I"m working on a series of articles here on Roman Villas and of course, re-reading all I can get of Cicero to get information on his (multiple) villas, how he decorated them, how he lived in them, etc. And you know - if the guy had just stayed out of politics I'd have enjoyed his company!

Although he's rather greedy in his constant letters to Atticus about the art works for his various country estates, it occurred to me - DUH! for the first time - how very like Cicero was to an English Augustan gentlemen of the 18th century. In the former case, he was in love with Hellenistic Greek art, culture, philosophy (well, and earlier Classical as well). He was trying to educate the Romans to the treasures of Greek cultures exactly like an educated and wealthy Englishman in the 18th century would have had his Palladian house, his busts of famous Romans, his studies of Cicero. It was a connection I've never made before - each, in love with every aspect of an older culture, Greek in Cicero's case, Roman in the English case. Each utterly convinced in their different times of the superiority of the older culture and trying to incorporate it into their own lives as a civilizing force.

I had not realized that, in his Tusculum villa, he actually had rooms named after the Academy and the Lyceum of Athens, tried to decorate them using Greek fashions, studied Greek authors while there, had lectures to visiting students on Greek philosophy - how come I've read so much about this guy and never quite twigged that aspect of his life?

Anyway, the Villa Cicero I very much like, even if I have doubts about the Senator ;)