Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶70–71 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On the Contempt of Death”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶70–71
If I have not forgotten anything unintentionally, these are the principal opinions concerning the soul. I have omitted Democritus, a very great man indeed, but one who deduces the soul from the fortuitous concourse of small, light, and round substances; for, if you believe men of his school, there is nothing which a crowd of atoms cannot effect. Which of these opinions is true, some God must determine. It is an important question for us: Which has the most appearance of truth? Shall we, then, prefer determining between them, or shall we return to our subject? A. I could wish both, if possible, but it is difficult to mix them. Therefore, if without a discussion of them we can get rid of the fears of death, let us proceed to do so. But if this is not to be done without explaining the question about souls, let us have that now, and the other at another time.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶70–71, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/1.70
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesAfter summarizing the main views of what the soul is, the speaker leaves the final answer to a god and asks whether the audience wants to settle the question or move on, since the aim is to be free of the fear of death either way.
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Death and mortality
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