Question Five
Whether it is lawful to give credence to dreams
It is asked whether it is lawful to give credence to dreams.
It seems that the answer ought to be negative on account of the words written in Ecclesiasticus 34: “Dreams have caused many to err, and those hoping in them have fallen away.” And it is said in verse:
Heed not dreams, for dreams deceive many.
And Cato says:
Heed not dreams, for what the human mind desires, While awake and hoping, it sees that very thing through sleep.
But to the contrary is the fact that an angel of the Lord appeared in dreams to Joseph, who gave credence to the dream, in Matthew 1.
I answer that it must be said, as Macrobius says concerning the Dream of Scipio—because in dreams Paulus <and> Scipio the Elder appeared to Scipio the son—that of all the things sleepers seem to themselves to see, there are five principal varieties and names. For it is either that which the Latins call a dream; or that which is rightly called a vision; or that which is named an oracle; or that which is called an insomnium; or it is a phantasm, which Cicero, whenever he needed this name, called a visum.
Cicero says that the last two of these are judged unworthy of the care of interpretation, because they contain nothing of divination. For these two occur in the first three hours of the night, which are called the first watch of the night in Luke 12, and which are also called the dead of night in 3 Kings 3: “And rising in the silence of the dead of night,” concerning the harlots.
In these hours sleep is very dark and profound because of the dark and thick smoke released from the place of digestion, which obstructs and darkens the organs of the senses. Therefore at that time phantasms and motions made by the senses cannot appear truly.
And therefore to believe and give credence to dreams and apparitions, or revelations, made during those first three hours is vain and foolish. In this way the statements adduced at the beginning of the little question are understood.
A dream, however, occurs when, during sleep, something is revealed to us through the impression of imaginable forms, and that which is revealed is covered with figures and disclosed in images, as when Jacob, while sleeping, saw the ladder in Genesis 28.
A vision occurs when, during wakefulness, something is revealed through the impression of imaginable forms, and events come about in the same order in which they appeared. Such was the vision of Isaiah, who says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a lofty throne,” and so forth, in Isaiah 6; and such was Daniel’s vision concerning the weeks, which occurred in the same order in which he saw it.
An oracle occurs when, in dreams, a parent or some other good and grave person—such as God, Christ, an angel, the Virgin Mary, or some saint—openly announces that something will or will not occur, or that something must be avoided or done. If apparitions of this kind speak, the matter will occur as they say or as they show; and thus to believe is not a sin, especially if the person to whom the apparitions occur is good.
From these things it is evident that, according to Macrobius, the dream of Joseph concerning which Matthew speaks was an oracle. It occurred at dawn, when his stomach had completed digestion; and Joseph, a master of dreams, believed the angel and took Mary as his pregnant wife.
But that which occurred to Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar was a dream and not an oracle, for Joseph interpreted for Pharaoh, and Daniel for Nebuchadnezzar.
Therefore to believe dreams and scrutinize phantasms which occur in the first three hours of the night is vain. Credence, however, ought to be given to dreams, visions, and oracles, especially if they appear more frequently, if the person to whom they appear is good, and if they are interpreted by some holy man.
Where, however, the person to whom dreams, visions, or oracles occur is not <in doubt>—as Paul was not, who said, “I know whom I have believed, and I am certain”; or as the mother of Augustine was not, concerning whom he says in the book of the Confessions that she knew how to distinguish between God revealing and her soul dreaming—then the person to whom a vision, dream, or oracle occurred would not need an interpreter.
These things are from Lord John de Biblia of Bologna in his Quodlibets.