[122]
On the other hand if nature had
intended that sleepers should do what they dreamed,
persons on going to bed would always have to be
tied, otherwise they would commit more follies in
their dreams than any madman ever did.
"And if, because of their unreality, we are to
have no faith in the visions of the insane, I do not
understand why we place any confidence in dreams,
which are far more confused. Is it because the insane
do not tell their delusions to interpreters of visions
while dreamers do? I ask you this: suppose I wished
to read, write, or sing, or to play on the lute, or to
solve some problem in geometry, physics, or logic,
must I wait for a dream, or must I depend upon
the peculiar knowledge which each of these several
arts or sciences requires and without which none of
them can be utilized or mastered? No; and not even
if I wanted to sail a ship, would I pilot it as I might
have dreamed I should; for the punishment would
be immediate.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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