Ulysses "philosophus": a plausible reading?

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on some philosophical reappraisals of Ulysses. After a brief general introduction (I), I focus on Plato’s Ulysses, whom I consider as the symbol of “demotic virtue” (II). The following sections mainly deal with a passage from Cicero’s "De finibus" (I discuss Antiochus’ Ulysses compared to the Epicurean one: III), but they regard also the Stoic and the Neoplatonic (rather Plotinian) readings of the Homeric character (IV). I finally draw some provisional conclusions (V).