[142]
Moreover, at the present
time, owing to the interruption of my public labours,
I have ceased my nocturnal studies, and (contrary
to my former practice) I have added afternoon naps.
Yet despite all this time spent in sleep I have not received a single prophecy in a dream, certainly not one
about the great events1 now going on. Indeed, I never
seem to be dreaming more than when I see the magistrates in the forum and the Senate in its chamber.2
69. "Coming now to the second branch of
the present topic, is there some such natural connecting link,3 which, as I said before,4 the Greeks
callσυμπάθεια,that the finding of a treasure must
be deduced from dreaming of an egg? Of course
physicians, from certain symptoms, know the
incipiency and progress of a disease; and it is
claimed that from some kinds of dreams they
even can gather certain indications as to a
patient's health, as whether the internal humours
of the body are excessive or deficient. But
what natural bond of union is there between
dreams, on the one hand, and treasures, legacies,
public office, victory and many other things of the
same kind, on the other?
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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