Cicero on the philosophy of religion : On the nature of the Gods and On divination / J. P. F. Wynne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wynne, J. P. F., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cicero, Marcus Tullius--Religion.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De natura deorum.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De divinatione.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Introduction: Cicero and the translation of philosophy from Greece to Rome

Cicero's project in On the nature of the gods and On divination

The beatitude of Gaius Velleius

Balbus the reformer and Cotta the pontifex

Quintus' Stoic case for divination

Marcus' arguments against divination

Marcus' moderation.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Oct 2019).

ISBN:

1-108-62727-7

1-108-76303-0

1-107-70742-0