Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶44 — Cicero (on the Stoics)

Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶44

This, then, is agreed upon by all, and not only by learned men but also by the unlearned: that it becomes the brave and magnanimous—those that have patience and a spirit above this world—not to give way to pain. Nor has there ever been anyone who did not commend a man who bore it in this manner. That, then, which is expected from a brave man, and is commended when it is seen, it must surely be base in anyone to be afraid of at its approach, or not to bear when it comes. But I would have you consider whether, as all the right affections of the soul are classed under the name of virtues, the truth is that this is not properly the name of them all, but that they all have their name from that leading virtue which is superior to all the rest: for the name “virtue” comes from vir, a man, and courage is the peculiar distinction of a man, and this virtue has two principal duties: to despise death and pain. We must, then, exert these if we would be men of virtue, or rather if we would be men, because virtue (virtus) takes its very name from vir, man.