The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations/Academic Questions

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Introduction.

The following account of the two Books of the Academics is extracted from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, edited by Dr, W. Smith:—

“The history of this work, before it finally quitted the hands of its author, is exceedingly curious and somewhat obscure; but must be clearly understood before we can explain the relative position of those portions of it which have been transmitted to modern times. By comparing carefully a series of letters written to Atticus, in the course of b.c. 45 (Ep. ad Att. xiii. 32;^[1] 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 35, 44), we find that Cicero had drawn up a treatise upon the Academic Philosophy, in the form of a dialogue between Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius; and that it was comprised in two books, the first bearing the name of Catulus, the second that of Lucullus. A copy was sent to Atticus; and, soon after it reached him, two new Introductions were composed, the one in praise of Catulus, the other in praise of Lucullus. Scarcely had this been done, when Cicero, from a conviction that Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius, although men of highly cultivated minds, and well acquainted with general literature, were known to have been little conversant with the subtle arguments of abstruse philosophy, determined to withdraw them altogether, and accordingly substituted Cato and Brutus in their place. Immediately after this change had been introduced, he received a communication from Atticus, representing that Varro was much offended by being passed over in the discussion of topics in which he was so deeply versed. Thereupon Cicero, catching eagerly at the idea thus suggested, resolved to recast the whole piece, and quickly produced, under the old title, a new and highly improved edition, divided into four books instead of two, dedicating the whole to Varro, to whom was assigned the task of defending the tenets of Antiochus; while Cicero himself undertook to support the views of Philo, Atticus also taking a share in the conversation.

“But, although these alterations had been effected with extreme rapidity, the copy originally sent to Atticus had in the meantime been repeatedly transcribed; hence both editions passed into circulation, and a part of each has been preserved. One section, containing twelve chapters, is a short fragment of the second or Varronian edition. The other, containing forty-nine chapters, is the entire second book of the first edition; to which is prefixed the new introduction, together with the proper title of Lucullus. The scene of the Catulus was the villa of that statesman, at Cumæ; while the Lucullus is supposed to have been held at the mansion of Hortensius, near Bauli.

“The object proposed was to give an account of the rise and progress of the Academic Philosophy, to point out the various modifications introduced by successive professors, and to demonstrate the superiority of the principles of the New Academy, as taught by Philo, over those of the old, as advocated by Antiochus.”

 

ACADEMIC QUESTIONS.

 

Contents 

Book I ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

page  4

Book II ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

21

 

Footnotes

1. The following are the most important of the passages referred to:—“Since I entered upon these philosqphical inquiries, Varro has given me notice of a valuable and honourable dedication of a work of his to me. . . . In the mean time I have been preparing myself as he desired to make him a return.

   αὐτῷ τῷ μέτρῳ καὶ λώιον αἴκε δύνωμαι.

   I may as well, therefore, remove from my Academical Disputations the present speakers, who are distinguished characters indeed, but by no means philosophical, and who discourse with too much subtlety, and substitute Varro in their place. For these are the opinions of Antiochus, to which he is much attached. I can find a place for Gatulus and Lucullus elsewhere.—Ep. 12.

   “The Catulus and Lucullus I imagine you have had before; but I have made new introductions to these books which I wish you to have, containing an eulogium upon each of these persons, and there are some other additions—Ep. 32.

   “In consequence of the letter which you wrote to me about Varro, I have taken the Academy entirely out of the hands of those distinguished persons, and transferred it to our friend. And from two books I have made it into four. These are longer than the others were, though there are several parts left out. . . . . In truth, if my self-love does not deceive me, these books have come out in such a manner that there is nothing of the same kind like them even in Greek.”—Ep. 13.
   “I have transferred the whole of that Academical Treatise to Varro. It had at first been divided among Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius. Afterwards, as this appeared unsuitable, owing to those persons being, net indeed unlearned, but notoriously unversed in such subjects, as soon as I got home I transferred those dialogues to Cato and Brutus. Your letter about Varro has just reached me, and there is no one by whom the opinions of Antiochus could be more fitly supported.”—Ep. 16.

   “I had determined to include no living persons in my dialogues; but since you inform me that Varro is desirous of it, and sets a great value upon it, I have composed this work, and completed the whole Academical Discussion in four books; I know not how well, but with such care that nothing can exceed it. In these, what had been excellently collected by Antiochus against the doctrine of incomprehensibility, I have attributed to Varro; to this I reply in my own person, and you are the third in our conversation. If I had made Cotta and Varro disputing with one another, as you suggest in your last letter, my own would have been a mute character. . . . .

   “The Academics, as you know, I had discussed in the persons of Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius; but in truth the subject did not suit their characters, being more logical than what they could be supposed ever to have dreamt of. Therefore, when I read your letter to Varro, I seized on it as a sort of inspiration. Nothing could be more adapted to that species of philosophy in which he seems to take particular delight; or to the support of such a part that I could manage to avoid making my own sentiments predominant. For the opinions of Antiochus are extremely persuasive, and are so carefully expressed as to retain the acuteness of Antiochus with my own brilliancy of language, if indeed I possess any.”—Ep. 19.

   The Antiochus mentioned above was a native of Ascalon, and the founder of the fifth Academy; he had been the teacher of Cicero while he studied at Athens; and he had also a school in Syria and another in Alexandria. Cicero constantly speaks of him with great regard and esteem. The leaders of the Academy since the time of Plato, (and Cicero ranks even him among those philosophers who denied the certainty of any kind of knowledge,) had gradually fallen into a degree of scepticism that seemed to strike at the root of all truth, theoretical and practical. But Antiochus professed to revive the doctrines of the old Academy, maintaining, in opposition to Carneades and Philo, that the intellect had in itself a test by which it could distinguish between what was real and what existed only in the imagination. He himself appears to have held doctrines very nearly coinciding with those of Aristotle; agreeing however so far with the Stoics as to insist that all emotions ought to be suppressed. So that Cicero almost inclines to class him among the Stoics; though it appears that he considered himself as an Eclectic philosopher, uniting the doctrines of the Stoics and Academics so as to revive the old Academy.