CICERO. 
foooks, in which he carried down'the hiftory to the end of 
his exile, but did not publilh it for feveral years from mo¬ 
tives of delicacy. The three books were feverally in- 
fcribed to three of the Mufes; but of this work there 
now remains only a few fragments, fcattered in different 
parts of his other writings. He publifhed, about the fame 
time, a collection of the principal fpeeches which he had 
made in his confulfhip, under the title of his Confular 
Orations. They confided originally of twelve ; but four 
are entirely loft, and fome of the reft are imperfeCt. He 
now publiftied alfo'in Latin verfe a tranflation of the 
Prognoftics of Aratus, of which work no more than two 
or three fmall fragments remain. A few years after, he 
put the laft hand to his Dialogues upon the Character and 
Idea of the perfeCt Orator. This admirable work remains 
entire, a monument both of the aftonifhing infiuftry and 
tranfcendent abilities of its author. At his Cuman villa, 
he next began a Treatife on Politics, or on tire beft State 
of a City, and the Duties of a Citizen. He calls it a great 
and laborious work, yet worthy of his pains, if he could 
fucceed in it. This likewife was written in the form of 
a dialogue, in which the Speakers were Scipio, Laelius, 
Philus, Manilius, and other great perfons in the former 
times Of the republic. It was comprifed in fix books, and 
furvived him for feveral ages, though now unfortunately 
loft. From the fragments which remain, it appears to 
have been a mafterly production, in which all the impor¬ 
tant queftions in politics and morality were difculfed with 
elegance and accuracy. 
Amidft all the anxiety for the interefts of the republic, 
which occupied the thoughts of this celebrated perfonage, 
he yet found leifure to write feveral philofophical traCts, 
which Hill fubfift to the gratification of the literary world. 
He compofed a treatife on the Nature of the Gods, in 
three books, containing a comprehenfive view of religion, 
faith, oaths, ceremonies, See. In elucidating this impor¬ 
tant fubjeCt, he not only delivers the opinions of all the 
philofophers who had written any thing concerning it, 
but weighs and compares attentively all the arguments 
with each other; forming upon the whole fuch a rational 
and perfeCl fyftern of natural religion, as never before 
was prefented to the confideration of mankind. He now 
likewife compofed, in two books, a Difcourfe on Divina¬ 
tion, in which he difeufles at large all the arguments that 
may be advanced for and againlt the aCtual exiftence of 
fuch a fpecies of knowledge. Like the preceding works, 
it is written in the form of dialogue,'and called Cato 
from the principal fpeaker. The fame period gave birth 
to his treatife on Old Age, called Cato Major; and to 
that on Friendfhip, written alfo in dialogue, and in which 
the chief fpeaker is Lselius. This book, confidered merely 
as an effay, is one of the moft entertaining productions of 
ancient times; but, beheld as a picture drawn from life, 
exhibiting the real characters and fentiments of men of 
the firft diftinCtion for virtue and wifdom in the Roman 
republic, it becomes doubly interefting to every reader 
of obfervation and tafte. Cicero now alfo wrote his Dif¬ 
courfe on Fate, which was the fubjeCt of a converfation 
with Hirtius, in his villa near Puteoli; and he executed 
about the fame time a tranflation of Plato’s celebrated 
dialogue, called Timseus, on the nature and origin of the 
univerfe. He was employing himfelf alfo on a hiftory of 
his own times, or rather of his own conduCt; full of free 
and fevere reflections on thofe who had abufed their power 
to the oppreflion of the republic. Dion Cafilus fays, that 
he delivered this book fealed up to his fon, with ltriCl 
orders not to read or publilh it till after his death ; but 
•from this time he never faw his fon, and it is probable 
that he left the work unfiniflied. Afterwards, however, 
. fome copies of it were circulated; from which his com¬ 
mentator Afconius has quoted feveral particulars. During 
a voyage which he undertook to Sicily, he wrote his trea¬ 
tife on Topics, or the art of finding Arguments on any 
Queftion. This was an abftraCf from Arfftotle’s treatife 
on the fame fubjeCt; and though he had neither Ariftotle, 
59* 
nor any other book to afllft him, he drew it up from his 
memory, and finiflied it as he failed along the coaft of 
Calabria. The laft work compoled by Cicero appears to 
have been his Offices, written for the life of his fon, to 
whom it is addrefled. This treatife contains a fyftern of 
moral conduft, founded upon the nobleft principles of 
human aCtion, and recommended by arguments drawn 
from the pureft fources of philofophy. 
Such are the literary productions of this extraordinary 
man, whofe comprehenfive underftanding enabled him to 
conduCt with fuperior ability the moft abftrufe difquifi- 
tions into moral and metaphyfical fcience. Born in an 
age pofterior to Socrates and Plato, he could not antici¬ 
pate the principles inculcated, by thofe divine philofo¬ 
phers, but be is juftly entitled to the praile, not only of 
having profeented with unerring judgment the fteps which 
they trod before him, but of carrying his refearches to 
greater extent into the moft difficult regions of philofo¬ 
phy. This, too, he had the merit to perform, neither in 
the ftaticn of a private'citizen, nor in the leifure of aca¬ 
demic retirement, but in the buftle of public life, amidft 
the almoft conftant exertions of the bar, the employment 
of the magiftrate, the duties of theffenator, and the in- 
ceflant cares of the ftatefman ; through a period likewife 
chequered, with domeftic afflictions, and fatal commotions 
in the republic. Asa philofopher, his mind appears to 
have been clear, capacious, penetrating, and infatiable of 
knowledge. As a writer, he was endowed with every ta¬ 
lent that could captivate either the judgment or tafte. 
His refearches were continually employed on fubjeCts of 
the greateft utility to mankind, and thofe often fuch as 
extended beyond the narrow bounds of temporal exift¬ 
ence. The being of a God, the immortality of the foul, 
a future date of rewards and punilhments, andthe eternal 
diftinCtion of good and ill; thefe were in general the great 
objeCls of his philofophical enquiries, and he has placed 
them in a more convincing point of view than they ever 
were before exhibited to the pagan world. The variety 
and force of the arguments which he advances, the 1'plen- 
dour of his diCtion, and the zeal with which he endea¬ 
vours to excite the love and admiration of virtue;. all 
confpire to place his character, as a philofophical writer, 
including likewife his incomparable eloquence, on the 
fummit of human celebrity. 
The form of dialogue, fo much ufed by Cicero, he 
doubtlefs adopted in imitation of Plato, who probably 
took the hint of it from the colloquial method of inftruc- 
tion praCtifed by Socrates. In the early ftage of philofo¬ 
phical enquiry, this mode of compolition was well adapt¬ 
ed, if not to the difeovery, at leaft to the confirmation of 
moral truth; efpecially as the praftice was then not un¬ 
common, for fpeculative men toconverfe together on im¬ 
portant fubjeCls, for mutual information. In treating of 
any fubjeCt refpeCting which the different feCts of philo¬ 
fophers differed from each other in point of lentim'ent* 
no kind of compofition could be more happily fuited than 
dialogue, as it gave alternately full fcope to the argu¬ 
ments of the various dilputants. It required, however, 
that the writer ihouid exert'his underftanding with equal 
impartiality and acutenefs on the different Tides of the 
queftion; as otherwife he might betray a caufe under the 
appearance of defending it. In all the dialogues of Ci¬ 
cero, he manages the arguments of the feveral dilputants, 
in a manner not only the moft fair and interefting, but 
alfo fuch as leads to the moft probable and rational con- 
clulion. 
After enumerating the various traCls compofed and 
publiftied by Cicero, we have now to mention his Letters, 
which, though not written for publication, deferve to be 
rankecTamong the moft interefting remains of Roman li¬ 
terature. The number of fuch as are addrefled to dif¬ 
ferent correlpondents is confiderable ; but thole to Atti- 
cus alone, his confidential friend, amount to upwards q£ 
four hundred, among which are many of great length. 
They are all written in the genuine fpirit of the moft 
approved' 
