"Against Justice": Cicero as a Textual Source and Interpreter of Testimonies about the "Philosophical Embassy" and the Carneades’ Skeptical Speeches

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of reflection in the texts of Cicero of evidence of the propaganda and educational activities of the "philosophical embassy" in Rome under the leadership Carneades as the head of the new Academy, and the content of his philosophical speeches before the Roman audience. Particular attention is paid to the problem of Cicero's interpretation of the text of the famous speech of Carneades "Against Justice" that has not come down to us, which is reflected in the partially preserved third book of the treatise De Re Publica. According to the author of the article, Cicero, trying to popularize the methodological principle of philosophizing characteristic of skeptics, updated and modernized the theses of Carneades in relation to the realities of his era and his own pragmatic goals in the specific socio-political conditions of the crisis of the late Roman Republic.