Hortensius or On Philosophy is a lost dialogue written by Marcus Tullius Cicero in the year 45 BC. The dialogue—which is named after Cicero's friendly rival and associate, the speaker and politician Quintus Hortensius Hortalus—took the form of a protreptic. In the work, Cicero, Hortensius, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, and Lucius Licinius Lucullus discuss the best use of one's leisure time. At the conclusion of the work, Cicero argues that the pursuit of philosophy is the most important endeavor.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, the author of the now-lost Hortensius.
The cover the 1908 Teubner edition of Cicero's complete works. This volume contained the first standard critical edition of the Hortensius fragments.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.
First-century AD bust of Cicero at the Capitoline Museums, Rome
Arpino, Italy, birthplace of Cicero
The Young Cicero Reading by Vincenzo Foppa (fresco, 1464), now at the Wallace Collection
Marcus Tullius Cicero dragged from his litter and assassinated by soldiers under the command of Marc Antony 43 BC (1880 illustration)
