232 ROMAN PHILOSOPHY. 



names of the respective speakers in each. These he now remodelled 

 and enlarged into four books, dedicating them to Varro, whom he 

 introduced as advocating, in the presence of Atticus, the tenets of 

 Antiochus, while he himself defended those of Philo. Of this most 

 valuable composition, only the second book (' Lucullus') of the first 

 edition, and part of the first of the second are now extant. In the 

 former of the two, Lucullus argues against, and Cicero for, the Aca- 

 demic sect, in the presence of Catulus and Hortensius ; in the latter, 

 Varro pursues the history of philosophy from Socrates to Arcesilas, 

 and Cicero continues it down to the time of Carneades. In the second 

 edition, the style was corrected, the matter condensed, and the whole 

 polished with extraordinary care and diligence. 1 



De Finibus.' The same year he published his treatise * De Finibus,' or the chief 

 good, in five books, in which are explained the sentiments of the 

 Epicureans, Stoics, and Peripatetics on the subject. This is the earliest 

 of his works in which the dialogue is of the disputatious kind. It is 

 opened with a defence of the Epicurean tenets, concerning pleasure, 

 by Torquatus ; to which Cicero replies at length. The scene then 

 shifts from the Cuman villa to the library of young Lucullus (his 

 father being dead), where the Stoic Cato expatiates on the sublimity 

 of the system which maintains the existence of one only good, and is 

 answered by Cicero in the character of a Peripatetic. Lastly, Piso, in 

 a conversation held at Athens, enters into an explanation of the doc- 

 trine of Aristotle, that happiness is the greatest good. The general 

 style of his treatise is elegant and perspicuous ; and the last book in 

 particular has great variety and splendour of diction. 



We have already, in our memoir of Cassar, observed that Cicero 

 was about this time particularly courted by the heads of the dictator's 

 party, of whom Hirtius and Dolabella went so far as to declaim daily 

 at his house for the benefit of his instructions. 2 A visit of this nature 

 to his Tusculan villa, soon after the publication of the ' De Finibus/ 

 ' Tuscuianse gave rise to his work entitled ' TusculanaB Quasstiones,' which pro- 

 Quaestiones. 1 f esses to be the substance of five philosophical disputes between him- 

 self and friends, digested into as many books. He argues throughout 

 on Academic principles, even with an affectation of inconsistency; 

 sometimes making use of the Socratic dialogue, sometimes launching 

 out into the diffuse expositions which characterise his other treatises. 3 

 He first disputes against the fear of death ; and in so doing he adopts 

 the opinion of the Platonic school, as regards the nature of God and 

 the soul. The succeeding discussions on enduring pain, on alleviating 

 grief, on the other emotions of the mind, and on virtue, are conducted 

 for the most part on Stoical principles. 4 This is a highly ornamental 

 composition, and contains more quotations from the poets than any 

 other of Cicero's treatises. 



1 Ad Atticum, xiii. 13, 16, 19. 2 Ad Fam. ix. 16, 18. 



3 Tusc. Qusest. v. 4, 11. 4 Ibid. iii. 10 ; v. 27. 



