Academica by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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THE

ACADEMICA OF CICERO.

_THE TEXT REVISED AND EXPLAINED_

BY

JAMES S. REID,

M.L. CAMB. M.A. (LOND.)
ASSISTANT TUTOR AND LATE FELLOW, CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
ASSISTANT EXAMINER IN CLASSICS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

LONDON:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1874

[_All Rights reserved_.]

* * * * *

TO
THOSE OF HIS PUPILS
WHO HAVE READ WITH HIM
_THE ACADEMICA_,
THIS EDITION
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY
THE EDITOR.

* * * * *

PREFACE.

Since the work of Davies appeared in 1725, no English scholar has edited
the _Academica_. In Germany the last edition with explanatory notes is that
of Goerenz, published in 1810. To the poverty and untrustworthiness of
Goerenz's learning Madvig's pages bear strong evidence; while the work of
Davies, though in every way far superior to that of Goerenz, is very
deficient when judged by the criticism of the present time.

This edition has grown out of a course of Intercollegiate lectures given by
me at Christ's College several years ago. I trust that the work in its
present shape will be of use to undergraduate students of the Universities,
and also to pupils and teachers alike in all schools where the
philosophical works of Cicero are studied, but especially in those where an
attempt is made to impart such instruction in the Ancient Philosophy as
will prepare the way for the completer knowledge now required in the final
Classical Examinations for Honours both at Oxford and Cambridge. My notes
have been written throughout with a practical reference to the needs of
junior students. During the last three or four years I have read the
_Academica_ with a large number of intelligent pupils, and there is
scarcely a note of mine which has not been suggested by some difficulty or
want of theirs. My plan has been, first, to embody in an Introduction such
information concerning Cicero's philosophical views and the literary
history of the _Academica_ as could not be readily got from existing books;
next, to provide a good text; then to aid the student in obtaining a higher
knowledge of Ciceronian Latinity, and lastly, to put it in his power to
learn thoroughly the philosophy with which Cicero deals.

My text may be said to be founded on that of Halm which appeared in the
edition of Cicero's philosophical works published in 1861 under the
editorship of Baiter and Halm as a continuation of Orelli's second edition
of Cicero's works, which was interrupted by the death of that editor. I
have never however allowed one of Halm's readings to pass without carefully
weighing the evidence he presents; and I have also studied all original
criticisms upon the text to which I could obtain access. The result is a
text which lies considerably nearer the MSS. than that of Halm. My
obligations other than those to Halm are sufficiently acknowledged in my
notes; the chief are to Madvig's little book entitled _Emendationes ad
Ciceronis libros Philosophicos_, published in 1825 at Copenhagen, but
never, I believe, reprinted, and to Baiter's text in the edition of
Cicero's works by himself and Kayser. In a very few passages I have
introduced emendations of my own, and that only where the conjecttires of
other Editors seemed to me to depart too widely from the MSS. If any
apology be needed for discussing, even sparingly, in the notes, questions
of textual criticism, I may say that I have done so from a conviction that
the very excellence of the texts now in use is depriving a Classical
training of a great deal of its old educational value. The judgment was
better cultivated when the student had to fight his way through bad texts
to the author's meaning and to a mastery of the Latin tongue. The
acceptance of results without a knowledge of the processes by which they
are obtained is worthless for the purposes of education, which is thus made
to rest on memory alone. I have therefore done my best to place before the
reader the arguments for and against different readings in the most
important places where the text is doubtful.

My experience as a teacher and examiner has proved to me that the students
for whom this edition is intended have a far smaller acquaintance than they
ought to have with the peculiarities and niceties of language which the
best Latin writers display. I have striven to guide them to the best
teaching of Madvig, on whose foundation every succeeding editor of Cicero
must build. His edition of the _De Finibus_ contains more valuable material
for illustrating, not merely the language, but also the subject-matter of
the _Academica_, than all the professed editions of the latter work in
existence. Yet, even after Madvig's labours, a great deal remains to be
done in pointing out what is, and what is not, Ciceronian Latin. I have
therefore added very many references from my own reading, and from other
sources. Wherever a quotation would not have been given but for its
appearance in some other work, I have pointed out the authority from whom
it was taken. I need hardly say that I do not expect or intend readers to
look out all the references given. It was necessary to provide material by
means of which the student might illustrate for himself a Latin usage, if
it were new to him, and might solve any linguistic difficulty that
occurred. Want of space has compelled me often to substitute a mere
reference for an actual quotation.

As there is no important doctrine of Ancient Philosophy which is not
touched upon somewhere in the _Academica_, it is evidently impossible for
an editor to give information which would be complete for a reader who is
studying that subject for the first time. I have therefore tried to enable
readers to find easily for themselves the information they require, and
have only dwelt in my own language upon such philosophical difficulties as
were in some special way bound up with the _Academica_. The two books
chiefly referred to in my notes are the English translation of Zeller's
_Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics_ (whenever Zeller is quoted without any
further description this book is meant), and the _Historia Philosophiae_ of
Ritter and Preller. The _pages_, not the _sections_, of the fourth edition
of this work are quoted. These books, with Madvig's _De Finibus_, all
teachers ought to place in the hands of pupils who are studying a
philosophical work of Cicero. Students at the Universities ought to have
constantly at hand Diogenes Laertius, Stobaeus, and Sextus Empiricus, all
of which have been published in cheap and convenient forms.

Although this edition is primarily intended for junior students, it is
hoped that it may not be without interest for maturer scholars, as bringing
together much scattered information illustrative of the _Academica_, which
was before difficult of access. The present work will, I hope, prepare the
way for an exhaustive edition either from my own or some more competent
hand. It must be regarded as an experiment, for no English scholar of
recent times has treated any portion of Cicero's philosophical works with
quite the purpose which I have kept in view and have explained above.
Should this attempt meet with favour, I propose to edit after the same plan
some others of the less known and less edited portions of Cicero's
writings.

In dealing with a subject so unusually difficult and so rarely edited I
cannot hope to have escaped errors, but after submitting my views to
repeated revision during four years, it seems better to publish them than
to withhold from students help they so greatly need. Moreover, it is a
great gain, even at the cost of some errors, to throw off that intellectual
disease of over-fastidiousness which is so prevalent in this University,
and causes more than anything else the unproductiveness of English
scholarship as compared with that of Germany,

I have only to add that I shall be thankful for notices of errors and
omissions from any who are interested in the subject.

JAMES S. REID.

CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, _December, 1873._

* * * * *

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS WORK.

Cic. = Cicero; Ac., Acad. = Academica; Ac., Acad. Post. = Academica
Posteriora; D.F. = De Finibus; T.D. = Tusculan Disputations; N.D. = De
Natura Deorum; De Div. = De Divinatione; Parad. = Paradoxa; Luc. =
Lucullus; Hortens. = Hortensius; De Off. = De Officiis; Tim. = Timaeus;
Cat. Mai. = Cato Maior; Lael. = Laelius; De Leg. = De Legibus; De Rep. = De
Republica; Somn. Scip. = Somnium Scipionis; De Or. = De Oratore; Orat. =
Orator; De Inv. = De Inventione; Brut. = Brutus; Ad Att. = Ad Atticum; Ad
Fam. = Ad Familiares; Ad Qu. Frat. = Ad Quintum Fratrem; In Verr., Verr. =
In Verrem; Div. in. Qu. Caec. = Divinatio in Quintum Caecilium; In Cat. =
In Catilinam.

Plat. = Plato: Rep. = Republic; Tim. = Timaeus; Apol. = Apologia Socratis;
Gorg. = Gorgias; Theaet. = Theaetetus.

Arist. = Aristotle; Nic. Eth. = Nicomachean Ethics; Mag. Mor. = Magna
Moralia; De Gen. An. = De Generatione Animalium; De Gen. et Corr. = De
Generatione et Corruptione; Anal. Post. = Analytica Posteriora; Met. =
Metaphysica; Phys. = Physica.

Plut. = Plutarch; De Plac. Phil. = De Placitis Philosophorum; Sto. Rep. =
De Stoicis Repugnantiis.

Sext. = Sextus; Sext. Emp. = Sextus Empiricus; Adv. Math. or A.M. =
Adversus Mathematicos; Pyrrh. Hypotyp. or Pyrrh. Hyp. or P.H. = Pyrrhoneon
Hypotyposeon Syntagmata.

Diog. or Diog. Laert. = Diogenes Laertius.

Stob. = Stobaeus; Phys. = Physica; Eth. = Ethica.

Galen; De Decr. Hipp. et Plat. = De Decretis Hippocratis et Platonis.

Euseb. = Eusebius; Pr. Ev. = Praeparatio Evangelii.

Aug. or August. = Augustine; Contra Ac. or C. Ac. = Contra Academicos; De
Civ. Dei = De Civitate Dei.

Quintil. = Quintilian; Inst. Or. = Institutiones Oratoriae.

Seneca; Ep. = Epistles; Consol. ad Helv. = Consolatio ad Helvidium.

Epic. = Epicurus; Democr. = Democritus.

Madv. = Madvig; M.D.F. = Madvig's edition of the De Finibus; Opusc. =
Opuscula; Em. = Emendationes ad Ciceronis libros Philosophicos; Em. Liv. =
Emendationes Livianae; Gram. = Grammar.

Bentl. = Bentley; Bait. = Baiter; Dav. = Davies; Ern. = Ernesti; Forc. =
Forcellini; Goer. = Goerenz; Herm. = Hermann; Lamb. = Lambinus; Man. or
Manut. = Manutius; Turn. = Turnebus; Wes. or Wesenb. = Wesenberg.

Corss. = Corssen; Ausspr. = Aussprache, Vokalismus und Betonung.

Curt. = Curtius; Grundz. = Grundzuege der Griechischen Etymologie.

Corp. Inscr. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

Dict. Biogr. = Dictionary of Classical Biography.

Cf. = compare; conj. = 'conjecture' or 'conjectures'; conjug. =
conjugation; constr. = construction; ed. = edition; edd. = editors; em. =
emendation; ex. = example; exx. = examples; exc. = except; esp. =
especially; fragm. = fragment or fragments; Gr. and Gk. = Greek; Introd. =
Introduction; Lat. = Latin; n. = note; nn. = notes; om. = omit, omits, or
omission; prep. = preposition; qu. = quotes or quoted by; subj. =
subjunctive.

R. and P. = Ritter and Preller's Historia Philosophiae ex fontium locis
contexta.

* * * * *

THE ACADEMICA OF CICERO.

INTRODUCTION.

I. _Cicero as a Student of Philosophy and Man of
Letters:_ 90--45 B.C.

It would seem that Cicero's love for literature was inherited from his
father, who, being of infirm health, lived constantly at Arpinum, and spent
the greater part of his time in study.[1] From him was probably derived
that strong love for the old Latin dramatic and epic poetry which his son
throughout his writings displays. He too, we may conjecture, led the young
Cicero to feel the importance of a study of philosophy to serve as a
corrective for the somewhat narrow rhetorical discipline of the time.[2]

Cicero's first systematic lessons in philosophy were given him by the
Epicurean Phaedrus, then at Rome because of the unsettled state of Athens,
whose lectures he attended at a very early age, even before he had assumed
the toga virilis. The pupil seems to have been converted at once to the
tenets of the master.[3] Phaedrus remained to the end of his life a friend
of Cicero, who speaks warmly in praise of his teacher's amiable disposition
and refined style. He is the only Epicurean, with, perhaps, the exception
of Lucretius, whom the orator ever allows to possess any literary power.[4]
Cicero soon abandoned Epicureanism, but his schoolfellow, T. Pomponius
Atticus, received more lasting impressions from the teaching of Phaedrus.
It was probably at this period of their lives that Atticus and his friend
became acquainted with Patro, who succeeded Zeno of Sidon as head of the
Epicurean school.[5]

At this time (i.e. before 88 B.C.) Cicero also heard the lectures of
Diodotus the Stoic, with whom he studied chiefly, though not exclusively,
the art of dialectic.[6] This art, which Cicero deems so important to the
orator that he calls it "abbreviated eloquence," was then the monopoly of
the Stoic school. For some time Cicero spent all his days with Diodotus in
the severest study, but he seems never to have been much attracted by the
general Stoic teaching. Still, the friendship between the two lasted till
the death of Diodotus, who, according to a fashion set by the Roman Stoic
circle of the time of Scipio and Laelius, became an inmate of Cicero's
house, where he died in B.C. 59, leaving his pupil heir to a not
inconsiderable property.[7] He seems to have been one of the most
accomplished men of his time, and Cicero's feelings towards him were those
of gratitude, esteem, and admiration.[8]

In the year 88 B.C. the celebrated Philo of Larissa, then head of the
Academic school, came to Rome, one of a number of eminent Greeks who fled
from Athens on the approach of its siege during the Mithridatic war. Philo,
like Diodotus, was a man of versatile genius: unlike the Stoic philosopher,
he was a perfect master both of the theory and the practice of oratory.
Cicero had scarcely heard him before all inclination for Epicureanism was
swept from his mind, and he surrendered himself wholly, as he tells us, to
the brilliant Academic.[9] Smitten with a marvellous enthusiasm he
abandoned all other studies for philosophy. His zeal was quickened by the
conviction that the old judicial system of Rome was overthrown for ever,
and that the great career once open to an orator was now barred.[10]

We thus see that before Cicero was twenty years of age, he had been brought
into intimate connection with at least three of the most eminent
philosophers of the age, who represented the three most vigorous and
important Greek schools. It is fair to conclude that he must have become
thoroughly acquainted with their spirit, and with the main tenets of each.
His own statements, after every deduction necessitated by his egotism has
been made, leave no doubt about his diligence as a student. In his later
works he often dwells on his youthful devotion to philosophy.[11] It would
be unwise to lay too much stress on the intimate connection which subsisted
between the rhetorical and the ethical teaching of the Greeks; but there
can be little doubt that from the great rhetorician Molo, then Rhodian
ambassador at Rome, Cicero gained valuable information concerning the
ethical part of Greek philosophy.

During the years 88--81 B.C., Cicero employed himself incessantly with the
study of philosophy, law, rhetoric, and belles lettres. Many ambitious
works in the last two departments mentioned were written by him at this
period. On Sulla's return to the city after his conquest of the Marian
party in Italy, judicial affairs once more took their regular course, and
Cicero appeared as a pleader in the courts, the one philosophic orator of
Rome, as he not unjustly boasts[12]. For two years he was busily engaged,
and then suddenly left Rome for a tour in Eastern Hellas. It is usually
supposed that he came into collision with Sulla through the freedman
Chrysogonus, who was implicated in the case of Roscius. The silence of
Cicero is enough to condemn this theory, which rests on no better evidence
than that of Plutarch. Cicero himself, even when mentioning his speech in
defence of Roscius, never assigns any other cause for his departure than
his health, which was being undermined by his passionate style of
oratory[13].

The whole two years 79--77 B.C. were spent in the society of Greek
philosophers and rhetoricians. The first six months passed at Athens, and
were almost entirely devoted to philosophy, since, with the exception of
Demetrius Syrus, there were no eminent rhetorical teachers at that time
resident in the city[14]. By the advice of Philo himself[15], Cicero
attended the lectures of that clear thinker and writer, as Diogenes calls
him[16], Zeno of Sidon, now the head of the Epicurean school. In Cicero's
later works there are several references to his teaching. He was biting and
sarcastic in speech, and spiteful in spirit, hence in striking contrast to
Patro and Phaedrus[17]. It is curious to find that Zeno is numbered by
Cicero among those pupils and admirers of Carneades whom he had known[18].
Phaedrus was now at Athens, and along with Atticus who loved him beyond all
other philosophers[19], Cicero spent much time in listening to his
instruction, which was eagerly discussed by the two pupils[20]. Patro was
probably in Athens at the same time, but this is nowhere explicitly stated.
Cicero must at this time have attained an almost complete familiarity with
the Epicurean doctrines.

There seem to have been no eminent representatives of the Stoic school then
at Athens. Nor is any mention made of a Peripatetic teacher whose lectures
Cicero might have attended, though M. Pupius Piso, a professed Peripatetic,
was one of his companions in this sojourn at Athens[21]. Only three notable
Peripatetics were at this time living. Of these Staseas of Naples, who
lived some time in Piso's house, was not then at Athens[22]; it is
probable, however, from a mention of him in the De Oratore, that Cicero
knew himm through Piso. Diodorus, the pupil of Critolaus, is frequently
named by Cicero, but never as an acquaintance. Cratippus was at this time
unknown to him.

The philosopher from whose lessons Cicero certainly learned most at this
period was Antiochus of Ascalon, now the representative of a Stoicised
Academic school. Of this teacher, however, I shall have to treat later,
when I shall attempt to estimate the influence he exercised over our
author. It is sufficient here to say that on the main point which was in
controversy between Philo and Antiochus, Cicero still continued to think
with his earlier teacher. His later works, however, make it evident that he
set a high value on the abilities and the learning of Antiochus, especially
in dialectic, which was taught after Stoic principles. Cicero speaks of him
as eminent among the philosophers of the time, both for talent and
acquirement [23]; as a man of acute intellect[24]; as possessed of a
pointed style[25]; in fine, as the most cultivated and keenest of the
philosophers of the age[26]. A considerable friendship sprang up between
Antiochus and Cicero[27], which was strengthened by the fact that many
friends of the latter, such as Piso, Varro, Lucullus and Brutus, more or
less adhered to the views of Antiochus. It is improbable that Cicero at
this time became acquainted with Aristus the brother of Antiochus, since in
the Academica[28] he is mentioned in such a way as to show that he was
unknown to Cicero in B.C. 62.

The main purpose of Cicero while at Athens had been to learn philosophy; in
Asia and at Rhodes he devoted himself chiefly to rhetoric, under the
guidance of the most noted Greek teachers, chief of whom, was his old
friend Molo, the coryphaeus of the Rhodian school[29]. Cicero, however,
formed while at Rhodes one friendship which largely influenced his views of
philosophy, that with Posidonius the pupil of Panaetius, the most famous
Stoic of the age. To him Cicero makes reference in his works oftener than
to any other instructor. He speaks of him as the greatest of the
Stoics[30]; as a most notable philosopher, to visit whom Pompey, in the
midst of his eastern campaigns, put himself to much trouble[31]; as a
minute inquirer[32]. He is scarcely ever mentioned without some expression
of affection, and Cicero tells us that he read his works more than those of
any other author[33]. Posidonius was at a later time resident at Rome, and
stayed in Cicero's house. Hecato the Rhodian, another pupil of Panaetius,
may have been at Rhodes at this time. Mnesarchus and Dardanus, also hearers
of Panaetius, belonged to an earlier time, and although Cicero was well
acquainted with the works of the former, he does not seem to have known
either personally.

From the year 77 to the year 68 B.C., when the series of letters begins,
Cicero was doubtless too busily engaged with legal and political affairs to
spend much time in systematic study. That his oratory owed much to
philosophy from the first he repeatedly insists; and we know from his
letters that it was his later practice to refresh his style by much study
of the Greek writers, and especially the philosophers. During the period
then, about which we have little or no information, we may believe that he
kept up his old knowledge by converse with his many Roman friends who had a
bent towards philosophy, as well as with the Greeks who from time to time
came to Rome and frequented the houses of the Optimates; to this he added
such reading as his leisure would allow. The letters contained in the first
book of those addressed to Atticus, which range over the years 68--62 B.C.,
afford many proofs of the abiding strength of his passion for literary
employment. In the earlier part of this time we find him entreating Atticus
to let him have a library which was then for sale; expressing at the same
time in the strongest language his loathing for public affairs, and his
love for books, to which he looks as the support of his old age[34]. In the
midst of his busiest political occupations, when he was working his hardest
for the consulship, his heart was given to the adornment of his Tusculan
villa in a way suited to his literary and philosophic tastes. This may be
taken as a specimen of his spirit throughout his life. He was before all
things a man of letters; compared with literature, politics and oratory
held quite a secondary place in his affections. Public business employed
his intellect, but never his heart.

The year 62 released him from the consulship and enabled him to indulge his
literary tastes. To this year belong the publication of his speeches, which
were crowded, he says, with the maxims of philosophy[35]; the history of
his consulship, in Latin and Greek, the Greek version which he sent to
Posidonius being modelled on Isocrates and Aristotle; and the poem on his
consulship, of which some fragments remain. A year or two later we find him
reading with enthusiasm the works of Dicaearchus, and keeping up his
acquaintance with living Greek philosophers[36]. His long lack of leisure
seems to have caused an almost unquenchable thirst for reading at this
time. His friend Paetus had inherited a valuable library, which he
presented to Cicero. It was in Greece at the time, and Cicero thus writes
to Atticus: "If you love me and feel sure of my love for you, use all the
endeavours of your friends, clients, acquaintances, freedmen, and even
slaves to prevent a single leaf from being lost.... Every day I find
greater satisfaction in study, so far as my forensic labours permit[37]."
At this period of his life Cicero spent much time in study at his estates
near Tusculum, Antium, Formiae, and elsewhere. I dwell with greater
emphasis on these facts, because of the idea now spread abroad that Cicero
was a mere dabbler in literature, and that his works were extempore
paraphrases of Greek books half understood. In truth, his appetite for
every kind of literature was insatiable, and his attainments in each
department considerable. He was certainly the most learned Roman of his
age, with the single exception of Varro. One of his letters to Atticus[38]
will give a fair picture of his life at this time. He especially studied
the political writings of the Greeks, such as Theophrastus and
Dicaearchus[39]. He also wrote historical memoirs after the fashion, of
Theopompus[40].

The years from 59--57 B.C. were years in which Cicero's private cares
overwhelmed all thought of other occupation. Soon after his return from
exile, in the year 56, he describes himself as "devouring literature" with
a marvellous man named Dionysius[41], and laughingly pronouncing that
nothing is sweeter than universal knowledge. He spent great part of the
year 55 at Cumae or Naples "feeding upon" the library of Faustus Sulla, the
son of the Dictator[42]. Literature formed then, he tells us, his solace
and support, and he would rather sit in a garden seat which Atticus had,
beneath a bust of Aristotle, than in the ivory chair of office. Towards the
end of the year, he was busily engaged on the _De Oratore_, a work which
clearly proves his continued familiarity with Greek philosophy[43]. In the
following year (54) he writes that politics must cease for him, and that he
therefore returns unreservedly to the life most in accordance with nature,
that of the student[44]. During this year he was again for the most part at
those of his country villas where his best collections of books were. At
this time was written the _De Republica_, a work to which I may appeal for
evidence that his old philosophical studies had by no means been allowed to
drop[45]. Aristotle is especially mentioned as one of the authors read at
this time[46]. In the year 52 B.C. came the _De Legibus_, written amid many
distracting occupations; a work professedly modelled on Plato and the older
philosophers of the Socratic schools.

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