Most Romans believed that their system of government was the finest political invention of the human mind. Change was inconceivable. Indeed, the constitution’s various parts were so mutually interdependent that reform within the rules was...

The Oracle at Delphi contained three maxims emblematic of Greek life. “Know yourself.” “Nothing in excess.” and, “Offer a guarantee and disaster threatens.

Philo of Larisa, head of the Academy in Athens….inspired Cicero with a passion for philosophy, and in particular for the theories of Skepticism, which asserted that knowledge of the nature of things is in the...