[7,68] Ὀλίγαις δ´ ὕστερον ἡμέραις καθῆκε μὲν ὁ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσιῶν καιρός, ὕπατοι δ´ ἀπεδείχθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου Κόιντος Σουλπίκιος Καμερῖνος καὶ Σέργιος Λάρκιος Φλαύιος τὸ δεύτερον. ταραχαὶ δέ τινες ἐνέπιπτον ἐκ δειμάτων δαιμονίων τῇ πόλει συχναί· ὄψεις τε γὰρ οὐκ εἰωθυῖαι ἐφαίνοντο πολλοῖς, καὶ φωναὶ ἠκούοντο οὐδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ φθεγγομένου, γοναί τ´ ἀνθρώπων καὶ βοσκημάτων πολὺ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκβεβηκυῖαι εἰς τὸ ἄπιστόν τε καὶ τερατῶδες ἐφέροντο, χρησμοί τ´ ᾔδοντο ἐν πολλοῖς χωρίοις, καὶ θειασμοῖς κάτοχοι γυναῖκες οἰκτρὰς ἐμαντεύοντο καὶ δεινὰς τῇ πόλει τύχας. ἥψατο δέ τις καὶ νόσος τοῦ πλήθους λοιμικὴ καὶ πολλὴν ἐποίησε βοσκημάτων φθοράν· ἀνθρώπων μέντοι θάνατος οὐ πολὺς ἐγένετο, ἀλλ´ ἄχρι νόσων τὸ δεινὸν ἐχώρησεν· τοῖς μὲν δὴ ταῦτ´ ἐδόκει κατὰ θεοῦ γενέσθαι γνώμην νεμεσῶντος, ὅτι τὸν ἄριστον τῶν πολιτῶν ἐξήλασαν τῆς πατρίδος, τοῖς δ´ οὐθὲν τῶν γινομένων θεοῦ ἔργον, ἀλλὰ τυχηρὰ καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἀνθρώπεια εἶναι πάθη. ἔπειθ´ ἧκέ τις ἐπὶ τὸ συνέδριον τῆς βουλῆς ἄρρωστος ἐπὶ κλινιδίου κομιζόμενος, Τῖτος Λατίνιος ὄνομα, πρεσβύτερός τ´ ἀνὴρ καὶ οὐσίας ἱκανῆς κύριος, αὐτουργὸς δὲ καὶ τὸν πλείω χρόνον τοῦ βίου ζῶν ἐν ἀγρῷ. οὗτος εἰς τὴν βουλὴν ἐνεχθεὶς ἔφη δόξαι καθ´ ὕπνον ἐπιστάντα τὸν Καπιτώλιον Δία λέγειν αὐτῷ· Ἴθι, Λατίνιε, καὶ λέγε τοῖς πολίταις, ὅτι μοι τῆς νεωστὶ πομπῆς τὸν ἡγούμενον ὀρχηστὴν οὐ καλὸν ἔδωκαν, ἵν´ ἀναθῶνται τὰς ἑορτὰς καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἑτέρας ἐπιτελέσωσιν· οὐ γὰρ δέδεγμαι ταύτας. αὐτὸς δ´ ἐκ τῶν ὕπνων ἔφησεν ἀναστὰς παρ´ οὐδὲν ἡγήσασθαι τὸ ὄναρ, ἀλλ´ ἕν τι τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀπατηλῶν ὑπολαβεῖν. ἔπειτ´ αὐτῷ πάλιν κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐπιφανὲν ταὐτὸ εἴδωλον τοῦ θεοῦ χαλεπαίνειν τε καὶ ἀγανακτεῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπήγγειλε πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν τὰ κελευσθέντα, καὶ ἀπειλεῖν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο δράσει διὰ ταχέων, ὅτι σὺν μεγάλῳ μαθήσεται κακῷ μὴ ὀλιγωρεῖν τῶν δαιμονίων. ἰδὼν δὲ καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ὄναρ, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔφη ποιήσασθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξαν, καὶ ἅμα δι´ αἰσχύνης {ἔχειν} τὸ πρᾶγμα λαβεῖν, ἀνὴρ αὐτουργὸς καὶ γέρων ὀνείρατα πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν ἐκφέρειν ὀττείας καὶ δειμάτων μεστά, μὴ καὶ γέλωτα ὄφλῃ. ὀλίγαις δ´ ὕστερον ἡμέραις τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ νέον ὄντα καὶ καλὸν οὔτε ὑπὸ νόσων οὔτε ὑπ´ ἄλλης τινὸς αἰτίας φανερᾶς ἀναρπασθέντα αἰφνιδίως ἀποθανεῖν· καὶ αὖθις τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ὄψιν φανεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις δηλοῦν, ὅτι τῆς ὑπεροψίας καὶ τῆς καταφρονήσεως τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων τὴν μὲν ἤδη δέδωκε δίκην τὸν υἱὸν ἀφαιρεθείς, τὰς δ´ ὀλίγον ὕστερον δώσει. ταῦτα δ´ ἀκούσας ἔφη καθ´ ἡδονὴν δέξασθαι τὸν λόγον, εἰ μέλλοι θάνατος αὐτῷ ἐλεύσεσθαι παρημεληκότι τοῦ βίου· τὸν δὲ θεὸν οὐ ταύτην αὐτῷ προσθεῖναι τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλ´ εἰς ἅπαντα τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος ἀφορήτους καὶ δεινὰς ἐμβαλεῖν ἀλγηδόνας, ὥστε μηδὲν ἄρθρον ἄνευ κατατάσεως τῆς ἐσχάτης δύνασθαι κινεῖν. τότε δὴ τοῖς φίλοις κοινωσάμενος τὰ συμβεβηκότα καὶ κελευσθεὶς ὑπ´ ἐκείνων ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν βουλήν. διεξιὼν δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ μικρὸν ἐδόκει τῶν ἀλγηδόνων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι· καὶ ἐπειδὴ πάντα διεξῆλθεν ἀναστὰς ἐκ τοῦ κλινιδίου καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀναβοήσας ἀπῄει τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ποσὶ διὰ τῆς πόλεως οἴκαδε ὑγιής.

[7,68] A few days after this the time came for the election of magistrates, and Quintus Sulpicius (p351) Camerinus and Spurius Larcius Flavus were chosen consuls by the people, the latter for the second time. Sundry disturbances fell upon the commonwealth as the result of prodigies, and these were many; for unusual sights appeared to many, and voices too were heard, though no one uttered them; births of children and cattle, so very abnormal as to approach the incredible and the monstrous, were reported; oracles were uttered in many places; and women possessed with a divine frenzy foretold lamentable and dreadful misfortunes to the commonwealth. A kind of pestilence also visited the population and destroyed great numbers of cattle; however, not many persons died of it, the mischief going no farther than sickness. Some thought that these things had occurred by the will of Heaven, which was angry with them for having banished from the country the most deserving of all their citizens, while others held that nothing that took place was the work of Heaven, but that both these and all other human events were due to chance. Afterwards, a certain man named Titus Latinius, being ill, was brought to the senate-chamber in a litter; he was a man advanced in years and possessed of a competent fortune, a farmer who did his own work and passed the greater part of his life in the country. This man, having been carried into the senate, said that Jupiter Capitolinus had, as he thought, appeared to him in a dream and said to him: "Go, Latinius, and tell your fellow-citizens that in the recent procession they did not give me an (p353) acceptable leader of the dance, in order that they may renew the rites and perform them over again; for I have not accepted these." He added that after awaking he had disregarded the vision, looking upon it as one of the deceitful dreams that are so common. Later, he said, the same vision of the god, appearing to him again in his sleep, was angry and displeased with him for not having reported to the senate the orders he had received, and threatened him that, if he did not do so promptly, he should learn by the experience of some great calamity not to neglect supernatural injunctions. After seeing this second dream also he had formed the same opinion of it, and at the same time had felt ashamed, being a farmer who did his own work and old, to report to the senate dreams full of foreboding and terrors, for fear of being laughed at. But a few days later, he said, his son, who was young and handsome, had been suddenly snatched away by death without any sickness or any other obvious cause. And once more the vision of the god had appeared to him in his sleep and declared that he had already been punished in part for his contempt and neglect of the god's words by the loss of his son, and should soon suffer the rest of his punishment. When he heard this, he said, he had received the threats with pleasure, in the hope that death would come to him, weary of life as he was; but the god did not inflict this punishment upon him, but sent such intolerable and cruel pains into all his limbs that he could not move a joint without the (p355) greatest effort. Then at last he had informed his friends of what had happened, and by their advice had now come to the senate. While he was giving this account his pains seemed to leave him by degrees; and after he had related everything, he rose from the litter, and having invoked the god, went home on foot through the city in perfect health.