Cicero, De Natura Deorum Libri Tres

First published between 1880 and 1885, Joseph B. Mayor's three-volume edition of De Natura Deorum is remarkable for its thorough commentary. This volume contains Cicero's Book 2, which presents the Stoic argument for the existence of the gods and their providential ordering of the universe. Set within the home of the orator Caius Aurelius Cotta, it follows the Epicurean and Academic arguments of Book 1. Here the Stoic Balbus defends his basic premise that the majesty of creation - the harmony existing among infinitely varied phenomena - can only derive from the wisdom of divine reason. As the fullest expression of Stoic theology in De Natura Deorum, this book provides crucial insight into the school's views on cosmology, divine providence, and the role of deities in representing the natural universe. It reveals Cicero's intellectual range as he evaluates the major metaphysical debates dividing the Roman philosophical schools.