Cicero's Tusculan Disputations
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