Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶108–112 — Cicero (on the Stoics)

Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶108–112

M. Do you ask how it can? There are crowds of arguers who contradict this, and those not only Epicureans, whom I regard very little, but, somehow or other, almost every man of letters. And, above all, my favorite Dicaearchus is very strenuous in opposing the immortality of the soul, for he has written three books, which are entitled Lesbiacs because the discourse was held at Mitylene, in which he seeks to prove that souls are mortal. The Stoics, on the other hand, allow us as long a time for enjoyment as the life of a raven; they allow the soul to exist a great while, but are against its eternity. Are you willing to hear then why, even allowing this, death cannot be an evil. A. As you please. But no one shall drive me from my belief in mortality. M. I commend you, indeed, for that—though we should not be too confident in our belief of anything, for we are frequently disturbed by some subtle conclusion. We give way and change our opinions even in things that are more evident than this; for in this there certainly is some obscurity. Therefore, should anything of this kind happen, it is well to be on our guard. A. You are right in that, but I will provide against any accident.