"But, Scipio, in such a way as your grandfather before you, and as I who begot you, live in justice and piety, which is both great in parents and in relatives and highest in country: this life is a road to heaven and to this assembly of those who have already lived. Having been freed from the body, they dwell in that place which you now see—"(however, this sphere was shining forth the brightest possible white amidst its stars) "—which you all, as accepted from the Greeks, call the Milky Way."
From our vantage point, all the rest appeared to my observing exceedingly bright and marvelous; moreover, there were stars which we never see from the Earth, and of all sizes which we would never suspect to exist. Out of these was that smallest moon, which is farthest from heaven and closest to Earth, shining with a light not its own. However, the crowds of stars easily exceeded the size of the Earth; already this same Earth that was coming to me could hardly be seen, so that it made me feel sorry for our empire, by which we belonged to a mere speck of it, as it were.
"Sed sic, Scipio, ut avus hic tuus, ut ego, qui te genui, iustitiam cole et pietatem, quae cum magna in parentibus et propinquis tum in patria maxima est; ea vita via est in caelum et in hunc coetum eorum, qui iam vixerunt et corpore laxati illum incolunt locum, quem vides—' (erat autem is splendidissimo candore inter flammas circus elucens.) '—quem vos, ut a Graiis accepistis, orbem lacteum nuncupatis."
Ex quo omnia mihi contemplanti praeclara cetera et mirabilia videbantur. Erant autem eae stellae, quas numquam ex hoc loco vidimus, et eae magnitudines omnium, quas esse numquam suspicati sumus; ex quibus erat ea minima, quae ultima a caelo, citima a terris luce lucebat aliena. Stellarum autem globi terrae magnitudinem facile vincebant. Iam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est, ut me imperii nostri, quo quasi punctum eius attingimus, paeniteret.
"But, Scipio, in such a way as your grandfather before you, and as I who begot you, live in justice and piety, which is both great in parents and in relatives and highest in country: this life is a road to heaven and to this assembly of those who have already lived. Having been freed from the body, they dwell in that place which you now see—"(however, this sphere was shining forth the brightest possible white amidst its stars) "—which you all, as accepted from the Greeks, call the Milky Way."
From our vantage point, all the rest appeared to my observing exceedingly bright and marvelous; moreover, there were stars which we never see from the Earth, and of all sizes which we would never suspect to exist. Out of these was that smallest moon, which is farthest from heaven and closest to Earth, shining with a light not its own. However, the crowds of stars easily exceeded the size of the Earth; already this same Earth that was coming to me could hardly be seen, so that it made me feel sorry for our empire, by which we belonged to a mere speck of it, as it were.
"Sed sic, Scipio, ut avus hic tuus, ut ego, qui te genui, iustitiam cole et pietatem, quae cum magna in parentibus et propinquis tum in patria maxima est; ea vita via est in caelum et in hunc coetum eorum, qui iam vixerunt et corpore laxati illum incolunt locum, quem vides—' (erat autem is splendidissimo candore inter flammas circus elucens.) '—quem vos, ut a Graiis accepistis, orbem lacteum nuncupatis."
Ex quo omnia mihi contemplanti praeclara cetera et mirabilia videbantur. Erant autem eae stellae, quas numquam ex hoc loco vidimus, et eae magnitudines omnium, quas esse numquam suspicati sumus; ex quibus erat ea minima, quae ultima a caelo, citima a terris luce lucebat aliena. Stellarum autem globi terrae magnitudinem facile vincebant. Iam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est, ut me imperii nostri, quo quasi punctum eius attingimus, paeniteret.