Scipio's Dream

The philosopher and orator Marc Tul·li Cicero, a key figure of Roman republicanism, sets out his conception of the universe and the immortality of the soul in Book VI of The Republic through a revelatory dream, the dream of Scipio, the protagonist of the philosophical dialogue. Scipio's full name is Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, Africanus Minor, and he was a prominent Roman politician and military man of the 2nd century BC. virtuous, just, and successful, and exemplary in his commitment to the common good. Philosophical and cosmological

Cicero introduces the story of the dream as a kind of philosophical and cosmological epilogue, an appendix to his political philosophy, inspired by Plato's myth of Er, in order to convey the idea that good government and virtuous conduct oriented towards the common good have the great reward of enjoying eternal life.

Thus, Scipio recalls the dream he had in Africa, in 149 BC, during the military campaign against Carthage, known as the Third Punic War, after a nocturnal conversation with King Massinissa, an ally of the Romans in the war and an old friend of the family. The dream begins with the appearance of his adoptive father, Scipio Africanus. Cicero links this appearance to the fact that Scipio and the king had been talking about it, and makes it clear that dreams are naturally linked to thoughts and conversations.

At the beginning of the dream, Scipio fears the ghost of his father, but the latter reassures him and, above all, warns him that he will have to remember everything he will tell him. His father reveals that he will be named consul after defeating the Carthaginians. He also tells him that he will end the Spanish War with victory over Numantia and that in 56 years he will proclaim himself dictator and savior of Rome. But the message he must convey goes beyond the glory and fame he will acquire on a personal level; it has a transcendent and lasting character and is intended above all for all those citizens and rulers who, like him, have shown themselves to be respectful of the law and have striven to preserve and enhance their country. The news he wishes to convey to them is hopeful and consists of the promise that their virtuous conduct will be rewarded in the future by the Almighty God, who will have reserved a place for them in heaven, "where they will be able to enjoy their happiness forever."

Scipio understands that death, understood as the separation of the soul from its bodily prison, is not the end, but the beginning of life. At this point, Cicero adopts Plato's anthropological vision of the body as the prison of the immortal soul. Scipio then asks himself what the meaning of life is, and above all, what is he still doing living if death means passing on to a better life? Why doesn't he face death? His father's apparition replies that he cannot abandon earthly life without fully fulfilling the mission entrusted to him by God, which, in general terms, consists of caring for the Earth.

His father's ghost lets him know through the dream that life is "a path to heaven," and that heaven must be earned by cultivating piety and respecting family and country, and that humans are closely linked to the cosmos through the soul, which is made of the same essence as creatures to essence.

From here begins the description of the Ciceronian cosmology of clearly Platonic inspiration (coinciding with that set forth in the Time) and which places the Earth, always motionless, in the ninth sphere, right at the center of the universe. Surrounding it are eight other spheres, concentric and in motion, the outermost of which is the celestial sphere of the supreme god, a large sphere that embraces everything else. This outer sphere, formed by the fixed stars, delimits the universe and encompasses within it the rest of the spheres, which contain the various planets of the Milky Way: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. In short, the universe is divided into two parts: the supralunar world, eternal and formed by the stars, the Sun, and the planets; and the sublunary world, formed by the Earth, where everything is mortal except for human spirits, which are a divine gift. All celestial bodies and spheres move in a uniform, circular motion. According to Cicero, this motion produces a celestial music, the music of the spheres. This is a conception of Pythagorean origin, also accepted by Plato, according to which the movement of the spheres produces music and fills the universe with low and high tones, but this sound is so intense and strong that human ears cannot perceive it, just as humans cannot look directly at the Sun.

Cicero is interested in demonstrating the eternity of the universal soul through movement, following the same argument introduced by Plato in the Phaedrus. And which, in summary, starts from the premise that everything that moves is always eternal, while what is moved and receives external movement is temporal and perishable. Therefore, only that which moves itself and can never stop moving is the origin and principle of movement. And that principle, being a principle, cannot have its origin or be born from anything else; therefore, everything is born from it. And if this were not the case, it could not be its beginning. Finally, from the fact that it has no beginning, it also follows that it has no end and can never die, that it is animate. In conclusion, the principle of movement is the soul of the universe, which is located outside of time because it is eternal; it is neither born nor dies, and moves by itself with an internal movement.

The Expiration of Glory and Fame

Once Scipio Africanus has finished the cosmological tale, he reflects on the transience of glory and fame, conveying the moral idea of Stoicism, according to which human glory on Earth is ephemeral and doomed to oblivion, due to death and the destructive action of the fen. Thus, prestige and popularity are insignificant compared to the greatness, order, and perfection of the universe.

Ultimately, he encourages his son to achieve sufficient merits to achieve eternal glory and earn the right to inhabit the universe alongside the gods, and asks him to strive to be virtuous, forget about his body, not be dominated by passions and pleasures, and renounce a contemplative life committed to the collective benefit and the civic duty of serving the community of which he is a part. This somniloquy ends with the warning that those who give in to passions and indulge in bodily pleasures will break human and divine laws, and their souls will wander the Earth and be harshly punished and subjected to torment for centuries, until they are once again freed from earthly imprisonment. After these revelations and warnings, the soul of Scipio Africanus departs, and the young Scipio awakens from his sleep. And with his awakening, the dialogue of The Republic.