Where

various old editions consulted in doubtful cases. such scholars as Orelli, Moser, and Kühner are at variance, the editor has felt at liberty to select that reading which best commended itself to his own judgment, particular weight being given to the authority of the manuscripts of highest repute.* The most important variations of reading are mentioned in the notes. In the Somnium Scipionis the text of Moser† has been adopted, and in the Cato Major and Laelius that of Orelli.

For the most valuable part of the annotations, the editor is indebted to the labors of German scholars. Orelli's special edition of the Tusculan Disputations furnished him with the Vorlesungen of that illustrious critic and man of genius, F. A. Wolf, with the valuable additions of Orelli himself; the elaborate edition of Moser afforded a large body of excellent notes, with a copious digest of the annotations of preceding commentators; Tischer's concise and judicious explanations were of great service; and, above all, most important assistance was derived from Kühner, whose edition is indeed a model of clearness and aptness of illustration, and sound discrimination in the choice of topics to be discussed. For the aid received from these sources, care has been taken to give full credit.

The notes are designed to call attention to the most

* Among some fifty MSS. which Kühner enumerates, he gives the preference to the six following: - the Regius, at Paris, of the ninth century; the Vaticanus; the Gudianus primus, at Wolfenbüttel, of the ninth or tenth century; the Pithoeanus ; the Gryphianus; and the Bernensis, at Berne, of the fifteenth century.

+ Frankfort on the Maine, 1826.

important peculiarities of construction, and to explain the most serious difficulties of syntax and interpretation, without the injustice to the student of robbing him entirely of the pleasure and advantage of surmounting obstacles by his own unaided effort. Particular attention has been given to the illustration of the subjunctive mood; and it is believed that there is not in the book an instance of its use where the principles upon which it depends have not been set forth, in words or by references, in some part of the notes. Every teacher will acknowledge the propriety of devoting especial labor to the elucidation of a form that conveys so many delicate shades of meaning, and upon which so much of the beauty and expressiveness of the Latin language depends. On this point, as on many others, great assistance has been derived from the Latin Grammar of Madvig, whose translator, Mr. Woods, (Oxford, 1849,) has rendered a service to English scholarship by making an admirable treatise accessible, which bears the marks, on every page, of the discernment and clearness of a master mind. From this work large quotations are made in the notes. The derivation and force of the particles a point whose elucidation is of hardly less importance than that of the subjunctive for a correct understanding of the language have also received attention, particularly in the notes on the Somnium Scipionis, Cato Major, and Laelius. Copious extracts have been made from that invaluable treatise upon Latin particles, Hand's Tursellinus; and the second part of T. K. Arnold's Introduction to Latin Prose Composition (third edition, 1850) afforded some aid. The biographical notes are designed rather as guides to the Classical

Dictionary than complete descriptions; they are derived chiefly from Smith's Dictionaries, and various editions of the Tusculan Disputations. Frequent reference has been made to Zumpt's Grammar,- a work containing the garnered treasures of a lifetime of enthusiastic devotion to classical studies, to the admirable treatise on Latin Syntax by Dr. Beck, and to the Grammar of Andrews and Stoddard; and the recent publication of an excellent American translation has authorized occasional references to the Lexicon of Freund.

The high character of many of the editions of Greek and Roman authors which have lately appeared from the American press, indicates the rapid progress of classical scholarship in this country in the last few years. The light recent philological investigations have shed upon the history, structure, and significance of the ancient languages, and thus upon the science of language itself,-language, which is at once the great instrument of thought and the noblest product of mind,

adds a new dignity and value to even the most elementary processes in classical instruction. We must ever be indebted to the Old World for the thoroughness and ability with which her philologists have pursued these investigations; but American scholars can share in the fruits of their labors, weigh and combine their decisions with an independent judgment, and perform a useful, though comparatively humble service, in applying them to increase the value and efficiency of classical studies as a means of mental training. The editor will be gratified if this book shall help, even in the slightest degree, in thus advancing the interests of sound learning.

To his former teachers, Professors Beck and Felton, the editor is deeply indebted for encouragement and most valuable counsel; and to those gentlemen, and others, who have kindly allowed him access to their libraries, he here offers his grateful acknowledgments.

CAMBRIDGE, March 29, 1851.

INTRODUCTION.

THE apparent inconsistencies in the language of Cicero on different occasions, with reference to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, have excited some doubt and discussion in regard to the views really entertained by him on that subject. A correct appreciation of his sentiments on this question cannot be formed without considering, first, what were his general philosophical principles in regard to the degree of certainty with which truth can be attained, and, secondly, what was his immediate object in the various writings in which he alludes to the condition of the soul after death.

On the first point, Cicero's views were similar to those held by the New Academy. He entertained a moderate scepticism in philosophy, congenial to his own mental character, and naturally resulting from his education and the "endless and inextricable disputes of the different sects" whose doctrines he studied in his search for truth. Disgusted at the confidence and dogmatism with which different schools had promulgated their decisions upon the knottiest questions, and, with his sensitive nature, dreading to offend the judgments or prejudices of others by a too positive assertion of disputed points, he professed not to arrive at certainty in his speculations, but only to incline to that opinion which appeared most probable. Accordingly, in his philosophical treatises he adopted the method of the Academics," cautiously abstaining," says Ritter, "from advancing his own