Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶86–87 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On the Contempt of Death”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶86–87
But I return to the ancients. They scarcely ever gave any reason for their opinion but what could be explained by numbers or definitions. It is reported of Plato that he came into Italy to make himself acquainted with the Pythagoreans, and that when there, among others, he made an acquaintance with Archytas and Timaeus, and learned from them all the tenets of the Pythagoreans, and that he not only was of the same opinion with Pythagoras concerning the immortality of the soul, but that he also brought reasons in support of it, which, if you have nothing to say against it, I will pass over, and say no more at present about all this hope of immortality. A. What, will you leave me when you have raised my expectations so high? I had rather—so help me Hercules!—be mistaken with Plato, whom I know how much you esteem, and whom I admire myself, from what you say of him, than be in the right with those others.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 1 ¶86–87, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/1.86
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesPlato is reported to have learned from the Pythagoreans in Italy and to have backed up the idea of an immortal soul with arguments. The friend replies that he would rather be mistaken with Plato than right with the critics, showing how much trust in a respected teacher can shape belief.
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Death and mortality
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