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De Natura Deorum

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Literally Translated, Chiefly By
C. D. Yonge

Preface
by J.E. Heath

If it were not for Cicero, it could be argued quite forcibly that the ancient Romans were really atheists. From what we learn in all their myths, legends and stories, we must conclude that the Roman Deities were nothing more than superheroes, each with his own domain, powers and weaknesses. The Romans, like all idolaters, were guilty of projecting human nature into the sky.

Except for Cicero, that is. His book, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), is perhaps the finest example of classical theology. Cicero examines the three most important schools of classical philosophy: Epicureanism, Stocism and the Academy. Epicureans, the forerunners to the Deists of the Enlightenment and today’s atheists, believed that the gods did not care for the affairs of men. By the way, Thomas Jefferson called himself an Epicurean. The Stoics, on the other hand, argued that the gods were intensely involved in man’s affairs. So much so that they believed in predestination. Stoicism was by far the most popular philosophy of the classical world. Cicero himself admired the Stoics, though he was really a follower of the Academy. The philosophers of the Academy were skeptics. They believed, unlike the Stoics and Epicureans (and modern skeptics), that the senses are too fallible to be reliable in the search for knowledge. Consequently, many found it easier to expose falsehood than to discover truth.

The format of the discussion is quite simple, Epicureanism is covered in Book I, defended by Velleius and quickly dismissed by Cotta (representing the Academy). Then Balbus explains the Stoic world view in Book II, which Cotta critiques in Book III.

Book I
Book II
Book III

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