The Republic and The Laws (Oxford World's Classics) (17 page)

So you are waiting to hear about the ruler’s prudence in all its facets—a quality that takes its very name from ‘pro-vision’
[seeing ahead]
(Nonius i. 60).

Accordingly this citizen must make sure that he is always forearmed against the things that upset the stability of the state (Nonius 2. 389).

… and such dissension among citizens is called ‘sedition’, because people ‘go apart’
[se + itio]
to different factions (Nonius 1. 36 and Servius on Virgil,
Aeneid
1. 149).

… and in times of civil conflict, when soundness is more important than numbers, I think citizens should be assessed rather than counted (Nonius 3. 836).

For our lusts are set over our thoughts like cruel mistresses, ordering and compelling us to do outlandish things. As there is no way in which they may be appeased or satisfied, once they have inflamed a person with their seductive charms they drive him to every sort of crime (Nonius 3. 686).

… whoever crushes its
[i.e. the seditious mob’s]
force and its rampant ferocity … (Nonius 3. 789).

This act was the more remarkable in that, although the two colleagues were in the same position, they were not equally disliked; more than that, the affection felt for Gracchus
*
actually mitigated Claudius’ unpopularity (Gellius 7. 16. 11, Nonius 2. 448).

The result was that, as this writer
*
points out, a thousand men went down to the forum every day wearing purple-dyed cloaks … (Nonius 3. 805).

In their case, as you recall, a crowd of the least substantial citizens got together, and thanks to the coins which they contributed a funeral was, quite unexpectedly, provided (Nonius 3. 833).

… for our ancestors were keen that marriages should be built on solid foundations (Nonius 3. 824, Priscian,
Gramm. Lat. K.
3. 70. 11).

Laelius’ speech,
*
with which we are all familiar, (points out)
how welcome the priests’ crocks and, as he says, ‘the Samian pots’ are to the immortal gods (Nonius 2. 640).

[Laelius complained that no statues had been erected to Nasica for killing Tiberius Gracchus. Part of Scipio’s reply has been preserved in the following section, which leads up to the Dream of Scipio.]

SCIPIO
: For men of good sense the consciousness of their outstanding deeds is in itself the richest reward for their moral excellence. Nevertheless, that superhuman excellence longs, not for statues held in place by lead nor for triumphs and their withering laurels, but for fresher and more lasting kinds of reward.

LAELIUS
: And what, may I ask, are they?

SCIPIO
: As this is the third day of our holiday, allow me … (Macrobius,
On the Dream of Scipio
1. 4. 2ff.).

[Cicero began by referring to Plato’s myth of Er.
]

… who, after being laid on the funeral pyre, came back to life and revealed many secrets about the world below (Favonius Eulogius
*
on
The Dream of Scipio
1, p. 13).

[Augustine says that, according to Cicero, Plato was presenting an entertaining story rather than the truth,
De Civitate Dei 22. 28.]

SCIPIO: AS
you know, I served in Africa
*
as military tribune of the fourth legion when Manilius here was consul. On arrival, my first priority was to meet King Masinissa, who for good reasons was a very close friend of our family. When I came to see him, the old man put his arms around me and wept. Then, after a minute or two, he looked up at the sky and said ‘I give thanks to you, O Sun most high, and to you other heavenly beings, that before departing this life I see Publius Cornelius Scipio in my kingdom, here in my palace. Simply by hearing his name I feel refreshed; for the memory of that excellent and invincible man
[his grandfather]
remains constantly in my heart.’ Then I asked him about his kingdom, and he asked me about our republic. And as our leisurely conversation moved this way and that, the day came to an end.

Later, after he had entertained me in royal style, we continued our talk far into the night. The old man spoke all the time about Africanus, recalling not only his acts but also his sayings. Then, after going to bed, I sank into a deeper sleep than usual, for I was tired after my journey and had stayed up late. Now it happens from time to time that our thoughts and conversations give rise to something in our sleep, like what Ennius
*
writes about in the case of Homer, whom he obviously thought and spoke about a good deal in his waking hours. So, I suppose as a result of our talk, Africanus
*
now appeared, in a form more familiar to me from his portrait than from what he was like in life. When I recognized him I began to tremble, but he said ‘Don’t be afraid, Scipio. Listen to me and remember what I say.

‘Do you see that city which, through my efforts, was forced to bend the knee to the Roman people—the city which is now reviving the wars of the past and cannot remain at peace?’
*
(At this he showed me Carthage from a high place which was clear and shining in the radiance of starlight.) ‘At the present moment, as you come to attack it, you are little more than a common soldier. In less than two years you will overthrow it as a consul, and you will obtain in your own right the name which you have already inherited from me. When you have destroyed Carthage, you will celebrate a triumph, become censor, and go as an envoy to Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece. In your absence you will be elected consul a second time; you will bring a very great war
*
to an end; you will sack Numantia. But after riding in a chariot to the Capitol, you will find the country in turmoil as a result of my grandson’s
*
policies.

‘Then, Africanus, you will have to show our fatherland the light of your spirit, ability, and good sense. But at that point I see a fork, as it were, in the pathway of destiny. For when your life has completed eight times seven revolutions
*
of the sun in its wheeling course, and when those two numbers which are considered perfect (each for a different reason) have, in the natural cycle, reached the sum of years allotted to you by fate, then the entire country will turn to you alone because of your prestige. The Senate, all good citizens, the allies, the Latins—all will look to you; you will be the one man on whom the country’s safety depends. In short, you will have to assume the dictatorship
*
and
restore order in the state, if you manage to elude the unholy hands of your relatives.’
*

At this point Laelius cried out in horror, and the others groaned heavily. But Scipio with a gentle smile said: Sh! Please don’t wake me from my sleep. Listen for a few minutes to the rest of what happened.

‘Yet, to make you all the keener to defend the state, Africanus, I want you to know this: for everyone who has saved and served his country and helped it to grow, a sure place is set aside in heaven where he may enjoy a life of eternal bliss. To that supreme god who rules the universe nothing (or at least nothing that happens on earth) is more welcome than those companies and communities of people linked together by justice that are called states. Their rulers and saviours set out from this place,
*
and to this they return.’

At this point I was extremely apprehensive, fearing not so much death as treachery on the part of my relatives. Nevertheless, I asked whether he himself and my father Paulus were still alive, and the others whom I imagined to be dead.

‘Why indeed they are,’ he said, ‘and so are all who have escaped from the fetters of the body as though from prison. For that life of yours (as it is called) is really death. But look, here is your father Paulus coming to meet you.’ When I saw him, I burst into tears. But he put his arms around me, kissed me, and told me to stop crying.

As soon as T had dried my tears and was able to speak, I said ‘Best and most revered of fathers, please tell me—since this is life (as Africanus has just said), why do I linger on earth? Why do I not hurry here to join you?’ ‘Things are not like that,’ he said. ‘There is no possible way for you to come here, unless the god whose temple is this whole visible universe releases you from the bonds of the body. Human beings were born on condition that they should look after that sphere called earth which you see in the middle of this celestial space. A soul was given to them out of those eternal fires which you call stars and planets. Those bodies are round and spherical, animated by divine minds, and they complete their circuits and orbits with amazing speed. That is why you, Publius, and all loyal men must keep the soul in the custody
*
of the body. You must not depart from human life until you
receive the command from him who has given you that soul; otherwise you will be judged to have deserted the earthly post assigned to you by God. Instead, Scipio, be like your grandfather 16 here, and me, your father. Respect justice and do your duty. That is important in the case of parents and relatives, and paramount in the case of one’s country. That is the way of life which leads to heaven and to the company, here, of those who have already completed their lives. Released from their bodies, they dwell in that place which you see—a place which you have learnt from the Greeks to call the Milky Way.’ (And in fact there was this circle shining with dazzling radiance among the fiery bodies.)

When I beheld the whole universe from that point, everything seemed glorious and wonderful. There were stars which we have never seen from this earth of ours, each of a size which we have never imagined to exist. The smallest star,
*
which was furthest from heaven and nearest to earth, was shining with a light not its own. The spheres of the stars easily exceeded the earth in size. Now the earth itself seemed so small to me that I felt ashamed of our empire, whose extent was no more than a dot on its surface.

As I gazed more intently upon it, Africanus said ‘Well now, how long will your thoughts remain fixed on the earth? Do you not notice what lofty regions you have entered? Everything is joined together by nine circles
*
or rather spheres. One of them (the outermost) is that of heaven, which surrounds all the others. It is itself the supreme divinity, holding apart and keeping in all the rest. In that sphere are fixed those stars which revolve eternally in their courses. Below it are seven spheres which revolve backwards in a contrary motion
*
to that of heaven. One of them (that nearest to heaven) belongs to the star which on earth is called Saturn’s; then comes that light, called Jupiter’s, which brings prosperity and good health to mankind; then comes the red star dreaded by all on earth, which you say belongs to Mars; below that, the band more or less in the middle is occupied by the sun, which is the leader, chief, and ruler of the other lights; it is also the mind and regulator of the universe, so huge that it suffuses and fills everything with its light; the sun is followed by two attendants—Venus in her course and Mercury in his. The lowest sphere is that in which the moon revolves, lit by the rays of the sun. Below that
everything is subject to death and decay, except the souls which the gods, in their generosity, have granted to the race of men. Above the moon all is eternal. The earth, the innermost and last of the nine spheres, does not move; it is the lowest sphere, and all heavy things fall onto it by virtue of their own weight.’

I gazed at all these things in amazement. Then, pulling myself together, I said ‘What is this sound,
*
so loud and yet so sweet, that fills my ears?’

‘That,’ he said, ‘is the sound produced by the impetus and momentum of the spheres themselves. It is made up of intervals which, though unequal, are determined systematically by fixed proportions. The blend of high and low notes produces an even flow of various harmonies. Such vast motions cannot sweep on in silence, and nature ordains that low notes should be emitted by one of the boundaries and high notes by the other. From the uppermost of the heavenly orbits (that which carries the stars) comes a high note with frequent vibrations, in that its cycle is more rapid. The deepest note emanates from the lowest orbit, that of the moon. The earth, which is the ninth sphere, remains fixed and immobile in one place, filling the central position of the universe. Those eight rotating spheres (of which two
[being an octave apart]
produce the same effect) give out seven distinctive sounds according to their intervals. That number is more or less the linchpin of everything. By imitating this system with strings and voices experts have succeeded in opening up a way back to this place, as have others who, in their life on earth, have applied their outstanding intellect to heavenly subjects. Filled with this sound, people’s ears have become deaf to it. Hearing, in fact, is the most easily impaired of all your senses. For instance, where the Nile comes hurtling down from the mountain peaks at a place called Catadoupa,
*
the local inhabitants have lost their sense of hearing because of the loudness of the roar. The noise of the whole universe, then, revolving as it does at an enormous speed, is so loud that human ears cannot take it in, just as you cannot look straight at the sun because your sight and vision become overwhelmed by its rays.’

Though listening to all this with astonishment, I kept turning my eyes repeatedly back to earth. Thereupon Africanus said ‘I notice you are still gazing at the home and habitation of men. If
it seems small to you (as indeed it is) make sure to keep your mind on these higher regions and to think little of the human scene down there. For what fame can you achieve, what glory worth pursuing, that consists merely of people’s talk? Look. The earth is inhabited in just a few confined areas. In between those inhabited places, which resemble blots, there are huge expanses of empty territory. Those who live on earth are separated in such a way that nothing can readily pass between them from one populated region to another. More than that, in relation to your position, some people stand at a different angle,
*
some at right angles, and some directly opposite. You certainly cannot expect any praise from them.

‘You notice, too, that the earth is also encircled and surrounded by things like belts.
*
The two farthest apart from each other, which lie in each direction right beneath the poles of the sky, are, as you see, frozen solid. The belt in the middle (the largest one) is burnt by the heat of the sun. Two belts are habitable; the one to the south, where from your point of view people walk upside down, is in no way related to your race; as for the one which lies open to the north wind—the one where you live—notice how tiny a part of it concerns you. That entire land mass which you occupy has been made narrow from north to south
*
and broader from east to west. It is like a small island surrounded by the sea which you on earth call the Atlantic, the Great Sea, or the Ocean. Yet observe how small it is in spite of its imposing name. Has your fame, or that of any of us, been able to find its way from these civilized and familiar lands to the far side of the Caucasus, which you see here, or to swim across the Ganges, there? In the remaining areas of the east or west, or in those far to the north and south, who will ever hear your name? When all those regions have been cut out, you can surely see how small is the area over which your glory is so eager to extend. And even those who talk about us now—how long will they continue to do so?

‘Even if the children of future generations should want to hand on in their turn the praises of each one of us which they have heard from their fathers, nevertheless, owing to the floods and fires which at certain times will inevitably afflict the earth, we cannot achieve, I will not say eternal, but even long-lasting glory. And what difference does it make that you should be talked of
among people still unborn when you were never mentioned by those who lived before your time—men who were not inferior in numbers and were certainly superior in character?

‘Anyhow, of those who may come to hear our name none will manage to remember it for more than a year. Granted, men commonly measure the year simply by the return of one heavenly body, namely the sun. But when all the heavenly bodies return to the position from which they started, and after a long interval restore the configuration of the entire firmament, then that can truly be called the cycle of a year.
*
I hardly venture to guess how many generations of men that year contains. In the past, when Romulus’
*
soul found its way to this region, people saw the sun grow dim and go out. When, in the same position and at the same time, the sun goes out again, then you may take it that all the planets and stars have returned to their original places, and that the year has been completed. I can tell you that not one twentieth part of that year has yet rolled by.