On the Nature of the Gods

This new, original translation of Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods is the first to appear in many years. Do the gods exist? Is there a divine order to the universe? And if there is, what is humanity’s role in this grand conception? Does a divine power care about human affairs? These are just a few of the profound questions discussed in Cicero’s philosophical masterpiece. In dialogues that showcase the differing perspectives of the Stoic, Epicurean, and Academic schools, Cicero delves into a stunning variety of subjects, including human anatomy, theology, cosmology, astronomy, biology, and divination. The persistent themes of Cicero’s vision are his insistence on a moral basis for human conduct, the existence of free will and human agency, and his soaring faith in the unique role reserved for the human race in the universe’s destiny. It is no wonder that Voltaire called On the Nature of the Gods, along with Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, “[the] two most beautiful works ever composed