It seems that in rhetoric, the art of proper and beautiful verbal expression, Marcus Tullius Cicero had no equal. Having acquired a broad legal education from famous Roman jurists, Cicero turned to Greek philosophy and rhetoric, first studying under the Athenian Epicurean Phaedrus, and then under Diodotus, who taught him Stoic philosophy. Cicero actively participated … Read more
Who can more fervently encourage virtue than a speaker? Who can more sharply deter wickedness? Who can more vehemently rebuke evildoers? Who can more beautifully praise the good? Whose attack can more powerfully break greed? Whose consolation can more gently silence pain? For what is as foolish as the empty sound of words, highly chosen … Read more
Towards the end of his life, the great Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 – 43 BC) turned away from his career in oratory and politics towards philosophy and religion, and in 45 BC he wrote the book “On the Nature of the Gods” (De Natura Deorum). In the form of a dialogue, … Read more
