Commentary on the Dream of Scipio and the Saturnalia

BOOK I.

b 2

Five kinds of dreams.

...stituted them to everyone. Let us now set forth the five kinds of dreams, so that it may become known to which category the dream we are discussing Referring to the "Dream of Scipio" by Cicero, which Macrobius is commentating upon. should be applied. Of all the things that people seem to see while sleeping, there are five principal types and names: there is the onar Greek: ὄναρ according to the Greeks, which the Latins call a somnium An enigmatic dream requiring interpretation.; or the horama Greek: ὅραμα, which is rightly called a visio A prophetic vision of a future event.; or the chrematismos Greek: χρηματισμὸς, which is named an oraculum An oracle, where a parent or solemn person reveals the future.; or the enypnion Greek: ἐνύπνιον, which is called an insomnium A nightmare or non-predictive dream caused by daily stress.; or the phantasma Greek: φάντασμα, which Cicero (whenever he had need of this name) called a visum An apparition seen in the moment between waking and sleep.. The last two of these, when they are seen, are unworthy of the care of interpretation, because they bring no divination: I mean the insomnium and the phantasma.

Insomnium Literally "disturbed sleep" or nightmare.

For it is an insomnium whenever the care of a burdened mind, or body, or even of fortune—such as might have fatigued a person while awake—presents itself to them while sleeping. In the mind: if a lover sees himself either enjoying his delights or deprived of them; or if someone fearing a person who threatens them either with treachery or power seems to have either encountered them or escaped them in the imagery of his thoughts. In the body: if someone gorged with wine, or stuffed with food, or bloated, thinks he is being suffocated by the abundance or relieved by the weight; or on the contrary, if someone hungry for food or thirsty for drink seems to desire, seek, or even find it.

*instead of This indicates a textual correction: "to be increased" rather than "to increase."

In fortune: when someone thinks that he, out of desire, is being increased* in power or office, or out of fear, is being stripped* of it. These and similar things, since they followed from the state of the mind just as they had preceded and disturbed the sleeper's rest, fly in along with sleep and vanish just as quickly. From this comes the name "Insomnium": not because it is seen through sleep (for this is common to this type as well as the others), but because it is believed to exist only in the sleep itself; while it is seen, it leaves behind no utility or significance after the sleep is over. That these insomnia are false, Virgil original: "Maro," the family name of the poet Virgil. did not fail to mention:

Book 6 of the Aeneid.

But the spirits of the dead send false dreams original: "insomnia" to the sky above.