r's
death (cf. par. 2). The conversation takes place at Puteoli, between
Cicero and the consul-designate Hirtius.

14. On 11th July of the same year Cicero sent to Atticus his treatise
_De Gloria_, in two Books, now lost (_ad Att._ xvi. 2, 6; _de Off._
ii. 31).

15. The latest of the extant philosophical works is the _De Officiis_,
written for the instruction of the author's son. Cicero had completed
two Books by November, B.C. 44 (xvi. 11, 4), following the treatment
of Panaetius, and discussing in Book i. the issue between vice and
virtue, in Book ii. the expediency of a given action. In Book iii. he
was indebted to Posidonius, for the discussion of apparent conflict
between virtue and expediency.

There are traces of two other treatises, _De Virtutibus_ and _De
Auguriis_; and we possess fragments of a translation of Plato's
_Protagoras_ and _Timaeus_, which cannot be earlier than B.C. 45 (_de
Fin._ i. 7).

Cicero propounds no original scheme of philosophy, claiming only that
he renders the conclusions of Greek thinkers accessible to his own
countrymen. This sort of work cost him little trouble: _ad Att._ xii.
52, 3, '+apographa+ sunt; minore labore fiunt: verba tantum affero,
quibus abundo.' At the same time he is not a mere translator: _de
Fin._ i. 6, 'nos non interpretum fungimur munere, sed tuemur ea quae
dicta sunt ab eis quos probamus, eisque nostrum iudicium et nostrum
scribendi ordinem adiungimus.' His motives for entering upon this task
are explained in _De Nat. Deor._ i. 7-9: (1) he desired to do a
service to his country: 'ipsius rei publicae causa philosophiam
nostris hominibus explicandam putavi'; (2) he sought relief for his
own mind: 'hortata etiam est ut me ad haec conferrem animi aegritudo,
fortunae magna et gravi conmota iniuria.' Cicero is an eclectic, with
a leaning to the New Academy: _Tusc._ iv. 7, 'nullis unius disciplinae
legibus adstricti, quibus in philosophia necessario pareamus.'
Probability is all that he expects to reach: _ibid._, 'quid sit in
quaque re maxime probabile semper requiremus.' The philosophy most
attractive to him is that which best called forth the oratorical
faculty: _Tusc._ ii. 9, 'mihi semper Peripateticorum Academiaeque
consuetudo de omnibus rebus in contrarias partes differendi ...
placuit ... quod esset ea maxima dicendi exercitatio.'[29]

(c) Rhetorical Treatises.

1. The earliest of these is _De Inventione_, or _Rhetorica_, in two
Books, written probably fo