Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶5–15 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On the Contempt of Death”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶5–15
A. To me death seems to be an evil. M. What, to those who are already dead? or to those who must die? A. To both. M. It is a misery, then, because an evil? A. Certainly. M. Then those who have already died, and those who have still got to die, are both miserable? A. So it appears to me. M. Then all are miserable? A. Everyone. M. And, indeed, if you wish to be consistent, all that are already born, or ever shall be, are not only miserable, but always will be so. For should you maintain those only to be miserable, you would not except anyone living, for all must die; but there should be an end of misery in death. But seeing that the dead are miserable, we are born to eternal misery, for they must of consequence be miserable who died a hundred thousand years ago, or rather, all that have ever been born. A. So, indeed, I think.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶5–15, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/1.5
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe first speaker claims that death is an evil, and the questioner shows where that leads: if death is evil then both the dead and the not-yet-dead are miserable, so every human being who ever lived or will live is permanently wretched, which is absurd. This is the setup for the argument that death is not an evil.
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Fear and anxiety
- Fear of death
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.