D R E A M S. 



133 



Different 

 sof 



DS ac- 

 ; to 



>ir.. ms. DREAMS must be so familiar to our readers, that it 

 S ""~Y~ < ~* ' seems superfluous to define them. They are among the 

 most curious phenomena of the human mind ; and at 

 the same time," the most difficult to be satisfactorily ex- 

 plained. The interest which they have excited in all 

 ages, both among the vulgar and ignorant, and among 

 philosophers, has been very great and general. The 

 earliest authentic records of history inform us, that 

 dreams were regarded as supernatural or prophetic ; 

 and this idea has descended, at least among the common 

 people, even to our own times. The Greeks and Ro- 

 mans paid particular attention to them. They divided 

 them into five sprts : the first distinction, as given by 

 ancients Macrobius, refers to what is properly called a dream, 

 Ovdga;, somnium ; this he considers as a figurative and 

 mysterious representation, which requires to be inter- 

 preted. The second species relates to what is termed 

 vision, O^xitM, visio, which was, when any one saw that 

 which afterwards came to pass in the same manner that 

 it was foreseen. The third sort, the ancients conceived 

 to be oracnlar, Xgipu-i;pf, oracuhim ; this they descri- 

 bed as taking place, when in sleep any venerable per- 

 son, or deity, denounced what was or was not to hap- 

 pen, or what should be done or avoided. All these 

 Mirts of dreams were supposed to arise under the in- 

 fluence of inspiration ; and in order to procure them, it 

 was usual to lie down to sleep in the temple of some 

 deity. The fourth sort was the Iitaomnhim, Eu3-yi ; 

 this Macrobius represents as proceeding from the soli- 

 citude of an oppressed mind, body, or fortune, which 

 having harassed us when awake, affects us whi'ii asleep; 

 and respecting this sort, the ideas of the ancients seem 

 to have been tolerably just and rational ; for, not regard- 

 ing them as arising from the influence of inspiration, 

 they endeavoured to truce them to natural causes^ 

 These dreams, however, they regarded as deceitful and 

 vain. The last sort is called Phantasm by Macrobius, 

 and Visits by Cicero. According to these authors, it 

 took place between waking and sleeping ; as in the first 

 clouds of sleep, w lien the person who begins to doze, 

 thinking himself awake, imagines that he sees forms 

 differing in, shape and magnitude from natural objects, 

 rushing upon him, and wandering about. Under this 

 class, the ancients placed the Ephialtcs, or Night-mar* 

 Some other of the ancient writers on dreams divided 

 them only into two classes, plain and allegorical ; the for- 

 mer exhibiting tilings in their proper form, Gttipvt*nx.tt ; 

 the latter, such as intimated circumstances under simi- 

 litudes. Besides Macrobius and Cicero, several others 

 of the ancients wrote on the subject f dreams, either 

 directly nd fully, or incidentally, as Plutarch, Zeno, 

 Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Babylonius, Diogenes, A ntipater, 

 Posidonius, Aristotle, &c. The exposition of dreams 

 was reduced by them to scientific principles, and prac- 

 tised by men who engaged in it as a profession. Some 

 writers distinguish between dreamers of dreams, Oi{- 

 *!, and etfQtttort cf dreams, Oi{*oi]. It appears 

 from a passage in Plutarch's life of Anstides, that cer- 

 tain tables were used for the interpretation of dreams ; 

 for he speaks of Lysimachus, a grandson of Aristides, 

 who, sitting near the temple of Bacchus, gained his 

 livelihood by it. But the most laborious and solemn 

 trifler on this subject among the ancients was Artemi- 

 doriis, who lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius. His 

 whole life seems to have been spent in going about col- 

 lecting dreams. The fruits of his labour are still ex- 

 tant, in a large work entitled Oneirocrittis. A person 

 still more singularly devoted to the study of tliis sub- 



Ancient 

 *ri(cr on 

 dreams. 



ject was Junianus Magus, a Neapolitan, \vlio lived in Dreams, 

 the 1 5th century, and was the instructor of the celebra- "~ T v ~~ 1 " / 

 ted Sanagorius. Magus is deservedly known to the wr "j lcnt 

 classical scholar, as having essentially contributed to d re ams. 

 the revival of the Latin language ; but in his own time 

 he was much more celebrated for his skill in the inter- 

 pretation of dreams. Besides Sanagorius, Alexander 

 ab Alexandra was one of his disciples ; and he informs 

 us, that every morning the house of Magus was crowded 

 with persons of the highest rank, who came to tell him 

 their dreams, in order that he might interpret them ; and 

 that his interpretations were not obscure and ambigu- 

 ous, but clear and direct. He seems to have obtained 

 a very easy and ample livelihood" by this profession. 

 The superstition of the Romans respecting dreams 

 seems to have been at its height in the time of Augus- 

 tus. This emperor not only observed the time of the 

 year when his dreams were least favourable and most 

 uncertain, but on a certain day of every year, in con- 

 sequence of a vision, he begged publicly, stretching out 

 his hand to those who reached him a few asses ; and in 

 his reign a law was passed obliging all who had dreamt 

 any thing"respecting the state, immediately to make it 

 known, either by a placard, or by the public crier. 

 The consequence was, that dreams multiplied so exces- 

 sively, that it was necessary to adopt it as a principle, 

 that none which related to the state should be regarded, 

 unless they were seen by magistrates, or at least by 

 more than one individual. It has been remarked, that, 

 with respect to these superstitions, the most polished 

 nations of antiquity approached very nearly the Indian 

 tribes of North America. " All the marches of the In- 

 dians are regulated by the dreams of the old warriors, 

 who, under this pretence, often convey information, 

 gained by spies, to the young men ; but it must be ob- 

 served, that they only pay attention to dreamers of es- 

 tablished character." See Ferriar on Popular Illusions, 

 p. 28. 



But though the superstitious notions which the an- 

 cients entertained on the subject of dreams, naturally 

 and necessarily disinclined or disabled them from in- 

 vestigating their real cause and phenomena so clearly 

 and fully as they might otherwise have done, yet some 

 of them have offered hypotheses to account for them, 

 certainly not less philosophical than many which have 

 been brought forward by modern writers. These hy- 

 potheses, of course, resulted from, or rather formed, a 

 part of their general system of physics and metaphy- 

 sics. We shall briefly notice the most celebrated. Ac- 

 cording to Epicurus, our sensations are the effects of Kpicuius's 

 the different organs which the soul, while united tllcor y of 

 to the body, is capable of employing, and of the dif- drealus - 

 ferent properties and qualities of external objects. 

 These are rendered sensible, by means of certain species, 

 or images, which are perpetually passing, like thin films, 

 from bodies, in form similar to the surfaces of the bo- 

 dies themselves, and striking upon organs fitted to re- 

 ceive them. The species, or images which produce 

 these effects, are inconceivably small, and therefore do 

 not, in passing away, perceptibly diminish the body ; 

 and from the innate tendency to motion in' the atoms 

 of which they are composed, they fly with inconceiva- 

 ble velocity from the object to the organ of sensation. 

 From this general doctrine, Epicurus concluded, that 

 sleep was produced, when the parts of the soul which, 

 at other times, were diffused through the body, we're 

 repressed or separated by the aftion of the air, or of 

 food ; and that dreams were the effect of images, ca- 



