Somnium Scipionis

[1] The main reason that the Somnium Scipionis survived was because in the fifth-century, the Latin writer Macrobius wrote a Neoplatonic commentary on the work, in which he excerpted large portions from Cicero.

His future is foretold by his grandfather, and great stress is placed upon the loyal duty of the Roman soldier, who will as a reward after death "inhabit... that circle that shines forth among the stars which you have learned from the Greeks to call the Milky Way".

The earth is the innermost, whereas the highest is heaven, which "contains all the rest, and is itself the supreme God" (unus est caelestis [...] qui reliquos omnes complectitur, summus ipse deus).

[8] Although the story of Er records a near-death experience, while the journey of Scipio's "disembodied soul" takes place in a dream, both give examples of belief in astral projection.

[10] The composer Mozart, at the age of fifteen, wrote a short opera entitled Il sogno di Scipione (K. 126), with a libretto by Metastasio, based upon Scipio Aemilianus's 'soul-journey' through the cosmos.

Iain Pears wrote a historical novel called The Dream of Scipio which, though attributed to fictional classical writer Manlius, refers to Cicero's work in various direct and indirect ways.