Note 1:1 — INTRODUCTION.[vii:1]
Andrew P. (Andrew Preston) Peabody translation
A name probably chosen for this retreating collocutor because the dialogue is anti-Epicurean in its dogmas and its spirit, and the supposed arguments to be refuted were therefore such as an Epicurean would have urged. Epicurus denied the Divine Providence, and maintained that the gods did not concern themselves with human affairs.