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
But in other arts, when anything is said to have been done according to
the rules of art, there is something to be considered which is subsequent
and follows upon such compliance; which they call ἐπιγεννηματικόν. But
when we say in any matter that a thing has been done wisely, that same
thing is from the first said also to have been done most properly; for
whatever proceeds from a wise man must at once be perfect in all its
parts: for in him is placed that quality which we say is to be desired.
For as it is a sin to betray one’s country, to injure one’s parents, to
plunder temples, which are all sins of commission; so it is likewise a sin
to be afraid, to grieve, to be under the dominion of lust, even if no
overt act follows these feelings. But, as these are sins, not in their
later periods and consequences, but at once from the first moment; so
those actions which proceed from virtue are to be considered right at the
first moment that they are undertaken, and not only when they are
accomplished.
X. But it may be as well to give an explanation and definition of the word
good, which, has been so often employed in this discourse. But the
definitions of those philosophers differ a good deal from one another, and
yet have all reference to the same facts. I myself agree with Diogenes,
who has defined good to be that which in its nature is perfect. But that
which follows, that which is profitable (for so we may translate his
ὼφέλημα), he considered to be a motion, or a state, arising out of the
nature of the perfect. And as the notions of things arise in the mind, if
anything has become known either by practice, or by combination, or by
similitude, or by the comparison of reason; then by this fourth means,
which I have placed last, the knowledge of good is arrived at. For when,
by a comparison of the reason, the mind ascends from those things which
are according to reason, then it arrives at a notion of good. And this
good we are speaking of, we both feel to be and call good, not because of
any addition made to it, nor from its growth, nor from comparing it with
other things, but because of its own proper power. For as honey, although
it is very sweet, is still perceived to be sweet by its own peculiar kind
of taste, and not by comparison with other things; so this good, which we
are now treating of, is indeed to be esteemed of great value; but that
valuation depends on kind and not on magnitude. For as estimation, which
is called ἀξί, is not reckoned among goods, nor, on the other hand, among
evils, whatever you add to it will remain in its kind. There is,
therefore, another kind of estimation proper to virtue, which is of weight
from its character, and not because of its increasing. Nor, indeed, are
the perturbations of the mind, which make the lives of the unwise bitter
and miserable, and which the Greeks call πάθη, (I might translate the word
itself by the Latin _morbi_, but it would not suit all the meanings of the
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