DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0296
274
uf the religion of greece.
beiDg asked by Alexander, whether he had a mind to speak any thing
before his death, replied optime, propediem te videbo : yes, I shall see
you shortly. Quod ita contigit: which acccordingly (saith Cicero) came
to pass.
Thus much for natural divination. I come in the next place to speak
something of that which is called artificial. In doing which, because divi-
nation, or prediction by dreams, seems to bear a more near affinity to the
natural than the rest, and is by some reckoned amongst the species of it,
I shall, therefore, in the first place, give you an account of the custom
practised in it.
CHAP. XIII.
of divination By dreams.
I shall not in this place trouble you with the various divisions of
dreams, which do not concern my present design, which is only to speak
of those by which predictions were made, commonly called divine ; and
of these there were three sorts.
The first was Xf j?jxeeT;G7*o{, when the gods or spirits in their own, or
under any assumed form, conversed with men in their sleep : such an
one as Agamemnon's dream at the beginning of the second Iliad ; where
the god of dreams, in the form of Nestor, adviseth him to give the Tro-
jans battle, and encouraged him thereto with the promise of certain suc-
cess and viclorv. Such an one also was the dream of Pindar, in which,
as Pausanias (1) reports, Proserpina appeared to him, and complained he
dealt unkindly by her, for that he had composed hymns in honour of all
the other gods, and she alone was neglected by him : she added, that
when he came into her dominions, he should celebrate her praises also.
Not many days after the poet died, and in a short time appeared to an old
woman, a relation of his, that used to employ a great part of her time in
reading and singing his verses, and repeated to her an hymn made by him
upon Proserpina.
The second is 'O^wjjwx, wherein the images of things which are to hap-
pen are plainly represented in their own shape and likeness ; and this is
by some called ©s^rjiuwnxos. Such an one was that of Alexander the
Great, mentioned by Valerius Maximus (2), when he dreamed that he
was to be murdered by Cassander ; and that of Croesus, king of Lydia,
when he dreamed that his son Atys, whom he designed to succeed him in
his empire, should be slain by an iron spear, as Herodotus (3) relateth.
The third species, called "omgog, is that in which future events are re-
vealed by types and figures ; whence it is named AKhyyogixos, an allegory,
being, according to Heraclides (4) of Pontus, a figure by which one thing
is expressed, and another signified. Of this sort was Hecuba's, when she
dreamed she had conceived a fire-brand ; and Caesar's, when he dreamed
he lay with his mother ; whereby was signified that he should enjoy the
empire of the earth, the common mother of all living creatures. From
(l)Bceoticis. (2) Lib. i. cap. 7. (3) Lib. i. cap. 34. (4) De Allegor. Homericis
uf the religion of greece.
beiDg asked by Alexander, whether he had a mind to speak any thing
before his death, replied optime, propediem te videbo : yes, I shall see
you shortly. Quod ita contigit: which acccordingly (saith Cicero) came
to pass.
Thus much for natural divination. I come in the next place to speak
something of that which is called artificial. In doing which, because divi-
nation, or prediction by dreams, seems to bear a more near affinity to the
natural than the rest, and is by some reckoned amongst the species of it,
I shall, therefore, in the first place, give you an account of the custom
practised in it.
CHAP. XIII.
of divination By dreams.
I shall not in this place trouble you with the various divisions of
dreams, which do not concern my present design, which is only to speak
of those by which predictions were made, commonly called divine ; and
of these there were three sorts.
The first was Xf j?jxeeT;G7*o{, when the gods or spirits in their own, or
under any assumed form, conversed with men in their sleep : such an
one as Agamemnon's dream at the beginning of the second Iliad ; where
the god of dreams, in the form of Nestor, adviseth him to give the Tro-
jans battle, and encouraged him thereto with the promise of certain suc-
cess and viclorv. Such an one also was the dream of Pindar, in which,
as Pausanias (1) reports, Proserpina appeared to him, and complained he
dealt unkindly by her, for that he had composed hymns in honour of all
the other gods, and she alone was neglected by him : she added, that
when he came into her dominions, he should celebrate her praises also.
Not many days after the poet died, and in a short time appeared to an old
woman, a relation of his, that used to employ a great part of her time in
reading and singing his verses, and repeated to her an hymn made by him
upon Proserpina.
The second is 'O^wjjwx, wherein the images of things which are to hap-
pen are plainly represented in their own shape and likeness ; and this is
by some called ©s^rjiuwnxos. Such an one was that of Alexander the
Great, mentioned by Valerius Maximus (2), when he dreamed that he
was to be murdered by Cassander ; and that of Croesus, king of Lydia,
when he dreamed that his son Atys, whom he designed to succeed him in
his empire, should be slain by an iron spear, as Herodotus (3) relateth.
The third species, called "omgog, is that in which future events are re-
vealed by types and figures ; whence it is named AKhyyogixos, an allegory,
being, according to Heraclides (4) of Pontus, a figure by which one thing
is expressed, and another signified. Of this sort was Hecuba's, when she
dreamed she had conceived a fire-brand ; and Caesar's, when he dreamed
he lay with his mother ; whereby was signified that he should enjoy the
empire of the earth, the common mother of all living creatures. From
(l)Bceoticis. (2) Lib. i. cap. 7. (3) Lib. i. cap. 34. (4) De Allegor. Homericis