"Here, Africanus, it will be necessary that you show your country the light of your soul, of your genius, and of your wise judgment. But I see at this time in your life a fork in the path—as if it were the path of the fates. For when this life of yours has gone through 56 returning circuits of the sun—the two numbers [i.e., 7 and 8] having fullness each for its own reason and having been—they will have been brought together by the natural cycle of the years. Then the whole city will turn itself totally to you and your name alone; to you the senate, to you the optimates, to you the allies—to you all of Latium will look for guidance. You will be the one in whom the good of the city rests, and—in short—it is necessary that you as dictator set the republic aright, that is, if you will have escaped the malicious hand of relatives."
Here, when Laelius had cried out and the others were vehement in their groaning, Scipio spoke with a gentle smile and said, "Shh, I pray you be quiet. Do not arouse me from my dream. Listen to the rest for just a moment longer."
"hic tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi ingeni consilique tui. Sed eius temporis ancipitem video quasi fatorum viam. Nam cum aetas tua septenos octiens solis anfractus reditusque converterit, duoque hi numeri quorum uterque plenus alter altera de causa habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint, in te unum atque in tuum nomen se tota convertet civitas: te senatus, te omnes boni, te socii, te Latini intuebuntur; tu eris unus in quo nitatur civitatis salus, ac ne multa, dictator rem publicam constituas oportet, si impias propinquorum manus effugeris."
Hic cum exclamavisset Laelius, ingemuissentque vehementius ceteri, leviter arridens Scipio, "St! quaeso" inquit "ne me e somno excitetis, et parumper audite cetera."
"Here, Africanus, it will be necessary that you show your country the light of your soul, of your genius, and of your wise judgment. But I see at this time in your life a fork in the path—as if it were the path of the fates. For when this life of yours has gone through 56 returning circuits of the sun—the two numbers [i.e., 7 and 8] having fullness each for its own reason and having been—they will have been brought together by the natural cycle of the years. Then the whole city will turn itself totally to you and your name alone; to you the senate, to you the optimates, to you the allies—to you all of Latium will look for guidance. You will be the one in whom the good of the city rests, and—in short—it is necessary that you as dictator set the republic aright, that is, if you will have escaped the malicious hand of relatives."
Here, when Laelius had cried out and the others were vehement in their groaning, Scipio spoke with a gentle smile and said, "Shh, I pray you be quiet. Do not arouse me from my dream. Listen to the rest for just a moment longer."
"hic tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi ingeni consilique tui. Sed eius temporis ancipitem video quasi fatorum viam. Nam cum aetas tua septenos octiens solis anfractus reditusque converterit, duoque hi numeri quorum uterque plenus alter altera de causa habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint, in te unum atque in tuum nomen se tota convertet civitas: te senatus, te omnes boni, te socii, te Latini intuebuntur; tu eris unus in quo nitatur civitatis salus, ac ne multa, dictator rem publicam constituas oportet, si impias propinquorum manus effugeris."
Hic cum exclamavisset Laelius, ingemuissentque vehementius ceteri, leviter arridens Scipio, "St! quaeso" inquit "ne me e somno excitetis, et parumper audite cetera."