Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶72 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
From “Whether Virtue Alone Be Sufficient for a Happy Life”
Translation by C. D. Yonge (1853)
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶72
That custom which is common among the Grecians at their banquets should, in my opinion, be observed in life: Drink, say they, or leave the company. And rightly enough, for a guest should either enjoy the pleasure of drinking with others, or else not stay till he meets with affronts from those that are in liquor. Thus, those injuries of fortune which you cannot bear you should flee from.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), Tusculan Disputations 5 ¶72, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/tusculan-disputations/5.72
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. C. D. Yonge (1853). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesUsing the Greek banquet rule of drink or leave, the speaker suggests life should be treated the same way: if you cannot bear the blows of fortune, you may walk away. It is a brief image that points toward ending one's own life when suffering is intolerable.
Older wording
- “affronts”
- — insults
- “in liquor”
- — drunk
Themes and situations
- Freedom
- Adversity and hardship
- Death and mortality