 Whether or not we find this stance convincing, there is a specific theory of justice that Cicero appears to have in mind as the object of his critique: the Epicurean theory. Epicurus regarded justice as precisely a matter of social agreements concluded with the aim of maximizing utility. One should further note that Cicero’s friend Atticus is, along with Cicero’s brother Quintus, one of Cicero’s two main interlocutors in the dialogue, and that Atticus is an adherent of Epicureanism. His presence seems to emphasize that there is an alternative point of view that is not being given the opportunity to defend itself. Strikingly, Cicero does not even say that he thinks the Epicurean theory is wrong; rather, he bids the Epicureans abstain from all matters of government, which they neither know about nor have wished to know about (1.39). It is true that the Epicureans, unlike the Stoics, generally maintained a quietist outlook and believed that by and large one should not be politically active. But they did have a specific theory of justice. So Cicero seems a little high-handed in excluding them from a conversation featuring that as one of its principal topics.