Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶57 — 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 ¶57
Note: Spoken by Cicero’s listener (“A.”), not by Cicero — the reply follows in the next passage.
A. Indeed I cannot. But I should be glad to prevail on you, unless it is troublesome (as you are under no confinement from obligations to any particular sect, but gather from all of them whatever strikes you most as having the appearance of probability), as you just now seemed to advise the Peripatetics and the Old Academy boldly to speak out without reserve, “that wise men are always the happiest,” I should be glad to hear how you think it consistent for them to say so, when you have said so much against that opinion, and the conclusions of the Stoics.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶57, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/5.57
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA listener asks the speaker to explain how other schools of philosophy can claim that wise people are always happiest, given the objections already raised against the Stoic version. It is a question in a dialogue and gives no practical guidance on its own.
Older wording
- “Peripatetics”
- — followers of Aristotle's school
- “Old Academy”
- — the early school founded by Plato's followers
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
Quote cards
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