BOOK I. 21

...that he may recognize what it is. Of this type Referring to the somnium or enigmatic dream. there are five species: it is either personal, other-oriented, shared, public, or universal.

It is personal original: proprium when one dreams of oneself doing or experiencing something. It is other-oriented original: alienum when one dreams of another person. It is shared original: commune when one dreams of oneself together with another. It is public original: publicum when one imagines some sad or joyful event has happened to the city, the forum, the theater, or any public walls or activities. It is universal original: generale when one dreams of some change involving the sun's orb, the moon's sphere, the other stars, the heavens, or the whole of the earth.

To which category the Dream of Scipio should be referred.

This dream, however, which Scipio reported he had seen, embraces those three types which alone are considered authoritative, and it touches upon every species of the "enigmatic dream" itself.

It is an oracle: because both [Aemilius] Paullus and [Scipio] Africanus—both equals, both holy and venerable, and both holding the priesthood—announced to him what was going to happen. It is a vision: because he beheld the very places where he would be after leaving the body, and what his future state would be. It is an enigmatic dream: because the "height" of the matters narrated to him, covered by a depth of wisdom, cannot be opened to us except through the science of interpretation.

It is also referred to every species of the dream itself. It is personal: because he was led to the upper realms and learned of his own future. It is other-oriented: because he discovered the state which the souls of others had obtained. It is shared: because he learned that the same places were being prepared for himself as for others of similar merit. It is public: because he recognized the victory of his fatherland, the destruction of Carthage, his triumph at the Capitol, and the anxiety of future civil strife. It is universal: because, while still a living man, he perceived the heavens and the circles of the sky, the harmony of their rotation This refers to the "Music of the Spheres," a Pythagorean concept that the movement of celestial bodies creates a divine musical interval.—things new and unknown—and also the movements of the stars and lights, and the layout of the entire earth, by looking both upward and downward.

How a public dream is appropriate for Scipio while still a soldier.

Nor can it be said that a dream which was universal and public was not fitting for Scipio's person: because not yet to him...