Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶33 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On Bearing Pain”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶33
But do you not see how much harm is done by poets? They introduce the bravest men lamenting over their misfortunes. They soften our minds. And they are, besides, so entertaining, that we do not only read them, but get them by heart. Thus the influence of the poets is added to our want of discipline at home, and our tender and delicate manner of living, so that between them they have deprived virtue of all its vigor and energy. Plato, therefore, was right in banishing them from his commonwealth, where he required the best morals, and the best form of government. But we, who have all our learning from Greece, read and learn these works of theirs from our childhood, and look on this as a liberal and learned education.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶33, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/2.33
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesDramatists show the bravest men wailing over their misfortunes, and because the verses are so enjoyable we memorize them, which together with a soft, undisciplined upbringing drains virtue of its strength. The speaker understands why Plato wanted poets kept out of his ideal state, yet notes that we still raise children on exactly these works.
Older wording
- “commonwealth”
- — an ideal state or republic
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Self-discipline and habit
- Resilience and endurance
- Judgements and impressions
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