nian, who, having fallen in battle, after several days of seeming death, came to life again when placed upon the funeral pyre, and narrated the strange things which had befallen him and the glimpses of a future life which he had in the interval.

In like manner, as Macrobius tells us, the Dream was introduced at that stage of the dialogue in Cicero's Polity, at which Laelius complains that the services of public men are frequently suffered to go unrewarded. Scipio replies that they have the reward of their conscience, but that in addition to this there is something more enduring than those honours, which are the prizes of success in this world; and in illustration of this he asks permission to recount a remarkable dream which he once had.

It will be seen, from the references given in the notes, that Cicero has not only borrowed the idea of this episode from his Greek example, but that the arguments of which it is the vehicle are taken literally from the Platonic writings. It must however be admitted that Cicero fully justifies his claim to be considered as something more than a mere translator or imitator of the Greek: here, as in the rest of the Polity and in the Laws, we cannot fail to see that the aim of the Roman is less speculative and more practical, that his teaching is intended for the instruction and encouragement of the ordinary citizen, whose duty calls him into the dust and heat of life's arena, rather than for the delectation of the philosopher in his retirement.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, Africanus Minor, the narrator of the dream, was certainly well chosen for this part his well-known fondness for Greek literature and philosophy and his heroic devotion to the service of his country, impart an air of reality to the narrative and impress the hearer with the feeling that the speaker is himself a striking example of the high ideal which is set before him. Himself a younger son of L. Aemilius Paulus, Macedonicus, the vanquisher of Perseus, he was adopted into the Cornelian

gens by a son of the elder Africanus: the manly virtues of the victor at Zama would seem to have been inherited by his daughter Cornelia, to the exclusion of her brothers; although the adopter of young Paulus is said to have lacked nothing but strength of constitution (Cat. M. XI. 35) while he had more than his share of his father's learning :—probably their common love of literature was the attraction which drew the delicate man of letters towards the gallant young soldier, who at the age of seventeen had taken part in the campaign of his father Paulus. His marriage with Cornelia's daughter Sempronia, sister of the unfortunate Gracchi, must have brought the younger Africanus into close association with those heroic but ill-disciplined spirits; while his singularly unassuming manners must have endeared him to that circle of men of genius, such as Polybius, Panaetius and Terence, whom he had gathered around him. Shining in this brilliant society with all the splendour of his military successes reflected upon him, it is not surprising that he should have dazzled his contemporaries, and that Cicero, in a later age, should have selected him as that one of his countrymen, who-removed alike from the jealousy which besets a contemporary and from the misty uncertainty which surrounds the heroes of an earlier age-was best fitted to be the expounder of his own view of an ideal constitution; which was thus stamped, as it were, with the authority of that well-known name.

M. TULLI CICERONIS

SOMNIUM SCIPIONIS.

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I. CUM in Africam uenissem M'. Manilio consuli ad 1 quartam legionem tribunus, ut scitis, militum, nihil mihi fuit potius quam ut Masinissam conuenirem, regem familiae nostrae iustis de caussis amicissimum. Ad quem 5 ut ueni, conplexus me senex conlacrimauit, aliquantoque post suspexit ad caelum, et: 'grates' inquit 'tibi ago, summe Sol, uobisque, reliqui caelites, quod, antequam ex hac uita migro, conspicio in meo regno et his tectis P. Cornelium Scipionem, cuius ego nomine ipso recreor, itaque numquam ex animo meo discedit illius optumi atque inuictissimi uiri memoria.' Deinde ego illum de suo regno, ille me de nostra re publica percontatus est, multisque uerbis ultro citroque habitis ille nobis consumptus est dies. Post autem apparatu regio accepti 2 15 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 uia et qui ad multam noctem uigilassem, artior quam solebat somnus conplexus est. Hic 20 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,

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de quo uidelicet saepissime uigilans solebat cogitare et loqui-Africanus se ostendit ea forma, quae mihi ex imagine eius quam ex ipso erat notior; quem ubi agnoui, equidem cohorrui, sed ille: 'ades' inquit 'animo et omitte timorem, Scipio, et quae dicam trade memoriae. 3 II. Videsne illam urbem, quae parere populo Romano coacta per me, renouat pristina bella nec potest quiescere'-ostendebat autem Carthaginem de excelso et pleno stellarum, illustri et claro quodam loco-'ad quam tu oppugnandam nunc uenis paene miles? Hanc 10 hoc biennio consul euertes, eritque cognomen id tibi per te partum, quod habes adhuc a nobis hereditarium. Cum autem Carthaginem deleueris, triumphum egeris censorque fueris et obieris legatus Aegyptum, Syriam, Asiam, Graeciam, delegere iterum consul absens bellumque maximum 15 conficies, Numantiam exscindes. Sed cum eris curru in Capitolium inuectus, offendes rem publicam consiliis per4 turbatam nepotis mei. Hic tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi, ingeni consilique tui. Sed eius temporis ancipitem uideo quasi fatorum uiam. Nam 20 cum aetas tua septenos octiens solis amfractus reditusque conuerterit, duoque hi numeri, quorum uterque plenus, alter altera de caussa, habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint, in te unum atque in tuum nomen se tota conuertet ciuitas: te senatus, te omnes boni, te 25 socii, te Latini intuebuntur; tu eris unus, in quo nitatur ciuitatis salus, ac, ne multa, dictator rem publicam constituas oportet, si impias propinquorum manus effugeris.' Hic cum exclamauisset Laelius ingemuissentque uehementius ceteri, leniter arridens Scipio: 'st! quaeso' 30 inquit 'ne me e somno excitetis et parumper audite

cetera.

III. Sed quo sis, Africane, alacrior ad tutandam rem 5 publicam, sic habeto: omnibus, qui patriam conseruauerint, adiuuerint, auxerint, certum esse in caelo, definitum locum, ubi beati aeuo sempiterno fruantur. Nihil est 5 enim illi principi deo, qui omnem mundum regit, quod quidem in terris fiat, acceptius quam concilia coetusque hominum iure sociati, quae ciuitates appellantur: harum rectores et conseruatores hinc profecti huc reuertuntur.' Hic ego, etsi eram perterritus non tam mortis metu quam 6 10 insidiarum a meis, quaesiui tamen uiueretne ipse et Paulus pater et alii, quos nos exstinctos arbitraremur. 'Immo uero' inquit 'ii uiuunt, qui e corporum uinclis tamquam e carcere euolauerunt, uestra uero quae dicitur uita mors est. Quin tu aspicis ad te uenientem Paulum 15 patrem?' Quem ut uidi, equidem uim lacrimarum profudi, ille autem me conplexus atque osculans flere prohibebat. Atque ego ut primum fletu represso loqui posse 7 coepi, 'quaeso' inquam 'pater sanctissime atque optume, quoniam haec est uita, ut Africanum audio dicere, quid 20 moror in terris? quin huc ad uos uenire propero?' 'Non est ita' inquit ille. 'Nisi enim deus is, cuius hoc templum est omne, quod conspicis, istis te corporis custodiis liberauerit, huc tibi aditus patere non potest. Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum, 25 quem in hoc templo medium uides, quae terra dicitur, eisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus, quae sidera et stellas uocatis, quae globosae et rotundae, diuinis animatae mentibus, circulos suos orbesque conficiunt celeritate mirabili. Qua re et tibi, Publi, et piis 30 omnibus retinendus animus est in custodia corporis nec iniussu eius, a quo ille est uobis datus, ex hominum uita migrandum est, ne munus [humanum] adsignatum a deo