In recent years, the mutual interaction between philosophy and Roman political and cultural life has aroused much interest. In this collection of papers, originally delivered at the seminar on Philosophy and Roman Society at the University of Oxford, scholars from several disciplines investigate this interaction in the late Republic and early Empire, with particular emphasis on the formative period of the first century B.C. The book presents chapters on key digures such as Posidonius, Antiochus of Ascalon, Philodemus, Lucretius, Cicero, and Plutarch, as well as general essays on "Philosophy, Politics, and Politicians at Rome", and "Roman Rulers and the Philosophic Adviser," with contributions from Julia Annas, P.A. Brunt, David Sedley, and others. "Interesting, diverse, and learned....An impressive array of authors dealing with topics that they have something interesting to say about."-- Ancient Philosophy "Contains a variety of fine papers, and its main contribution is an attempt to place philosophy and the philosopher within the proper context of Roman society."-- Classical World In this volume scholars from all three disciplines investigate the interaction of philosophy and Roman political and cultural life in the late Republic and early Empire, with particular emphasis on the first century BC which can be seen as the formative period. Jonathan Barnes is at University of Geneva. Miriam Griffin is at Somerville College, Oxford.