De Divinatione
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng1
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The heaving sea oft warns of coming storms,
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When suddenly its depths begin to swell;
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And hoary rocks, o'erspread with snowy brine,
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To the sea, in boding tones, attempt reply;
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Or when from lofty mountain-peak upsprings
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A shrilly whistling wind, which stronger grows
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With each repulse by hedge of circling cliffs.
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Blue-grey herons, Fulix is really coot; but Aratus, Dios. 181 has e)rwdio/s, ardea, heron. in fleeing the raging abyss of the ocean,
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Utter their warnings, discordant and wild, from tremulous gullets,
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Shrilly proclaiming that storms are impending and laden with terrors.
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Often at dawn, when Aurora releases the frost in the dew-drops,
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Does the nightingale Acredula (Cicero's translation of o)lolugw/n of Aratus, 216) is used nowhere else in Latin except in this passage and its meaning is uncertain. The rendering nightingale accords with the sense, whereas owl, the translation of Meyer, Hottinger, and Kühner, does not. Others understand it to mean tree-frog, dove, etc. pour from its breast predictions of evil;
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Then does it threaten and hurl from its throat its incessant complaining.
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Often the dark-hued crow, while restlessly roaming the seashore,
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Plunges its crest in the flood, as its neck encounters the billows.
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Ye, too, distinguish the signs, ye dwellers in waters delightful,
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When, with a clamour, you utter your cries that are empty of meaning,
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Stirring the fountains and ponds with absurd and ridiculous croaking.
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Slow, clumsy oxen, their glances upturned to the light of the heavens,
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Sniff at the air with their nostrils and know it is freighted with moisture.
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Now 'tis a fact that the evergreen mastic, e'er burdened with leafage,
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Thrice is expanding and budding and thrice producing its berries;
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Triple its signs for the purpose of showing three seasons for ploughing.
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First of all, Jupiter, glowing with fire from regions celestial,
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Turns, and the whole of creation is filled with the light of his glory;
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And, though the vaults of aether eternal begird and confine him,
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Yet he, with spirit divine, ever searching the earth and the heavens,
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Sounds to their innermost depths the thoughts and the actions of mortals.
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When one has learned the motions and variant paths of the planets,
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Stars that abide in the seat of the signs, in the Zodiac's girdle,
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(Spoken of falsely as vagrants or rovers in Greek nomenclature,
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Whereas in truth their distance is fixed and their speed is determined,)
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Then will he know that all are controlled by an Infinite Wisdom.
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You, being consul, at once did observe the swift constellations,
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Noting the glare of luminous stars in direful conjunction;
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Then you beheld the tremulous sheen of the Northern aurora,
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When, on ascending the mountainous heights of snowy Albanus,
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You offered joyful libations of milk at the Feast of the Latins
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Ominous surely the time wherein fell that Feast of the Latins:
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Many a warning was given, it seemed, of slaughter nocturnal;
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Then, of a sudden, the moon at her full Concreto lumine, i.e. quum iunctis cornibus pleno orbe luceret, Hott. was blotted from heaven—
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Hidden her features resplendent, though night was bejewelled with planets;
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Then did that dolorous herald of War, the torch of Apollo,
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Mount all aflame to the dome of the sky, to the zenith of heaven,
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Seeking a place on the westerly slopes, where the sun has its setting;
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Then did a Roman depart from these radiant abodes of the living,
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Stricken by terrible lightning from heavens serene and unclouded.
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Then through the fruit-laden body of earth ran the shock of an earthquake;
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Spectres at night were observed, appalling and changeful of figure,
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Giving their warning that war was at hand, and internal commotion;
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Over all lands there outpoured, from the frenzied bosoms of prophets,
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Dreadful predictions, gloomy forecasts of impending disaster.
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And the misfortunes which happened at last and were long in their passing—
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These were foretold by the Father of Gods, in earth and in heaven,
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Through unmistakable signs that he gave and often repeated.
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Now, of those prophecies made when Torquatus and Cotta
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Made by a Lydian diviner,The Etruscans were thought to have come originally from Lydia. by one of Etruscan extraction—
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All, in the round of your crowded twelve months, were brought to fulfilment.
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For high-thundering Jove, as he stood on starry Olympus,
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Hurled forth his blows at the temples and monuments raised in his honour,
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And on the Capitol's site he unloosed the bolts of his lightning.
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Then fell the brazen image of Natta, ancient and honoured:
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Vanished the tablets of laws long ago divinely enacted;
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Wholly destroyed were the statues of gods by the heat of the lightning.
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Here was the Martian beast, the nurse of Roman dominion
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Suckling with life-giving dew, that issued from udders distended,
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Children divinely begotten, who sprang from the loins of the War God;
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Stricken by lightning she toppled to earth, bearing with her the children;
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Torn from her station, she left the prints of her feet in descending.
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Then what diviner, in turning the records and tomes of the augurs,
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Failed to relate the mournful forecasts the Etruscans had written?
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Seers all advised to beware the monstrous destruction and slaughter,
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Plotted by Romans who traced their descent from a noble ancestry;
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Or they proclaimed the law's overthrow with voices insistent,
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Bidding us rescue the city from flames, and the deities' temples;
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Fearful they bade us become of horrible chaos and carnage;
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These, by a rigorous Fate, would be certainly fixed and determined,
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Were not a sacred statue of Jove, one comely of figure,
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High on a column erected beforehand, with eyes to the eastward;
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Then would the people and venerable senate be able to fathom
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Hidden designs, when that statue—its face to the sun at its rising—
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Should behold from its station the seats of the people and Senate.
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Long was the statue delayed and much was it hindered in making.
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Finally, you being consul, it stood in its lofty position.
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Just at the moment of time, which the gods had set and predicted,
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When on column exalted the sceptre of Jove was illumined,
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Did Allobrogian voices proclaim to Senate and people
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What destruction by dagger and torch was prepared for our country.
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Rightly, therefore, the ancients whose monuments you have in keeping,
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Romans whose rule over peoples and cities was just and courageous,
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Rightly your kindred, foremost in honour and pious devotion,
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Far surpassing the rest of their fellows in shrewdness and wisdom,
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Held it a duty supreme to honour the Infinite Godhead.
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Such were the truths they beheld who painfully searching for wisdom
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Gladly devoted their leisure to study of all that was noble,
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Who, in Academy's shade and Lyceum'sPlato lectured in the Academy, and Aristotle in the Lyceum. dazzling effulgence,
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Uttered the brilliant reflections of minds abounding in culture.
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Torn from these studies, in youth's early dawn, your country recalled you,
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Giving you place in the thick of the struggle for public preferment;
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Yet, in seeking surcease from the worries and cares that oppress you,
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Time, that the State leaves free, you devote to us and to learning.
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Glad at leaving Troy behind them, gazed upon the fish at play,
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Nor could get their fill of gazing—thus they whiled the time away.
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Meantime, as the sun was setting, high uprose the angry main;
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Thick and thicker fell the shadows; night grew black with blinding rain.
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Raise aloft their frequent clamours, showing scorn of augur's art,
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Noise prevailed and not the omen: he then bade the ships depart.
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The vestal from her sleep in fright awoke
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And to the startled maid, whose trembling hands
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A lamp did bear, thus spoke in tearful tones:
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'O daughter of Eurydice, thou whom
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Our father loved, from my whole frame departs
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The vital force. For in my dreams I saw
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A manThe god Mars is referred to. Cf. Ovid, Fast. iii. 13. of beauteous form, who bore me off
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Through willows sweet, along the fountain's brink,
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To places strange. And then, my sister dear,
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Alone, with halting step and longing heart,
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I seemed to wander, seeking thee in vain;
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There was no path to make my footing sure.
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And then I thought my father spoke these words
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“Great sorrows, daughter, thou must first endure
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Until thy fortune from the Tiber rise.”
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When this was said he suddenly withdrew;
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Nor did his cherished vision come again,
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Though oft I raised my hand to heaven's dome
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And called aloud in tearful, pleading voice.
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Then sleep departing left me sick at heart.'
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When mother Hecuba was great with child,
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She dreamed that she brought forth a flaming torch.
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Alarmed at this, with sighing cares possessed,
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The king and father, Priam, to the gods
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Did make a sacrifice of bleating lambs.
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He, seeking peace and answer to the dream,
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Implored Apollo's aid to understand
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What great events the vision did foretell.
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Apollo's oracle, with voice divine,
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Then gave this explanation of the dream:
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Thy next-born son forbear to rear, for he
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Will be the death of Pergamos and Troy.
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At night's approach I sought my quiet couch
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To soothe my weary limbs with restful sleep.
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Then in my dreams a shepherd near me drove
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A fleecy herd whose beauty was extreme.
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I chose two brother rams from out the flock
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And sacrificed the comelier of the twain.
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And then, with lowered horns, the other ram
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Attacked and bore me headlong to the ground.
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While there I lay outstretched and wounded sore,
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The sky a wondrous miracle disclosed:
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The blazing star of day reversed its course
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And glided to the right by pathway new.
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It is not strange, O king, that dreams reflect
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The day's desires and thoughts, its sights and deeds,
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And everything we say or do awake.
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But in so grave a dream as yours we see
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A message clearly sent, and thus it warns:
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Beware of him you deem bereft of wit
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And rate no higher than a stupid ram,
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Lest he, with wisdom armed, should rise to fame
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And drive you from your throne. The sun's changed course
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Unto the state portends immediate change.
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And may that prove benignant to the state;
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For since the almighty orb from left to right
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Revolved, it was the best of auguries
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That Rome would be supreme o'er all the earth.
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'Gladly on Phthia's shore the third day's dawn shall behold thee.'
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My soul presaged as I left home that my leaving was in vain.
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But why those flaming eyes, that sudden rage?
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And whither fled that sober modesty,
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Till now so maidenly and yet so wise?'
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O mother, noblest of thy noble sex!
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I have been sent to utter prophecies:
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Against my will Apollo drives me mad
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To revelation make of future ills.
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O virgins! comrades of my youthful hours,
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My mission shames my father, best of men.
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O mother dear! great loathing for myself
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And grief for thee I feel. For thou hast borne
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To Priam goodly issue—saving me.
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'Tis sad that unto thee the rest bring weal,
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I woe; that they obey, but I oppose.
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It comes! it comes! that bloody torch,The reference is to Paris, who, after being exposed on Ida, lived there a long time as a shepherd. in fire
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Enwrapped, though hid from sight these many years!
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Bring aid, my countrymen, and quench its flames!
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Already, on the mighty deep is built
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A navy swift that hastes with swarms of woe.
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Its ships are drawing nigh with swelling sails,
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And bands of savage men will fill our shores.
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Did rave like one by Bacchic rites made mad
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And mid the tombs her Teucer called aloud.
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To this the virgins whiteAthena and Artemis. The Greek line is e)moi\ melh/sei tau=ta kai\ leukai=s ko/rais. and I will see.
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Who, for their own gain, uphold opinions that are false,
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Behold, from out the tree, on rapid wing,
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The eagle that attends high-thundering Jove
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A serpent bore, whose fangs had wounded her;
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And as she flew her cruel talons pierced
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Quite through its flesh. The snake, tho' nearly dead,
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Kept darting here and there its spotted head;
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And, as it writhed, she tore with bloody beak
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Its twisted folds. At last, with sated wrath
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And grievous wounds avenged, she dropped her prey,
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Which, dead and mangled, fell into the sea;
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And from the West she sought the shining East.
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When Marius, reader of divine decrees,
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Observed the bird's auspicious, gliding course,
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He recognized the goodly sign foretold
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That he in glory would return to Rome;
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Then, on the left, Jove's thunder pealed aloud
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And thus declared the eagle's omen true.
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When each would rule they both at once appealed
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Their claims, with anxious hearts, to augury.
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Then Remus took the auspices alone
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And waited for the lucky bird; while on
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The lofty AventineAccording to other accounts, Romulus stood on the Palatine and Remus on the Aventine. Cf. Livy i. 5; Dionys. Halicar. i. 86; Florus i. 6. fair Romulus
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His quest did keep to wait the soaring tribe:
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Their contest would decide the city's name
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As Rome or Remora. The multitude
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Expectant looked to learn who would be king.
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As, when the consul is about to give
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The sign to start the race, the people sit
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With eyes intent on barrier doors from whose
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Embellished jaws the chariots soon will come;
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So now the people, fearful, looked for signs
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To know whose prize the mighty realm would be.
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Meantime the fading sun into the shades
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Of night withdrew and then the shining dawn
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Shot forth its rays. 'Twas then an augury,
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The best of all, appeared on high—a bird
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That on the left did fly. And, as the sun
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Its golden orb upraised, twelve sacred birds
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Flew down from heaven and betook themselves
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To stations set apart for goodly signs.
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Then Romulus perceived that he had gained
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A throne whose source and prop was augury.
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Alas! behold! some mortal will decide
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A famous case between three goddesses:
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Because of that decision there will come
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A Spartan woman, but a Fury too.Cassandra is speaking of the judgement of Paris and the coming of Helen. The author of the lines is not known.
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In verse which once the fauns and bards did sing.
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The men who know the speech of birds and more
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Do learn from other liversOften spoken of as the seat of the emotions, but here of the intelligence. than their own—
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'Twere best to hear, I think, and not to heed.
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Whate'er the power may be, it animates,
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Creates, gives form, increase, and nourishment
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To everything; of everything the sire,
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It takes all things unto itself and hides
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Within its breast; and as from it all things
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Arise, likewise to it all things return.
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In fine, I say, I do not care a fig
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For Marsian augurs, village mountebanks,
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Astrologers who haunt the circus grounds,
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Or Isis-seers, or dream interpreters:
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But superstitious bards, soothsaying quacks,
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Averse to work, or mad, or ruled by want,
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Directing others how to go, and yet
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What road to take they do not know themselves;
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From those to whom they promise wealth they beg
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A coin. From what they promised let them take
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Their coin as toll and pass the balance on.
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The best diviner I maintain to be
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The man who guesses or conjectures best.From Euripides and quoted in Plutarch, De orac. defect. 432 c ma/ntis d' a)/ristos o(/stis ei)ka/zei kalw=s.
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That which has been decreed by Fate to be
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Almighty Jove himself cannot prevent.
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No one regards the things before his feet,
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But views with care the regions of the sky.This is the third of three verses quoted by Cicero from the Iphigenia of Ennius in De rep. i. 18. 30, but the apophthegm is common. It is sometimes attributed to Thales.
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For high-thundering Jove, as he stood on starry Olympus,
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Hurtled his blows at the temples and monuments raised in his honour,
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And on the Capitol's site unloosed the bolts of his lightning.
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Be patient, men; with fortitude endure
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Your grievous tasks till we can ascertain
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If what our Calchas prophesies be true,
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Or only idle fancies of his breast.
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For all who have not left the light of day,
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In gloomy shades to dwell, retain these signs
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Imprinted on their minds. When Aulis first
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Was decked with Grecian fleets, which carried death
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For Priam, ruin for Troy, we stood about
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The fountains cool and sought to please the gods
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With gold-crowned bulls on smoking altars laid.
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Beneath the plane-tree's shade, whence gushed a spring,
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We saw a frightful dragon, huge of size,
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With mighty folds, forth from an altar come,
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By Jove impelled. It seized some sparrows hid
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Within the plane-tree's leafy boughs and eight
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Devoured; the ninth—the mother bird—began
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To flutter round and utter plaintive cries:
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From her the cruel beast her vitals tore.
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Now when the mother and her tender brood
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Were slain, the son of Saturn who had sent
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The dragon forth, took it away; and then
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Did change its form into enduring stone.
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In fear we stood and watched the monster strange,
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As midst the altars of the gods it moved.
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Then Calchas, full of courage, thus did speak:
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'Why paralysed with sudden fear, O Greeks?
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These signs divine were sent by Jove himself.
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And though these tardy signs were long delayed,
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Their fame and glory will for ever live.
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The number of the birds ye saw destroyed
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By horrid tooth, portends how many years
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Of war we shall endure in front of Troy.
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The tenth year Troy will fall and then her fate
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Will satisfy the Greeks.' Thus Calchas spoke
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And what he prophesied ye see fulfilled.
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Then on the left, from out a cloudless sky,
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Jove's thunder rolled its goodly omen forth.
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For their success Jove thunders on the right.
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I always said that there were gods on high,
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And this I never will neglect to say;
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But my opinion is they do not care
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What destiny befalls the human race.
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Already on the mighty deep . . .
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Alas! behold! ...
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Apollo, sacred guard of earth's true core,
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Whence first came frenzied, wild prophetic words.
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When Croesus o'er the river Halys goes
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He will a mighty kingdom overthrow,
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O son of Aeacus, my prediction is
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That you the Roman army will defeat.
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a stolid race,
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And more for valour than for wisdom famed,
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A bloodless, earth-engendered thing that crawls
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And bears its habitation on its back,
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Four-footed, of stature short; rough, shy, and slow;
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Fierce-eyed, with tiny head and serpent's neck;
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When disembowelled and deprived of life,
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It lives for ever in melodious song.
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Speak plainer, else we cannot understand.