If, however, we abstract from the causality of god, none of the other causes assigned appears probable. for that certain persons should have foresight in dreams concerning things destined to take place at the pillars of hercules, or on the banks of the borysthenes, seems to be something to discover the explanation of which surpasses the wit of man. well then, the dreams in question must be regarded either as causes, or as tokens, of the events, or else as coincidences; either as all, or some, of these, or as one only. i use the word 'cause' in the sense in which the moon is [the cause] of an eclipse of the sun, or in which fatigue is [a cause] of fever; 'token' [in the sense in which] the entrance of a star [into the shadow] is a token of the eclipse, or [in which] roughness of the tongue [is a token] of fever; while by 'coincidence' i mean, for example, the occurrence of an eclipse of the sun while some one is taking a walk; for the walking is neither a token nor a cause of the eclipse, nor the eclipse [a cause or token] of the walking. for this reason no coincidence takes place according to a universal or general rule. are we then to say that some dreams are causes, others tokens, e. g. of events taking place in the bodily organism? at all events, even scientific physicians tell us that one should pay diligent attention to dreams, and to hold this view is reasonable also for those who are not practitioners, but speculative philosophers.