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The Revival of Platonism in Cicero's Late Philosophy
Platonis aemulus and the Invention of Cicero
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2016
Summary
Less than two years before his murder, Cicero created a catalogue of his philosophical writings that included dialogues he had written years before, numerous recently completed works, and even one he had not yet begun to write, all arranged in the order he intended them to be read, beginning with the introductory Hortensius, rather than in accordance with order of composition. Following the order of the De divinatione catalogue, William H. F. Altman considers each of Cicero’s late works as part of a coherent philosophical project determined throughout by its author’s Platonism. Locating the parallel between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Cicero’s “Dream of Scipio” at the center of Cicero’s life and thought as both philosopher and orator, Altman argues that Cicero is not only “Plato’s rival” (it was Quintilian who called him Platonis aemulus) but also a peerless guide to what it means to be a Platonist, especially since Plato’s legacy was as hotly debated in his own time as it still is in ours. Distinctive of Cicero’s late dialogues is the invention of a character named “Cicero,” an amiable if incompetent adherent of the New Academy whose primary concern is only with what is truth-like (veri simile); following Augustine’s lead, Altman shows the deliberate inadequacy of this pose, and that Cicero himself, the writer of dialogues who used “Cicero” as one of many philosophical personae, must always be sought elsewhere: in direct dialogue with the dialogues of Plato, the teacher he revered and whose Platonism he revived.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2016
ISBN-Print
978-1-4985-2711-8
ISBN-Online
978-1-4985-2712-5
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
351
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Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Acknowledgements No access
Preface No access
Introduction: Cicero as Platonis aemulus No access Pages 1 - 26
Chapter 1. Cicero’s Platonic personae and the Problem of De legibus No access
Chapter 2. Augustine’s Hortensius and the Invention of “Cicero” No access
Chapter 3. Self-Contradictory Skepticism in the Academica No access
Chapter 4. The Limits of Stoicism and Tullia’s Shrine in De finibus No access
Chapter 5. Womanly Humanism in the Tusculanae Disputationes No access
Chapter 6. Phaedo and Timaeus in De natura deorum No access
Chapter 7. Interpreting Plato’s Dreams in De divinatione No access
Chapter 8. Epicurus, Chrysippus, and Homer in De fato No access
Chapter 9. The Ciceronian Renaissance in De senectute and De amicitia No access
Chapter 10. Returning in Topica, De officiis, and the Philippics No access
