Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶68 — 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 ¶68
Socrates, indeed, when he was asked where he belonged to, replied, “The world,” for he looked upon himself as a citizen and inhabitant of the whole world. How was it with T. Altibutius? Did he not follow his philosophical studies with the greatest satisfaction at Athens, although he was banished? which, however, would not have happened to him if he had obeyed the laws of Epicurus and lived peaceably in the republic. In what was Epicurus happier living in his own country, than Metrodorus who lived at Athens? Or did Plato’s happiness exceed that of Xenocrates, or Polemo, or Arcesilas? Or is that city to be valued much that banishes all her good and wise men? Demaratus, the father of our King Tarquin, not being able to bear the tyrant Cypselus, fled from Corinth to Tarquinii, settled there, and had children. Was it, then, an unwise act in him to prefer the liberty of banishment to slavery at home?
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶68, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/5.68
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesSocrates called the whole world his home, and exiles like philosophers who kept studying abroad or a man who left a tyrant's city show that happiness does not depend on staying in your birthplace. A city that drives out its good and wise people is not worth too much attachment, and living freely elsewhere can beat living under oppression at home.
Older wording
- “tyrant”
- — a ruler who holds power by force, not law
Themes and situations
- Exile and loss of home
- Community and our duty to others
- Freedom
- Nature and the cosmos
- Moving away or exile
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