The Nature of the Gods by Marcus Tullius Cicero

One would have supposed he had just come down from the assembly of the gods in the intermundane spaces of Epicurus! “I am not going to expound to you doctrines that are mere baseless figments of the imagination, such as the artisan deity and world-builder of Plato's Timaeus, or that old hag of a fortuneteller the Pronoia (which, we may render ‘Providence’) of the Stoics nor yet a world endowed with a mind and senses of its own, a spherical, rotatory god of burning fire these are the marvels and monstrosities of philosophers who do not reason but dream. Hereupon Velleius began, in the confident manner (I need not say) that is customary with Epicureans, afraid of nothing so much as lest he should appear to have doubts about anything. Licinius Crassus), who delivers a spirited attack on non-Epicurean philosophers and explains the Epicurean theology, including its denial of divine providence over human affairs (a highly controversial stand which critics, with some justification, seized upon to accuse Epicurus of being a covert atheist): He puts it in the mouth of a certain Velleius (an associate of L. In this selection from book I, sections 8 through 20, Cicero draws upon an essay of Philodemus, “On Piety” (which has survived in fragmentary form) to present the Epicurean theory of the gods, summarizing and rearranging it in the form of a monologue.

In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.De Natura Deorum Marcus Tullius Cicero Home/Ancient Texts | Beliefs | Relationships | History | Resources | Epicurean Philosophy List First published 31 July 2013 13347 De natura deorum 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.Īuvrey-Assayas, Clara. You are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal Offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. Institution ( see List), you should be able to access the LE onĬampus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing

The Nature of the Gods by Marcus Tullius Cicero