison. But as to what you call life on earth, that is no more than one form of death. But see; here comes your father Paulus towards you! And as soon as I observed him, my eyes burst out into a flood of tears; but he took me in his arms, embraced me, and bade me not weep.

XV. When my first transports subsided, and I regained the liberty of speech, I addressed my father thus: Thou best and most venerable of parents, since this, as I am informed by Africanus, is the only substantial life, why do I linger on earth, and not rather haste to come hither where you are?

That, replied he, is impossible: unless that God, whose temple is all that vast expanse you behold, shall free you from the fetters of the body, you can have no admission into this place. Mankind have received their being on this very condition, that they should labor for the preservation of that globe which is situated, as you see, in the midst of this temple, and is called earth.

Men are likewise endowed with a soul, which is a portion of the eternal fires which you call stars and constellations; and which, being round, spherical bodies, animated by divine intelligences, perform their cycles and revolutions with amazing rapidity. It is your duty, therefore, my Publius, and that of all who have any veneration for the Gods, to preserve this wonderful union of soul and body; nor without the express command of Him who gave you a soul should the least thought be entertained of quitting human life, lest you seem to desert the post assigned you by God himself.

But rather follow the examples of your grandfather here, and of me, your father, in paying a strict regard to justice and piety; which is due in a great degree to parents and relations, but most of all to our country. Such a life as this is the true way to heaven, and to the company of those, who, after having lived on earth and escaped from the body, inhabit the place which you now behold.

XVI. This was the shining circle, or zone, whose remarkable brightness distinguishes it among the constellations, and which, after the Greeks, you call the Milky Way.

From thence, as I took a view of the universe, everything appeared beautiful and admirable; for there those stars are to be seen that are never visible from our globe, and everything appears of such magnitude as we could not have imagined. The least of all the stars was that removed farthest from heaven, and situated next to the earth; I mean our moon, which shines with a borrowed light. Now, the globes of the stars far surpass the magnitude of our earth, which at that distance appeared so exceedingly small that I could not but be sensibly affected on seeing our whole empire no larger than if we touched the earth, as it were, at a single point.

XVII. And as I continued to observe the earth with great attention, How long, I pray you, said Africanus, will your mind be fixed on that object? why don't you rather take a view of the magnificent temples among which you have arrived? The universe is composed of nine circles, or rather spheres, one of which is the heavenly one, and is exterior to all the rest, which it embraces; being itself the Supreme God, and bounding and containing the whole. In it are fixed those stars which revolve with never-varying courses. Below this are seven other spheres, which revolve in a contrary direction to that of the heavens. One of these is occupied by the globe which on earth they call Saturn. Next to that is the star of Jupiter, so benign and salutary to mankind. The third in order is that fiery and terrible planet called Mars. Below this, again, almost in the middle region, is the sun--the leader, governor, and prince of the other luminaries; the soul of the world, which it regulates and illumines; being of such vast size that it pervades and gives light to all places. Then follow Venus and Mercury, which attend, as it were, on the sun. Lastly, the moon, which shines only in the reflected beams of the sun, moves in the lowest sphere of all. Below this, if we except that gift of the Gods, the soul, which has been given by the liberality of the Gods to the human race, everything is mortal, and tends to dissolution; but above the moon all is eternal. For the earth, which is the ninth globe, and occupies the centre, is immovable, and, being the lowest, all others gravitate towards it.

XVIII. When I had recovered myself from the astonishment occasioned by such a wonderful prospect, I thus addressed Africanus: Pray what is this sound that strikes my ears in so loud and agreeable a manner? To which he replied: It is that which is called the _music of the spheres_, being produced by their motion and impulse; and being formed by unequal intervals, but such as are divided according to the justest proportion, it produces, by duly tempering acute with grave sounds, various concerts of harmony. For it is impossible that motions so great should be performed without any noise; and it is agreeable to nature that the extremes on one side should produce sharp, and on the other flat sounds. For which reason the sphere of the fixed stars, being the highest, and being carried with a more rapid velocity, moves with a shrill and acute sound; whereas that of the moon, being the lowest, moves with a very flat one. As to the earth, which makes the ninth sphere, it remains immovably fixed in the middle or lowest part of the universe. But those eight revolving circles, in which both Mercury and Venus are moved with the same celerity, give out sounds that are divided by seven distinct intervals, which is generally the regulating number of all things.

This celestial harmony has been imitated by learned musicians both on stringed instruments and with the voice, whereby they have opened to themselves a way to return to the celestial regions, as have likewise many others who have employed their sublime genius while on earth in cultivating the divine sciences.

By the amazing noise of this sound the ears of mankind have been in some degree deafened; and indeed hearing is the dullest of all the human senses. Thus, the people who dwell near the cataracts of the Nile, which are called Catadupa[348], are, by the excessive roar which that river makes in precipitating itself from those lofty mountains, entirely deprived of the sense of hearing. And so inconceivably great is this sound which is produced by the rapid motion of the whole universe, that the human ear is no more capable of receiving it than the eye is able to look steadfastly and directly on the sun, whose beams easily dazzle the strongest sight.

While I was busied in admiring the scene of wonders, I could not help casting my eyes every now and then on the earth.

XIX. On which Africanus said, I perceive that you are still employed in contemplating the seat and residence of mankind. But if it appears to you so small, as in fact it really is, despise its vanities, and fix your attention forever on these heavenly objects. Is it possible that you should attain any human applause or glory that is worth the contending for? The earth, you see, is peopled but in a very few places, and those, too, of small extent; and they appear like so many little spots of green scattered through vast, uncultivated deserts. And those who inhabit the earth are not only so remote from each other as to be cut off from all mutual correspondence, but their situation being in oblique or contrary parts of the globe, or perhaps in those diametrically opposite to yours, all expectation of universal fame must fall to the ground.

XX. You may likewise observe that the same globe of the earth is girt and surrounded with certain zones, whereof those two that are most remote from each other, and lie under the opposite poles of heaven, are congealed with frost; but that one in the middle, which is far the largest, is scorched with the intense heat of the sun. The other two are habitable, one towards the south, the inhabitants of which are your antipodes, with whom you have no connection; the other, towards the north, is that which you inhabit, whereof a very small part, as you may see, falls to your share. For the whole extent of what you see is, as it were, but a little island, narrow at both ends and wide in the middle, which is surrounded by the sea which on earth you call the great Atlantic Ocean, and which, notwithstanding this magnificent name, you see is very insignificant. And even in these cultivated and well-known countries, has yours, or any of our names, ever passed the heights of the Caucasus or the currents of the Ganges? In what other parts to the north or the south, or where the sun rises and sets, will your names ever be heard? And if we leave these out of the question, how small a space is there left for your glory to spread itself abroad; and how long will it remain in the memory of those whose minds are now full of it?

XXI. Besides all this, if the progeny of any future generation should wish to transmit to their posterity the praises of any one of us which they have heard from their forefathers, yet the deluges and combustions of the earth, which must necessarily happen at their destined periods, will prevent our obtaining, not only an eternal, but even a durable glory. And, after all, what does it signify whether those who shall hereafter be born talk of you, when those who have lived before you, whose number was perhaps not less, and whose merit certainly greater, were not so much as acquainted with your name?

XXII. Especially since not one of those who shall hear of us is able to retain in his memory the transactions of a single year. The bulk of mankind, indeed, measure their year by the return of the sun, which is only one star. But when all the stars shall have returned to the place whence they set out, and after long periods shall again exhibit the same aspect of the whole heavens, that is what ought properly to be called the revolution of a year, though I scarcely dare attempt to enumerate the vast multitude of ages contained in it. For as the sun in old time was eclipsed, and seemed to be extinguished, at the time when the soul of Romulus penetrated into these eternal mansions, so, when all the constellations and stars shall revert to their primary position, and the sun shall at the same point and time be again eclipsed, then you may consider that the grand year is completed. Be assured, however, that the twentieth part of it is not yet elapsed.

XXIII. Wherefore, if you have no hopes of returning to this place where great and good men enjoy all that their souls can wish for, of what value, pray, is all that human glory, which can hardly endure for a small portion of one year?

If, then, you wish to elevate your views to the contemplation of this eternal seat of splendor, you will not be satisfied with the praises of your fellow-mortals, nor with any human rewards that your exploits can obtain; but Virtue herself must point out to you the true and only object worthy of your pursuit. Leave to others to speak of you as they may, for speak they will. Their discourses will be confined to the narrow limits of the countries you see, nor will their duration be very extensive; for they will perish like those who utter them, and will be no more remembered by their posterity.

XXIV. When he had ceased to speak in this manner, I said, O Africanus, if indeed the door of heaven is open to those who have deserved well of their country, although, indeed, from my childhood I have always followed yours and my father's steps, and have not neglected to imitate your glory, still, I will from henceforth strive to follow them more closely.

Follow them, then, said he, and consider your body only, not yourself, as mortal. For it is not your outward form which constitutes your being, but your mind; not that substance which is palpable to the senses, but your spiritual nature. _Know, then, that you are a God_--for a God it must be, which flourishes, and feels, and recollects, and foresees, and governs, regulates and moves the body over which it is set, as the Supreme Ruler does the world which is subject to him. For as that Eternal Being moves whatever is mortal in this world, so the immortal mind of man moves the frail body with which it is connected.

XXV. For whatever is always moving must be eternal; but that which derives its motion from a power which is foreign to itself, when that motion ceases must itself lose its animation.

That alone, then, which moves itself can never cease to be moved, because it can never desert itself. Moreover, it must be the source, and origin, and principle of motion in all the rest. There can be nothing prior to a principle, for all things must originate from it; and it cannot itself derive its existence from any other source, for if it did it would no longer be a principle. And if it had no beginning, it can have no end; for a beginning that is put an end to will neither be renewed by any other cause, nor will it produce anything else of itself. All things, therefore, must originate from one source. Thus it follows that motion must have its source in something which is moved by itself, and which can neither have a beginning nor an end. Otherwise all the heavens and all nature must perish, for it is impossible that they can of themselves acquire any power of producing motion in themselves.

XXVI. As, therefore, it is plain that what is moved by itself must be eternal, who will deny that this is the general condition and nature of minds? For as everything is inanimate which is moved by an impulse exterior to itself, so what is animated is moved by an interior impulse of its own; for this is the peculiar nature and power of mind. And if that alone has the power of self-motion, it can neither have had a beginning, nor can it have an end.

Do you, therefore, exercise this mind of yours in the best pursuits. And the best pursuits are those which consist in promoting the good of your country. Such employments will speed the flight of your mind to this its proper abode; and its flight will be still more rapid, if, even while it is enclosed in the body, it will look abroad, and disengage itself as much as possible from its bodily dwelling, by the contemplation of things which are external to itself.

This it should do to the utmost of its power. For the minds of those who have given themselves up to the pleasures of the body, paying, as it were, a servile obedience to their lustful impulses, have violated the laws of God and man; and therefore, when they are separated from their bodies, flutter continually round the earth on which they lived, and are not allowed to return to this celestial region till they have been purified by the revolution of many ages.

Thus saying, he vanished, and I awoke from my dream.

A FRAGMENT.

And although it is most desirable that fortune should remain forever in the most brilliant possible condition, nevertheless, the equability of life excites less interest than those changeable conditions wherein prosperity suddenly revives out of the most desperate and ruinous circumstances.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Archilochus was a native of Paros, and flourished about 714-676 B.C. His poems were chiefly Iambics of bitter satire. Horace speaks of him as the inventor of Iambics, and calls himself his pupil.

Parios ego primus Iambos
Ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.
Epist. I. xix. 25.

And in another place he says,

Archilochum proprio rabies armavit Iambo--A.P. 74.

[2] This was Livius Andronicus: he is supposed to have been a native of Tarentum, and he was made prisoner by the Romans, during their wars in Southern Italy; owing to which he became the slave of M. Livius Salinator. He wrote both comedies and tragedies, of which Cicero (Brutus 18) speaks very contemptuously, as "Livianae fabulae non satis dignae quae iterum legantur"--not worth reading a second time. He also wrote a Latin Odyssey, and some hymns, and died probably about 221 B.C.

[3] C. Fabius, surnamed Pictor, painted the temple of Salus, which the dictator C. Junius Brutus Bubulus dedicated 302 B.C. The temple was destroyed by fire in the reign of Claudius. The painting is highly praised by Dionysius, xvi. 6.

[4] For an account of the ancient Greek philosophers, see the sketch at the end of the Disputations.

[5] Isocrates was born at Athens 436 B.C. He was a pupil of Gorgias, Prodicus, and Socrates. He opened a school of rhetoric, at Athens, with great success. He died by his own hand at the age of ninety-eight.

[6] So Horace joins these two classes as inventors of all kinds of improbable fictions:

Pictoribus atque poetis
Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas.--A. P. 9.

Which Roscommon translates:

Painters and poets have been still allow'd
Their pencil and their fancies unconfined.

[7] Epicharmus was a native of Cos, but lived at Megara, in Sicily, and when Megara was destroyed, removed to Syracuse, and lived at the court of Hiero, where he became the first writer of comedies, so that Horace ascribes the invention of comedy to him, and so does Theocritus. He lived to a great age.

[8] Pherecydes was a native of Scyros, one of the Cyclades; and is said to have obtained his knowledge from the secret books of the Phoenicians. He is said also to have been a pupil of Pittacus, the rival of Thales, and the master of Pythagoras. His doctrine was that there were three principles ([Greek: Zeus], or AEther; [Greek: Chthon], or Chaos; and [Greek: Chronos], or Time) and four elements (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water), from which everything that exists was formed.--_Vide_ Smith's Dict. Gr. and Rom. Biog.

[9] Archytas was a native of Tarentum, and is said to have saved the life of Plato by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was especially great as a mathematician and geometrician, so that Horace calls him

Maris et terra numeroque carentis arenae
Mensorem.
Od. i. 28.1.

Plato is supposed to have learned some of his views from him, and Aristotle to have borrowed from him every idea of the Categories.

[10] This was not Timaeus the historian, but a native of Locri, who is said also in the De Finibus (c. 29) to have been a teacher of Plato. There is a treatise extant bearing his name, which is, however, probably spurious, and only an abridgment of Plato's dialogue Timaeus.

[11] Dicaearchus was a native of Messana, in Sicily, though he lived chiefly in Greece. He was one of the later disciples of Aristotle. He was a great geographer, politician, historian, and philosopher, and died about 285 B.C.

[12] Aristoxenus was a native of Tarentum, and also a pupil of Aristotle. We know nothing of his opinions except that he held the soul to be a _harmony_ of the body; a doctrine which had been already discussed by Plato in the Phaedo, and combated by Aristotle. He was a great musician, and the chief portions of his works which have come down to us are fragments of some musical treatises.--Smith's Dict. Gr. and Rom. Biog.; to which source I must acknowledge my obligation for nearly the whole of these biographical notes.

[13] The Simonides here meant is the celebrated poet of Ceos, the perfecter of elegiac poetry among the Greeks. He flourished about the time of the Persian war. Besides his poetry, he is said to have been the inventor of some method of aiding the memory. He died at the court of Hiero, 467 B.C.

[14] Theodectes was a native of Phaselis, in Pamphylia, a distinguished rhetorician and tragic poet, and flourished in the time of Philip of Macedon. He was a pupil of Isocrates, and lived at Athens, and died there at the age of forty-one.

[15] Cineas was a Thessalian, and (as is said in the text) came to Rome as ambassador from Pyrrhus after the battle of Heraclea, 280 B.C., and his memory is said to have been so great that on the day after his arrival he was able to address all the senators and knights by name. He probably died before Pyrrhus returned to Italy, 276 B.C.

[16] Charmadas, called also Charmides, was a fellow-pupil with Philo, the Larissaean of Clitomachus, the Carthaginian. He is said by some authors to have founded a fourth academy.

[17] Metrodorus was a minister of Mithridates the Great; and employed by him as supreme judge in Pontus, and afterward as an ambassador. Cicero speaks of him in other places (De Orat. ii. 88) as a man of wonderful memory.

[18] Quintus Hortensius was eight years older than Cicero; and, till Cicero's fame surpassed his, he was accounted the most eloquent of all the Romans. He was Verres's counsel in the prosecution conducted against him by Cicero. Seneca relates that his memory was so great that he could come out of an auction and repeat the catalogue backward. He died 50 B.C.

[19] This treatise is one which has not come down to us, but which had been lately composed by Cicero in order to comfort himself for the loss of his daughter.

[20] The epigram is,

[Greek: Eipas Helie chaire, Kleombrotos Hombrakiotes
helat' aph' hypselou teicheos eis Aiden,
axion ouden idon thanatou kakon, alla Platonos
hen to peri psyches gramm' analexamenos.]

Which may be translated, perhaps,

Farewell, O sun, Cleombrotus exclaim'd,
Then plunged from off a height beneath the sea;
Stung by pain, of no disgrace ashamed,
But moved by Plato's high philosophy.

[21] This is alluded to by Juvenal:

Provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres
Optandas: sed multae urbes et publica vota
Vicerunt. Igitur Fortuna ipsius et Urbis,
Servatum victo caput abstulit.--Sat. x. 283.

[22] Pompey's second wife was Julia, the daughter of Julius Caesar, she died the year before the death of Crassus, in Parthia. Virgil speaks of Caesar and Pompey as relations, using the same expression (socer) as Cicero:

Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monoeci
Descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois.--AEn. vi. 830.

[23] This idea is beautifully expanded by Byron:

Yet if, as holiest men have deem'd, there be
A land of souls beyond that sable shore
To shame the doctrine of the Sadducee
And sophist, madly vain or dubious lore,
How sweet it were in concert to adore
With those who made our mortal labors light,
To hear each voice we fear'd to hear no more.
Behold each mighty shade reveal'd to sight,
The Bactrian, Samian sage, and all who taught the right!
_Childe Harold_, ii.

[24] The epitaph in the original is:

[Greek: O xein' angeilon Lakedaimoniois hoti tede
keimetha, tois keinon peithomenoi nomimois.]

[25] This was expressed in the Greek verses,

[Greek: Arches men me phynai epichthonioisin ariston,
phynta d' hopos okista pylas Aidyo peresai]

which by some authors are attributed to Homer.

[26] This is the first fragment of the Cresphontes.--Ed. Var. vii., p. 594.

[Greek: Edei gar hemas syllogon poioumenous
Ton phynta threnein, eis hos' erchetai kaka.
Ton d' au thanonta kai ponon pepaumenon
chairontas euphemointas ekpemein domon]

[27] The Greek verses are quoted by Plutarch:

[Greek: Epou nepie, elithioi phrenes andron
Euthynoos keitai moiridio thanato
Ouk en gar zoein kalon auto oute goneusi.]

[28] This refers to the story that when Eumolpus, the son of Neptune, whose assistance the Eleusinians had called in against the Athenians, had been slain by the Athenians, an oracle demanded the sacrifice of one of the daughters of Erechtheus, the King of Athens. And when one was drawn by lot, the others voluntarily accompanied her to death.

[29] Menoeceus was son of Creon, and in the war of the Argives against Thebes, Teresias declared that the Thebans should conquer if Menoeceus would sacrifice himself for his country; and accordingly he killed himself outside the gates of Thebes.

[30] The Greek is,

[Greek: mede moi aklaustos thanatos moloi, alla philoisi
poiesaimi thanon algea kai stonachas.]

[31] Soph. Trach. 1047.

[32] The lines quoted by Cicero here appear to have come from the Latin play of Prometheus by Accius; the ideas are borrowed, rather than translated, from the Prometheus of AEschylus.

[33] From _exerceo_.

[34] Each soldier carried a stake, to help form a palisade in front of the camp.

[35] Insania--from _in_, a particle of negative force in composition, and _sanus_, healthy, sound.

[36] The man who first received this surname was L. Calpurnius Piso, who was consul, 133 B.C., in the Servile War.

[37] The Greek is,

[Greek: Alla moi oidanetai kradie cholo hoppot' ekeinou
Mnesomai hos m' asyphelon en Argeioisin erexen.]--Il. ix. 642.

I have given Pope's translation in the text.

[38] This is from the Theseus:

[Greek: Ego de touto para sophou tinos mathon
eis phrontidas noun symphoras t' eballomen
phygas t' emauto prostitheis patras emes.
thanatous t' aorous, kai kakon allas hodous
hos, ei ti paschoim' on edoxazon pote
Me moi neorton prospeson mallon dakoi.]

[39] Ter. Phorm. II. i. 11.

[40] This refers to the speech of Agamemnon in Euripides, in the Iphigenia in Aulis,

[Greek: Zelo se, geron,
zelo d' andron hos akindynon
bion exeperas', agnos, aklees.]--v. 15.

[41] This is a fragment from the Hypsipyle:

[Greek: Ephy men oudeis hostis ou ponei broton
thaptei te tekna chater' au ktatai nea,
autos te thneskei. kai tad' achthontai brotoi
eis gen pherontes gen anankaios d' echei
bion therizein hoste karpimon stachyn.]

[42]
[Greek: Pollas ek kephales prothelymnous helketo chaitas.]--Il. x. 15.

[43]
[Greek: Etoi ho kappedion to Aleion oios alato
hon thymon katedon, paton anthropon aleeinon.]--Il. vi. 201.

[44] This is a translation from Euripides:

[Greek: Hosth' himeros m' hypelthe ge te k' ourano
lexai molouse deuro Medeias tychas.]--Med. 57.

[45]
[Greek: Lien gar polloi kai epetrimoi emata panta
piptousin, pote ken tis anapneuseie ponoio;
alla chre ton men katathaptemen, hos ke thanesi,
nelea thymon echontas, ep' emati dakrysantas.]--
Hom. Il. xix. 226.

[46] This is one of the fragments of Euripides which we are unable to assign to any play in particular; it occurs Var. Ed. Tr. Inc. 167.

[Greek: Ei men tod' emar proton en kakoumeno
kai me makran de dia ponon enaustoloun
eikos sphadazein en an, hos neozyga
polon, chalinon artios dedegmenon
nyn d' amblys eimi, kai katertykos kakon.]

[47] This is only a fragment, preserved by Stobaeus:

[Greek: Tous d' an megistous kai sophotatous phreni
toiousd' idois an, oios esti nyn hode,
kalos kakos prassonti symparainesai
hotan de daimon andros eutychous to prin
mastig' epise tou biou palintropon,
ta polla phrouda kai kakos eiremena.]

[48]
[Greek: Ok. Oukoun Prometheu touto gignoskeis hoti
orges nosouses eisin iatroi logoi.
Pr. ean tis en kairo ge malthasse kear
kai me sphrigonta thymon ischnaine bia.]--
AEsch. Prom. v. 378.

[49] Cicero alludes here to Il. vii. 211, which is thus translated by Pope:

His massy javelin quivering in his hand,
He stood the bulwark of the Grecian band;
Through every Argive heart new transport ran,
All Troy stood trembling at the mighty man:
E'en Hector paused, and with new doubt oppress'd,
Felt his great heart suspended in his breast;
'Twas vain to seek retreat, and vain to fear,
Himself had challenged, and the foe drew near.

But Melmoth (Note on the Familiar Letters of Cicero, book ii. Let. 23) rightly accuses Cicero of having misunderstood Homer, who "by no means represents Hector as being thus totally dismayed at the approach of his adversary; and, indeed, it would have been inconsistent with the general character of that hero to have described him under such circumstances of terror."

[Greek: Ton de kai Argeioi meg' egetheon eisoroontes,
Troas de tromos ainos hypelythe gyia hekaston,
Hektori d' auto thymos eni stethessi patassen.]

But there is a great difference, as Dr. Clarke remarks, between [Greek: thymos eni stethessi patassen] and [Greek: kardee exo stetheon ethrosken], or [Greek: tromos ainos hypelythe gyia].--_The Trojans_, says Homer, _trembled_ at the sight of Ajax, and even Hector himself felt some emotion in his breast.

[50] Cicero means Scipio Nasica, who, in the riots consequent on the reelection of Tiberius Gracchus to the tribunate, 133 B.C., having called in vain on the consul, Mucius Scaevola, to save the republic, attacked Gracchus himself, who was slain in the tumult.

[51] _Morosus_ is evidently derived from _mores_--"_Morosus_, _mos_, stubbornness, self-will, etc."--Riddle and Arnold, Lat. Dict.

[52] In the original they run thus:

[Greek: Ouk estin ouden deinon hod' eipein epos,
Oude pathos, oude xymphora theelatos
hes ouk an aroit' achthos anthropon physis.]

[53] This passage is from the Eunuch of Terence, act i., sc. 1, 14.

[54] These verses are from the Atreus of Accius.

[55] This was Marcus Atilius Regulus, the story of whose treatment by the Carthaginians in the first Punic War is well known to everybody.

[56] This was Quintus Servilius Caepio, who, 105 B.C., was destroyed, with his army, by the Cimbri, it was believed as a judgment for the covetousness which he had displayed in the plunder of Tolosa.

[57] This was Marcus Aquilius, who, in the year 88 B.C., was sent against Mithridates as one of the consular legates; and, being defeated, was delivered up to the king by the inhabitants of Mitylene. Mithridates put him to death by pouring molten gold down his throat.

[58] This was the elder brother of the triumvir Marcus Crassus, 87 B.C. He was put to death by Fimbria, who was in command of some of the troops of Marius.

[59] Lucius Caesar and Caius Caesar were relations (it is uncertain in what degree) of the great Caesar, and were killed by Fimbria on the same occasion as Octavius.

[60] M. Antonius was the grandfather of the triumvir; he was murdered the same year, 87 B.C., by Annius, when Marius and Cinna took Rome.

[61] This story is alluded to by Horace:

Districtus ensis cui super impia
Cervice pendet non Siculae dapes
Dulcem elaborabunt saporem,
Non avium citharaeve cantus
Somnum reducent.--iii. 1. 17.

[62] Hieronymus was a Rhodian, and a pupil of Aristotle, flourishing about 300 B.C. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero.

[63] We know very little of Dinomachus. Some MSS. have Clitomachus.

[64] Callipho was in all probability a pupil of Epicurus, but we have no certain information about him.

[65] Diodorus was a Syrian, and succeeded Critolaus as the head of the Peripatetic School at Athens.

[66] Aristo was a native of Ceos, and a pupil of Lycon, who succeeded Straton as the head of the Peripatetic School, 270 B.C. He afterward himself succeeded Lycon.

[67] Pyrrho was a native of Elis, and the originator of the sceptical theories of some of the ancient philosophers. He was a contemporary of Alexander.

[68] Herillus was a disciple of Zeno of Cittium, and therefore a Stoic. He did not, however, follow all the opinions of his master: he held that knowledge was the chief good. Some of the treatises of Cleanthes were written expressly to confute him.

[69] Anacharsis was (Herod., iv., 76) son of Gnurus and brother of Saulius, King of Thrace. He came to Athens while Solon was occupied in framing laws for his people; and by the simplicity of his way of living, and his acute observations on the manners of the Greeks, he excited such general admiration that he was reckoned by some writers among the Seven Wise Men of Greece.

[70] This was Appius Claudius Caecus, who was censor 310 B.C., and who, according to Livy, was afflicted with blindness by the Gods for persuading the Potitii to instruct the public servants in the way of sacrificing to Hercules. He it was who made the Via Appia.

[71] The fact of Homer's blindness rests on a passage in the Hymn to Apollo, quoted by Thucydides as a genuine work of Homer, and which is thus spoken of by one of the most accomplished scholars that this country or this age has ever produced: "They are indeed beautiful verses; and if none worse had ever been attributed to Homer, the Prince of Poets would have had little reason to complain.

"He has been describing the Delian festival in honor of Apollo and Diana, and concludes this part of the poem with an address to the women of that island, to whom it is to be supposed that he had become familiarly known by his frequent recitations:

[Greek: Chairete d' hymeis pasai, emeio de kai metopisthe
mnesasth', hoppote ken tis epichthonion anthropon
enthad' aneiretai xeinos talapeirios elthon
o kourai, tis d' hymmin aner hedistos aoidon
enthade poleitai kai teo terpesthe malista;
hymeis d' eu mala pasai hypokrinasthe aph' hemon,
Typhlos aner, oikei de Chio eni paipaloesse,
tou pasai metopisthen aristeuousin aoidai.]

Virgins, farewell--and oh! remember me
Hereafter, when some stranger from the sea,
A hapless wanderer, may your isle explore,
And ask you, 'Maids, of all the bards you boast,
Who sings the sweetest, and delights you most?'
Oh! answer all, 'A blind old man, and poor,
Sweetest he sings, and dwells on Chios' rocky shore.'

_Coleridge's Introduction to the Study
of the Greek Classic Poets._

[72] Some read _scientiam_ and some _inscientiam;_ the latter of which is preferred by some of the best editors and commentators.

[73] For a short account of these ancient Greek philosophers, see the sketch prefixed to the Academics (_Classical Library_).

[74] Cicero wrote his philosophical works in the last three years of his life. When he wrote this piece, he was in the sixty-third year of his age, in the year of Rome 709.

[75] The Academic.

[76] Diodorus and Posidonius were Stoics; Philo and Antiochus were Academics; but the latter afterward inclined to the doctrine of the Stoics.

[77] Julius Caesar.

[78] Cicero was one of the College of Augurs.

[79] The Latinae Feriae was originally a festival of the Latins, altered by Tarquinius Superbus into a Roman one. It was held in the Alban Mount, in honor of Jupiter Latiaris. This holiday lasted six days: it was not held at any fixed time; but the consul was never allowed to take the field till he had held them.--_Vide_ Smith, Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant., p. 414.

[80] _Exhedra_, the word used by Cicero, means a study, or place where disputes were held.

[81] M. Piso was a Peripatetic. The four great sects were the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Academics, and the Epicureans.

[82] It was a prevailing tenet of the Academics that there is no certain knowledge.

[83] The five forms of Plato are these: [Greek: ousia, tauton, heteron, stasis, kinesis.]

[84] The four natures here to be understood are the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; which are mentioned as the four principles of Empedocles by Diogenes Laertius.

[85] These five moving stars are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus. Their revolutions are considered in the next book.

[86] Or, Generation of the Gods.

[87] The [Greek: prolepsis] of Epicurus, before mentioned, is what he here means.

[88] [Greek: Steremnia] is the word which Epicurus used to distinguish between those objects which are perceptible to sense, and those which are imperceptible; as the essence of the Divine Being, and the various operations of the divine power.

[89] Zeno here mentioned is not the same that Cotta spoke of before. This was the founder of the Stoics. The other was an Epicurean philosopher whom he had heard at Athens.

[90] That is, there would be the same uncertainty in heaven as is among the Academics.

[91] Those nations which were neither Greek nor Roman.

[92] _Sigilla numerantes_ is the common reading; but P. Manucius proposes _venerantes_, which I choose as the better of the two, and in which sense I have translated it.

[93] Fundamental doctrines.

[94] That is, the zodiac.

[95] The moon, as well as the sun, is indeed in the zodiac, but she does not measure the same course in a month. She moves in another line of the zodiac nearer the earth.

[96] According to the doctrines of Epicurus, none of these bodies themselves are clearly seen, but _simulacra ex corporibus effluentia_.

[97] Epicurus taught his disciples in a garden.

[98] By the word _Deus_, as often used by our author, we are to understand all the Gods in that theology then treated of, and not a single personal Deity.

[99] The best commentators on this passage agree that Cicero does not mean that Aristotle affirmed that there was no such person as Orpheus, but that there was no such poet, and that the verse called Orphic was said to be the invention of another. The passage of Aristotle to which Cicero here alludes has, as Dr. Davis observes, been long lost.

[100] A just proportion between the different sorts of beings.

[101] Some give _quos non pudeat earum Epicuri vocum;_ but the best copies have not _non;_ nor would it be consistent with Cotta to say _quos non pudeat_, for he throughout represents Velleius as a perfect Epicurean in every article.

[102] His country was Abdera, the natives of which were remarkable for their stupidity.

[103] This passage will not admit of a translation answerable to the sense of the original. Cicero says the word _amicitia_ (friendship) is derived from _amor_ (love or affection).

[104] This manner of speaking of Jupiter frequently occurs in Homer,

----[Greek: pater andron te theon te,]

and has been used by Virgil and other poets since Ennius.

[105] Perses, or Perseus, the last king of Macedonia, was taken by Cnaeus Octavius, the praetor, and brought as prisoner to Paullus AEmilius, 167 B.C.

[106] An exemption from serving in the wars, and from paying public taxes.

[107] Mopsus. There were two soothsayers of this name: the first was one of the Lapithae, son of Ampycus and Chloris, called also the son of Apollo and Hienantis; the other a son of Apollo and Manto, who is said to have founded Mallus, in Asia Minor, where his oracle existed as late as the time of Strabo.

[108] Tiresias was the great Theban prophet at the time of the war of the Seven against Thebes.

[109] Amphiaraus was King of Argos (he had been one of the Argonauts also). He was killed after the war of the Seven against Thebes, which he was compelled to join in by the treachery of his wife Eriphyle, by the earth opening and swallowing him up as he was fleeing from Periclymenus.

[110] Calchas was the prophet of the Grecian army at the siege of Troy.

[111] Helenus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He is represented as a prophet in the Philoctetes of Sophocles. And in the AEneid he is also represented as king of part of Epirus, and as predicting to AEneas the dangers and fortunes which awaited him.

[112] This short passage would be very obscure to the reader without an explanation from another of Cicero's treatises. The expression here, _ad investigandum suem regiones vineae terminavit_, which is a metaphor too bold, if it was not a sort of augural language, seems to me to have been the effect of carelessness in our great author; for Navius did not divide the regions, as he calls them, of the vine to find his sow, but to find a grape.