M. Tullius Cicero, Divination, Divination Book I, section 67

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Divination Book I

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[67] However, the point which I wish to press, that true prophecies are made during frenzy, has found expression in the following lines:

It comes! it comes! that bloody torch,¹ in fire
Enwrapped, though hid from sight these many years!
Bring aid, my countrymen, and quench its flames!

It is not Cassandra who next speaks, but a god in human form:

Already, on the mighty deep is built
A navy swift that hastes with swarms of woe.
Its ships are drawing nigh with swelling sails,
And bands of savage men will fill our shores.

1 The reference is to Paris, who, after being exposed on Ida, lived there a long time as a shepherd.

Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.

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