The Revival of Platonism in Cicero's Late Philosophy: Platonis aemulus and the Invention of Cicero

by William H. F. Altman

Overview

This book argues that Cicero deserves to be spoken of with more respect and to be studied with greater care. Using Plato’s influence on Cicero’s life and writings as a clue, Altman reveals the ineffable combination of qualities that enabled Cicero not only to revive Platonism, but also to rival Plato himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498527132
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/09/2018
Pages:	331
Product dimensions:	6.03(w) x 8.67(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

William H. F. Altman teaches Latin and world history at E. C. Glass, a public high school in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Cicero as Platonis aemulus

Part 1: The Foundations of Cicero’s Platonic Revival

Chapter 1. Cicero’s Platonic personae and the Problem of De legibus
Chapter 2. Augustine’s Hortensius and the Invention of “Cicero”
Chapter 3. Self-Contradictory Skepticism in the Academica
Chapter 4. The Limits of Stoicism and Tullia’s Shrine in De finibus

Part 2: The Literary Fruits of Cicero’s Platonism

Chapter 5. Womanly Humanism in the Tusculanae Disputationes
Chapter 6. Phaedo and Timaeus in De natura deorum
Chapter 7. Interpreting Plato’s Dreams in De divinatione
Chapter 8. Epicurus, Chrysippus, and Homer in De fato
Chapter 9. The Ciceronian Renaissancein De senectute and De amicitia

Part 3:Cicero’s Platonism in Action

Chapter 10. Returning in Topica, De officiis, and the Philippics
Chapter 11. Brutus as Funeral Oration.
Chapter 12. Ending with Orator.

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

In conclusion, Altman has written an innovative book that uses close readings of Cicero and careful attention to his reading of Plato to challenge a number of orthodoxies and to push to see new elements of Cicero’s thought. . . This book will be valuable not solely to scholars of Cicero but anyone interested in intellectual history, as Cicero is one of the missing steps between Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic Philosophy and Modernity.

POLIS: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought

This is a book fizzing with energy, and full of learning of many sorts, from which any discriminating reader stands to gain.

Classical Review

Altman’s essays, as he explores Cicero’s hidden and open Platonism, are as engaging and stimulating as one might imagine.  Few if any contemporaries have read as widely and deeply in Cicero’s writings.  With objectivity but no pretended scholarly detachment, he brings his immense erudition to his personal engagement of Cicero.  He finds himself in awe at Cicero’s integrity and achievement as a thinker, writer and political leader.  We and our modern republics, he rightly concludes, are much in need of a properly understood Cicero.

Walter Nicgorski

In conclusion, Altman has written an innovative book that uses close readings of Cicero and careful attention to his reading of Plato to challenge a number of orthodoxies and to push to see new elements of Cicero’s thought.. . This book will be valuable not solely to scholars of Cicero but anyone interested in intellectual history, as Cicero is one of the missing steps between Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic Philosophy and Modernity.

POLIS: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought

This is a book fizzing with energy, and full of learning of many sorts, from which any discriminating reader stands to gain.

The Classical Review