ON

EIRO

MA

NC

Y A

ND

DR

EAM

S

Medieval sleepers had to be very cautious. D

reams m

ight be a message

from G

od, or they could be the result of eating too many turnips. The clever

interpreter had to know the difference from

biblical precedents.

DR

EAM

TYPES D

ISCU

SSED IN

MA

CR

OBIU

S'S COM

MEN

TARYO

N TH

E DREAM

OF SCIPIO

.

1. SOM

NIU

M--a sym

bolic orallegorical dream

experiencerequiring interpretation.

2. VISIO

--an exact, realisticallyportrayed vision of the future

3. OR

AC

ULU

M--a description

of the future or a revelationprovided by a spirit, a relative,or an authority figure w

hoappears in a dream

4. INSO

MN

IUM

--a distortedvision resulting from

emotional

distress or digestive disorder

VA

LID D

REA

MS

(of heavenly origin)

INV

ALID

DR

EAM

S(of m

undane or demonic origin)

5. PHA

NTA

SMA

--a delusionor hallucination resulting fromm

ental disorder or demonic

intervention

DR

EAM

S IN TH

E BIBLE

For the medieval reader, dream

s were filled w

ith peril. For them, the Bible contained

many accounts of dream

s that were visions of the future or allegorical m

essagesrequiring interpretations. I contain below

a list of such dreams, including the term

uses (somnium

, visio, oraculum) in each case. note that the Latin som

nus simply

means sleep, w

hile somnium

means dream

. The phrases in somno and in som

nis canm

ean in dreams or w

hile asleep.

Genesis 20:3-7 (Som

nium): A

braham and Sarah--M

ale dreamer (A

bimelech) w

arned againsttaking Sarah from

Abraham

.28:12-15 (in som

nis) Jacob's Ladder, with angels m

oving up and down it.

31:10-13 (in somnis) A

ngel appears to Jacob in a dream, sees Laban's sheep producing

speckled and striped ewes, w

hich will be his according to agreem

ent.31:24 (in som

nis) Laban warned by G

od in dream not to speak harshly to Jacob.

37:5-9 (ut visum som

nium) Joseph hated by his brothers, he tells them

a dream he already

dreamed; the fram

e is a narrator telling a past dream in w

hich Jacob's brothers' sheavesstand in a field w

ith sheaves bowing dow

n to his. Then the sun and moon and stars

worshipping it as w

ell.37:19 (Ecce som

niatur venit!) Behold the dreamer, let us cast him

into a pit! The wicked

refusal to believe in a dream.

40:5-23 (Somnium

) The Baker and Butler with Joseph. H

ere, the narrator narrates his dream to

another, who interprets it, though the chief butler ungratefully forgets his interpreter.

41:1-24, 41:25-32 (Somnium

) Pharoah's dream of seven sleek and gaunt cow

s, and seven goodears of grain and seven thin ears of grain, and Joseph's interpretation.

42:9 (somnium

) Joseph remem

bers the dream about his brothers.

Exodus: Note that M

oses in Exodus is a special category. He doesn't need interpretation or the

intermediary of dream

ing to talk with G

od.

Num

bers 12:6 Mary and A

aron, God explains to them

the difference between dream

s and visionsand w

hat occurs with M

oses: "Si quis fuerit inter vos propheta Dom

ini, in visione apparebo eivel per som

nium loquar ad illum

. At non talis servus meus M

oyses, qui in omni dom

o mea

fidelissimus est; ore enim

ad os loquor ei, et palam, et non per aenigm

ata et figuras Dom

inumvidet." [If there is a prophet am

ong you, I the Lord, shall make M

yself known to him

in avision. I shall speak to him

in a dream. N

ot so, with M

y servant Moses. H

e is faithful in all My

household; With him

I speak mouth to m

outh, even openly, and not in dark sayings.]

Deuteronom

y 13:1-5 (somnium

) Lists the criteria for telling if a dream is true or false, slaying false

dreamers. If a prophet or a dream

er of dreams [qui som

nium vidisse] arises am

ong you andgives you a sign or a w

onder, and the sign or the wonder com

es true, concerning which he

spoke to you saying, Let us go after other gods (whom

you have not known) and let us serve

them. Y

ou shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dream

er of dreams; for the Lord

your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your G

od with all your heart and w

ithall your soul. . . . But that prophet or that dream

er of dreams shall be put to death, because he

has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God w

ho brought you ought of Egypt. . . . Soyou shall purge the evil from

among you. Strong connections to heresy in m

edieval times.

Judges 7:13-15 (somnium

) Unusual fram

ing narrative. Gideon sneaks into enem

y camp, and

overhears one sentry telling another of a dream he had, in w

hich a roll of barley rolls into the

camp and flattens it. The other sentry interprets it as the com

ing of Gideon to destroy them

.G

ideon hears this interpretation, takes heart, and goes back to collect his men to do just that.

1 King 3:2-15 (som

nium) Interesting lim

inality. Samuel m

isinterprets Gods voice calling in the

night as his master, the priest H

eli, calling for him. H

eli convinces him to call to G

od the nexttim

e Samuel hears the voice. Then the voice tells Sam

uel an unpleasant prediction about Heli.

Samuel becom

es afraid to tell the vision to Heli.

1 Samuel 28:6-15 W

hen Saul cannot find an answer from

dreams [per som

ne] or prophets, he goesto the w

itch of Endor for necromantic divination, a dram

atic no-no.

Job 7:14 Dream

s seen as inescapable punishment from

God, and the bed does not serve for com

fortand relaxation. If I say, M

y bed will com

fort me, M

y couch will ease m

y complaint, then

Thou dost frighten me w

ith dreams and terrify m

e by visions.[Terrebis me per som

nia, et pervisiones horrore concuties.]

20:8 Not a dream

per se, but a simile in w

hich the wicked are com

pared to the transience of adream

, something passing, unrem

embered, forgotten. D

reams appear to have no lasting

substance. Note that both the w

ord somnium

and the word visio appear in this passage; the

somnium

passes as if or just like [sicut] it were a visio: [Velut som

nium avolans non

invenietur, transiet sicut visio nocturna.] It is intriguing that the true dream or som

nium is seen

as transient, fading, rather than the insomnium

, which is w

hat I would expect to be the term

ifM

acrobius were w

riting the passage.

33:13-18 Job blamed for asserting his innocence, reference to Sam

uel, dreams as a w

ay of God

to instruct men to w

hat they ought to know) W

hy do you [Job] complain against H

im, that H

edoes not give an account of all H

is doings? Indeed, God speaks once, or tw

ice, yet no onenotices it. In a dream

, a vision of the ngiht, when sound sleep falls on m

en, while they slum

berin their beds, then H

e opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that H

e may turn m

anaside from

his conduct, and keep man from

pride; he keeps back his soul from the pit, and his

life from passing over into Sheol.

Psalms 73:20 (72:20 in V

ulgate) Emphasizes that the transience of a dream

upon awakening

(somnium

surgentium), and m

akes a simile betw

een the transient dream that has suddenly

ceased to be, and the wicked. N

o dream actually takes place.

126:1 Again, a sim

ile to somniantes, dream

ers, but no actual dream takes place.

Ecc 5:3-7 (moderation in speech, the dream

(somnium

) connected to vanities and useless words.

Isaiah 29:7-8 And it shall be as w

hen a hungry man dream

sA

nd behold, he is drinking, butw

hen he awakens, behold he is faint, and his thirst is not quenched. [Et errit sicut som

niumvisionis nocturnae. . . ]. A

gain, it deals with the transience of w

icked nations, a prophecyconcerning those w

ho wage w

ar against Zion. It indicates that dreams do not necessarily reflect

physical realities, but seems to connect loosely w

ith the medical nature of false dream

s. (One

can dream about drink because he falls asleep thirsty.)

Jeremiah 23: 25-32 I have heard w

hat the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in m

y name,

saying I had a dream, I had a dream

[Somniavi! Som

niavi!] The passage continues in which

God declares that he is against the prophets w

ho steal his words from

each other, and falselyassert dream

s as originating in God. Strong im

plications for heresy and the dream vision.

27:9 Harken not to your prophets, your diviners, your dream

ers, your soothsayers, or yoursorcerers. . . [Nolite audiire prophetas vestros, et divinos, et som

niatores, et augures, etm

aleficos. . . .] who prophesy that Israel w

ill not serve the King of Babylon.

29:8 Another w

arning to captives in Babylon not to heed any false dreams they m

ight have. [. .. Et ne attendatis ad som

nia vestra quae vos somniatis.]

31:26 After the w

ord of God com

es to Jeremiah (30;1), Jerem

iah accounts many prophetic

words w

ithout any mention of going to sleep. In 31:26, Jerem

iah awakens from

his dream,

saying his sleep was sw

eet to him [et som

nus meaus dulcis m

ihi]. Here it is interesting because

there is a tail-end of a dream, but no dream

-frame at the beginning of the chapter.

Daniel 4:2-25 A

n interesting account presented in the first person, in which N

ebuchadnezzarrecounts the events of his dream

s in the past tense in a writing addressed to all the peoples,

nations, and men of every language on earth. A

fter an inexplicably frightening dream,

[somnium

vidi] Nebuchadnezzar calls w

ise men and soothsayers advisors w

ho could notinterpret dream

until Daniel com

es. In the dream, a huge tree grow

s, and an angel comes and

orders it chopped down. The stum

p is ordered to be banded in iron, and he [the stump becom

espersonified as m

ale] is turned into a beast to wander for seven periods. D

aniel interprets thedream

as the fall of the Nebuchadnezzar, and predicts his transform

ation into a beast. In verse25, all D

aniel predicted comes to pass. It is interesting that the reason N

ebuchadnezzar givesfor D

aniels ability is not wisdom

, but rather the fact that the spirit of the holy gods is in you.This im

plies inspiration is more vital than education for interpreting the true dream

.5:12 D

aniel praised as the true interpreter of dreams and enigm

as again, rather than the falsesoothsayer. H

owever, D

aniel in the following m

aterial does not interpret a dream, but rather

the physical manifestation of w

riting left on a wall by a disem

bodied hand.7:1 D

aniels vision of the four beasts. writing the dream

, he comprehended it in few

words. It

is referred to as both a somnium

and a visio in 7:1. The narrative frame is that of text, since

Daniel is w

riting the dream dow

n and relating it in summ

ary rather than in complete form

[scribens brevi sermone com

prehendit.] The dream is distressing, and he keeps approaching

those standing nearby in the dream and asking for interpretation. O

ne of those standing nearbyexplains it to him

, in a manner akin to a spirit-guide.

8:1-19 (a Visio of the Ram and the G

oat): No dream

frame or any hint that the visio occurs

while asleep. Indeed, it seem

s to occur while D

aniel is awake in the province of Susa (Persian

satrap), because the spiritual interpreter of his vision (Gabriel) is still talking to him

when

Daniel drifts off to sleep (8:18), only to be reaw

akened by the Gabriel. It is an apocalyptic

vision concerning the end of Media and Persia. N

ote that Daniel is sick and exhausted days

afterwards (after w

ords?), but goes on about the kings business. He m

ysteriously seems to still

want an interpreter of the dream

, in spite of the fact that Gabriel interpreted it for him

previously [et non erat qui interpretaretur].10:1-21 (Visio) A

gain, a waking vision that appears to occur w

hile Daniel is aw

ake, this time

by the banks of the Tigris River. He has been fasting for three entire w

eeks, without fine food,

meat, w

ine, or using any cleansing ointment on his body. N

ote the spirit-guide who appears to

Daniel is quite sim

ilar to the spirit-guide who appears before John on isle of Patm

os in the New

Testament. There is som

e blurred liminality betw

een awake and unconscious, how

ever, sincein the m

idst of the vision, Daniel faints aw

ay at the dream-guides thundering w

ords. Itbecom

es hard to ascertain then, if the following part of the vision occurs after the dream

-guideaw

akens Daniel, or if he m

erely dreams that the dream

-guide wakes him

up.

Joel 2:28 A prediction of dream

s and prophesying and vision in the last days, linking apocalypticevents w

ith dreams. A

nd it will com

e about after this that I will pour out M

y spirit on allm

ankind [super omnem

carnem]; and your sons and daughters w

ill prophesy, Your old m

enw

ill dream dream

s, Your young m

en will see visions. [som

nia somniabunt . . . . visiones

videbunt].

Zech 10:2 (warnings about dream

ers who speak vanity)

New Testam

ent

Note: The N

ew Testam

ent has far fewer dream

s than the Old Testam

ent. Most of them

appear inM

atthew, the N

ew Testam

ent book with the m

ost Judaisms of all the four gospels.

Matt. 1:20 Joseph told by angel w

hile asleep [in somnis] to go ahead and m

arry Mary. [A

ninteresting gender note is that G

od speaks to Joseph in dreams, but M

ary gets to talk to Gabriel

face-to-face in the annunciation.]2:12-22 The dream

s [in somnis] of M

agi warns them

not to return to Herod, but to take an

escape route. Likewise, in verse 13, an angel tells Joseph in dream

s [somnis] to flee to Egypt.

27:19 The Wife of Pilate suffers in a dream

as a warning not to crucify Christ.

Acts 2:17 Paul quotes Joel 2:28, see above.

A Few

Final Notes of Interest: In the book of Ezekiel, there is no m

ention of fallingasleep. A

ll the visions [visiones] appear to occur physically. (1:1 while I w

as by the riverChebar am

ong the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw

visions [visiones] of God. In the

same w

ay, the narrator in Book of Revelation describes him

self as not being asleep, but beingin the spirit [in spiritu] on the isle of Patm

os. There, he hears a trumphet-like voice speaking

to him, and he turns around, instantly in a visionary state, to see seven lam

p stands and ahum

anoid being akin to that which led Ezekiel in his visions. This spirit-guide leads him

through a lengthy vision of apocalypse, and ends with a dire w

arning not to add or deletew

ords to the account. Dream

s are important to keep straight!