“Μὴ ῥήτωρ ἀλλὰ φιλόσοφος” (Plut. Cic. 32, 6): Plutarco lettore degli Academica?

Μὴ ῥήτωρ ἀλλὰ φιλόσοφος (Plut. Cic. 32, 6). Plutarch Academica reading? · This research analyzes the role of philosophical paideia in Plutarch’s life of Cicero and, highlighting the Platonic inspiration of Cicero’s political ideals, alleges that Plutarch may have directly consulted Cicero’s Academica on the base of Cic. 40, 2. Here the Greek words which, according to Plutarch, were translated for the rst time in Latin by Cicero, lead to a series of textual proofs supporting this hypothesis. The reason for this Plutarchean allusion to the Academica can be found in its strong ideological signi cance: through its re ections in the eld of gnoseology it demonstrated Cicero’s con dence in the possibility to discern the true and the false and, therefore, to build an authentic ethic based on truth, which corresponded to Plutarch’s moralistic point of view.