What to Do with Books in the De finibus

summary:

This paper studies the encounter between Cicero and Cato the Younger in Lucullus’s Tusculan library at De finibus 3–4. I examine Cicero’s attitude toward Cato’s physical presence in the library room in conjunction with surviving philological, archeological, and literary evidence regarding Republican villa libraries and the settings of Cicero’s other philosophical dialogues. This evidence suggests that we approach the scene from the De finibus cautiously, not as a normative presentation of a library and its use, but as a finely crafted literary set piece within Cicero’s larger work of philosophical literature.