 We are back to the question of the relation between one’s theory and one’s public pronouncements. On this occasion, Cotta’s own stance may seem both cynical and hypocritical: to maintain social order one must suppress one’s own views, while reserving frankness for private gatherings of the philosophically minded. Yet here the formal difference between Cicero the author and Cotta the character is important. If, within the dramatic setting of On the Nature of the Gods, the gathering is indeed as Cotta describes, its embedding in a written work that Cicero intends to be read more widely blurs the line between private and public on which the charge of hypocrisy rests. If Cotta can be convicted of hypocrisy, it is less clear that Cicero is open to the same charge. He has let the cat out of the bag, and in so doing raised the vital question, for any reader, of the extent to which unrestricted frankness of speech can co-exist with the maintenance of social order.