Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶4–10 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On Other Perturbations of the Mind”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶4–10
But let everyone defend his own opinion, for everyone is at liberty to choose what he likes. I shall keep to my old custom and, being under no restraint from the laws of any particular school, which in philosophy everyone must necessarily confine himself to, I shall always inquire what has the most probability in every question, and this system, which I have often practiced on other occasions, I have adhered closely to in my Tusculan Disputations. Therefore, as I have acquainted you with the disputations of the three former days, this book shall conclude the discussion of the fourth day. When we had come down into the Academy, as we had done the former days, the business was carried on thus: M. Let anyone say, who pleases, what he would wish to have discussed. A. I do not think a wise man can possibly be free from every perturbation of mind. M. He seemed by yesterday’s discourse to be free from grief, unless you agreed with us only to avoid taking up time. A. Not at all on that account, for I was extremely satisfied with your discourse. M. You do not think, then, that a wise man is subject to grief? A. No, by no means.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶4–10, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/4.4
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe author explains his habit of following the most probable view rather than being bound to a single philosophical school, then opens the fourth day's debate with a student doubting that even a wise person can be free of every emotional disturbance, though he agrees grief at least can be avoided.
Older wording
- “perturbation”
- — an upsetting emotional disturbance
- “disputations”
- — reasoned discussions or debates
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Judgements and impressions
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.