3. In the spring of 46 was written the short tract Paradoxa, a discussion of six Stoic paradoxes (e.g. that the wise man alone is free). It was addressed to Brutus, and was later than the dialogue which bears his name; cf. the preface, ‘accipies hoc parvum opusculum, lucubratum his iam contractioribus noctibus, quoniam illud maiorum vigiliarum munus in tuo nomine apparuit.’
4. The death of Tullia in February, 45, led Cicero to write, at Astura, a Consolatio, of which only fragments survive. Plin. N.H. praef. 22, quotes Cicero as saying that he here followed the Greek philosopher, Crantor, περὶ πένθους. It contained notices of the deaths of great men, De Div. ii. 22, ‘clarissimorum hominum nostrae civitatis gravissimos exitus in Consolatione collegimus.’
5. In the Hortensius Cicero appeared as the champion of philosophy: De Fin. i. 2, ‘philosophiae vituperatoribus satis responsum est eo libro, quo a nobis philosophia defensa et collaudata est, cum esset accusata et vituperata ab Hortensio.’ It cannot be traced beyond the seventh century, and is now represented by a few fragments. In the Middle Ages it was confounded with the Prior Academics, the speakers in both dialogues being the same. The Hortensius seems to have been written before Cicero went to Astura in March, B.C. 45: there is no allusion to it in his letters.
6. The treatise De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum discusses various theories of the summum bonum—the Epicurean in Books i.-ii., the Stoic in iii.-iv., the Peripatetic in v. The scene of the dialogue changes from Cumae to Tusculum and then to the Academy at Athens. The work was dedicated to Brutus in June, 45 (ad Att. xiii. 12, 3).
7. The Academics appeared in two editions. Of the original edition Book ii., entitled Lucullus, has survived; the speakers in it are Lucullus, Catulus, Hortensius, and Cicero, and the scene, Hortensius’ villa. Cicero was not satisfied with this arrangement (ad Att. xiii. 12, 3, ‘homines nobiles illi quidem, sed nullo modo philologi, nimis acute locuntur’), and after provisionally transferring the parts of Lucullus, Catulus, and Hortensius, to Cato and Brutus, he finally adopted the suggestion of Atticus to gratify Varro by giving him a share in the dialogue together with Atticus and himself (ad Att. xiii. 13, 1, ‘commotus tuis litteris, quod ad me de Varrone scripseras, totam Academiam ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli transtulique ad nostrum sodalem et ex duobus libris contuli in quattuor’). Of this second edition in four Books we possess only Book i. (incomplete), and fragments of the others; the scene is at Cumae. The dedicatory epistle to Varro is still preserved (ad Fam. ix. 8).
8. In the five Books of Tusculanae Disputationes, conversations between Cicero and a friend at his Tusculan villa, the subject is the chief essentials for happiness. Book i. inculcates the proper attitude towards death, ii. to grief, iii. to pain, iv. to other trials, v. asserts the sufficiency of virtue for happiness. The treatise is dedicated to Brutus, and was finished by B.C. 44, in which year (ad Att. xv. 2, 4) the first Book is known to Atticus.
9. De Natura Deorum, in three Books, is also addressed to Brutus. The Epicurean, Stoic, and Peripatetic doctrines are represented by C. Velleius, Q. Lucilius Balbus, and C. Aurelius Cotta, respectively. This treatise was written after the Tusculans (de Div. ii. 3): in July 45 (ad Att. xiii. 39, 2) Atticus is asked for the loan of Φαίδρου περὶ θεῶν and περὶ Παλλάδος.
10. The essay De Senectute, called also Cato Maior after the principal speaker in the dialogue, was addressed to Atticus at the end of 45 or early in 44 (de Div. ii. 3; ad Att. xiv. 21, 3).
11. To a later date in the same year belongs the Laelius, or De Amicitia (de Am. 4 mentions the de Sen.), in which Laelius discourses on friendship. In this book, according to Gell. i. 3, 10-11, Cicero was under obligations to Theophrastus περὶ φιλίας.
12. De Divinatione, in two Books, forms a supplement to the De Natura Deorum. Cicero and his brother discuss, at Tusculum, the nature and validity of ‘divinatio,’ which is defined (i. 9) as ‘earum rerum quae fortuitae putantur praedictio atque praesensio.’ The date is 44.