Parlement of Foules
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The Parlement of Foules, also called the Parlement of Briddes or the Assemble of Foules, is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer made up of approximately 700 lines. The poem, which is in the form of a dream vis
The Parliament of Birds, an 18th-century oil painting by Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton
Somnium Scipionis
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The Dream of Scipio, written by Cicero, is the sixth book of De re publica, and describes a dream vision of the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus, set two years before he oversaw the destruction of Cart
Parlement of Foules
…to Chaucer. He concludes that Chaucer is likely to be "the original mythmaker in this instance." The poem begins with the narrator reading Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis in the hope of learning some "certeyn thing". When he falls asleep, Scipio Africanus the Elder appears and guides him up through the celestial spheres…
"Scipio Lying in Bed Dreaming; Guillaume de Lorris Lying in Bed Dreaming" (c. 1405)
Scipio Africanus the Elder (pictured) appears to his grandson and tells him of the universe and his destiny in the Somnium Scipionis.
Initial E shaped in the form of a writing man, probably representing Macrobius himself.
The Universe, the Earth in the centre, surrounded by the seven planets within the zodiacal signs.