Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶74 — 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 ¶74
But as we are to depart in the morning, let us remember these five days’ discussions; though indeed I think I shall commit them to writing: for how can I better employ the leisure which I have, of whatever kind it is, and whatever it be owing to? And I will send these five books also to my friend Brutus, by whom I was not only incited to write on philosophy, but, I may say, provoked. And by so doing it is not easy to say what service I may be of to others. At all events, in my own various and acute afflictions, which surround me on all sides, I cannot find any better comfort for myself.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶74, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/5.74
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesOn the last day of the discussions the speaker resolves to write them down and send them to a friend, and to use his enforced free time this way. Writing philosophy is the best comfort he can find against the many troubles pressing on him.
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Grief and mourning
- Solitude and retreat
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.