The best diviner I maintain to beNow do you think that a prophet will 'conjecture' better whether a storm is at hand than a pilot? or that he will by 'conjecture' make a more accurate diagnosis than a physician, or conduct a war with more skill than a general? [p. 385]
The man who guesses or conjectures best.1
[12]
But if there is no place for divination in things perceived by the senses, or in those included among
the arts, or in those discussed by philosophers, or
in those which have to do with government, I see
absolutely no need for it anywhere. For either it
ought to be of use in every case, or, at least, some
department in which it may be employed should be
found. But divination is not of use in every case,
as my reasoning has shown; nor can any field or
subject matter be found over which it may exercise
control. 5. Therefore I am inclined to think that
there is no such thing as divination. There is a
much-quoted Greek verse to this effect:
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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