In his De Divinatione Cicero sets out arguments
in favour of divination and arguments against. In the first book his brother
Quintus is the spokes mouth of the arguments pro, whereas Cicero is refuting
the arguments in book two. Cicero has rendered historians of religion a great service,
as he explains into detail all kinds of divination. Through Quintus he points
to numerous examples of the validity of divination, but also mentions those
cases of foreknowledge we would call scientific knowledge and common sense. In
this context he mentions an anecdote about Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – c. 546
BC), the first known Greek philosopher and whose extant writings are unfortunately
limited to a few quotes. Philosophers were already in antiquity seen as a bit
weird and out of touch with reality and so people were making fun of Thales, saying
that he couldn’t make money. Thales’ philosophical studies also included the
working of nature and foreseeing an excellent harvest for olives, he bought in
advance all crop - or to another tradition all olive presses - and was now a
monopolist, who could ask any price he wanted. The anecdote is obviously
legendary and the same story goes about Democritus, but it shows that philosophers
are not that mad. May be they are simply not interested in making money.
Cicero, De Divinitatione, 1, 111.
Rarum est quoddam genus
eorum, qui se a corpore avocent et ad divinarum rerum cognitionem cura omni
studioque rapiantur. Horum sunt auguria non divini impetus, sed rationis
humanae; nam et natura futura praesentiunt, ut aquarum eluviones et
deflagrationem futuram aliquando caeli atque terrarum; alii autem in re publica
exercitati, ut de Atheniensi Solone accepimus, orientem tyrannidem multo ante
prospiciunt. Quos prudentes possumus dicere, id est providentes, divinos nullo
modo possumus, non plus quam Milesium Thalem, qui, ut obiurgatores suos
convinceret ostenderetque etiam philosophum, si ei commodum esset, pecuniam
facere posse, omnem oleam, ante quam florere coepisset, in agro Milesio
coemisse dicitur.
a corpore:
i.e. from pleasure
avoco: to
withdraw
divinarum rerum:
though we would call this rather the study of nature, in the opinion of Quintus,
being an adherent of Stoic philosophy, there was no difference between god and
nature. Cf. Spinoza `Deus sive natura’.
studium:
zeal
rapiuntur:
are being driven
impetus –us
(m.): impulse
praesentio –sensi -sensum: perceive in advance
eluvio –onis
(f.): inundation
deflagratio –onis (f.): consuming by fire (The Stoics believed that one day the cosmos
would be consumed by a cosmic fire and then rise again.)
accepimis:
we have heard
Solon (c. 638
– c. 558 BC), the famous Athenian statesman, whose constitutional reforms tried
to reconcile the various opposing factions in Athens. His relative Peisistratus
ended these reforms by absorbing absolute power. Solon was also one of the
seven sages, as was Thales.
orior ortus:
to arise
prudentes id est providentes: prudens is contracted from providens
obiurgator –oris (m.): chider, rebuker
convinco –vici –victum: to refute
si ei commodum esset: if it pleases him
W. A. Falconer (1923
"However, there is a
certain class of men, though small in number, who withdraw themselves from
carnal influences and are wholly possessed by an ardent concern for the
contemplation of things divine. Some of these men make predictions, not as the
result of direct heavenly inspiration, but by the use of their own reason. For
example, by means of natural law, they foretell certain events, such as a
flood, or the future destruction of heaven and earth by fire. Others, who are
engaged in public life, like Solon of Athens,123 as history describes him,
discover the rise of tyranny long in advance. Such men we may call
'foresighted' — that is, 'able to foresee the future'; but we can no more apply
the term 'divine' to them than we can apply it to Thales of Miletus, who, as
the story goes, in order to confound his critics and thereby show that even a
philosopher, if he sees fit, can make money, bought up the entire olive crop in
the district of Miletus before it had begun to bloom.
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