Book 15
3.5
But Mercurius was dubbed Count of Dreams, because, like a slinking, biting cur, savage within but peacefully wagging its tail, he would often worm his way into banquets and meetings, and if anyone had told a friend that he had seen anything in his sleep, when nature roams more freely, Mercurius would give it a worse colour by his venomous skill and pour it into the open ears of the emperor; and on such grounds a man, as though really chargeable with inexpiable guilt, would be beaten down by a heavy burden of accusation.
3.6
Since rumour exaggerated these reports and gave them wide currency, people were so far from revealing their nightly visions, that on the contrary they would hardly admit in the presence of strangers that they had slept at all, and certain scholars lamented that they had not been born near Mount Atlas, where it is said that dreams are not seenCf. Herodotus, iv. 184. ; but how that happens we may leave to those who are most versed in natural science.
