I found the second story in our video in R.C. Reeve’s book Horrenda, which we wrote about here. Since the Latin is slightly adapted I wanted to look at the original Latin of Cicero in De Divinatione, and I saw there was an additional dream which was discussed, so I also included that story in the video.
You might infer from the title of Reeves’s book that these dreams are nightmares, but they aren’t. Many of the stories in his book are more prodigiosae — just weird or strange — than really horribiles. With these two stories, Cicero’s brother Quintus is advocating in De Divinatione that ominous dreams whereby humans can divine the future are real. It’s not covered in the video, but Cicero disagrees with this viewpoint and goes on to refute it in De Divinatione.
Listen to the stories here (with Latin subtitles + English translation):
To make this video more useful to learners and teachers, I’ve prepared the text of the dreams with macrons and a Latin-Latin glossary and notes. There are also included some exercises in Latin that are comprehension-focused.
In the pdf, I also made lists of words from the stories that have words that are useful for Halloween-ish activities:
We have 30 different Halloween designs up in our store that feature Latin, including t-shirts, trick-or-treat bags, and classroom posters. Here are some of our favorites:
If your desire for the prodigiosa and horrenda in Latin is not yet sated by our newest video or t-shirt designs, you can check out our intermediate-advanced tiered reader about Erictho! In Erictho: Tartarorum Terror you’ll find
Two tiers of Latin that retell the verses of Lucan and help you read “real” Latin.”
A Latin guide on how to understand hexameter.
The scariest witch, Erictho, in the spookiest place in the ancient Roman world, Thessaly.
The ingredients for a potion that teaches you how to make a zombie in Latin 🧟♂️.
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