Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶52–59 — Cicero (on the Stoics)

Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶52–59

M. Because, if to die were miserable to the dead, to live would be a kind of infinite and eternal misery. Now, however, I see a goal, and when I have reached it, there is nothing more to be feared. But you seem to me to follow the opinion of Epicharmus, a man of some discernment, and sharp enough for a Sicilian. A. What opinion? for I do not recollect it. M. I will tell you if I can in Latin, for you know I am no more used to bring in Latin sentences in a Greek discourse than Greek in a Latin one. A. And that is right enough. But what is that opinion of Epicharmus? M. I would not die, but yet Am not concerned that I shall be dead. A. I now recollect the Greek. But since you have obliged me to grant that the dead are not miserable, proceed to convince me that it is not miserable to be under a necessity of dying. M. That is easy enough, but I have greater things in hand. A. How comes that to be so easy? And what are those things of more consequence?