Do Latin dreams come true?

A new old Latin reader and the power of divination

Jun 28, 2025

A few weeks ago, I found this listing online in a catalogue of Latin readers:

Upon searching around the internet, my friend found a couple reviews for Horrenda by R. C. Reeves. These are excerpts from those reviews:

“The reviewer doubts if this is really the best way to commend Latin studies to the young” (Brian Kemball-Cook, UK 1960);

“The subjects will doubtless appeal to most pupils; whether a steady diet of them is a useful or even beneficial way of teaching Latin is another matter” (John Bateman, US 1963).

Despite the “judginess” of Brian and John, I still wanted to find a copy of this book because I apparently have the Latin tastes of a pupil. I was expecting the stories to be highly adapted or simplified based on the attitudes of the above reviewers. There is no pdf of Reeves’s Horrenda online and scant information aside form the above reviews, but my friend was able to find a used copy of this book. And I received it his week!

I have no idea why using this book would not be beneficial. The stories in Horrenda are either unadapted or barely adapted selections of Pliny, Apuleius, Plautus, Petronius, and even Cicero. If you are to the point where you can read at this level, the selections are great! Maybe the reviewers thought the subject matter too unserious and ghastly?

Tables of contents:

There are two sections to the book. The first contains mostly dire crimes and murders, while the second has more of what we might consider supernatural or horror stories..

De Divinatione

In a story which Reeves titles “Murder Will Out,” a prodigious dream is recounted. This story is taken from Cicero’s De Divinatione, the two-book-long debate he has with his brother Quintus about whether auguries, prophecies, divination, and the like are mere superstition or valid ways whereby the truth or the future is revealed to humans. To support his argument in favor of these practices and portents, Quintus relates the story of two dreams which were apparently often cited by the Stoics as evidence in support of divination or revelation via dreams.

Reeves omits the text of the first dream, which I will add here:

Quid? Illa duo somnia, quae creberrume commemorantur a Stoicis, quis tandem potest contemnere? Unum de Simonide: Qui cum ignotum quendam proiectum mortuum vidisset eumque humavisset haberetque in animo navem conscendere, moneri visus est, ne id faceret, ab eo, quem sepultura adfecerat; si navigavisset, eum naufragio esse periturum; itaque Simonidem redisse, perisse ceteros, qui tum navigassent.

"And who, pray, can dismiss the two following dreams which are very often recounted by Stoic writers? The first one is about Simonides, who after he ad seen the dead body of some unknown man lying exposed and buried it, and when he had it in mind to go on board a ship he was warned in a vision by the person to whom he had given burial not to do so and that if he did he would die in a shipwreck. Therefore, he turned back and all the others who sailed were lost.”

Here’s the page from Horrenda with the story of the second dream. The text has been lightly adapted by Reeves.

This is very close to the actual text from Cicero:

Cum duo quidam Arcades familiares iter una facerent et Megaram venissent, alterum ad cauponem devertisse, ad hospitem alterum. Qui ut cenati quiescerent, concubia nocte visum esse in somnis ei, qui erat in hospitio, illum alterum orare, ut subveniret, quod sibia caupone interitus pararetur; eum primo perterritum somnio surrexisse; dein cum se conlegisset idque visum pro nihilo habendum esse duxisset, recubuisse; tum ei dormienti eundem illum visum esse rogare, ut, quoniam sibi vivo non subvenisset, mortem suam neinultam esse pateretur; se interfectum in plaustruma caupone esse coniectum et supra stercus iniectum;petere, ut mane ad portam adesset, prius quam plau-strum ex oppido exiret. Hoc vero eum somnio commotum mane bubulco praesto ad portam fuisse, quaesisse ex eo, quid esset in plaustro; illum perterritum fugisse, mortuum erutum esse, cauponem re patefacta poenas dedisse.

“Two friends from Arcadia who were taking a journey together came to Megara, and one traveller stayed at an inn and the second went to the home of a friend. After they had eaten supper and gone to bed, the second traveller, in the dead of the night, dreamed that his companion was imploring him to come to his aid, as the innkeeper was planning to kill him. Greatly frightened at first by the dream he arose, and later, regaining his composure, decided that there was nothing to worry about and went back to bed. When he had gone to sleep the same person appeared to him and said: 'Since you would not help me when I was alive, I beg that you will not allow my dead body to remain unburied. I have been killed by the innkeeper, who has thrown my body into a cart and covered it with dung. I pray you to be at the city gate in the morning before the cart leaves the town.’ Thoroughly convinced by the second dream he met the cart-driver at the gate in the morning, and, when he asked what he had in the cart, the driver fled in terror. He then removed his friend's dead body from the cart, and when the crime was made clear, the innkeeper was punished.”

What will we be doing with the stories in Horrenda?

I’ve shown you the above story about prophetic dreams so that you can see an example from the book and how close it is to the original text of Cicero. But also, we plan to make a Youtube video about this story — and many others! — from Horrenda. Since the text is very high intermediate to advanced, I have in mind to not only recite the stories, but to explain them in Latin.

What if you can’t get enough of scary Latin?

There’s still one spot left in Victor’s course on our book Erictho: Tartarorum Terror, which starts July 1st! If the last spot is taken or you don’t fell comfortable being a full participant in the course, you can audit the course at a 50% discount.

In addition to the course on Erictho in book VI of Lucan’s “Pharsalia”, Victor is teaching a series of less scary (we hope) courses built around extensive reading and discussion to develop your passive and active proficiency, with minimal English. These courses begin on June 29th or July 1st, depending on the course, and will last for 5 weeks:

The not-really-a-novice (2 days a week) – this intensive course starts at chapter 1 of the book Familia Romana and is perfect for those folks who learned Latin via the grammar-translation method, but still can't read it with fluency and without relying on translation. Also suitable to those who have reached fluency in at least one foreign language.
The lower-intermediate (2 days a week) – picks up at chapter 19 and the introduction of the various verbal tenses. It's designed for those who are more confident in their passive knowledge, but want to solidify it as well as develop their active ability with the language.
The supplementary reading (2 days a week) – offers guided extended reading and discussion (in Latin!) from novice to intermediate level including stories and acted-out dialogues. Perfect for those who want to supplement their LLPSI curriculum and pick up some active Latin along the way.