Nightmares Come to Life

What happens when Nightmares come to life? Well in the first chapter of The Golden Ass we see what happens when bad dreams go bad. Sounds a bit like a Jerry Springer Show or a special on Fox, When Good Pets Go Bad. Essentially it's broken down like this Aristomenes is trying to help his buddy Socrates get away from the evil Meroe. Meroe and Panthia show up to the hotel that Socrates and Aristomenes are staying at and slit Socrates throat and then plug it with a sponge. Aristomenes is afraid he will be accused of murder and so he tries to escape. You all know the story so I will stop the summarizing of it. This story got me thinking about dreams and how sometimes dreams can influence our days. Much like the assignment to have a bad day, some times dreams can influence our decisions and convince us to do things that we may not be conscious of why we do them. Therefore, dreams can cause something to happen like a bad day or a good day without us being aware of it. I would say that Aristomenes dream was an exceptional example of this theory, but still valid.