I shall argue that Cicero tells us the point of DND in the dialogue's first sentence: cum multae res in philosophia nequaquam satis adhuc explicatae sint, tum perdifficilis, Brute, quod tu minime ignoras, et perobscura quaestio est de natura deorum, quae et ad cognitionem animi pulcherrima est et ad moderandam religionem necessaria. While many matters in philosophy have not at all had sufficient treatment yet, inquiry into the nature of the gods-as hardly escapes you, Brutus -is particularly difficult and thoroughly opaque. This inquiry is both most beautiful for the mind to grasp, and necessary for the moderation of religion. (DND .) Cicero tells Brutus and the reader that inquiry into the nature of the gods is attractive in two ways. First comes beauty. Beauty will matter in the end but it is not what Cicero takes up in the rest of his preface. Instead he elaborates the second point: moderation of religion. Staging a philosophical inquiry into the nature of the gods in the hope of moderating religion is, I shall argue, Cicero's project in DND and Div.. Whether with cognitionem or the alternative reading agnitionem, in recent centuries this phrase has most often been interpreted with animi as an objective genitive: "best for the grasp of the soul," that is, best in order to understand our own souls (see Davies (), Mayor (), Pease ()). But that does not seem to be the use that Cicero makes of the inquiry in DND and Div., or of the beauty we encounter in it. I prefer to take animi as a subjective genitive, in which I have the support of Walsh (): "the noblest of studies for the human mind to grasp." Cicero seems to suggest that Brutus had some marked acquaintance with the question of the nature of the gods. Perhaps this is flattery or refers to Brutus' general philosophical learning (for which see Sedley ). Perhaps the Antiochean Brutus' treatise On the blessed life included some material on contemplation as imitation of the divine (cf. Tsouni () -). Or perhaps he had ruminated on the sort of Antiochean theology suggested at Boys-Stones () - or Blank () -. For the crucial role of beauty in Cicero's understanding of DND and Div., see Chapter section .. and Chapter section ..
