The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius
Philosophy
The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by Cicero
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Ethics -- Early works to 1800; Happiness -- Early works to 1800
And the same may be said of the other virtues also; the foundation of all
which you place in pleasure, which is like building on water. For what are
we to say? Can we call that same Torquatus a brave man? For I am
delighted, though I cannot, as you say, bribe you; I am delighted with
your family and with your name. And, in truth, I have before my eyes Aulus
Torquatus,(37) a most excellent man, and one greatly attached to me; and
both of you must certainly be aware how great and how eminent his zeal in
my behalf was in those times which are well known to every one. And that
conduct of his would not have been delightful to me, who wish both to be,
and to be considered, grateful, if I did not see clearly that he was
friendly to me for my own sake, not for his own; unless, indeed, you say,
it was for his own sake, because it is for the interest of every one to
act rightly. If you say that, we have gained our point. For what we are
aiming at, what we are contending for, is, that duty itself is the reward
of duty. But that master of yours will not admit this, and requires
pleasure to result from every action as a sort of wages.
However, I return to him. If it was for the sake of pleasure that
Torquatus, when challenged, fought with the Gaul on the Anio, and out of
his spoils took his chain and earned his surname, or if it was for any
other reason but that he thought such exploits worthy of a man, then I do
not account him brave. And, indeed, if modesty, and decency, and chastity,
and, in one word, temperance, is only upheld by the fear of punishment or
infamy, and not out of regard to their own sanctity, then what lengths
will adultery and debauchery and lust shrink from proceeding to, if there
is a hope either of escaping detection, or of obtaining impunity or
licence?
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