The Dream of Scipio: Translated from the Sixth Book of de Reupblica of CiceroTogether with the Latin Text, Introduction & Notes

Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall Very Good Hard Cover First Edition The Dream of Scipio (Latin, Somnium Scipionis) is a dream-vision in which Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus meets his grandfather by adoption, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236 BC - 184 BC), hero of the Second Punic War against Hannibal's Carthage. The Dream of Scipio forms a digression within the sixth book of Cicero's De re publica, (English: On the Republic), his treatise on the laws and polity of the Roman republic. Comparisons have been drawn between this concluding section of Cicero's work and the Myth of Er which appears in Plato's 'Res publica' and to which 'De republica' is said to respond. In the brief but compressed work Scipio Aemilianus travels through the planetary spheres. Digressions upon cosmology, dream-interpretation, prophecy, time-cycles, geography and doctrine upon the nature of the soul are included in it as well as advancing Pythagorean thought and the idea of the Music of the Spheres. Somnium Scipionis was studied by the Roman philosopher Macrobius (395 - 423); his Commentary upon Scipio's Dream was valued throughout the Middle Ages. The Dream of Scipio was known to the early Christian era philosopher Boethius. Chaucer was also acquainted with it, referencing the work explicitly in his Parliament of Foules and the Nun's Priest's Tale. Translation, introduction and notes by Edward Henry Blakeney. Limited to 525 copies on hand-made paper. Text in English and Latin. (d'Arch Smith 118) Some staining to spine and minor wear to d/j. Rare in any condition.