B PARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE LIBRARY OF LONDON: R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. PREFACE. THE greater portion of the present volume (i.e. Divination, Fate, Laws, and Republic) was previously translated by Francis Barham, Esq., and published, in two volumes, 8vo, in 1841. Although ably performed, it was not sufficiently close for the purpose of the "CLASSICAL LIBRARY," and was therefore placed in the hands of the present Editor, for revision, as well as for collation with recent texts. This has occasioned material alterations and additions. The treatise "On the Nature of the Gods" is a revision of that by Dr. Thomas Francklin, first printed in 1741. The letter "On Standing for the Consulship" is presented to the English public for the first time, and is exclusively the work of the Editor. b and governed by the will and wisdom of the Gods; nor do they stop here, but conceive likewise that the Deities consult and provide for the preservation of mankind. For they think that the fruits, and the other produce of the earth, and the seasons, and the variety of weather, and the change of climates, by which all the productions of the earth are brought to maturity, are designed by the immortal Gods for the use of man. They instance many other things, which shall be related in these books; and which would almost induce us to believe that the immortal Gods had made them all expressly and solely for the benefit and advantage of men. Against these opinions Carneades has advanced so much, that what he has said should excite a desire in men who are not naturally slothful, to search after truth; for there is no subject on which the learned, as well as the unlearned, differ so strenuously as in this; and since their opinions are so various, and so repugnant one to another, it is possible that none of them may be, and absolutely impossible that more than one should be right. III. Now in a cause like this, I may be able to pacify wellmeaning opposers, and to confute invidious censurers; so as to induce the latter to repent of their unreasonable contradiction, and the former to be glad to learn; for they who admonish one in a friendly spirit should be instructed, they who attack one like enemies should be repelled. But I observe that the several books, which I have lately published,' have occasioned much noise, and various discourse about them ; some people wondering what the reason has been why I have applied myself so suddenly to the study of philosophy, and others desirous of knowing what my opinion is on such subjects. I likewise perceive that many people wonder at my following that philosophy' chiefly, which seems to take away the light, and to bury and envelop things in a kind of artificial night; and that I should so unexpectedly have taken up the defence of a school that has been long neglected and forsaken. But it is a mistake to suppose that this application to philosophical studies has been sudden on my part. I have applied 1 Cicero wrote his philosophical works in the last three years of his life. When he wrote this piece, he was in the sixty-third year of his age, in the year of Rome 709. 2 The Academic. myself to them from my youth, at no small expense of time and trouble; and I have been in the habit of philosophising a great deal, when I least seemed to think about it for the truth of which I appeal to my orations, which are filled with quotations from philosophers, and to my intimacy with those very learned men, who frequented my house and conversed daily with me; particularly Diodorus, Philo, Antiochus, and Posidonius,' under whom I was bred; and, if all the precepts of philosophy are to have reference to the conduct of life, I am inclined to think that I have advanced, both in public and private affairs, only such principles as may be supported by reason and authority. IV. But if any one should ask, what has induced me, in the decline of life, to write on these subjects, nothing is more easily answered; for, when I found myself entirely disengaged from business, and the commonwealth reduced to the necessity of being governed by the direction and care of one man,2 I thought it becoming for the sake of the public, to instruct my countrymen in philosophy; and that it would be of importance, and much to the honour and commendation of our city, to have such great and excellent subjects introduced in the Latin tongue. I the less repent of my undertaking, since I plainly see that I have excited in many a desire, not only of learning, but of writing; for we have had several Romans well grounded in the learning of the Greeks, who were unable to communicate to their countrymen what they had learned, because they looked upon it as impossible to express that in →Latin, which they had received from the Greeks. In this point I think I have succeeded so well, that what I have done is not, even in copiousness of expression, inferior to that language. Another inducement to it was a melancholy disposition of mind. and the great and heavy oppression of fortune that was opon me; from which, if I could have found any surer remedy, I would not have sought relief in this pursuit. But I could procure ease by no means better than by not only applying myself to books, but by devoting myself to the examination of the whole body of philosophy. And every 1 Diodorus and Posidonius were Stoics; Philo and Antiochus were Academics; but the latter afterwards inclined to the doctrine of the Stoics. 2 Julius Cæsar. |