The Student's Companion to Latin Authors — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Student's Companion to Latin Authors
John Stuart Mill · en
6. The treatise _De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum_ discusses various
theories of the _summum bonum_--the Epicurean in Books i.-ii., the
Stoic in iii.-iv., the Peripatetic in v. The scene of the dialogue
changes from Cumae to Tusculum and then to the Academy at Athens. The
work was dedicated to Brutus in June, 45 (_ad Att._ xiii. 12, 3).
7. The _Academics_ appeared in two editions. Of the original edition
Book ii., entitled _Lucullus_, has survived; the speakers in it are
Lucullus, Catulus, Hortensius, and Cicero, and the scene, Hortensius'
villa. Cicero was not satisfied with this arrangement (_ad Att._ xiii.
12, 3, 'homines nobiles illi quidem, sed nullo modo philologi, nimis
acute locuntur'), and after provisionally transferring the parts of
Lucullus, Catulus, and Hortensius, to Cato and Brutus, he finally
adopted the suggestion of Atticus to gratify Varro by giving him a
share in the dialogue together with Atticus and himself (_ad Att._
xiii. 13, 1, 'commotus tuis litteris, quod ad me de Varrone
scripseras, totam Academiam ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli
transtulique ad nostrum sodalem et ex duobus libris contuli in
quattuor'). Of this second edition in four Books we possess only Book
i. (incomplete), and fragments of the others; the scene is at Cumae.
The dedicatory epistle to Varro is still preserved (_ad Fam._ ix. 8).
8. In the five Books of _Tusculanae Disputationes_, conversations
between Cicero and a friend at his Tusculan villa, the subject is the
chief essentials for happiness. Book i. inculcates the proper attitude
towards death, ii. to grief, iii. to pain, iv. to other trials, v.
asserts the sufficiency of virtue for happiness. The treatise is
dedicated to Brutus, and was finished by B.C. 44, in which year (_ad
Att._ xv. 2, 4) the first Book is known to Atticus.
9. _De Natura Deorum_, in three Books, is also addressed to Brutus.
The Epicurean, Stoic, and Peripatetic doctrines are represented by C.
Velleius, Q. Lucilius Balbus, and C. Aurelius Cotta, respectively.
This treatise was written after the _Tusculans_ (_de Div._ ii. 3): in
July 45 (_ad Att._ xiii. 39, 2) Atticus is asked for the loan of
Φαίδρου περὶ θεῶν and περὶ Παλλάδος.
10. The essay _De Senectute_, called also _Cato Maior_ after the
principal speaker in the dialogue, was addressed to Atticus at the end
of 45 or early in 44 (_de Div._ ii. 3; _ad Att._ xiv. 21, 3).
11. To a later date in the same year belongs the _Laelius_, or _De
Amicitia_ (_de Am._ 4 mentions the _de Sen._), in which Laelius
discourses on friendship. In this book, according to Gell. i. 3,
10-11, Cicero was under obligations to Theophrastus περὶ φιλίας.
12. _De Divinatione_, in two Books, forms a supplement to the _De
Natura Deorum_. Cicero and his brother discuss, at Tusculum, the
nature and validity of 'divinatio,' which is defined (i. 9) as 'earum
rerum quae fortuitae putantur praedictio atque praesensio.' The date
is 44.