De Natura Deorum Research Articles

COLLOQUE <em>PISTIS ET FIDES</em>. LE <em>DE OFFICIIS</em> CICÉRONIEN: UNE REFONDATION PHILOSOPHIQUE DE LA <em>FIDES</em>?

This study intends to follow the semantic evolution of the concept of fides in Cicero’s thought, from the rhetorical and oratorical works to the political ones till to the philosophical treatises of the latest years. One can generally say that before 54 b.C. , the date of publication of the De re publica, Cicero, a great user of the concept, at least in the rhetorical field, has a rather confused notion of it, founded on the search much less for its precise sense than for the effectiveness of its use. From this treaty he begins to wonder about its origin: if fides, as he believes, has a natural origin, how to explain its detachment from the world’s practices? It is, therefore, to understand what fides’ naturalness means; and this is what Cicero tries to do in the philosophical works of the latest period. First of all in the Academica he investigates the place fides occupies at the level of knowledge, in opposition to Lucullus’ dogmatic perspective. At the end of this reflection, permeating also the De Finibus and the De Natura Deorum, it comes out confirmed the natural origin of fides, on the condition that you rescue the concept of nature from the Epicurean reconstruction of axiology, founded on sensation and voluptas. This is what Cicero devotes himself to in his very last work, the De officiis, seeking to make of fides the very foundation of iustitia but also trying to reconcile its roots in nature with the variability of the circumstances: that is, giving a less intransigent interpretation of it, while maintaining its ideal value, which finds embodiment in the figure of Regulus.

Beyond the Rhetoric of the Octavius : Minucius Felix’s Exhortatio ad Christianitatem

Abstract Studies of the sources and structure of the Octavius have for long concluded that there lays no authorial intention that is not merely rhetorical behind the “mosaistic” mode of composition of Minucius Felix’s apologetic dialogue, its borrowings from Cicero (especially his De natura deorum) being a mere tribute to the dialogic tradition and its bipartite framework mindlessly reproducing the rhetorical exercise of the controversia (thesis-antithesis). The present investigation aims to surpass this “reductionistic approach” by studying not only the structure of the dialogue but also the contents of its exordium (Chapters 2–4) and its epilogus (Chapters 39–40)—all of which betray Minucius Felix’s intentions to present his work as an exhortatio (ad Christianitatem) on the model of Cicero’s Hortensius. Moreover, we contend that by assuming for the Octavius the form of a protreptic discourse—with its essentially undogmatic character and curricular dependency upon further dogmatic instruction—, we might open up novel horizons from which making sense of two of the most ingrained interpretative problems hitherto emerged in Minucian studies: the Octavius’ dogmatic silence, and the apocryphal character of Minucius’ De fato.

Eine vergessene Ausgabe von Ciceros De natura deorum

Abstract This article wants to recall a hitherto unnoticed edition of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, which the classical philologist Matthäus Dresser (1536–1615) published with an extensive commentary. This edition, however, represents a remarkable peculiarity within the reception history of Cicero’s text, since Dresser neither claims to be a philologist, interested in textual criticism, nor a neutral historian of the philosophy of religion. Rather, as an apologetically oriented Protestant in times of confessional conflict, he is concerned with the argumentative validity of the different answers to the questions discussed in Cicero’s text: Do gods exist? What qualities do they have? What activities do they display? And which relevance do these answers have for Christian monotheism? Hence, we may speak of a selective commentary, first and foremost interested in the truth or falsehood of the various answers to these main questions, in order to set contemporary readers (especially scholars and students) on the right track and to save them from severe religious errors. Dresser aims to achieve his goal by adding to the text not only extensive Annotationes, but also an introductory Argumentum to each of the three Ciceronian books of De Natura Deorum. He also gives two Disputationes (in the form of theses) at the end of each book, which provide a résumé and further guidance on interpretation. Thus he firmly rejects the atomism of Epicureanism and its denial of Providence, as explained in the first book. Dresser has to take a differentiated view of the views of Stoicism as presented in the second book: Besides many beneficial doctrines, this school of philosophers also holds fatalistic and pantheistic views which have to be rejected as dangerous to the Christian faith. As the sceptic Cotta radically rebukes the religious views of Epicureanism in the third book, but also attacks in large part Stoic theism and its idea of providence, which is also dear to Dresser’s heart, he is forced to oppose academic scepticism. This gives rise to a “theodicy” avant la lettre by Dresser, since Cottas denial of providence had also argued with the existence of evil in God’s creation. The Epicurean conceptions of God are thus not an option. Those of Stoicism are acceptable if purged of dangerous elements. Scepticism in its radical academic form must be eliminated by argument. In this article, these features of Dresser’s Annotationes and Disputationes are described and analysed in detail. Important parts of his commentaries are quoted in the author’s translation. Completely translated are the Disputationes 1 and 2 to Book III, dealing with the sceptical ’epoché’ or retention of judgement. Thus, the contribution not only represents a unique example of the reception of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum in the age of confessionalism, but also gives an insight into the reception of the three Hellenistic schools of philosophy in the early modern period in general, especially that of scepticism.

For a Pre-history and Post-history of the Corpus Leidense With a List of the Manuscripts of De natura deorum

The present article examines the Corpus Leidense, the group of eight Ciceronian treatises among which the De natura deorum was also transmitted, focusing on its archetype. The second and longer section contains the first complete list of the 174 identified manuscripts of De natura deorum, with 57 new items added to the 117 already listed by Pease in 1955. The items have been divided into three groups: the first contains the antiquiores, with minimal information; the second contains the remaining witnesses listed by Pease, on which additional data are reported; the third group presents the manuscripts that do not appear in any previous list.

Ciceronian Skeptical Fideism in the Octavius of Minucius Felix

Abstract The dialogue Octavius by Minucius Felix is a point of reception in the legacy of Ciceronian skeptical fideism, and as such it deserves its place in the history of skeptical fideism. Drawing on his Ciceronian model, Minucius depicts a skeptical fideist—Caecilius—struggling to hold on to his religious traditions in the face of the challenges posed by the new religion of Christianity. But Minucius himself is a convert to the new religion and writes in its defense. And this authorial intent distorts the skeptical fideism which Minucius found in Cicero’s De natura deorum by adding credulous and/or dogmatic elements that are ill-fitted to skeptical fideism but well-suited to his authorial intention of answering all available objections to Christianity in the hopes of winning converts.

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit: The Cross and Moral Transformation

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit: The Cross and Moral Transformation

"A Fair Enquiry into Truth": A Freethinker's Translation of Ciceronian Theology in Enlightenment England

In London in 1741, a translation of Cicero's De natura deorum was published, equipped with "critical, philosophical, and explanatory notes" and an "Enquiry into the Astronomy and Anatomy of the Antients," through which the translator hoped "to guard the Mind against Superstition, and to prepare it for a fair Enquiry into Truth." Throughout the translation, there is a notable emphasis on the principles associated with the Freethinking philosophy, a subject of debate among English intellectuals in the early eighteenth century. This Freethinking tone was sufficiently prominent to prompt David Berman to suggest Anthony Collins as a possible candidate for the translator of the piece. This essay focuses on how the tools for transmitting the classical text—editing, commenting, translating—were exploited to make the text better serve this Freethinking philosophy, providing a powerful example of the transformative influence scholarship could have over the classical text in the early modern period.

Retórica e teônimos em De Natura Deorum, II

Em De Natura Deorum, livro II, o autor Cícero promove, através do personagem Balbo, os preceitos vigentes da escola filosófica estoica em Roma, sobretudo no que tange à natureza, forma física e nomes dos deuses, que são explicados em se considerando os aspectos filológicos e semânticos das palavras que lhes são atribuídas. É notória a tentativa de argumentação através de um discurso amplamente baseado em preceitos retóricos vigentes dos quais se utiliza o personagem Balbo para o convencimento dos seus interlocutores Veleio e Cota, representantes da escola epicurista e do academicismo, respectivamente. Com vista a verificar os argumentos utilizados, o presente trabalho, primeiramente, demonstra a estruturação retórica de que se utiliza o estoico em seu discurso ao longo do segundo livro: proêmio, narratio e conclusio; em seguida, analisam-se parágrafos importantes da narratio para a compreensão do ideal estoico acerca dos nomes atribuídos aos deuses.

Метафизика в трактате Цицерона «О природе богов»

At first sight, in Cicero’s treatise «De natura deorum», written in the form of a dialogue, metaphysical ideas are expressed only by a stoic participant, Balbus, who cannot argue them convincingly enough in the face of criticism from Cotta, a representative of the academic tradition, to which, in epistemology at least, the author considers himself to belong. However, the situation looks like this only if you read the treatise in isolation from other works of Cicero and taking into account what is stated, but not what is hidden. Meanwhile, there is every reason to consider this treatise as the central one in the group of works of the second half of the 40s, which is why the omissions in it are no less important than the direct text. From the comparison of various statements of Cicero about the divine, scattered in different works, it turns out that there undoubtedly was some metaphysical content in them, and it was built with an appeal to Plato, reinterpreted in the context of academic skepticism. And the key to understand the treatise «De natura deorum» is to be found in its composition, built on the opposition of the exoteric religiosity of the epicurean and stoic participants to the unspoken ideas of both their academic critics.

Skeptical Fideism in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum

The work of Richard H. Popkin both introduced the concept of skeptical fideism and served to impressively document its importance in the philosophies of a diverse range of thinkers, including Montaigne, Pascal, Huet, and Bayle. Popkin’s landmark History of Scepticism, however, begins its coverage with the Renaissance. In this paper I explore the roots of skeptical fideism in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, with special attention to Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, the oldest surviving text to clearly develop a skeptical fideist perspective.

Imágenes de los dioses en Cicerón

En De natura deorum, Cicerón presenta una crítica contundente a los límites y contradicciones de la teología antropomórfica epicúrea. Dirigiéndose especialmente a Epicuro en lo que se refiere al tema del deus effigies hominis et imago (Nat. D. I.103), Cicerón solicita a los epicúreos una definición más rigurosa de las relaciones entre la imagen de culto (una forma histórica de la figuración de lo divino) y los simulacra/imagines emanados directamente de los cuerpos de los dioses, denotando la insuficiencia del abordaje epicúreo sobre las imágenes divinas para fundamentar la pietas romana.
 Traducción de María Emilia Cairo y Roxana Inés Calvo

Религиология Цицерона по трактату «О природе богов»

Религиология Цицерона по трактату «О природе богов»

Double Vision: Epiphanies of the Dioscuri in Classical Antiquity

Abstract:The Dioscuri – Castor and Pollux – are among the most epiphanic of gods, frequently appearing in battle or to sailors struggling at sea. On Chios, a festival called the Theophania was founded in the third century BC to commemorate an epiphany of the twin gods. Indeed, their appearance at the Sicilian battle of the River Sagra c. 540 BC was so well known in Greek – and Roman – culture that it was invoked as a proverbial example of epiphanic manifestation in Cicero’s De natura deorum (2.1.13); as such, it was the model for several Graeco-Roman battle epiphanies featuring the Dioscuri and their horses, from Postumius’ victory at Lake Regillus in 496 BC to Constantine’s at the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. The numerous battle epiphanies of antiquity have been gathered and assessed by previous scholars (Pfister 1924 and Pritchett 1979). This article posits a new approach to the material, arguing that, because of their fame and ubiquity, epiphanies of the Dioscuri provided a model through which to explore both the validity and visual authority of divine manifestation. The conjuring of divine presence through the physical semeia of the gods is also an important element of the portrayal of the Dioscuri in image form. Representations of these epiphanic gods cover a spectrum of iconicity, ranging from highly anthropomorphized ‘re-enactments’ of their epiphanies (such as the sculptures set up in the Roman forum to commemorate the Lake Regillus victory) to metonymic denotations of their presence in the form of their polos hats, and sub-iconic depictions of twin stars. This combination of corporeal and cosmic semeia provides a sophisticated commentary upon the cognitive dilemmas raised by epiphany: what kind of bodies do the gods have, how do they reveal these forms to mortals, and how are we to recognize and identify them? As deities defined by dualism – mortals and immortals, gods and heroes, men and stars – the Dioscuri provide a particularly potent model for exploring such issues, for both ancient thinkers and modern scholars of epiphany.

Rozumne zachowania zwierząt w relacji Marka Tulliusza Cycerona

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Knowing the Divine and Divine Knowledge in Greco-Roman Religion

In his 2007 Tyndale Biblical Theology lecture, Brian Rosner has shown that the notion of being known by God is an important, albeit neglected, theme in the Old and New Testament. He explored the three relation notions of belonging to God, being loved or chosen by God, and being a child or son of God. After a concise survey of relevant biblical data in the Old and New Testament, he described the value of ‘being known by God’ in terms of warning, humility, comfort, and security. The following paper explores Greek and Roman religious texts with a view to establishing whether the notion of ‘being known by God’ surfaces in the context in which the early Christian movement engaged in missionary work, seeking to win polytheists for faith in the one true God and in Jesus Messiah. New Testament scholars do not seem to have explored the subject of the Greek and Roman gods ‘knowing’ human beings. Similar to Rosner’s biblical theological essay, which surveyed texts without in-depth discussion of exegetical details and historical context, the following essay is wide-ranging, considering primary texts written over a large span of time, from Homer’s epics (which continued to be read in the first century), the Homeric Hymns, Xenophanes’ fragments, Callimachus’ Hymn to Demeter, Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus, Hesiod’s Theogony, Cicero’s De natura deorum, and Plutarch’s religious texts to the Greek Hymns in the Furley/Bremer collection and the Lydian confession inscriptions.

La invocación de los antepasados en "De divinatione" y "De natura deorum" de Cicerón. "Religio e identidad" romana a fines de la república

La invocación del ideal del mos maiorum, entendido como conjunto de virtudes o rasgos ejemplares de los romanos, ha sido estudiada repetidamente en los textos de Cicerón. Analiza el tópico en relación con la discusión en torno a la identidad romana en textos del siglo I a.C. y delimita tres empleos diferentes: uno al que define como típicamente aristocrático, referido a la ascendencia noble de un individuo en particular; un segundo uso que, en vez de individualizar, amalgama a todos los ancestros en un mismo conjunto y establece una continuidad entre pasado y presente; finalmente, una tercera modalidad que propone una ruptura total entre el mundo de los antepasados y el de los contemporáneos. En este trabajo indagaremos el funcionamiento de este tópico en De diuinatione y De natura deorum de Cicerón. Desde nuestro punto de vista, el ideal del mos maiorum no solamente involucra virtudes éticas y morales sino que también supone una especial actitud con respecto a los dioses y el culto que resulta central en la definición de la identidad romana.

Tradiciones helenísticas y medievales sobre la causalidad del obrar humano. Cicerón y Tomás de Aquino ante el alcance de la voluntad / Hellenistic and Medieval Traditions on the Causality of Human Action. Cicero and Thomas Aquinas with Respect to the Object of the Will

This study considers the ranges of the power of self-determination in human action, attending to the « status quaestionis » of the matter as it is contained in statements of Cicero on the Stoic position, his own thoughts on this matter, and the reception and re-reading of the theme in Thomas Aquinas. We thus attend to the Ciceronian exposition in De natura deorum, De divinatione and De fato on the Stoic position regarding the need for causal connection. We also study the criticism added by Cicero to its transmission, and the projections of the problematic in Aquinas’s quaestio De fato, in the Summa Theologiae, and in other parallel passages.

Christian Euhemerism in the Latin Middle Ages

In Late Antiquity, Christian apologists adopted the views of the rationalist Greek (or Sicilian) philosopher Euhemerus of Messene (fl. ca 300BCE) in order to refute the theological claims and cultic practices of pagan, principally Roman, religion. The traveller Euhemerus had written an account, now lost, of his journey to a mythical island which he called Panchaia, the Hiera Anagraphe (Sacred Record), where he claimed to have seen a golden column in the tomb of Zeus Triphylian (of the three tribes) on which was inscribed in his own words the history of his achievements. In the philosophical trend of Greek rationalism, Euhemerus sought to explain the mundane origins of the Hellenistic divinities. The ancient gods were once merely ancient royalty whose mortality had been forgotten by the ages. The record of the mortal deeds of Zeus Triphylian were used by Euhemerus to support this argument. He attributed their god-like powers remembered in the tragic poets to simple human superiority and their divine intelligence to their mere primacy: they were the first to accomplish great inventions and deeds and were remembered for it. Although several Greek philosophers held to such notions, Euhemerus’ name was applied by historians to the general rationalist idea: Euhemerism. [The investigation of later Euhemerism suffers from the movement’s close association with Greek rationalism in general. We can define Euhemerism in two ways: first in the strictest sense as a movement which reflected the known views of Euhemerus' Hiera Anagraphe regarding Panchaia and the historicity of the family of Saturn and Uranus. The principle sources of these views are the handed-down accounts of Lactantius and Diodorus; or second, in the widest sense, as a rationalist movement which sought to explain the mundane origins of all the Hellenistic gods and heroes as mortals. But could not the wide sense of Euhemerism be said of many Greek rationalist interpretations of Hellenistic divinities? In some cases, simply “rationalist” might be a better qualifier for such ideas. Although the wide and strict sense above might not be relevant when charting the history of ideas, they claim some consideration when discussing the influence of Euhemerus and Euhemerism in later authors. To give an example, although Fulgentius in his Mythologies espouses views on the mortal history of the Greek mythical heroes Perseus and Ganymede (they were ancient generals) which he undoutably received from reading Greek rationalist interpretations, these views are not “Euhemerist” in the strict sense since what we know of the Hiera Anagraphe is silent on the matter. In a wider sense, however, they are in the current of Greek rationalist thought which we might call “Euhemerism”. It could be said then that Fulgentius’ views on Perseus and Ganymede reflect a kind of broad “Euhemerism” which paradoxically does not rely on the known writings of Euhemerus. In the following discussions I will be careful to denote when appropriate which sense, wide or strict, I am using.] References to the Hiera Anagraphe appear among Greek authors especially Diodorus of Sicily whose paraphrases of Euhemerus make up much of books 5 and 6 of the Library. In the 2nd century BCE, the Hiera Anagraphe was adapted into Latin by Quintus Ennius whose work, now lost as well, was referenced and cited by Lactantius and Sextus Empiricus. Euhemerist formulations also found their way into Cicero’s De Natura Deorum and Macrobius’ commentary on the Somnium Scipionis. Eusebius of Caesarea copied Diodorus’ adaptation of Euhemerus in the second book of the Praeparatio Evangelica, a manual for pagan converts to Christianity. The Euhemerism of the early Christians, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Arnobius, and Augustine were received mostly third-hand. Only Arnobius' pupil, Lactantius had read Ennius’ Latin adaptation when he summons Euhemerus for his arguments against Roman paganism in the Divine Institutions. [J.W. Schippers, De Ontwikkeling der Euhemeristische Godencritiek in de Christelijke Latiijnse Literatuur (diss., Utrecht; Groningen, 1952), pp. xxx].

Superstitionis Malleus: John Toland, Cicero, and the War on Priestcraft in Early Enlightenment England

SummaryThis paper explores the role of the Ciceronian tradition in the radical religious discourse of John Toland (1670–1722). Toland produced numerous works seeking to challenge the authority of the clergy, condemning their ‘priestcraft’ as a significant threat to the integrity of the Commonwealth. Throughout these anticlerical writings, Toland repeatedly invoked Cicero as an enemy to superstition and as a religious sceptic, particularly citing the theological dialogues De Natura Deorum and De Divinatione. This paper argues that Toland adapted the Ciceronian tradition so that it could function as an active influence on the construction of his radical discourse. First, it shows that Toland championed a particular interpretation of Cicero's works which legitimised his use of Cicero in this rational context. Then, it shows the practical manifestations of this interpretation, examining the ramifications for how Toland formed three important facets of his campaign against priestcraft: his identification of priestcraft as a superstition; his argument for a rational religion in which priestcraft could play no role; and his portrayal of anticlericalism as a service to the Commonwealth.

DUE FRAMMENTI DI PARODIA FILOSOFICO-RELIGIOSA: I FRR. 582a–b E 583 B DELLE MENIPPEE DI VARRONE

Abstract This essay analyzes two Menippean fragments, quotations of Varro by Seneca and Tertullian respectively (frr. 583 and 582 a-b B., original text incertae sedis). The first of these describes the image of the Stoic god satirically as “round, without head, without prepuce.” This can be read as a caustic rebuttal of the main attributes of the god, such as are presented in fr. 583 B., there considered the rational origin of the whole. The latter fragment, fr. 582 a-b B. mentions a multitude of Ioves without heads and can be interpreted as an ironic reference to the Stoic view of the deity: the Stoic god is at the same time singular and multiple because it is the sole source of generation of the whole. The allusion to the acephalous character of the deities in both fragments suggests an attribution of the passages to the same, lost satire, where a discussion about the nature of the gods took place. In particular, the comparison with some passages of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum permits the identification of the speaker with an Epicurean philosopher who opposes the Stoic conception of the divine.