CICERO (106 BCE–43 BCE) was a lawyer and public figure who undertook the senatorial cursus honorum, reaching the consulship in 63 BCE. He was subsequently involved in the civil war between Pompey and Caesar before falling victim to the purge of the Second Triumvirate (Octavian, Lepidus, Mark Antony). In discussions of Cicero and religion one should avoid the temptation to anachronistically confuse what may be defined as the religion of the ancient Romans with the common idea of religion in modern times, and one should be careful to distinguish what might be termed ancient "personal religion" from public and private devotion and cult (sacra publica, sacra privata). Personal religion for a man of learning such as Cicero meant philosophical speculation. For him, investigation into the nature of the gods and personal opinion on divinity belonged to the sphere of philosophy, while "religion" indicated an official institution with the purpose of...