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[127]
And, further,
what is the need of a method which, instead of being
direct, is so circuitous and roundabout that we have to
employ men to interpret our dreams? And if it be true
that God consults for our advantage he would say:
'Do this,' 'Don't do that,' and not give us visions
when we are awake rather than when we are asleep.
[p. 515]
62. "And further, would anybody dare to say
that all dreams are true? ' Some dreams are true,'
says Ennius, ' but not necessarily all.' Pray how do
you distinguish between the two? What mark have
the false and what the true? And if God sends
the true, whence come the false? Surely if God
sends the false ones too what is more untrustworthy
than God? Besides what is more stupid than to
excite the souls of mortals with false and lying
visions? But if true visions are divine while the
false and meaningless ones are from nature, what
sort of caprice decided that God made the one and
nature made the other, rather than that God made
them all, which your school denies, or that nature
made them all? Since you deny that God made
them all you must admit that nature made them
all. By 'nature,' in this connexion, I mean that
force because of which the soul can never be
stationary1 and free from motion and activity.
And when, because of the weariness of the body,
the soul can use neither the limbs nor the senses,
it lapses into varied and untrustworthy visions,
which emanate from what Aristotle2 terms 'the
clinging remnants of the soul's waking acts and
thoughts.' These 'remnants,' when aroused, sometimes produce strange types of dreams. Now if
some of these dreams are true and others false, I
should like very much to know by what mark they
may be distinguished. If there is none, why should
we listen to your interpreters? But if there is one,
I am eager for them to tell me what it is, but they
will grow confused when I ask and will not answer.
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