Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶55 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On Other Perturbations of the Mind”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶55
Anger, too, when it disturbs the mind any time, leaves no room to doubt its being madness, by the instigation of which we see such contention as this between brothers: Where was there ever impudence like thine? Who on thy malice ever could refine? You know what follows, for abuses are thrown out by these brothers with great bitterness in every other verse, so that you may easily know them for the sons of Atreus, of that Atreus who invented a new punishment for his brother: I who his cruel heart to gall am bent, Some new, unheard-of torment must invent.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 4 ¶55, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/4.55
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesAnger is plain madness while it grips the mind, illustrated by the bitter quarrel between the brothers Atreus and Thyestes, who trade insults in nearly every line and scheme cruel revenge on each other.
Older wording
- “impudence”
- — shameless rudeness
- “gall”
- — to irritate or hurt
- “malice”
- — spite, desire to harm
Themes and situations
- Anger
- Emotions and the passions
- Family and love
- Being angry with someone
- Family conflict
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