MAKCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 225 



And as, in questions connected with the interests of society, he thus 

 uniformly advocates the tenets of the Porch, so in discussions of a 

 physical character, we find him adopting the sublime and kindling 

 sentiments of Pythagoras and Plato. Here, however, having no object 

 of expediency in view to keep him within the bounds of consistency, 

 he scruples not to introduce whatever is most beautiful in itself, or 

 most adapted to his present purpose. At one time he describes the 

 Deity as the all-pervading soul of the world, the cause of life and 

 motion. 1 At another He is the intelligent preserver and governor of 

 every separate part. 2 At one time the soul of man is in its own 

 nature necessarily eternal, without beginning or end of existence ; 3 at 

 another it is represented as reunited on death to the one infinite 

 Spirit ; 4 at another it is to enter the assembly of the gods, or to be 

 driven into darkness, according to its moral conduct in this life ; 5 at 

 another the best and greatest of mankind are alone destined for im- 

 mortality 6 which is sometimes described as attended with conscious- 

 ness and the continuance of earthly friendships ; 7 sometimes, as but an 

 immortality of name and glory ; 8 more frequently, however, these 

 separate notions are confused together in the same passage. 9 



Though the works of Aristotle were not given to the world till His acquaint- 

 Sylla's return from Greece, Cicero appears to have been a considerable Aristotle! 

 proficient in his philosophy, 10 and he has not overlooked the important 

 aid it affords in those departments of science which are alike removed 

 from abstract reasoning and fanciful theorising. To Aristotle he is 

 indebted for most of the principles laid down in his rhetorical discus- 

 sions, 11 while in his treatises on morals not a few of his remarks may 

 be traced to the same acute philosopher. 12 



The doctrines of the Garden alone, though some of his most intimate His abhor- 

 friends were of the Epicurean school, he regarded with aversion and Sums 

 contempt; feeling no sort of interest in a system which cut at the 

 very root of that activity of mind, industry, and patriotism for \vhich 

 he himself both in public and private was so honourably distin- 

 guished. 13 



Such, then, was the New Academy, and such the variation of opinion, 



. * Tusc. Quaest. i. 27 ; de Div. ii. 72 ; pro Milon. 31 ; de Legg. ii. 7. 



2 Fragm. de Rep. 3 ; Tusc. Quaest. i. 29 ; de Univ. 



3 Tusc. Quaast. i. passim ; de Senect. 21, 22; Somn. Scip. 8. 



4 De Div. i. 32, 49 ; Fragm. de Consolat. 



5 Tusc. Quaest. i. 30 ; Somn. Scip. 9; de Legg. ii. 11. 



6 De Amic. 4 ; de Off. iii. 28 ; pro Cluent. 61; de Legg. ii. 17 ; Tusc. Quaest. i. 

 11; pro Sext. 21; de Nat. Deor. i. 17. 



7 Cat. 23. 8 Pro Arch. 11, 12; ad Fam. v. 21, vi. 21. 

 9 Ibid. 11, 12 ; ad Fam. v. 21, vi. 21. 



10 He seems to have fallen into some misconceptions of Aristotle's meaning. De 

 Invent, i. 35, 36, ii. 14. See Quint. Inst. v. 14. 



11 De Invent, i. 7, ii. 51, et passim ; ad Fam. i. 9 ; de Orat. ii. 36. 



12 De Off. i. 1 ; de Fin. iv. 5 ; ad Atticum. 



13 De Fin. ii. 21, iii. 1 ; de Legg. i. 13; de Orat. iii. 17 ; ad Fam. xiii. 1 ; pro 

 Sext. 10. 



[G. E. P.] Q 



