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    How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers and Nonbelievers
    How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers and Nonbelievers
    How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers and Nonbelievers
    Ebook75 pages59 minutes

    How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers and Nonbelievers

    By Marcus Tullius Cicero and Philip Freeman

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    A vivid and accessible new translation of Cicero’s influential writings on the Stoic idea of the divine

    Most ancient Romans were deeply religious and their world was overflowing with gods—from Jupiter, Minerva, and Mars to countless local divinities, household gods, and ancestral spirits. One of the most influential Roman perspectives on religion came from a nonreligious belief system that is finding new adherents even today: Stoicism. How did the Stoics think about religion? In How to Think about God, Philip Freeman presents vivid new translations of Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods and The Dream of Scipio. In these brief works, Cicero offers a Stoic view of belief, divinity, and human immortality, giving eloquent expression to the religious ideas of one of the most popular schools of Roman and Greek philosophy.

    On the Nature of the Gods and The Dream of Scipio are Cicero's best-known and most important writings on religion, and they have profoundly shaped Christian and non-Christian thought for more than two thousand years, influencing such luminaries as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and Thomas Jefferson. These works reveal many of the religious aspects of Stoicism, including an understanding of the universe as a materialistic yet continuous and living whole in which both the gods and a supreme God are essential elements.

    Featuring an introduction, suggestions for further reading, and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Think about God is a compelling guide to the Stoic view of the divine.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateNov 5, 2019
    ISBN9780691197449
    Author

    Marcus Tullius Cicero

    Marcus Tullius Cicero wird 106 v. Chr. geboren. Seine Ausbildung in Rom umfaßt Recht, Literatur, Philosophie und Rhetorik, was ihm den Weg zu einer politischen Karriere ebnet. Nach kurzem Militärdienst geht er nach Griechenland und Kleinasien, um seine Studien fortzusetzen. Er kehrt 77 v. Chr. nach Rom zurück und beginnt eine politische Laufbahn. Der Durchbruch als Anwalt und Politiker in Rom gelingt ihm 70 v. Chr. im Prozeß gegen Verres. Während seiner Amtszeit als Konsul verhindert er 63 v. Chr. die Verschwörung des Catilina, muß jedoch auf Grund der herrschenden Machtverhältnisse 58 v. Chr. für kurze Zeit ins Exil gehen. Phasen politischer Abwesenheit nutzt Cicero zur Vertiefung seiner Studien und zur literarischen Produktion. In den folgenden Jahren entstehen die rechtsphilosophischen Hauptwerke wie Vom Gemeinwesen und Von den Gesetzen. Im Jahr 50 v. Chr. kehrt er nach Rom zurück und schließt sich nach Beendigung des Bürgerkrieges Caesar an. Die Akademischen Abhandlungen entstehen etwa vier Jahre später. Cicero kommt hier das Verdienst zu, die Übertragung großer Teile des griechischen philosophischen Vokabulars ins Lateinische geleistet und damit die Rezeption der griechischen Philosophie in Rom befördert zu haben. Die Frage nach der Gewißheit der Erkenntnis und der Unterschied zwischen der dogmatischen und der skeptischen Akademie auf dem Gebiet der Erkenntnistheorie steht im Mittelpunkt des Dialoges Lucullus. Cicero wird Opfer der in den politischen Unruhen des zweiten Triumvirats beschlossenen Proskritptionen. Er wird im Dezember 43 v. Chr. auf der Flucht ermordet.

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      Book preview

      How to Think about God - Marcus Tullius Cicero

      GOD

      ON THE NATURE OF THE GODS

      (2.1–44)

      1. When Cotta had finished speaking, Velleius replied: "I was foolish to try to debate someone who is both an Academic and skilled at rhetoric.¹ I wouldn’t have been afraid of an Academic who was a poor speaker nor of an excellent rhetorician who had a poor grasp of philosophy; for I have no fear of a stream of empty, eloquent words nor sharp arguments presented badly. However you, Cotta, are skilled at both! All you lacked was a circle of listeners and a jury. But I’ll respond to your criticisms some other time. Let us now hear Lucilius Balbus, if he is willing."

      2. Then Balbus spoke: I would prefer to hear Cotta further, if only he would portray the true gods as eloquently as he has exposed the false. A man like Cotta, who is both a philosopher and a priest, should have a vision of the immortal gods that isn’t ambiguous and vague like the Academics but instead sure and certain like what we Stoics hold. We’ve heard enough and more than enough to disprove the views of the Epicureans. What I’d really like to hear from you now, Cotta, are your own beliefs.

      Surely, Cotta said, "you haven’t forgotten what I said at the beginning of our discussion, that it is much easier for me, especially in matters such as these, to talk about what I disbelieve rather than what I believe.

      3. But even if I had something definite to say, I would much rather listen to you in your turn, especially since I’ve already spoken at length.

      Then Balbus replied: "Very well, I will do as you ask as briefly as I can. Since the errors of the Epicureans have already been refuted at length, I can omit much of what I was planning to say.

      In general, we Stoics divide the whole question of the immortal gods into four parts: first, we teach that they exist; second, we discuss their nature; third, we show how they govern the universe; and finally, we describe how they care about human affairs. In this present discussion, I think we should focus on the first two points and leave aside the latter two for another time, since they are so vast."

      I disagree, said Cotta. For we have plenty of time and are concerned about questions so important that they should take precedence over any other business.

      4. Very well, said Balbus. "It seems to me that the first point—that the gods exist—scarcely needs discussing. For what could be more clear and obvious when we gaze at the sky and contemplate the heavens, than that there is some divine power of surpassing intelligence which rules over this realm? If this weren’t true, how is it that everyone approves of the words of Ennius when he

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