The Seba library treats Cotta in 8 passages, across 1 author (including Cicero, Marcus Tullius).
Cotta the Academic, are spoken of here as leaders in their schools (i. 16). Cotta had already been commended to Cicero by Atticus... and had been mentioned by Cicero before in De Oratore as having joined the Academy
This passage establishes Cotta's identity as the principal Academic interlocutor of De Natura Deorum, situating him biographically and philosophically as the sceptical voice who challenges both Epicurean and Stoic theologies.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45thesis
Habes Balbe quid Cotta quid pontifex sentiat; fac nunc ego intellegam tu quid sentias. A te enim philosopho rationem accipere debeo religionis, maioribus autem nostris etiam nulla ratione reddita credere.
Cotta articulates his defining paradox — as pontiff he defers to ancestral religious authority without rational justification, yet as philosopher he demands rational accounting from the Stoic Balbus, dramatising the split between civic piety and philosophical critique.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45thesis
Cotta, would you but listen to me, you would plead the same cause, and reflect that you are a leading citizen and a pontiff... For the habit of arguing in support of atheism, whether it be done from conviction or in pretence, is a wicked and an impious practice.
Balbus urges Cotta to put his Academic rhetorical gifts in service of Stoic theology rather than sceptical critique, explicitly invoking his dual identity as citizen-pontiff — a summons Cotta smilingly declines.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45thesis
"How far your comparison really holds good," rejoined Cotta, "is a question that I will leave to you... a single argument would have sufficed, namely that it has been handed down to us by our forefathers. But you despise authority.
Cotta grounds his personal religious stance not in philosophical demonstration but in ancestral tradition, positioning traditional authority as epistemically sufficient for religious practice even where rational proof fails.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45thesis
"Est enim et philosophi et pontificis et Cottae de dis immortalibus habere non errantem et vagam ut Academici sed ut nostri stabilem certamque sententiam."
Balbus insists that Cotta's dual role as philosopher and pontiff demands a stable theological conviction, directly opposing the Academic suspension of judgement that Cotta embodies throughout the dialogue.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45thesis
When Cotta saw me, he greeted me with the words 'You come exactly at the right moment, for I am just engaging in a dispute with Velleius on an important topic, in which you with your tastes will be interested to take part.'
The dramatic opening of the dialogue introduces Cotta as the convener and orchestrator of the theological disputation, framing him as the socially and intellectually central figure of the work.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
quam haberet in C. Cotta qui bis cum Gemino consul fuit agnoscendo eius modi notam quae falsa esse non posset?
A passing reference to C. Cotta the consul in a logical argument about perceptual indistinguishability illustrates the Academic epistemological concern with false impressions that underpins Cotta's sceptical theology.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
how can you both maintain that the gods do not pay attention to everything and also believe that dreams are distributed and doled out to men by the immortal gods? I argue this with you because the belief in the truth of dreams is a tenet of your school.
Cotta's cross-examination of divine providence in Book III probes the internal inconsistency of Stoic theology regarding individual divine attention, extending his sceptical method to questions of dream-divination.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45aside