Somnium Scipionis (De Re Publica 6.10)

Rep. 6.10.1Post autem apparātū rēgiō acceptī sermōnem in multam noctem prōdūximus, cum senex nihil nisi dē Āfricānō loquerētur omniaque eius nōn facta sōlum, sed etiam dicta meminisset.

Afterwards, entertained with royal splendour, we drew out our conversation late into the night, while the old man spoke of nothing but Africanus and remembered not only all his deeds but also his sayings.

Note. apparātū rēgiō acceptī: 'received with royal splendour'. in multam noctem: 'far into the night'. cum … loquerētur … meminisset: cum with the subjunctive, here 'since' or 'while'. nōn facta sōlum, sed etiam dicta: 'not only his deeds but also his sayings'.

Rep. 6.10.1Deinde, ut cubitum discessimus, mē et dē viā fessum, et quī ad multam noctem vigilāssem, artior quam solēbat somnus complexus est.

Then, when we went off to bed, a sleep deeper than usual took hold of me, since I was tired from the journey and had stayed awake late into the night.

Note. cubitum: the supine of cubō after a verb of motion, expressing purpose: 'we went off to bed'. mē … somnus complexus est: 'sleep embraced me'. et dē viā fessum et quī … vigilāssem: two reasons, an adjective and a relative clause of cause (hence the subjunctive). artior quam solēbat: 'deeper than usual'.

Rep. 6.10.1Hīc mihi (crēdō equidem ex hōc, quod erāmus locūtī;

At this point (I suppose because of what we had been talking about;

Note. The sentence breaks off into a long parenthesis (to the next sentence), and its main clause, Āfricānus sē ostendit, comes only after it closes. ex hōc, quod erāmus locūtī: 'from what we had been talking about'.

Rep. 6.10.1fit enim ferē, ut cōgitātiōnēs sermōnēsque nostrī pariant aliquid in somnō tāle, quāle dē Homērō scrībit Ennius, dē quō vidēlicet saepissimē vigilāns solēbat cōgitāre et loquī) Āfricānus sē ostendit eā fōrmā, quae mihi ex imāgine eius quam ex ipsō erat nōtior;

for it often happens that our thoughts and conversations produce something in sleep of the kind that Ennius writes about Homer, whom, of course, he very often used to think and talk about while awake) Africanus showed himself to me in the form that I knew better from his portrait than from the man himself;

Note. fit … ut … pariant: 'it happens that our thoughts … produce'. quāle dē Homērō scrībit Ennius: at the start of his epic Annales the poet Ennius told how Homer appeared to him in a dream; Cicero suggests that dreams come from what we think about by day. eā fōrmā: ablative of description. ex imāgine: from the wax ancestor-masks (imāginēs) kept in noble Roman houses; Aemilianus was a baby when Africanus died in 183 BC.

Rep. 6.10.1quem ubi agnōvī, equidem cohorruī, sed ille: Ades, inquit, animō et omitte timōrem, Scīpiō, et, quae dīcam, trāde memoriae.

when I recognised him, I shuddered, but he said: 'Take heart and put aside your fear, Scipio, and commit to memory what I shall tell you.

Note. Ades animō: 'be present in your mind', that is, 'take heart'. quae dīcam, trāde memoriae: 'commit to memory what I shall say'; dīcam is future.