Abstract

The chapter explores readings of Cicero in eighteenth century scholarship as a means to charting the development of the academic discipline of history. It examines a range of little known scholarship on Cicero, ranging from the end of the 17th to the start of the 19th centuries, and looks at the way in which it expresses different ideas of historical difference, and different ideas of the role of critic in using Cicero to understand the Roman republic. It also deals with changing attitudes to Cicero's philosophy, both as a source for theological debate, and as a reference point for philosophical method.