Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶6–7 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “On Bearing Pain”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶6–7
The discourse, then, was introduced in this manner while we were walking, and it was commenced by some such an opening as this: A. It is not to be expressed how much I was delighted, or rather edified, by your discourse of yesterday. For although I am conscious to myself that I have never been too fond of life, yet at times, when I have considered that there would be an end to this life, and that I must some time or other part with all its good things, a certain dread and uneasiness used to intrude itself on my thoughts. But now, believe me, I am so freed from that kind of uneasiness that there is nothing that I think less worth any regard.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 2 ¶6–7, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/2.6
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA student reports that the previous day's discussion cured the dread and uneasiness he used to feel when he thought about leaving behind all life's good things, so that now nothing seems less worth worrying about.
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Fear and anxiety
- Learning and progress
- Fear of death
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