Hortensius · lost
Hortensius
Headnote
Hortensius, written early in 45 BC and named for Cicero’s friend and rival Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, who had died in 50. A summons to philosophy in the manner of Aristotle’s Protrepticus, and the most influential of Cicero’s lost works: it set the young Augustine on the road to wisdom. The dialogue does not survive; the page that follows is an editorial note in place of a translation.
What's known
Protreptic dialogue on philosophy; survives only in fragments. Famously inspired Augustine's conversion to philosophy. Status "lost": no continuous text survives (fragments gathered from Augustine, Nonius, Lactantius et al. in Grilli's edition); the english_file is an editorial note, not a translation.