Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶32–34 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “Whether Virtue Alone Be Sufficient for a Happy Life”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶32–34
A. You compel me to be of your opinion, but have a care that you are not inconsistent yourself. M. In what respect? A. Because I have lately read your fourth book on Good and Evil, and in that you appeared to me, while disputing against Cato, to be endeavoring to show, which in my opinion means to prove, that Zeno and the Peripatetics differ only about some new words. But if we allow that, what reason can there be, if it follows from the arguments of Zeno that virtue contains all that is necessary to a happy life, that the Peripatetics should not be at liberty to say the same? For, in my opinion, regard should be had to the thing, not to words.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶32–34, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/5.32
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesIn this exchange the student catches the teacher in a seeming inconsistency: if the Aristotelians and the Stoic founder really differ only in words, then the Aristotelians should also be free to say that virtue is enough for happiness.
Older wording
- “Peripatetics”
- — followers of Aristotle
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Learning and progress
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