Cicero on the Philosophy of Religion
On the Nature of the Gods and On Divination

Do the gods love you? Cicero gives deep and surprising answers in two philosophical dialogues on traditional Roman religion.

J. P. F. Wynne (Author)

9781107683563, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 April 2023

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.468 kg

'This is an outstanding contribution to the study of Cicero's philosophical works.' Harald Thorsrud, Journal of the History of Philosophy

During the months before and after he saw Julius Caesar assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Cicero wrote two philosophical dialogues about religion and theology: On the Nature of the Gods and On Divination. This book brings to life his portraits of Stoic and Epicurean theology, as well as the scepticism of the new Academy, his own school. We meet the Epicurean gods who live a life of pleasure and care nothing for us, the determinism and beauty of the Stoic universe, itself our benevolent creator, and the reply to both that traditional religion is better served by a lack of dogma. Cicero hoped that these reflections would renew the traditional religion at Rome, with its prayers and sacrifices, temples and statues, myths and poets, and all forms of divination. This volume is the first to fully investigate Cicero's dialogues as the work of a careful philosophical author.

Introduction. Cicero and the translation of philosophy from Greece to Rome
1. Cicero's project in On the Nature of the Gods and On Divination
2. The beatitude of Gaius Velleius
3. Balbus the reformer and Cotta the pontifex
4. Quintus' Stoic case for divination
5. Marcus' arguments against divination
6. Marcus' moderation
Appendix 1. Terminology in DND and Div. for religious virtues and vices, and Greek equivalents
Appendix 2. Velleius' strategies against his opponents
Appendix 3. Balbus' classification of the gods.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]