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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
EDITED BY
T. E. PAGE, LiTT.D., AND W. H. D. ROUSE, LiTT.D.
CICERO DE FINIBUS BONORUM ET MALORUM
CICERO
DE FINIBUS BONORUM ET MALORUM
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
H. RACKHAM. M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE.
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
MCMXIV
"y
n
313776
» * . • • » .
* t
CONTENTS
Introduction ^^^^ ^"
Book I ^
Book II ^^
Book III Book IV
Book V ^^^
, J 505
Index
215
299
de Fiiii-
I
INTRODUCTION. The de FhnliHS Bonoram el Mahrum is a treatise ^ on tile theory of Ethics. It expounds and criticizes the three ethical systems most prominent in Cicero's day, the Epicurean, tlie Stoic and that of the Aca- demy under Antiochus. The most elaborate of Cicero's philosophical writings, it has had fewer readers than his less technical essays on moral sub- jects. But it isof importance to the student of philo- sophy as the only systematic account surviving from antiquity of those rules of life whicli divided the allegiance of thoughtful men during the cen- turies when the old religions had lost tlieir hold and Christianity had not yet emerged. And the topics that it handles can never lose their interest.
The title 'About the Ends of Goods and Evils' ^^'.'"'."/^ requires explanation. It was Aristotle who put tlie "■' — '-
ethical problem in the form of the question. What UJ-t'. is the TeAos or End, the supreme aim of man's en- deavourj in the attainment of which his Good or Well-being lies? For Aristotle, Telvf connoted not only 'aim,' but completion'; and he found the answer to his question in the complete development and right exercise of the faculties of man's nature, and particularly of the distinctively human faculty of Reason. The life of the Intellect was the Best, the Chief Good; and lesser Goods were Means to the attainment of this End. Thus was introduced the notion of an ascending scale of Goods, and this affected the interpretation of the term Telos. Telo» came to be understood as denoting not so much the end or aim of endeavour as the end or extreme
INTRODUCTION
point of a series, the topmost good. To this was naturally opposed an extreme of minus value, the topmost, or rather bottommost, evil. The expres- sions TcAos dyaOiav, tIAos KaKiov, End of Goods, of Evils,' do not occur in extant Greek (though Dio- genes has T€\tKa KaKoi, final evils *), but they are attested by Cicero's translation ^»w honorum et malo- rum. As a title for his book he throws this phrase into the plural, meaning different views as to the Chief Good and Evil.' Hence in title and to some extent in method, the de Finihus may be compared with such modem works as Martineau's Types of Ethical Theory and Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics,
'cero as a Cicero belongs to a type not unknown in English
nter on life, that of the statesman who is also a student and a •tlosophy, writer. From his youth he aspired to play a part in public affairs, and the first step towards this ambition was to learn to speak. He approached Greek philo- sophy as part of a liberal education for a political career, and he looked on it as supplying themes for practice in oratory. But his real interest in it went deeper; the study of it formed his mind and hu- manized his character, and he loved it to the end of his life.
In his youth he heard the heads of the three chief Schools of Athens, Phaedrus the Epicurean, Diodo- tus the Stoic, and Philo the Academic, who had come to Rome' to escape the disturbances of the Mithradatic War. When already launched in public life, he withdrew, at the age of 27 (79 b.c), to devote two more years to philosophy and rhetoric. Six months were spent at Athens, and the introduction to de Finibus Book V gives a brilliant picture of his
• • •
Vlll
INTRODUCTION
student life there with his friends. No passage more vividly displays what Athens and her memories meant to the cultivated Roman. At Athens Cicero attended the lectures of the Epicurean Zeno and the Academic Antiochus. Passing on to Rhodes to work under the leading professors of rhetoric, he there met Posidonius, the most renowned Stoic of the day. He returned to Rome to plunge into his career as advocate and statesman; but his Letters show him continuing his studies in his intervals of leisure. For many years the Stoic Diodotus was an inmate of his house.
Under the Triumvirate, as his influence in politics waned, Cicero turned more and more to literature. His earliest essay in rhetoric, the de Inventione, had appeared before he was twenty-five ; but his first considerable works on rhetoric and on political science, the de Oratore, de RepubUca, and de Legibus, were written after his return from exile in 57. The opening pages of de Finibus Book III give a glimpse of his studies at this period. In 51 he went as Governor to Cilicia ; and he -wrote no more until the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus had destroyed his hopes for the Republic.
After his reconciliation with Caesar and return to Rome in the autumn of 46, Cicero resumed writing on rhetoric. In February 45 came the death of his beloved daughter Tullia, followed soon after by the final downfall of the Pompeians at Munda. Crushed by public and private sorrow, he shut himself up in one of his country houses and sought distraction in unremitting literary work. He conceived the idea, as he implies in the preface to de Finibus, of render- ing a. last siervice to his counti-y by bringing the
ix
)
INTRODUCTION
9f ^e treasures of Greek thought within the reach of the
"*' Roman public. Both his Academica and de Finibus
were compiled in the following summer ; the latter
was probably presented to Brutus^ to whom it is
dedicated^ on his visit to Cicero in August 45 (ad
Att. XIII, 44). Seven months later Brutus was one
[of the assassins of Caesar. In the autumn of 44
\ Cicero flung himself again into the arena with his
/attack on Antony, which led to his proscription and
I death in December 43.
Excepting the de Oratore, de RepuhUca and de LegibuSy the whole of Cicero's most important odo/ writings on philosophy and rhetoric belong to 7sition, 46-44 B.C. and were achieved within two years. Such a mass of work so rapidly produced could hardly be original, and in fact it made no claim to be so. It was designed as a sort of encyclopaedia of philosophy for Roman readers. Cicero's plan was to take each chief department of thought in turn, and present the theories of the leading schools upon it, appending to each theory the criticisms of its opponents. Nor had his work that degree of inde- pendence which consists in assimilating the thought of others and recasting it in the mould of the writer's own mind. He merely chose some recent hand-book on each side of the question under consideration, and reproduced it in Latin, encasing passages of continuous exposition in a frame of dialogue, and adding illustrations from Roman history and poetry. He puts the* matter frankly in a letter to Atticus (XII, 52): "You will say, ^What is your method in such compositions ? ' They are mere transcripts, and cost comparatively little labour; I only supply the words, of which I have a copious flow." In de Finibtis
II.
INTRODUCTION
(I, 6) he rates his work a Httle higher, not without justice, and claims to be the critic as well as the interpreter of his authorities.
This method of writing was consonant with Cicero's Cicero's own position in philosophy. Since his early studies ^*(^<^^*« under Philo he had been a professed adherent of the New Academy, and as such maintained a sceptical \ ^ attitude on questions of knowledge. On morals he f' was more positive ; though without a logical basis for \ . his principles, he accepted the verdict of tb^ common \ moral conscience of his age and county. Epicure- anism^-lie^abhorred as demoralizing The Stoics rep^ed himNijy their harshness anja narrowness, but. Sracted him by their strict morality and lofty the- ology. His competence for th^^task of interpreting Greek thought to Rome v^as of a qualified order. He had read much, and h^ heard the chief teachers of the day. But with yl^arning and enthusiasm he combined neither depth of insight nor scientific precision. Yet his^s^rvices to philosophy must not b^^^i^errated. Jrfe introduced a novel style of ex- positiSiT^CDpious, eloquent, impartial and urbane; and he created a philosophical terminology in Latin which has passed into the languages of modem Europe.
The de Finibtcs consists of three separate dialogues. Contents of each dealing with one of the chief ethical systems ^® Finibus. of the day. The exponents of each system, and the minor interlocutors, are friends of Cicero's younger days, all of whom were dead when he wrote ; brief notes upon them will be found in the Index. The rdle of critic Cicero takes himself throughout.
The first dialogue occupies Books I and II ; in the
xi
INTRODUCTION
former the Ethics. of Epicurus are expounded, and in the latter refuted from the Stoic standpoint. The scene is laid at Cicero's villa in the neighbourhood of Cumae, on the lovely coast a little north of Naples. The spokesman of Epicureanism is L. Man- lius Torquatus, a reference to whose praetorship (II, 74) fixes the date of the conversation at 50 b.c, shortly after Cicero* s return from his province of Cilicia. A minor part is given to the youthful C. Valerius Triarius.
In the second dialogue the Stoic ethics are ex- pounded (in Book III) by M. Cato, and criticized (in Book IV) from the standpoint of Antiochus by Cicero. Cicero has run down to his place at Tuscu- lum, fifteen miles from town, for a brief September holiday, while the Games are on at Rome ; and he meets Cato at the neighbouring villa of Lucullus, whose orphan son is Cato's ward. A law passed by Pompey in 52 b.c. is spoken of (IV, l) as Hew, so the date falls in that year; Cicero went to Cilicia in 51.
The third dialogue (Book V) goes back to a much earlier period in Cicero's life. Its date is 79 and its scene Athens, where Cicero and his friends are eagerly attending lectures on philosophy. The posi- tion of the Old Academy" of Antiochus is main- tained by M. Pupius Piso Calpumianus, and after- wards criticized by Cicero from the Stoic point of view ; the last word remains with Piso. The others present are Cicero's brother and cousin, and his friend and correspondent Titus Pomponious Atticus, a convinced Epicurean, who had retired to Athens from the civil disorders at Rome, and did not return for over twenty years, xu
INTRODUCTION
In Book I the exposition of Epicureanism pro- Cicero's bably comes from some compendium of the school, j'**p-^*-'j? ^ which seems to have summarized (l) Epicurus' s essay On the Telos, (2) a resum6 of the points at issue between Epicurus and the Cyrenaics (reproduced I, 65 ff), and (s) some Epicurean work on Friendship (I, 65-70).
The Stoic arguments against Epicurus in Book II Cicero derived very likely from Antiochus ; but in the criticism of Epicurus there is doubtless more of Cicero's own thought than anywhere else in the work.
The authority for Stoicism relied on in Book III was most probably Diogenes of Babylon, who is referred to by name at III, 33 and 49.
In Books IV and V Cicero appears to have followed Antiochus.
Alexander the Great died in 323 and Aristotle in Post-Aristo 322 B.C. Both Epicurus and Zeno, the founder of *pl^P j^^ Stoicism, began to teach at Athens about twenty years later. The date marks a new era in Greek thought and Greek life. Speculative energy had exhausted itself; the schools of Plato and Aristotle showed little vigour after the death of their founders. En- lightenment had undermined religion, yet the philo- sophers seemed to agree about nothing except that things are not what they appear; and the plain man's mistrust of their conclusions was raised into a system of Scepticism by Pyrrho. Meanwhile the outer order too had changed. For Plato and Aris- totle the good life could only be lived in a free city-state, like the little independent Greek cities \irhich they knew ; but these had now fallen under
• • •
xiu
\
INTRODUCTION
the empire of Macedon, and the barrier between Greek and barbarian was giving way. The wars of -Alexander's successors rendered all things insecure ; exile, slavery, violent death were possibilities with which every man must lay his account.
Epicureanism and Stoicism, however antagonistic, have certain common features corresponding to the needs of the period. Philosophy was systematized, and fell into three recognized departments. Logic, Physics and Ethics ; and for both schools the third department stood first in importance. Both schools offered dogma, not speculation ; a way of life for man as man, not as Greek citizen. Both abandoned idealism, saw no reality save matter, and accepted sense experience as knowledge. Both studied the world of nature only in order to understand the position of man. Both looked for a happiness secure from fortune's changes'; and found it in peace of mind, undisturbed by fear and desire. But here the rival teachers diverged : Epicurus sought peace in the liberation of man's will from nature's law, Zeno in submission to it;^ and in their conceptions of nature they differed profoundly.
nirean- Formal Logic Epicurus dismissed as useless, but onic ^^ raised the problem of knowledge under the heading of Canonic. The Carum or measuring-rod, the. criterion of truth, is furnished by the sensations and by the irdOr) or feelings of pleasure and pain. Epicurus' s recognition of the latter as qualities of any state of consciousness and as distinct from the sensations of sight, hearing, etc., marks a notable
* Et mihi res non me rebus suhiungere conor, says Horace of his lapses from Stoicism into Cyrenaicism.
xiv
INTRODUCTION
advance in psychology. The sensations and the feelings determine our judgment and volition respectively, and they are all true,' i.e., real data of experience. So are the irpo\ri\l/€is, or precon- ceptions' by which we recognize each fresh sensa- tion, i.e., our general concepts; for these are accu- mulations of past sensations. It is in vTro\rj\l/€is, opinions,' i.e., judgments about sensations, that 'j /error can occur. Opinions are true only when con- \ I firmed, or, in the case of those relating to imper- 0 ceptible objects (e.g. the Void), when not contra- dicted by actual sensations. Thus Epicurus adum- ' brated, however crudely, a logic of inductive ' science.
His Natural Philosophy is touched on in de Finibus, Epicurean I, c. vi. It is fully set out in the great poem of ^^J^sics, Cicero's contemporary, Lucretius, who preaches his master's doctrine with religious fervour as a gospel of deliverance for the spirit of man. Epicurus adopt- ed the Atomic theory of Democritus, according to which the primary realities are an infinite number of tiny particles of matter, indivisible and indestructi-» ble, moving by their own weight through an infinite expanse of empty space or Void. Our perishable world and all that it contains consists of temporary clusters of these atoms interspersed with void. In- numerable other worlds beside are constantly form- ing and dissolving. This universe goes on of itself: there are gods, but they take no part in its guidance ; they live a life of untroubled bliss in the empty spaces between the worlds. The human soul like every- thing else is material; it consists of atoms of the smallest and most mobile sort, enclosed by the coarser atoms of the body, and dissipated when the
XV
INTRODUCTION
body is dissolved by death. Death therefore means extinction.
Thus man was relieved from the superstitions that preyed upon his happiness, — fear of the gods and fear of punishment after death. But a worse tyranny remained if all that happens is caused by inexorable fate. Here comes in the doctrine of the Swerve, which Cicero derides, but which is essential to the system. Democritus had taught that the heavier atoms fell faster through the void than the lighter ones, and so overtook them. Aristotle corrected the error ; and Epicurus turned the correction to account. He gave his atoms a uniform vertical velocity, but supposed them to collide by casually making a slight sideway movement. This was the minimum hypo- thesis that he could think of to account for the formation of things; and it served his purpose by destroying the conception of a fixed order in Nature. The capacity to swerve is shared by the atoms that compose the human soul ; hence it accounts for the action of the will, which Epicurus regards as entirely undetermined. In this fortuitous universe man is free to make his own happiness. epicurean In Ethics Epicurus based himself on Aristippus,
the pupil of Socrates and founder of the School of Cyrene. With Aristippus he held that pleasure is the only good, the sole constituent of man's well-being. Aristippus had drawn the practical inference that the right thing to do is to enjoy each pleasure of the moment as it offers. His rule of conduct is summed up by Horace's Carpe diem. But this naif hedonism was so modified by Epicurus as to become in his hands an entirely different theory. Its principal tenets are: that the goodness of pleasure is a matter of direct xvi
\thics.
INTRODUCTION
intuition^ and is attested by natural instinct^ as seen in the actions of infants and animals ; that all men's conduct does as a matter of fact aim at pleasure ; that the proper aim is to secure the greatest l)alance of pleasure over pain in the aggregate; that absence of pain is the greatest pleasure, which can only be varied, not augmented, by active gratification of the sense ; that pleasure of the mind is based on pleasure of the body, yet that mental pleasure may far sur- pass bodily in miEignitude, including as it does with the consciousness of present gratification the memory of past and the hope of future pleasure ; that un- natural and unnecessary' desires and emotions are a chief source of unhappiness; and that Prudence, Temperance or self-control, and the other recognized virtues are therefore essential to obtain a life of the greatest pleasure, though at the same time the virtues are of no value save as conducive to pleasure.
This original, and in some respects paradoxical, development of hedonism gave no countenance to the voluptuary. On the contrary Epicurus both preached and practised the simple life, and the cultivation of the ordinary virtues, though under utilitarian sanc- tions which led him to extreme unorthodoxy in some particulars. Especially, he denied any absolute validity to Justice and to Law, and inculcated absten.- tion from the active duties of citizenship. To Friend- ship he attached the highest value; and the School that he founded in his Garden in a suburb of Athens, and endowed by will, was as much a society of friends as a college of students. It still survived arid kept the birthday of its founder in Cicero's time.
Epicurus is the forerunner of the English Utilita- rians ; but he differs from them in making no attempt
xvii
^^1 to con
^^B happit
^^P others
^r is agaj
J
INTRODUCTION to combine hedonism witli altruisni. 'The greatest happiness of tlie greatest number ' is a. formula that counterpart in antiquity. The problem that when the claims of self conflict with those of others was not explicitly raised by Epicurus. But it against the egoism of his Ethics at least as much as against its hedonistic basis that Cicero's criticisms are really directed.
The Stoics paid mucli attention to Logic. In this department they included with Dialectic, which they developed on the lines laid down by Aristotle, Grammar, Rhetoric, and the doctrine of the Criterion. The last was their treatment of the problem of know- ledge. Like Epicurus they were purely empirical, but unlike him they conceded t« the Sceptics that sensations are sometimes misleading. Vet true sensa- tions, they maintainedjare distinguishable &om false ; they have a clearness' which compels tlie assent' of the mind and makes it comprehend ' or grasp the presentation as a true picture of the CKtemal object. Such a comprehensible presentation,' KaTaKiprriKii ^vrairta., is the criterion of truth ; it is a presentation that arises from an object actually present, in conformity with that object, stamped on the mind like the impress of a seal, and such as could not arise from an object not actually present.' So their much-debated formula was elaborated in reply to Sceptical critics. If asked how it happens that false sensations do occur — e.g., that a straight stick half under water looks crooked — the Stoics replied that error only arises from inattention ; care- fill observation will detect the absence of one or other of the notes of ' clearness.' I'lie Wise Man
. INTRODUCTION
never assents' to an incomprehensible presenta- tion.'
In contradiction to Epicurus^ the Stoics taught Stoic that the universe is guided by, and in the last resort Physics, is, God. The sole first cause is a divine Mind, which realizes itself periodically in the world-process. But this belief they expressed in terms uncompromisingly materialistic Only the corporeal exists, for only the corporeal can act and be acted upon. Mind there- fore is matter in its subtlest form; it is Fire or Breath (spirit) or Aether. The primal fiery Spirit creates out of itself the material world that we know, and itself persists within the world as its heat, its tension,' its soul ; it is the cause of all movement, and the source of life in all animate creatures, whose souls are detached particles of the world-soul.
The notion of Fire as the primary substance the Stoics derived from Heracleitus. Of the process of <*reation they offered an elaborate account, a sort of imaginary physics or chemistry, operating with the hot and cold, dry and moist, the four elements of fire, air, earth and water, and other conceptions of previous physicists, which came to them chiefly through the Peripatetics.
The world-process they conceived as going on according to a fixed law or formula {\dyo<i)^ effect following cause in undeviating sequence. This law they regarded impersonally as Fate, or personally as divine Providence ; they even spoke of the Deity as being himself the Logos of creation. Evidences of design they found in the beauty of the ordered world and in its adaptation to the use and comfort of man. Apparent evil is but the necessary imperfec- tion of the parts as parts ; the whole is perfectly gooc
)cix
I
INTRODUCTION
As this world had a beginning, so it will have an end ill lime; it is moving on towards » universal coiitUKTittio», in which all things «ill return to the primal Vin from which they sprang. But only for a moment will unity be restored. The causes that opcnted before must opcrati- again; once more the creative |iroc«ss will begin, and all things will recur cjtaclly as they have occurred already. So existence goes on, repeating itself in an unending series of identical cycles.
Such rigorous determinism would seem to leave no room for human freedom or for moral choice. \ et the Stoics-BUUBbuiMd- that though man's acts like all other events are fore-ordained, his will is free. Obey the divine ordinance in any case he must, but iFrests with him to do so willingly or with reluctance. To under- stand the world in which he finds himself^ and to sub- mit his will thereto — herein man's well-being lies.
On this foundation they reared an elaborate stnic- tuje of Ethics. Their formula for conduct was To live in accordance with nature.' To interpret this, they appealed, bke Epicurus, to instinct, but with a different result. According to the Stoics, not plea- sure but self-preservation and things conducive to it are the objects at which infants and animals aim. Such objects are primary in the order of nature'; and these objects and others springing out of them, viz., all that pertains to the safety and the fiill deve- lopment of man's nature, constitute the proper aim of human action. The instinct to seek these objects is replaced in the adult by deliberate intention; as his reason matures, be learns (if unperverted) to understand the plan of nature and to find his happi- ness in willing conformity with it. 'I1iis tightness of
INTRODUCTION
understanding and of will (the Stoics did not separate the two, since for them the mind is one) is Wisdom or Virtue, which is the only good ; their wrongness is Folly or Vice, the only evil. Not that we are to ignore external things: on the contrary, it is in choosing among them as Nature intends that Virtue is exercised. But the attainment of the natural obj ects is immaterial ; it is the effort to attain them alone that counts.
This nice adjustment of the claims of Faith and Works was formulated in a series of technicalities. A scale of values was laid down, and on it a scheme of conduct was built up. Virtue alone is good' and to be sought,' Vice alone ^evil' and ^to be -shunned'; all else is ^indifferent.' But of things indifferent some, being in accordance with nature, are promoted ' or preferred ' (Trporyy/Acva), as having worth ' (a^ta), and these are * to be chosen'; others, being contrary to nature, are de- promoted ' {aTTiyjrporjyfjLeva) as having unworth ' (aTTo^ta, negative value), and these are ^to be re- jected'; while other things again are absolutely indifferent,' and supply no motive for action. To aim at securing things promoted,' or avoiding their opposites is an appropriate act * {KaOrJKov) : this is what the young and uncomipted do by in- stinct. When the same aim is taken by the rational adult with full knowledge of nature's plan and deliberate intent to conform with it, then the
appropriate act ' is perfect,' and is a right action ' or ^ success ' {KaTopOmfm)} Intention, not
* Cicero inevitably obscures the point in rendering KadrjKov by officium. To say that fungi officio, * to do one's duty,* is not rectefacere makes the doctrine sound more paradox cal than it really was.
xxi
INTRODUCTION
achievement, constitutes success. Tfee only failure,* 'error* or sin* (the term afxdp'rnfm includes all these notions) is the conduct of the rational being who ignores and violates nature.
In identifying the Good w^ith Virtue and in inter- preting Virtue by the conception of Nature, the Stoics were following their forerunners the Cynics ; but they parted company with the Cynics in finding a place in their scheme for Goods in the ordinary sense. For though they place pleasure among things absolutely indifferent,* their examples of things promoted * — life, health, wealth, etc. — are pretty much the usual objects of man*s endeavour. Hence, whereas the Cynics, construing the natu- ral * as the primitive or unsophisticated, had run counter to convention and even to decency, the Stoics in the practical rules deduced from their / principles agreed in the main with current morality, I and included the recognized duties to the family \ and the state.
But their first principles themselves they enunci- ated m a form that was violently paradoxical. Virtue \being a state _ofjnward-rightgpusness they T^garded as something absolute. Either a man has attained to 1% ^Tien he i^ at' once completely wise, good and happy, and remains so whatever pain, sorrow, or misfortune may befall him ; or he has not attained to it, in which case, whatever progress he has made towards it, he is still foolish, wicked and miserable. So stated, the ideal was felt to be beyond man's reach. Chrysippus, the third head of the school, confessed that he had never known a Wise Man. Criticism forced the later Stoics to compromise. The Wise Man remained as a type and an ensample ; xxii
INTRODUCTION
but positive value was conceded to moral progress, and 'appropriate acts' tended to usurp the place that strictly belonged to right acts/
\
The last system to engage Cicero's attention, that The of his contemporary Antiochus, is of much less in- Academy, terest than the two older traditions with which he ranges it.
Within a century of the death of its founder Plato, the Academy underwent a complete transformation. Arcesilas, its head in the middle of the third cen- tury B.C., adopted the scepticism that had been established as a philosophical system by Pyrrho two generations before, and denied the possibility of knowledge. He was accordingly spoken of as the founder of a Second or New Academy. His work was carried further a century afterwards by Car- neades. Both these acute thinkers devoted them- selves to combating the dogmas of the Stoics. Arcesilas assailed their theory of knowledge; and Cameades riddled their natural theology with shafts that have served for most subsequent polemic of the kind. On the basis of philosophic doubt, the New Academy developed in Ethics a theory of reasoned probability as a sufficient guide for life.
The extreme scepticism of Cameades led to a reaction. Philo, who was his next successor but one, and who afterwards became Cicero's teacher at Rome, reverted to a more positive standpoint. Doing violence to the facts, he declared that the teaching of the Academy had never changed since Plato, and that Arcesilas and Cameades, though attacking the Criterion of the Stoics, had not meant to deny all possibility of knowledge. The Stoic comprehen*
INTRODUCTION
sion ' was impossible^ but yet there was a clearness* about some impressions that gives a conviction of their truth.
The next head^ Antiochus, went beyond this ambiguous position^ and abandoned scepticism alto- gether. Contradicting Philo, he maintained that the true tradition of Plato had been lost, and pro- fessed to recover it, calling his school the *01d Academy.' But his reading of the history of philo- sophy was hardly more accurate than Philo*s. He asserted that the teachings of the older Academics and Peripatetics and of the Stoics were, in Ethics at all events, substantially the same, and that Zeno had borrowed his tenets from his predecessors, merely concealing the theft by his novel termin- ology.
The latter thesis is argued in de Finibus, Book IV, while Book V gives Antioclius*s version of the ^ Old Academic and Peripatetic ' Ethics, which he himself professed. His doctrine is that Virtue is sufficient for happiness, but that in the highest degree of happiness bodily and external goods also form a part. The Stoics will not call these latter ^ goods,' but only things promoted'; yet really they attach no less importance to them.
Antiochus could only maintain his position by ignoring nice distinctions. The Ethics of Aris- totle in particular seem to have fallen into complete oblivion. Aristotle's cardinal doctrines are, that well-being consists not in the state of virtue but in the active exercise of all human excellences, and particularly of man's highest gift of rational con- templation ; and that though for this a modicum of external goods is needed, these are but indispensable xxiv
INTRODUCTION
conditions^ and in no way constituent parts^ of the Chief Good.
The fact is that philosophy in Cicero's day had lost all precision as well as originality. It must be admitted that de Finibus declines in interest when it comes to deal with contemporary thought. Not only does the plan of the work necessitate some repetition in Book V of arguments already rehearsed in Book IV ; but Antiochus's perversion of preceding systems impairs alike the criticism of the Stoics and the presentation of his own ethical doctrine.
The text of this edition is founded on that of The Text. Madvig^ whose representatives have kindly per- mitted use to be made of the latest edition of his de Finibus y dated 1876. Madvig first established the text of the book; and it is from no lack of appreciation for his Herculean labours that I have ventured here and there to modify his results, whether by adopting conjectures suggested in his notes, or by preferring MSS. readings rejected by him, or conjectures made by other scholars and in one or two places by myself. In supplementing Madvig's work I have derived much help from the Teubner text of C. W. F. Miiller, 1904. Madvig's punctuation I have altered throughout, both to con- form it with English usage and also occasionally to suggest a different connection of thought.
Departures from Madvig' s text (referred to as The criHca Mdv.) are noted at the foot of the page. So also ^o*^^* are MSS. variants of importance for the sense ; in such places the readings of the three best MSS. and of the inferior group are usually given. But no attempt is made to present a complete picture of
xxv
INTRODUCTION
the state of the MSS., for which the student must go to Madvig.
^SS. The best MSS. of de Finibus are : A, Palatinus I,
11th c, which ends soon after the beginning of Book IV; B, Palatinus II ; and E, Erlangensis, 1 5th c. These three form one family, within which B and E are more closely related. The other MSS. known to Madvig form a second family, inferior in general to the former, though, as Miiller points out, not to be entirely dispensed with. Both families according to Madvig descend from a late and already consider- ably corrupted archetype.
Ions, The earliest edition is believed to have been
printed at Cologne in 1467. Madvig' s great com- mentary (Copenhagen, 1839, 1869, 1876) supersedes all its predecessors. There is a small annotated edition, largely based upon Madvig, by W. M. L. Hutchinson (London, 1909).
islations. English translations are those of Samuel Parker {Tullys Five Books de Finibus, or Concerning the Last Objects of Desire and Aversion, done into English by S, P., Gent, revised . , . by Jeremy Collier, M.A,, London, 1702; page-heading, TuUy of Moral Ends; a 2nd edition published by Bliss, Oxford, 1812); of Guthrie (London, 1 744) ; of Yonge (in Bohn*s series, 1 848) ; and of J. S. Reid (Cambridge, 1 883, now out of print). The first of these, and the German version of Kirchmann in the Philosophische Bibliothek (l 868), I have consulted occasionally, the former with plea- sure, but neither with much profit.
s of The fullest treatment in English of the subjects
rence. dealt with in de Finibus will be found in Zeller's Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics and Eclectics, Zeller's monumental work requires supplementing especially xxvi
INTRODUCTION
in regard to Stoicism. Recent books of value are Arnold's Roman Stoicism, Hicks' s Stoic and Epicurean, and Bevan's Stoics and Sceptics, Reid's edition of Academica is a mine of information about Cicero's philosophical work. For the sources, a selection for beginners is Adam's Texts to Illustrate Greek Philo- sophy after Aristotle,
I must express my gratitude to my friend Miss W. M. L. Hutchinson for reading the proofs of my translation and doing much to improve it. Nor can I forget my debt to the late Dr James Adam, whose lectures on de Finibus first aroused my interest in ethical theory.
H. R.
xxvn
I
11
I
ERRATUM.
On p. 22, note y for Democritus read Epicurus.
XXIX
CICERO DE FINIBUS BOOK I
M. TULLII CICERONIS
DE
FINIBUS BONORUM ET MALORUM
LIBER PRIMUS
1 I. Non eram nescius^ Brute, cum quae summis in- geniis exquisitaque doctrina philosophi Graeco ser- mone tractavissent ea Latinis litteris mandaremus^ fore ut hie noster labor in varias reprehensiones in- curreret. Nam quibusdam, et iis quidem non admo- dum indoctis, totum hoc displicet philosophari. Quidam autem non tam id reprehendunt si remissius agatur, sed tantum studium tamque multam operam ponendam in eo non arbitrantur. Erunt etiam, et hi quidem eruditi Graecis litteris, contemnentes Lati- nas, qui se dicant in Graecis legendis operam malle consumere. Postremo aliquos futuros suspicor qui me ad alias litteras vocent, genus hoc scribendi, etsi sit
2 elegans, personae tamen et dignitatis esse negent. Contra quos omnes dicendum breviter existimo. Quamquam philosophiae quidem vituperatoribus satis responsum est eo libro quo a nobis philosophic defensa et collaudata est cum esset accusata et vituperata ab Hortensio. Qui liber cum et tibi pro-' batus videretur et iis quos ego posse iudicare arbi- trarer, plura suscepi, veritus ne movere hominum studia viderer, retinere non posse. Qui autem, si
*This book was called Horiensius^ and formed an intro- duction to Cicero's philosophical writings. Fragments only are extant.
2
DE FINIBUS BOOK I
c
1 I. My dear Brutus, — ^The following essay, I am Preface :choi< well aware, attempting as it does to present in a Latin defended^ dress subjects that philosophers of consummate
ability and profound leartiyrig have already handled in Greek, is sure to encounter criticism from different quarters. Certain persons, aHd:^'those not without some pretension to letters, disa:pprdve of the study of philosophy altogether. Others "do not so greatly object to it provided it be followed in dilettante fashion ; but they do not think it ought to Wga^e so large an amount of one's interest and attention. '■ A third class, learned in Greek literature and contemp- tuous of Latin, will say that they prefer to spend their time in reading Greek. Lastly, I suspect there will be some who will wish to divert me to other fields of authorship, asserting that this kind of composition, though a graceful recreation, is beneath the dignity
2 of my character and position. To all of these objec- tions I suppose I ought to make some brief reply. The Philosophy
• j« • » X. r t-•^ i_i_'jjt deserving of
indiscriminate censure of philosophy has indeed been study," sufficiently answered already in the book* which I wrote in praise of that study, in order to defend it against a bitter attack that had been made upon it by Hortensius. The favourable reception which that volume appeared to obtain from yourself and from others whom I considered competent judges en- couraged me to embark upon further undertakings ; for I did not wish to be thought incapable of sus- taining the interest that I had succeeded in arousing. b2 S
CICERO DE FINIBUS
maxime hoc placeat, moderatius tamen id volunt fieri^ diflicilem quandam temperantiam postulant in eo quod semel admissum coerceri reprimique non potest ; ut propemodum iustioribus utamur illis qui omnino avocent a .philosophia^ quam his qui rebus infinitis modum constituant in reque eo meliore quo maior sit
3 medioeritatem desiderent. r.Sive*enim ad sapientiam perveniri potest^ non paranda nobis solum ea sed fhienda etiam est; ^^ive hoe difficile est, tamen nee modus est ullus . investigandi veri nisi in veneris, et quaerendi defetigatio turpis est cum id quod quae- ritur sif pulchemmum. Etenim si delectamur cum scribiir\us,*quis est tarn invidus qui ab eo nos abducat? Sin laboramus, quis est qui alienae modum statuat
!•. fndustriae? Nam ut Terentianus Chremes non in-
• humanus, qui novum vicinum non vult
Fodere aut arare aut aliquid ferre denique — (non enim ilium ab industria sed ab illiberali labore deterret), sic isti curiosi, quos offendit noster minime nobis iniucundus labor.
4 II. lis igitur est difficilius satisfacere qui se Latina scripta dicunt contemnere. In quibus hoc primum est in quo admirer, cur in gravissimis rebus non delectet eos sermo patrius, cum iidem fabellas Latinas ad verbum e Graecis expressas non inviti legant. Quis enim tam inimicus paene nomini Romano est, qui Enni Medeam aut Antiopam Pacuvi spemat aut
'^Terence, Jleau fan fimommenos, i. i. 17. 4
BOOK I. i-ii
The second class of critics, who, however much they and of approve of philosophy, nevertheless would rather t^o'^^sh stud: have it less eagerly prosecuted, are asking for a restraint that it is not easy to practise. The study is one that when once taken up admits of no restriction or control. In fact, the attitude of the former class, who attempt to dissuade us from philosophy alto- gether, seems almost less unreasonable than that of those who would set limits to what is essentially un- limited, and expect us to stop half-way in a study
3 that increases in value the further it proceeds. If Wisdom be attainable, let us not only win but enjoy it ; or f f attainment be difficult, still there is no end to the search for truth, other than its discovery. It were base to flag in the pursuit, when the object pur- sued is so supremely lovely. Indeed if we like writing, who would be so churlish as to debar us from it ? Or if we find it a labour, who is to set limits to another man's exertions ? No doubt it is kind of Chremes in Terence's play to urge his new neighbour
Neither to dig nor plough nor burdens bear*: for it is not industry in general, but toil of a menial kind, from which he would deter him ; but only a busybody would take exception to an occupation which, like mine, is a labour of love.
4 II. A more difficult task therefore is to deal with Justification of the objection of those who profess a contempt for philosophy int^c L#atin writings as such. What astonishes me first of all ^**"** about them is this, — why should they dislike their
native language for serious and important subjects, when they are quite willing to read Latin plays trans- lated word for word from the Greek ? Who has such a hatred, one might almost say, for the very name of Roman, as to despise and reject the Medea of Ennius
5
CICERO DE FINIBUS reiciat quod se iisdem Euripidis fabulis delectari dicat^ Latinas litteras oderit? Synephebos ego, in- quit, potius Caecili aut Andriam Terenti quam ut-
5 ramque Menandri legam ? A quibus tantum dissentio ut, cum Sophocles vel optime scripserit Electram, tamen male conversam Atili mihi legendam putem, de quo Licinius ferreum scriptorem/ venim opinor scriptorem tamen, ut legendus sit. Rudem enim esse omnino in nostris poetis aut inertissimae segnitiae est aut fastidi delicatissimi. Mihi quidem null! satis eruditi videntur quibus nostra ignota sunt. An
Utinam ne in nemore — nihilo minus legimus quam hoc idem Graecum, quae^ autem de bene beateque vivendo a Platone disputata
6 sunt, haec explicari non placebit Latine? Quid si nos non interpretum fungimur munere, sed tuemer ea quae dicta sunt ab iis quos probamus, eisque no- strum iudicium et nostrum scribendi ordinem adiungi- mus? quid habent cur Graeca anteponant iis quae et splendide dicta sint neque sint conversade Graecis ? Nam si dicent ab illis has res esse tractatas, ne ipsos quidem Graecos est cur tam multos legant quam legendi sunt. Quid enim est a Chrysippo praeter- missum in Stoicis ? Legimus tamen Diogenem, An-
*The opening of Ennius*s Medea Exsuly cp. Euripides, Medea ^f,
6
BOOK I. ii
or the AnUope of Pacuvius, and give as his reason that though he eiyoysthe corresponding plays of Euripides he cannot endure books written in Latin ? What, he cries, am I to read The Young Comrades of Caecilius, or Terence's Maid of Andros, when I might be reading
5 the same two comedies of Menander? With this sort of person I disagree so strongly, that, admitting the Electra of Sophocles to be a masterpiece, I yet think Atilius's poor translation of it worth my while to read. An iron writer,' Licinius called him ; still, in my opinion, a writer all the same, and therefore deserving to be read. For to be entirely unversed in our own poets argues either the extreme of mental inactivity or else a refinement of taste carried to the point of excess. To my mind no one can be styled a well-read man who does not know our native literature. If we read
Would that in forest glades — ^ just as readily as the same passage in the Greek/ shall we object to having Plato's discourses on morality and happiness set before the reader in
6 Latin ? And supposing that for our part we do not fill the office of a mere translator, but, while preserv- ing the doctrines of our chosen authorities, add thereto our own criticism and our own arrangement : what ground have these objectors for ranking the writings of Greece above compositions that are at once brilliant in style and not mere translations from Greek originals? Perhaps they will rejoin that the subject has been dealt with by the Greeks already. But then what reason have they for reading the multitude of Greek authors either that one has to read ? Take Stoicism: what aspect of it has Chrysippus left untouched? Yet we read Diogenes, Antipater,
7
CICERO DE FINIBUS
tipatrum^ Mnesarchum^ Panaetium^ multos alios^ in primisque familiarem nostrum Posidonium. Quid? Theophrastus mediocriteme delectat cum tractat locos abAristotele ante tractates? Quid? Epicureinum desistunt de iisdem^ de quibus et ab Epicuro scriptum est et ab antiquis, ad arbitrium suum scribere ? Quodsi Graeci leguntur a Graecis^ iisdem de rebus alia ratione compositis^ quid est cur nostri a nostris non legantur?
7 III. Quamquam si plane sic verterem Platonem aut Aristotelem ut verterunt nostri poetae fabulas^ male^ credo^ mererer de meis civibus si ad eorum cognitionem divina ilia ingenia transferrem. Sed id neque feci adhuc nee mihi tamen ne faciam inter- dictum puto. Locos quidem quosdam^ si videbitur^ transferam^ et maxime ab iis quos modo nominavi^ cum incident ut id apte fieri possit; ut ab Homero Ennius^ Afranius a Menandro solet. Nee vero, ut noster Lucilius^ recusabo quo minus omnes mea legant. Utinam esset ille Persius ! Scipio vero et Rutilius multo etiam magis; quorum ille indicium reformidans Tarentinis ait se et Consentinis et Siculis scribere. Facete is quidem^ sicut alia^; sed neque tam docti tum erant ad quorum indicium elaboraret, et sunt illius scripta leviora, ut urbanitas
8 summa appareat^ doctrina mediocris. Ego autem quem timeam lectorem, cum ad te, ne Graecis qui-
^ alia Mdv. ; alias MSS.
^Lucilius, the satirist, 148-103 B.C., avowed that he wrote for the moderately learned like Laelius, not for great scholars like Persius : * Persium non euro legere, Laelium Decimum volo* (Cic. de Or. 2.25). In the next sentence here Cicero seems to refer to some other passage of Lucilius, in which he put his claims still lower and pro- fessed to write for illiterate provincials, not for cultured noblemen like Scipio Africanus Minor and P. Rutilius Rufus.
8
BOOK I. ii-iii
Mnesarchus^ Panaetius^ and many others, not least our friend Posidonius. Again^ Theophrastus handles topics j)reviously treated by Aristotle, yet he gives us no small pleasure all the same. Nor do the Epi- cureans cease from writing as the spirit moves them on the same questions on which Epicurus and the ancients wrote. If Greek writers find Greek readers when presenting the same subjects in a different setting, why should not Romans be read by Romans ? III. Yet even supposing I gave a direct trans- lation of Plato or Aristotle, exactly as our poets have done with the plays, would it not, pray, be a patriotic service to introduce those transcendent intellects to the acquaintance of my fellow-country- men ? As a matter of fact, however, this has not been my procedure hitherto, though I do not feel I am de- barred from adopting it. Indeed I expressly reserve the right of borrowing certain passages, if I think fit, and particularly from the philosophers just men- tioned, when an appropriate occasion offers for so doing; just as Ennius regularly borrows from Homer, and Afranius from Menander. Nor yet shall I object, like our Lucilius,* to all the world's reading what I write. I only wish his Persius were alive to-day! and still more Scipio and Rutilius, in fear of wliose criticism Lucilius protests that he writes for the public of Tarentum, Consentia and Sicily. Here of course, as elsewhere, he is not to be taken too seriously. As a matter of fact, there were not such learned critics in his day, to tax his best efforts ; and also his writings are in a lighter vein: they show consummate wit, but no great erudition. I, however, need not be afraid of any reader, if I am so bold as to dedicate my book to you, who rival even
9
CICERO DE FINIBUS dem cedentem in philosophia^ audeam scribere? Quamquam a te ipso id quidem facio provocatus gratissimo mihi libro quern ad me de virtute inisisti. Sed ex eo credo quibusdam usu venire ut abhorreant a Latinis^ quod inciderint in inculta quaedam et horrida, de malis Graecis Latine scripta deterius. Quibus ego assentior^ dum modo de iisdem rebus ne Graecos quidem legendos putent. Res vero bonas verbis electis graviter ornateque dictas quis non legal ? Nisi qui se plane Graecum dici velit, ut a 9 Scaevola est praetore salutatus Athenis Albucius. Quem quidem locum cum multa venustate et omni sale idem Lucilius^ apud quem praeclare Scaevola :
((
Graecum te, Albuci, quam Romanum atque
Sabinum, Municipem Ponti, Tritanni, centurionum, Praeclarorum hominum ac primorum signife-
rumque, Maluisti dici ; Graece ergo praetor Athenis, Id quod maluisti, te, cum ad me accedis, saluto : Xaipc,* inquam, ^Tite!' Lictores, turma omnis
cohorsque ^ : Xaipc, Tite!* Hinc hostis mi Albucius, hinc
inimicus."
^cohorsque Manutius, Mdv.; chorusque^ MSS. 10
BOOK 1. iii
the Greeks as a philosopher. Still, you yourself challenged me to the venture, by dedicating to me your delightful essay On Virtue, But I have no doubt that the reason why some people take a dislike to Latin literature is that they have happened to meet with certain illiterate and uncouth produc- tions which are bad Greek books in worse Latin' versions. I have no quarrel with these persons, provided that they also refuse to read the Greek writers on the same subjects. But given a noble theme, and a refined, dignified and graceful style, who would not read a Latin book ? Unless it be some one ambitious to be styled a Greek out-and-out, as 9 Albucius was greeted by Scaevola when the latter was praetor at Athens. I am again referring to Lucilius, who relates the anecdote with much neat- ness and point ; he puts the following excellent lines into the mouth of Scaevola:
" You vow*d, Albucius, that to suit ye *Twas as a Greek we must repute ye ; ^ Roman' and Sabine' being names Your man of ton and taste disclaims ! You jscom'd to own your native town, — Which bore such captains of renown As Pontius and Tritannius bold. Who in the van Rome's ensigns hold. And so, at Athens when I lay. And your respects you came to pay. My worship, humouring your freak. Gave you good-morrow straight in Greek, With ' Ckaire, Titus ! * ' Chaire/ bawl Guards, aides-de-camps, javelin-men and all ! — Hence comes it that Albucius hates me. Hence as his bitterest foe he rates me."
11
CICERO DE FINIBUS
10 Sed iure Mucius. Ego autem mirari satis non^ queo^ unde hoc sit tarn insolens domesticarum rerum fasti- dium. Non est omnino hie docendi locus^ sed ita sentio et saepe disserui^ Latinam linguam non mode non inopem, ut vulgo putarent, sed locupletiorem etiam esse quam Graecam. Quando enim nobis^ vel dicam aut oratoribus bonis aut poetis^ postea quidem quam fuit quern imitarentur^ uUus orationis vel copiosae vel elegantis omatus defuit?
IV. Ego vero, quoniam ^ forensibus opens, laboribus, periculis non deseruisse mihi videor praesidium in quo a populo Romano locatus sum, debeo profecto, quantumcumque possum, in eo quoque elaborare ut sint opera, studio, labore meo doctiores cives mei, nee cum istis tanto opere pugnare qui Graeca legere malint, modo legant ilia ipsa, ne simulent, et iis servire qui vel utrisque litteris uti velint vel, si suas
1 1 habent, illas non magno opere desiderent. Qui autem alia malunt scribi a nobis, aequi esse debent, quod et scripta multa sunt, sic ut plura nemini e nostris, et scribentur fortasse plura si vita suppetet ; et tamen qui diligenter haec quae de philosophia litteris mandamus legere assueverit, iudicabit nulla ad legendum his esse potiora. «Quid est enim in
' mirari satis non Mdv. (satis mirari non Or.); mirari non MSS. ^quoniam Mdv., cum, MSS.
12
BOOK I. iii-iv
10 Mucius's sarcasm was however deserved. But for my part I can never cease wondering what can be the origin of the exaggerated contempt for home pro- ducts that is now fashionable. It would of course be out of place to attempt to prove it here, but in my opinion, as I have often argued, the Latin language, so far from having a poor vocabulary, as is commonly supposed, is actually richer than the Greek. Wlien have we, that is to say when have our competent orators or poets, at all events since they have had models to copy, ever lacked any of the resources either of the florid or the chaste style ?
IV. In my own case, just as I trust I have done The task not my duty, amidst the arduous labours and perils of a dignity of a public career, at the post to which the Roman people statesman. appointed me, so it is assuredly incumbent on me also to use my best endeavours, with such zeal, enthusiasm and energy as I possess, to promote the advancement of learning among my fellow-country- men. Nor need I be greatly concerned to join issue with people who prefer to read Greek, provided that they actually do read it and do not merely pretend to do so. It is my business to serve those who desire to enjoy both literatures, or who, if books in their own language are available, do not feel any
1 1 great need of Greek ones. Those again who would rather have me write on other subjects may fairly be indulgent to one who has written much already — in fact no one of our nation more — and who per- haps will write still more if his life be prolonged. And even were it not so, anyone who has made a practice of studying my philosophical writings will pronounce that none of them are better worth read- supreme imp* ing than the present treatise. For what problem tance of ethic
13
CICERO DE FINIBUS vita tanto opere quaerendum quam cum omnia in philosophia^ turn id quod his libris quaeritur, qui sit finisj quid extremum^ quid ultimum quo sint omnia bene vivendi recteque faciendi consilia referenda; quid sequatur natura ut summum ex rebus expeten- dis^ quid fugiat ut extremum malorum? Qua de re cum sit inter doctissimos summa dissensio^ quis alie- num putet eius esse dignitatis quam mihi quisque tribuat, quid in omni munere vitae optimum et
12 verissimum sit exquirere? An, partus ancillae sitne in fructu habendus, disseretur inter prineipes civitatis, P. Scaevolam Maniumque Manilium, ab iisque M. Brutus dissentiet (quod et aeutum genus est et ad usus civium non inutile, nosque ea scripta reliquaque eiusdem generis et legimus libenter et legemus) ; haec quae vitam omnem continent neglegentur? Nam ut sint ilia vendibiliora, haec uberiora certe sunt. Quamquam id quidem licebit iis existimare qui legerint. Nos autem hanc omnem quaestionem de finibus bonorum et malorum fere a nobis explicatam esse his litteris^ arbitramur, in quibus, quantum potuimus, non modo quid nobis probaretur sed etiam quid a singulis philosophiae disciplinis diceretur persecuti sumus.
13 V. Ut autem a facillimis ordiamur, prima veniat
'^littetis: Mdv. with others conjectures libris, 14
BOOK I. iv-v
does life offer so important as all the topics of philosophy^ and especially the question raised in these volumes — What is the End, the final and \ Or/^J. * i ultimate aim, which gives the standard for all prin- \ ^ \ ciples of right living and of good conduct? What \ , j^ does Nature pursue as the thing supremely desirable, J v.'/^*^ what does she avoid as the ultimate evil? It is a subject on which the most learned philosophers disagree profoundly; who then can think it de- rogatory to such esteem as each may assign^ to me, to investigate what is the highest good and the truest rule in every relationship of life ? Are we to have our leading statesmen debating such topics as whether the offspring of a female slave is to be con- sidered as belonging to the party who has hired her, Publius Scaevola and Manius Manilius upholding one opinion and Marcus Brutus the contrary (not but what such discussions raise nice points of law, as well as being of practical importance for the business of life ; and we read and shall continue to read with pleasure the treatises in question and others of the same nature) ; and shall these questions which cover the entire range of conduct be neglected ? Legal handbooks no ^oubt command a readier sale, but philosophy is unquestionably richer in interest. However, this is a point that may be left to the reader to decide. In the present work we believe we have given a more or less exhaustive exposition of the whole subject of the Ends of Goods and Evils. The book is intended to contain so far as possible a complete account, not only of the views that we ourselves accept, but also of the doctrines enunciated by all the different schools of philosophy. V. To begin with what is easiest, let us first pass
15
CICERO DE FINIBUS
in medium Epicuri ratio^ quae plerisque notissima est; quam a nobis sic intelleges expositam, ut ab ipsis qui earn diseiplinam probant non soleat aecura- tius explicari. Verum enim invenire volumus, non tamquam adversarium aliquem convincere.
Accurate autem quondam a L. Torquato^ homine omni doctrina erudito^ defensa est Epicuri sententia de voluptate, a meque ei responsum, cum C. Triarius, in primis gravis et doctus adulescens^ ei disputationi
1 4 interesset. Nam cum ad me in Cumanum salutandi causa uterque venisset^ pauca primo inter nos de litteris, quarum summum erat in utroque studium; deinde Torquatus, Quoniam nacti te," inquit^
sumus aliquando otiosum, certe audiam quid sit quod Epicurum nostrum non tu quidem oderis, ut fere faciunt qui ab eo dissentiunt^ sed certe non probes^ eum quem ego arbitror unum vidisse verum maxi- misque erroribus animos hominum liberavisse et* omnia tradidisse quae pertinerent ad bene beateque vivendum ; sed existimo te, sicut ncfttrum Triarium, minus ab eo delectari quod ista Platonis, Aristoteli, Theophrasti orationis omamenta neglexerit. Nam illud quidem adduci vix possum^ ut ea quae senserit
15 ille tibi non vera videantur." Vide quantum^'' in-
quam^ fallare, Torquate. Oratio me istius philo-
sophi non ofFendit ; nam et complectitur verbis quod
vult et dicit plane quod intellegam; et tamen ego
a philosopho^ si afierat eloquentiam^ non asperner^ si 16
BOOK I. V
in review the system of Epicurus^ which to most introduction t< men is the best knoMm of any. Our exposition of it, ^2*Ethirao/^ as you shall see, will be as accurate as any usually Epicurus: given even by the professed adherents of his school, scene of the For our object is to discover the truth, not to refute <^*°8ue. an opponent.
An elaborate defence of the hedonistic theory of Epicurus was once delivered by Lucius Tor- quatus, a scholar of consummate erudition; to him I replied, and Gains Triarius, a youth of remark- able learning and seriousness of character, assisted at
14 the discussion. Both of these gentlemen had called to pay me their respects at my place at Cumae. We first exchanged a few remarks about literature, of which both were enthusiastic students. Then Tor- quatus said. As we have for once found you at leisure, I am resolved to hear the reason why you regard my master Epicurus, not indeed with hatred, as do most of those who do not share his views, but at all events with disapproval. I myself consider him as the one person who has discerned the truth, and who has delivered men from the gravest errors and imparted to them all there is to know about right conduct and happiness. The fact is, I think that you are like our friend Triarius, and dislike Epicurus be- cause he has neglected the graces of style that you find in your Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus. For I can scarcely bring myself to believe that you think
5 his opinions untrue." Let me assure you, Tor- quatus,'' said I, that you are entirely mistaken. With your master's style I have no fault to find. He expresses his meaning adequately, and gives me a plain intelligible statement. Not that I despise eloquence in a philosopher if he has it to ofier, but c 17
CICERO DE FINIBUS
non habeat^ non admodum flagitem. Re mihi non aeque satisfacit^^ et quidem locispluribus. Sed quot
homines, tot sententiae*; falli igitur possumus."
Quamobrem tandem," inquit, non satisfacit? te
enim iudicem aequum puto, modo quae dicat ille
16 bene noris." "Nisi mihi Phaedrum," inquam,
mentitum aut Zenonem putas, quorum utrumque audivi, cum mihi nihil sane praeter sedulitatem probarent, omnes mihi Epicuri sententiae satis notae sunt; atque eos quos nominavi cum Attico nostro frequenter audivi, cum miraretur ille quidem utrum- que, Phaedrum autem etianu amaret; cotidieque inter nos ea quae audiebamus conferebamus, neque erat umquam controversia quid ego intellegerem, sed quid probarem."
17 VI. Quid igitur est?" inquit; audire enim
cupio quid non probes." Principio," inquam, '^in
physicis, quibus maxime gloriatur, primum totus est
alienus. Democritea dicit, perpauca mutans, sed ita
ut ea quae corrigere vult mihi quidem depravare
videatur. Ille atomos quas appellat, id est corpora
individua propter soliditatem, censet in infinito inani,
in quo nihil nee summum nee infimum nee medium
nee intimum^ nee extremum sit, ita ferri ut con-
cursionibus inter se cohaerescant, ex quo efficiantur
'^satisfacit Mdv. as below; MSS, here satisfecit, ■ intimum Jonas, Muller ; ultimum Mdv. with MSS.
» Terence, Phormio 454. 18
BOOK I. v-vi
I should not greatly insist on it if he has not. But his matter I do not find so satisfactory, and that in more points than one. However, many men. many minds ' *: so it is possible that I am mistaken.*' What is it, pray,*' he said, to which you take exception? For I recognize you as a just critic, provided you
trines are." Oh," said I,
6 really know what his doctrines "l know the whole of Epicurus's opinions well enough, — unless you think that Phaedrus or Zeno did not tell me the truth. I have heard both of them lecture, though to be sure they convinced me of nothing but their own devotion to the system. In- deed I regularly attended those professors, in com- pany with our friend Atticus, who for his part had an admiration for them both, and a positive affection for Phaedrus. Every day we used to discuss together in private what we had heard at lecture, and there was never any dispute as to what I could understand ; the question was, what I could accept as true."
7 VI. * Well then, what w the point ?" said he ; I Cicero states should very much like to know what it is that you Epwurusf disagree with." ^Let me begin," I replied, ' with phii^"hySs the subject of Natural Philosophy, which is Epicurus*s either not new particular boast. Here, in the first place, he is entirely °^ ^^^ *"*®' second-hand. His doctrines are those of Democritus,
with a very few modifications. And as for the latter, where he attempts to improve upon his original, in my opinion he only succeeds in making things worse. Democritus believes in certain things which he terms atoms,' that is, bodies so solid as to , be indivisible, moving about in a vacuum of infinite extent, which has neither top, bottom nor middle, neither centre nor circumference. The motion of these atoms is such that they collide and so cohere together ; and from c2 19
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ea quae sini> quaeque cemantur omnia; eumque motum atomorum nullo a principio sed ex aetemo
18 tempore intellegi convenire. Epicurus autem^ in quibus sequitur Democritum, non fere labitur. Quam- quam utriusque cum multa non probo^ tum illud in primis^ quod, cum in rerum natura duo quaerenda sint, unum quae materia sit ex qua quaeque res efficiatur, alterum quae vis sit quae quidque efficiat, de materia disseruerunt, vim et causam efficiendi reliquerunt. Sed hoc commune vitium ; illae Epicuri propriae ruinae : censet enim eadem ilia individua et solida corpora ferri deorsum suo pondere ad lineam » hunc naturalem esse omnium corporum motum;
1 9 deinde ibidem homo acutus, cum illud occurreret, si omnia deorsum e regione ferrentur et, ut dixi, ad lineam, numquam fore ut atomus altera alteram posset attingere, itaque attulit rem commenticiam : declinare dixit atomum perpaulum, quo nihil posset fieri minus ; ita effici complexiones et copulationes et adhaesiones atomorum inter se, ex quo efficeretur mundus omnesque partes mundi quaeque in eo essent. Quae cum res tota ficta sit pueriliter, tum ne efficit quidem^ quod vult. Nam et ipsa declinatio ad libidinem fingitur (ait enim declinare atomum sine causa, quo nihil turpius physico quam fieri quid-
* quidevi inserted by odd. 20
BOOK I. vi
this process result the whole of the things that exist and that we see. Moreover, this movement of the atoms must not be conceived as starting from a be- ginning, but as having gone on from all eternity.
18 Epicurus for his part, where he follows Democritus, makes no serious blunders. Still, there is a great deal in each of them with which I do not agree, and especially this: in the study of Nature there are two"^^ questions to be asked, first, what is the matter out of which each thing is made, second, what is the force by which it is made ; now Democritus and Epicurus have discussed the question of matter, but they have not considered the question of force or the efficient cause. But this is a defect shared by both ; I now come to the lapses peculiar to Epicurus. H e believes that these same indivisible solid bodies are borne by their own weight perpendicularly downward, which
1 9 he holds is the natural motion of all bodies; but then in the very same breath, being sharp enough to recollect that if they all travelled downwards in a straight line, and, as I said, perpendicularly, no one atom would ever be able to overtake any other atom, he consequently introduced an idea of his own inven- tion : he said that the atom makes a very tiny swerve, — the smallest divergence possible ; and so are pro- duced entanglements and combinations and cohe- sions of atoms with atoms, which result in the creation of the world and all its parts, and of all that in them is. Now not only is the whole of this affair a piece of childish fancy, but it does not even achieve the result that its author desires. The swerving is itself an arbitrary fiction; for Epicurus says the atoms swerve without a cause, — yet this is the capital offence in a natural philosopher, to speak of some-
21
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quam sine causa dicere), et ilium motum naturalem
omnium ponderum, ut ipse eonstituit, e regione in-
' feriorem locum petentium, sine causa eripuit atomis ;
nee tamen id cuius causa haec finxerat assecutus est.
20 Nam si omnes atomi declinabunt^ nullae umquam cohaerescent ; sive aliae declinabunt, aliae suo nutu recte ferentur, primum erit hoc quasi provincias atomis dare, quae recte, quae oblique ferantur, de- inde eadem ilia atomorum (in quo etiam Democritus haeret) turbulenta concursio hunc mundi ornatum efficere non poterit. Ne illud quidem physici, credere aliquid esse minimum; quod profecto numquam putavisset si a Polyaeno familiari suo geometrica discere maluisset quam ilium etiam ipsum dedocere. Sol Democrito magnus videtur, quippe homini erudito in geometriaque perfecto ; huic pedalis fortasse : tan- tum enim esse censet quantus videtur, vel paulo aut
21 maiorem aut minorem. Ita quae mutat ea corrumpit, quae sequitur sunt tota Democriti, atomi, inane, imagines, quae €l8^o\a nominant, quorum incursione non solum videamus sed etiam cogitemus; infinitio ipsa, quam direipiav vocant, tota ab illo est, tum in- numerabiles mundi qui et oriantur et intereant
a f>eiBOcritus explained sight as being caused by the impact on the eye of films or husks which are continually being thrown off from the surface of objects. These * images,' penetrating to the mind through the pores of the body^ also caused mental impressions
22
BOOK I. vi Lhitii; taking place uncaused. Tlieti alsu he gratuit- ously deprives the atoms of what heliiiuself dedured to be the natural motion of all heavy bodies, namely, movement in a straight line downwards, and yet he does not attain the object for the sake of which tliis
20 fiction was devised. For, if all the atoms swerve, none will ever come to cohere togetlier ; or if some swerve while others travel in a straight linf, at their own will and pleasure, in the first place this will be tantamount to assigning to the atoms their different spheres of authority, some to travel straight and some sideways ; while secondly (and this is a weak point with Democritus also) this riotous hurly-burly of atoms could not possibly result in the ordered beauty of the world we know. Again, it is unworthy of a natural philosopher to deny the infinite divisibility of matter ; an error that assuredly Epi- curus would have avoided, if he had been willing to let his friend Polyaenus teach him geometry instead of making Polyaenus himself unlearn it. Democritus, being an educated man and well versed in geo- metry, thinks the sun is of vast size ; Epicurus con- siders it perhaps a foot in diameter, for he pro- nounces it to be exactly as large as it appears, or a
n little larger or smaller. Thus where Epicurus alters ' the doctrines of Democritus, he alters them for the [ worse; while for those ideas which he adopts, tlie credit belongs entirely to Democritus, — the atoms, the void, the images,* or as they call them, eidnla, whose impact is the cause not only of vision but also of thought; the very conception of infinite space, apeiria as they term it, is entirely derived from Democritus; and again the countless numbers of worlds that come into existence and ^ass out of S3
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cotidie. Quae etsi mihi nuUo modo probantur, tamen Democritum^ laudatum a ceteris^ ab hoc^ qui eum unum secutus esset, noUem vituperatum.
22 VII. " lam in altera philosophiae parte, quae est quaerendi ac disserendi, quae XoyiKrj dicitur, iste vester plane, ut mihi quidem videtur, inermis ac nu- dus est. Tollit definitiones ; nihil de dividendo ac partiendo docet; non quomodo efficiatur concluda- turque ratio tradit; non qua via captiosa solvantur, ambigua distinguantur ostendit; indicia rerum in sensibus ponit, quibus si semel aliquid falsi pro vero probatum sit, sublatum esse omne indicium veri et falsi putat. . . .
23 ... Confirmat autem illud vel maxime quod ipsa natura, ut ait ille, sciscat et probet, id est voluptatem et dolorem. Ad haec et quae sequamur et quae fu- giamus refert omnia. Quod quamquam Aristippi est a Cyrenaicisque melius liberiusque defenditur, tamen eiusmodi esse iudico ut nihil homine videatur indi- gnius. Ad maiora enim quaedam nos natura genuit et conformavit, ut mihi quidem videtur. Ac fieri potest ut errem; sed ita prorsus existimo, neque eum Tor- quatum qui hoc primus cognomen in venit^ aut torquem ilium hosti detraxisse ut aliquam ex eo perciperet corpore voluptatem aut cum Latinis tertio consulatu
' invenit B, E ; invenerit A and inf. MSS.
* In Greek Logic Siaipeffis, the method of defining a species by dividing and subdividing a genus: cp. Bk. II. § 26.
'>The interpretation is here uncertain, and probably more than one sentence has been lost.
24 *
BOOK I. vi-vii
existence every day. For my jown part I reject these doctrines altogether; but still I could wish that Democritus^ whom every one else applauds^ had not been vilified by Epicurus who took him as his sole guide.
12 VII. Turn next to the second division of philo- Formal Logic sophy^ the department of Method and of Dialectic^ g^er; which is termed Logike, Of the whole armour of Logic your founder, as it seems to me^ is absolutely destitute. He does away with Definition ; he lias no doctrine of Division or Partition*; he gives no rules for Deduction or Syllogistic Inference^ and imparts no method for resolving Dilemmas or for detect- ing Fallacies of Equivocation. The Criteria of^ reality he places in sensation; once let the senses • accept as true something that is false^ and every ; possible criterion of truth and falsehood seems to him to be immediately destroyed. . . .
IS ...^He lays the very greatest stress upon that Ws Ethical which, as he declares. Nature herself decrees and contrary°to sanctions, that is the feelings of pleasure and pain. n^t^aim^soiSy These he maintains lie at the root of every act of Pleasure; choice and of avoidance. This is the doctrine of Aristippus, and it i$ Upheld more cogently and more frankly by the Cyrenaics; but nevertheless it is in my judgment a doctrine in the last degree un- worthy of the dignity of man. Nature, in my opinion at all events, has created and endowed us for higher ends. I may possibly be mistaken ; but I am abso- lutely convinced that the Torquatus who first won that surname did not wrest the famous necklet from his foe in the hope of getting from it any physical enjoyment, nor did he fight the battle of the Veseris against the Latins in his third consulship for the sake
25
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conflixisse apud Veserim propter voluptatem. Quod vero secuii percussit^ filium^ privavisse se etiam vi- detur multis voluptatibus, cum ipsi naturae patrioque amori praetulerit ins maiestatis atque imperi.
24 Quid ? T. ^ Torquatus, is qui consul cum Cn. Octavio fuit, cum illam severitatem in eo filio adhibuit quern in adoptionem D. Silano emancipaverat, ut eum, Macedonum legatis accusantibus quod pecunias prae- torem in provincia cepisse arguerent, causam apud se dicere iuberet, reque ex utraque parte audita pro- nuntiaret eum non talem videri fuisse in imperio quales eius maiores fuissent, et in conspeetum suum venire vetuit, numquid tibi videtur de voluptatibus suis cogitavisse? Sed ut omittam pericula, labores^ dolorem etiam quem optimus quisque pro patria et pro suis suseipit^ ut non modo nullam captet sed etiam praetereat omnes voluptates, dolores denique quosvis suscipere malit quam deserere ullam offici partem^ ad ea quae hoc non minus declarant sed vi-
25 dentur leviora veniamus. Quid tibi, Torquate, quid huic Triario litterae, quid historiae cognitioque rerum, quid poetarum evolutio, quid tanta tot versuum me- moriavoluptatisafFert? Necmihi illud dixeris: Haec enim ipsa mihi sunt voluptati, et erant ilia Torquatis. Numquam hoc ita defendit Epicurus neque Metro- dorus aut quisquam eorum qui aut saperet aliquid
26
^peraissit Mdv ,; percussertt MSS. *'' T, edd. from Li v. epit. 54 ; L, MSS.
BOOK I. vu
of pleasure. Indeed in sentencing his son to be be- headed^ it would seem that he actually deprived himself of a great deal of pleasure ; for he sacrificed his natural instincts of paternal affection to the claims of state and of his military office.
1 4 Then, think of the Titus Torquatus who was consul
with Gnaeus Octavius; when he dealt so sternly with the son who had passed out of his paternal con- trol through his adoption by Decius Silanus — when he summoned him into his presence to answer to the charge preferred against him by a deputation from Macedonia, of accepting bribes while praetor in that province — when, afler hearing both sides of the case, he gave judgment that he found his son guilty of having conducted himself in office in a manner un- worthy of his ancestry, and banished him for ever from his sight, — think you he had any regard for his own pleasure? But I pass over the dangers, the toils, the actual pain that all good men endure for country and for friends, not only not seeking plea- sure, but actually renouncing pleasures altogether, and preferring to undergo every sort of pain rather than be false to any portion of their duty. Let us turn to matters seemingly less important, but equally
5 conclusive. What actual pleasure do you, Torquatus, or does Triarius here, derive from literature, from history and learning, from turning the pages of the poets and committing vast quantities of verse to memory? Do not tell me that these pursuits are. in themselves a pleasure to you, and that so were the deeds I mentioned to the Torquati. That line of defence was never taken by Epicurus or Metrodorus, nor by any one of them if he possessed any intelli- gence or had mastered the doctrines of your schoeL
27
CICERO DE FINIBUS aut ista didicisset. Et quod quaeritur saepe cur tam multi sint Epicure!^ sunt aliae quoque causae^ sed multitudinem haec ma^ime allicit quod ita putant dici ab illo, recta et honesta quae sint, ea facere ipsa » per se laetitiam, id est voluptatem. Homines optimi non intellegunt totam rationem everti si ita res se habeat. Nam si concederetur, etiamsi ad corpus niliil referatur, ista sua sponte et per se esse iucunda, per se esset et virtus et cognitio rerum, quod minime ille vult, expetenda. 26 ' Haec igitur Epicuri non probo/' inquam. De ce- tero vellem equidem aut ipse doctrinis fuisset instru- ctior (est eiiim, quod tibi ita videri necesse est, non satis politus iis artibus quas qui tenent eruditi appel- lantur), aut ne deterruisset alios a studiis. Quamquam te quidem video minime esse deterritum."
Vni. Quae cum dixissem, magis ut ilium provo- carem quam ut ipse loquerer, tum Triarius leniter arridens : Tu quidem/' inquit, to tum Epicurum paene e philosophorum choro sustulisti. Quid ei reliquisti nisi te, quoquo modo loqueretur, intelle- gere quid diceret? Aliena dixit in physicis, nee ea ipsa quae tibi probarentur. Si qua in iis corrigere voluit, deteriora fecit. Disserendi artem nullam habuit. Voluptatem cum summum bonum diceret,
primum in eo ipso parum vidit, deinde hoc quoque 28
BOOK I. vii-viii
Again^ as to the question oflen asked^ why so many men are Epicureans, though it is not the only reason^ the thing that most attracts the crowd is the belief that Epicurus declares right conduct and moral worth to be intrinsically and of themselves delightful^ which means productive of pleasure. These worthy people do not realize that^ if this is true, it upsets the theory altogether. If it were admitted that goodness is spontaneously and intrinsically pleasant, even without any reference to bodily feeling, then virtue would be desirable for its own sake, and so also would knowledge; but this Epicurus by no means allows.
'These then," said I, are the doctrines of Epi- and lastly, he cunis that I cannot accept. For the rest, I could le^mfng. desire that he himself had been better equipped with learning (since even you must recognize that he is deficient in that liberal culture which confers on its possessor the title of an educated man) or at all events that he had not deterred others from study. Although I am aware that he has not succeeded in deterring you."
VIII. I had spoken rather with the intention of Triarius rema drawing out Torquatus than of delivering a discourse mikes oS°Ep of my own. But Triarius interposed, with a smile : <^"^"' ^^ °*
f^^TiT I. !-• n n J T? • philosopher
Why, you have practically expelled Epicurus at aii. altogether from the philosophic choir. What have you left to him except that, whatever his style may be, you find his meaning intelligible ? His doctrines in Natural Philosophy were second-hand, and in your opinion unsound at that ; and his attempts to improve on his authority only made things worse. Dialectic he had none. His identification of the Chief Good with pleasure in the first place was in itself an error, and secondly this also was not original ; for it
29
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alienuin ; nam ante Aristippus, et ille melius. Addi- 27 disti ad extremum, etiam indoetum fuisse." Fieri/' inquam^ Triari, nuUo pacto potest ut non dicas quid non probes eius a quo dissentias. Quid enim me prohiberet Epieureum esse, si probarem quae ille dieeret? cum praesertim ilia perdiseere ludus esset. Quamobrem dissentientium inter se reprehensiones non sunt vituperandae ; maledicta, eontumeliae, tum iraeundae^ contentiones eoneertationesque in dispu- tando pertinaces indignae philosophia mihi videri 2 8 Solent. ' ' Tum Torquatus : ^ Prorsus/ * inquit, assefltior ; neque enim disputari sine repreliensione, nee cum iracundia aut pertinacia recte disputari potest. Sed ad haec, nisi molestum est, habeo quae velim." An me," inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec di- cturum fuisse ? " Utrum igitur percurri omnem Epi- curi disciplinam placet, an de una voluptate quaeri, de qua omne certamen est?" Tuo vero id quidem," inquam, arbitratu. " Sic faciam igitur," inquit : unam rem explicabo eamque maximam ; de physicis alias ; et quidem tibi et declinationem istam atomo- rum et magnitudinem solis probabo, et Democriti errata ab Epicuro reprehensa et correcta permulta. Nunc dicam de voluptate, nihil scilicet novi, ea tamen quae te ipsum probaturum esse confidam." Certe,"
* iraamdae Mdv. ; iracundiae MSS. 30
^tedb
BOOK I,
n said before, and said better, by Aristippus. lo crown all you added that Epieurus was a persun
27 of no education." "Well, Triarius," I rejoined, "when one disagrees with a man, it is essential to say what it is that one objects to in his views. What should prevent me from being an Epicurean, if I accepted the doctrines of Epicurus? especially as the system is an exceedingly easy one to master. You must not find fault with members of opposing schools for criticizing each other's opinions; tliough I always feel that insult and abuse, or ill-tempered wrangling and bitter, obstinate controversy are
W beneath the dignity of philosophy," I am quite of Tort your mind," said Torguatus; it is impossible to de- Epic bate without criticizing, but it is equally impossible '''''*' to debate properly with ill-temper or obstinacy. But I have something I should like to say in reply toal! this, if it will not weary you." "Do you suppose," said I, " that I should have said what 1 have, unless I wanted to hear you ? " Then would you like me to make a rapid review of the whole of Epicurus's system, or to discuss the single topic of pleasure, which is the one main subject of dispute?" Oh," discmsinii I said, that must be for you to decide." Very ^""'^ well then," said he, this is what I will do, I will expound a single topic, and that the most important. Natural Philosophy we will postpone ; though I will undertake to prove to you both your swerve of the atoms and size of the sun, and also that very many errors of Democritus were criticized and corrected by Epi- curus. But on the present occasion I will speak about pleasure ; not that I have anything original to con- tribute, yet I am confident that what i say will com- mand even your acceptance." " Be assured," I said,
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inquam^ pertinax non ero tibique^ si mihi probabis 29 ea quae dices, libenter assentiar." Probabo/' inquit, modo ista sis aequitate quam ostendis. Sed uti oratione perpetua malo quam interrogare aut interro- gari." Ut placet," inquam. Turn dicere exorsus est. IX. Primum igitur," inquit, sic agam ut ipsi auctori huius disciplinae placet : constituam quid et quale sit id de quo quaerimus, non quo ignorare vos arbitrer, sed ut ratione et via procedat oratio. Quaeri- mus igitur quid sit extremum et ultimum bonorum, quod omnium philosophorum sententia tale debet esse ut ad id omnia referri oporteat, ipsum autem nusquam. Hoc Epicurus in voluptate ponit, quod summum bonum esse vult summumque malum dolorem ; idque SO instituit docere sic : Omne animal simul atque natum sit voluptatem appetere eaque gaudere ut summo bono, dolorem aspemari ut summum malum et quan- tum possit a se repellere ; idque facere nondum de- pravatum, ipsa natura incorrupte atque integre iudi- cante. Itaque negat opus esse ratione neque disputatione quamobrem voluptas expetenda, fii- giendus dolor sit. Sentiri haec^ putat, ut calere ignem, nivem esse albam, mel dulce, quorum nihil oportere exquisitis rationibus confirmare, tantum satis esse admonere. (Interesse enim inter argumen- tum conclusionemque rationis et inter mediocrem animadversionem atque admonitionem : altera occulta
* haec A ; hoc Mdv. with other MSS. 82
BOOK I. viii-ix
that I shall not be obstinate^ but will gladly own myself convinced if you can prove your case to my
19 satisfaction.'* I shall do so," he rejoined, provided you are as £ur-minded as you promise. But I prefer to employ continuous discourse rather than question and answer." As you please," said I. So he began. IX. I will start then," he said, ' in the manner approved by the author of the system himself, by settling what is the essence and quality of the thing that is the object of our inquiry ; not that I suppose you to be ignorant of it, but because this is the logical method of procedure. We are inquiring, pleasure th« then, what is the final and ultimate Good, which as pro^dbJ^Uie all philosophers are agreed must be of such a nature universal instii as to be the End to which all other things are shun pain. means, while it is not itself a means to anything else. This Epicurus finds in pleasure ; pleasure he \ holds to be the Chief Good, pain the Chief Evil. I
50 This he sets out to prove as follows : Every animal, / as soon as it is bom, seeks for pleasure, and delights/ in it as the Chief Grood, while it recoils from pain as the Chief Evil, and so far as possible avoids it. This it does as long as it remains unperverted, at the prompting of Nature's own unbiased and honest verdict. Hence Epicurus refuses to admit any neces- \\ sity for argument or discussion to prove that pleasure | is desirable and pain to be avoided. These facts, ! he thinks, are perceived by the senses, as that fire i is hot, snow white, honey sweet, none of which ' things need be proved by elaborate argument : it is enough merely to draw attention to them. (For there is a difference, he holds, between formal syllogistic ' proof of a thing and a mere notice or reminder: ' the former is the method for discovering abstruse l D S3
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quaedain et quasi involuta aperiri, altera prompts et aperta indicari.^) Etcnim quoniam detraptis de Iio- mine sensilms reliqui nihil est, necesse est quid aut ad naturam aut contra sit a natura ipsa iudicari. Ea quid pevcipit aut quid iudicat, quo aut petat aut
S 1 fugiat aliquid, praeler voluptatem et dolorem ? Sunt autem quidam e nostris qui haec subtiliua velint traderCi et negent satis esse quid bonum sit aut quid malum sensu iudicari, sed animo etiam ac ratione intellegi posse et voluptatem ipsam per se esse ex- petendam et dolorem ipsum per se esse fugiendum. Itaque aiunt banc quasi naturalem atque insitam in animis nostris inesse notionem ut altemni esse appe- tendum,altcnim aspernandum scnliamus. Alii autem, quibus ego assentior, cum a philosopliis compluribus permulta dicantur cur nee voluptas in bonis sit nu- meranda nee in malis dolor, non existimant oportere njmium nos causae confidere, sed et argumentandum et accurate disserendum et rationibus conquisitis de voluptate et dolore disputandum putant.
Sa X. " Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi artliitecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fiigit, sed quia conaequuntur raagni dolores eos qui ratione volupta- tem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est qui do- •indicari inf. MS.; iudicari UAv. with other MSS,
BOOK I. ix-x
and recondite truths^ the latter for indicating facts that are obvious and evident.) Strip mankind of sensation^ and nothing remains; it follows that^ Nature herself is the judge of tl\^t which is in accord- ance with or contrary to nature. What does Nature perceive or what does she judge of, beside pleasure and pain^ to guide her actions of desire and o)
51 avoidance? Some members of our school however would refine upon this doctrine ; these say that it is not enough for the judgment of good and evil to rest with the senses; the facts that pleasure is in and for itself desirable and pain in and for itself , to be avoided can also be grasped by the intellect and the reason. Accordingly they declare that the perception that the one is to be sought after and the other avoided is a natural and imiate idea of the mind. Others again^ with whom I agree, observing that a great many philosophers do advance a vast array of reasons to prove why pleasure should not be counted as a good nor pain as an evil, consider that we had better not be too confident of our case ; in their view it requires elaborate and reasoned argu- ment, and abstruse theoretical discussion of the nature of pleasure and pain.
2 X. But I must explain to you how all this mistaken But this instin
• jr u^»i jiiT • is qualified by
idea oi reprobating pleasure and extolling pam arose, calculation: m To do so, I will give you a complete account of the ^f^f^urpiu system, and expound the actual teachings of the of pleasure ove great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of ^ human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes or avoids \ pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because j those who do not know how to pursue pleasure / rationally encounter consequences that are extremel]^ painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or d2 35
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lorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet^ consectetur^ adipisci velit^ sed qu ia nonnumquam eiusmodi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat volupta- tem. Ut enim ad* minima veniam^ quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam^ nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur^ vel ilium qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
33 At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum dele- niti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui ofiicia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et hanun quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessita^ tibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hie tenetur a sapiente delectus ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.
34 Hanc ego cum teneam sententiam, quid est cur verear ne ad eam non possim accommodare Torquatos nostros ? quos tu paulo ante cum me- moriter tum etiam erga nos amice et benevole
36
BOOK I. X
pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it ^ is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur / in which toil and pain can procure him some great ^ pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to ob- tain some advantage from it ? But who has any righ^ to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a plea- j sure that has no annoying consequences, or one who J avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure ? On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indigna- tion and dislike men who are so beguiled and demora- lized by the charms of the pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue ; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are per- fectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wis^ man therefore always holds in these matters to thisV principle of selection : he rejects pleasures to secure j other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains tj/ avoid worse pains.
^ This being the theory 1 hold, why need I be afraid This explains of not being able to reconcile it with the case of the eStiy^'dtei?-^"" the Torquati my ancestors ? Your references to them tercsted. just now were historically correct, and also showed your kind and friendly feeling towards myself; but
37
CICERO DE FINIBUS collegisti ; nee me tamen laudandis maioribus meis comipisti nee segniorem ad respondendum reddidisti. Quorum facta quemadmodum, quaeso^ interpretans ? Sicine eos censes aut in armatum hostem impetum fecisse aut in liberos atque in sanguinem suum tam crudeles fuisse^ nihil ut de utilitatibus^ nihil ut de commodis suis cogitarent? At id ne ferae quidem faciunt^ ut ita ruant itaque turbent ut earum motus et impetus quo pertineant non intellegamus ; tu tam egregios viros censes tantas res gessisse sine causa?
35 Quae fuerit causa mox videro ; interea hoc tenebo, si ob aliquam causam ista^ quae sine dubio praeclara sunt, fecerint, virtutem iis per se ipsam causam non fuisse. — Torquem detraxit hosti. — Et quidem se texit ne interiret — At magnum periculum adiit. — In oculis quidem exercitus. — Quid ex eo est consecutus? — Laudem et caritatem, quae sunt vitae sine metu degendae praesidia firmissima. — Filium morte multa- vit. — Si sine causa, noUem me ab eo ortum, tam importuno tamque crudeli ; sin ut dolore suo sanciret militaris imperi disciplinam exercitumque in gravis- simo bello animadversionis metu contineret, saluti prospexit civium, qua intellegebat contineri suam.
36 Atque haec ratio late patet. In quo enim maxima
consuevit iactare vestra se oratio, tua praesertim, qui
studiose antiqua persequeris, claris et fortibus viris 38
BOOK I. X
all the same I am not to be bribed by your flattery of my family, and you will not find me a less resolute opponent. Tell me, pray, what explanation do you put upon their actions ? Do you really believe that they charged an armed enemy, or treated their children, their own flesh and blood, so cruelly, with- out a thought for their own interest or advantage ? Why, even wild animals do not act in that way; they do not run amok so blindly that we cannot dis- cern any purpose in their movements and their on- slaughts. Can you then suppose that those heroic men performed their famous deeds without any
15 motive at all? What their motive was, I will con- sider in a moment : for the present I will confidently assert, that if they had a motive for those undoubt- edly glorious exploits, that motive was not a love of virtue in and for itself. — He wrested the necklet from his foe. — Yes, and saved himself from death. — But he braved great danger. — Yes, before the eyes of an army. — What did he get by it? — Honour and esteem, the strongest guarantees of security in life. — He sentenced his own son to death. — If from no motive, I am sorry to be the descendant of anyone so savage and inhuman; but if his purpose was by> inflicting pain upon himself to establish his authority as a commander, and to tighten the reins of| discipline during a very serious war by holding] over his army the fear of punishment, then hisl action aimed at ensuring the safety of his fellow^
36 citizens, upon which he knew his own depended And this is a principle of wide application. People of your school, and especially yourself, who are so diligent a student of history, have found a favourite field for the display of your eloquence in
39
CICERO DE FINIBUS commemorandis eorumque factis non emolumento aliquo sed ipsius honestatis decore laudandis^ id totum evertitur eo delectu rerum quern modo dixi constitutor ut aut voluptates omittantur maiorum voluptatum adipiscendarum causa aut dolores susci- piantur maiorum dolorum efFugiendorum gratia. 37 XI. Sed de clarorum hominum factis illustribus et gloriosis satis hoc loco dictum est. Erit enim iam de omnium virtutum cursu ad voluptatem proprius disserendi locus. Nunc autem explicabo voluptas ipsa quae qualisque sit^ ut tollatur error omnis imperitonim intellegaturque ea quae voluptaria, delicata^ mollis habeatur disciplina quam gravis, quam continens, quam severa sit. Non enim banc solam sequimur quae suavitate aliqua naturam ipsam movet et cum iucunditate quadam percipitur sensibus, sed maximam voluptatem illam habemus quae per- cipitur omni dolore detracto. Nam quoniam, cum privamur dolore, ipsa liberatione et vacuitate omnis molestiae gaudemus, omne autem id quo gaudemus voluptas est (ut omne quo ofFendimur dolor), doloris omnis privatio recte nominata est voluptas. Ut enim, cum cibo et potione fames sitisque depulsa est, ipsa detractio molestiae consecutionem affert voluptatis,
sic in omni re doloris amotio successionem efficit 40
BOOK I. x-xi
recalling the stories of brave and famous men of old^ and in praising their actions^ not on utilitarian grounds, but on account of the splendour of abstract moral worth. But all of this falls to the ground if the principle of selection that I have just mentioned be established^ — the principle of forgoing pleasures for the purpose of getting greater pleasures, and en- during pains for the sake of escaping greater pains.
XI. But enough has been said at this stage about The highest the glorious exploits and achievements of the heroes i^^Ssen^* df**' of renown. The tendency of all of the virtues to pain. produce pleasure is a topic that will be treated in its own place later on. At present I shall proceed to expound the essence and the quality of pleasure it- self, and shall endeavour to remove the misconcep- tions of ignorance and to make you realize how serious, how temperate, how austere is the school that is supposed to be sensual, lax and luxurious. The pleasure we pursue is not that kind alone whiclv affects our physical being with a definite delightful \ feeling, — a positively agreeable perception of the \ senses ; on the contrary, the greatest pleasure accord- j ing to us is that which is experienced as a result of/ the complete removal of pain. When we are released from pain, the mere sensation of complete emancipa- tion and relief from uneasiness is in itself a source of gratification. But everything that causes gratification is a pleasure (just as everything that causes annoyance is a pain). Therefore the complete removal of pain has correctly been termed a pleasure. For example, when hunger and thirst are banished by food and drink, the mere fact of getting rid of uneasiness brings a resultant pleasure in its train. So generally, the removal of pain causes pleasure to take its
41
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38 voluptatis. Itaque non placuit Epicnro medium esse quiddam inter dolorem et voluptatem; illud enim ipsum quod quibusdam medium videretur^ cum omni dolorc careret, non modo voluptatem esse verum ctiam summam voluptatem. Quisquis enim sentit qucmadmodum sit aiFectus, eum necesse est aut in voluptate esse aut in dolore. Omnis autem privatione doloriH putat Epicurus terminari summam voluptatem^ ut postea variari voluptas distinguique possit^ augeri
39 amplificarique non possit. At etiam Athenis, ut a ptttre Hudiebam^ facete et urbane Stoicos irridente, st^itua est in Ceramico Chrysippi sedentis porrecta nianUj quae manus significet ilium in hac esse rogatiuncula delectatum : Numquidnam manus tua, sic ttlfccta qucmadmodum afFecta nunc est, deside- rat?' — * Nihil sane.* — 'At si voluptas esset bonum, dcsidorart^t* — 'ita credo.* — 'Non est igitur volu- ptas bonum/ Hoc ne statuam quidem dicturam pater aiebtit si loqui posset Conclusum est enim contra C>'rcnaicos satis acute, nihil ad Epicurum. Nam si ea wla \\^luptas esset quae quasi titillaret sensus, ut itii dictuu« et ad eos oum suavitate aAlueret et illabe- rt^tur» ncc n\anu$ esse ccaiteiita posset nee ulla pars v^ouUate dolivri^^ siixe iucundo motu voluptatis. Sin autem suuuiv» w^uptas est. ut Epicuro placet,, nihil Uv?i)erex prtmum tiUi reete. Chrysippe, concessnm est.
BOOK I. xi
38 place. Epicurus consequently maintained that there is no such thing as a neutral state of feeling inter- mediate between pleasure and pain; for the state supposed by some thinkers to be neutral, being characterized as it is by entire absence of pain, is it- self, he held, a pleasure, and, what is more, a pleasure of the highest order. A man who is conscious of his condition at all must necessarily feel either pleasure or pain. But complete absence of pain Epicurus considers to be the limit and highest point of pleasure ; beyond this point pleasure may vary in
39 kind, but it cannot vary in intensity or degree. Yet at Athens, so my father used to tell me when he wanted to air his wit at the expense of the Stoics, in the Ceramicus there is actually a statue of Chrysippus seated and holding out one hand, the gesture being intended to indicate the delight which he used to take in the following little syllogism: Does your hand want anything, while it is in its present condi- tion?' Answer: No, nothing.' — But if pleasure were a good, it would want pleasure.' — Yes, I suppose it would.' — Therefore pleasure is not a good.' An argu- ment, as my father declared, which not even a statue would employ, if a statue could speak ; because though it is cogent enough as an objection to the Cyrenaics, it does not touch Epicurus. For if the only kind of pleasure were that which so to speak tickles the senses, an influence permeating them with a feeling of delight, neither the hand nor any other member could be satisfied with the absence of pain unaccom- panied by an agreeable and active sensation of pleasure. Whereas if, as Epicurus holds, the highest pleasure be to feel no pain, Chrysippus* s interlocutor, though justified in making his first admission, that
43
^
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nihil desiderare manum cum ita esset afFecta, secun- dum non recte, si voluptas esset bonum, fuisse desideraturam. Idcirco enim non desideraret quia quod dolore caret id in voluptate est.
40 XII. " Extremum autem esse bonorum voluptatem ex hoc facillime perspici potest: Constituamus ali- quem magnis^ multis^ perpetuis fruentem et animo et corpore voluptatibus, nullo dolore nee impediente nee impendente ; quem tandem hoc statu praestabili- orem aut magis expetendum possimus dicere? In- esse enim necesse est in eo qui ita sit affectus et firmitatem animi nee mortem nee dolorem timentis, quod mors sensu careat, dolor in longinquitate levis, in gravitate brevis soleat esse, ut eius magnitudinem
41 celeritas, diuturnitatem allevatio consoletur. Ad ea cunx accedit ut neque divinum numen horreat nee praeteritas voluptates effluere patiatur earumque assidua recordatione laetetur, quid est quod hue possit, quo melius sit/ accedere ? Statue contra ali- quem confectum tantis animi corporisque doloribus quanti in hominem maximi cad ere possunt, nulla spe proposita fore levius aliquando, nulla praeterea neque praesenti nee exspectata voluptate; quid eo miserius dici aut fingi potest ? Quod si vita doloribus referta maxime fiigienda est, summum profecto malum est vivere cum dolore ; cui sententiae consen- taneum est ultimum esse bonorum cum voluptate vivere. Nee enim habet nostra mens quidquam ubi
' quo melius sit Miiller ; quod melius sit Mdv. with MSS. 44
BOOK I. xi-xii
his hand in that condition wanted nothing, was not justified in his second admission, that if pleasure were a good, his hand would have wanted it. And the
reason why it would not have wanted pleasure is, I — ^'
that to be without pain is to be in a state of pleasure, to XII. The truth of the position that pleasure is the Pleasure prov ultimate good will most readily appear from the by^extreme*^ following illustration. Let us imagine a man living <^ascs of happ
, , f, _ ^ ness and mise
in the continuous enjoyment of numerous and vivid pleasures alike of body and of mind, undisturbed either by the presence or by the prospect of pain : what possible state of existence could we describe as being more excellent or more desirable? One so situated must possess in the first place a strength of mind that is proof against all fear of (death or of pain; he will know that death means complete un- consciousness, and that pain is generally light if long and short if strong, so that its intensity is compen- sated by brief duration and its continuance by H diminishing severity. Let such a man moreovei have no dread of any supernatural power; let him never suffer the pleasures of the past to fade away, but constantly renew their enjoyment in recollec- tion,— and his lot will be one which will not admit of further improvement. Suppose on the other hand a person crushed beneath the heaviest load of mental and of bodily anguish to which humanity is liable. Grant him no prospect of ultimate relief in view; let him neither have nor hope to have a gleam of pleasure. Can one describe or imagine a more piti- able state? If then a life full of pain is the thing most to be avoided, it follows that to live in pain is the highest evil ; and this position implies that a life of pleasure is the ultimate good. In fact the mind
45
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consistat tamquam in extreme, omnesque et metus et aegritudines ad dolorem referuntur, nee praeterea est res ulla quae sua natura aut soUicitare possit aut angere.
42 ' Praeterea et appetendi et refugiendi et omnino rerum gerendarum initia proficiscuntur aut a volu- ptate aut a dolore. Quod cum ita sit, perspicuum est omnes rectas res atque laudabiles eo referri ut cum voluptate vivatur. Quoniam autem id est vel summum vel ultimum vel extremum bonorum (quod Graeci rkXos nominant) quod ipsum nullam ad aliam rem, ad id autem res referuntur omnes, fatendum est summum eSse bonum iucunde vivere.
XIII. Id qui in una virtute ponunt et splendore nominis capti quid natura postulet non intellegunt, errore maximo, si Epicurum audire voluerint, libera- buntur. Istae enim vestrae eximiae pulchraeque virtutes nisi voluptatem efficerent, quis eas aut laudabiles aut expetendas arbitraretur ? Ut enim medicorum scientiam non ipsius artis sed bonae valetudinis causa probamus, et gubernatoris ars, quia bene navigandi rationem habet, utilitate, non arte laudatur, sic sapientia, quae ars vivendi putanda est, non expeteretur si nihil efficeret; nunc expetitur quod est tamquam artifex conquirendae et compa-
43 randae voluptatis. (Quam autem ego dicam volu-
a i.e. pain of body : dolorem here has its strict sense, 46
BOOK I. xii-xiii
possesses nothing in itself upon which it can rest as final. Every fear, every sorrow can be traced back\ to pain*; there is no other thing besides pain which I is of its own nature capable of causing either anxietjp?* or distress.
Ij2 Pleasure and pain moreover supply the motives Pleasure and
of desire and of avoidance, and the springs of conduct ^S^ ^^ generally. This being so, it clearly follows that y»^ sole stan- actions are right and praiseworthy only as being a | means to the attainment of a life of pleasure. But L that which is not itself a means to anything else, but/ ( to which all else is a means, is what the Greeks term ^ the Telos, the highest, ultimate or final Good. Iz must therefore be admitted that the Chief Good is to live agreeably.
XIII. Those who place the Chief Good in virtue The Virtues iw alone are beguiled by the glamour of a name, and ^?^"b^^^i do not understand the true demands of nature. If means to Plea they will consent to listen to Epicurus, they will be . — -^ delivered from the grossest error. Your school dilates on the transcendent beauty of the virtues; but were they not productive of pleasure, who would deem them either praiseworthy or desirable ? We esteem the art of medicine not for its interest as a science but for its conduciveness to health ; the art of navigation is commended for its practical and not its scientific value, because it conveys the rules for sailing a ship with success. So also Wisdom, which must be considered as the art of living, Yisdom; if it effected no result would not be desired ; but as ) it is, it is desired, because it is the artificer thsLZ
'3 procures and produces pleasure. (The meaning that I attach to pleasure must by this time be clear to you, and you must not be biased against my argu-
17
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ptatem iam videtis, ne invidia verbi labefactetur oratio mea.) Nam cum ignoratione renim bonarum et malarum maxime hominum vita vexetur^ ob eum- que errorem et voluptatibus maximis saepe priventur et durissimis animi doloribus torqueantur^ sapientia est adhibenda^ quae et tenroribus cupiditatibusque detraetis et omnium falsarum opinionum temeritate derepta eertissimam se nobis ducem praebeat ad voluptatem. Sapientia enim est una quae maesti- tiam pellat ex animis^ quae nos exhorrescere metu non sinat ; qua praeceptrice in tranquillitate vivi potest^ omnium cupiditatum ardore restincto. Cupi- ditates enim sunt insatiabiles^ quae non modo singtdos homines sed universas familias evertunt^ totam etiam
44 labefactant saepe rem publicam. Ex cupiditatibus odia^ discidia^ discordiae^ seditiones^ bella nascuntur. Nee eae se foris solum iactant nee tantum in alios caeco impetu incurrunt^ sed intus etiam in AninrMg inclusae inter se dissident atque discordant ; ex quo vitam amarissimam necesse est efBci^ ut sapiens so- lum, amputata drcumcisaque inanitate omni et errore^ naturae finibus contentus sine aegritudine possit et
45 sine metu vivere. Quae est enim aut utilior aut ad bene vivendum aptior partitio quam ilia qua est usus Epicurus? qui unum genus posuit earum cupiditatum quae essent et naturales et necessariae, alterum quae naturales essent nee tamen necessariae, tertium quae nee naturales nee necessariae; quarum ea ratio est ut necessariae nee opera multa nee impensa explean- tur ; ne naturales quidem multa desiderant, propterea
48
ir (^rtraiest picjisures, anu i lel pain of mind. Hence j m, to rid us of our feaxsj al! our errors and pre/
BOOK I. xiii ment owing to the discreditable associations of the term,} The gre"irt disturbing factor in man's life is \ ignorance of; feooQ ar»J evil ; mistaken ideas about J these frequentlyT-ob us of our greatest pie» torment us with the most c] we need the aid of Wisdom, 1 and appetites, to root out al! t judices, and to serve as our infallible guide to the attainment of pleasure. Wisdom alone can banish sorrow from our hearts and protect us from alarm and apprehension.; put yourself to school with her, and you may live in peace, and quench the glowing flames of desire. For the desires are lncapable\ of satisfaction; they ruin not individuals only but ) whole families, nay often shake the very foundations/
4-I. of the state. It is they that are the source of hatred, quarrelling and strife, of sedition and of war. Nor do thej' only flaunt themselves abroad, or turn their blind onslaughts solely against others; even when prisoned within the heart tliey quarrel and fall out among themselves; and this cannot but render the whole of life embittered. Hence only the Man, who prunes away all the rank growth c and error, can possibly live untroubled by si
+5 by fear, content within the bounds that nature has get, Notliing could be more instructive, more help- ful to right living, than Epieurus's doctrine as ts the different classes of the desires. One kind he\ classified as both natural and necessary, a second asl natural without being necessaiy, and a third asi neither natural nor necessary; the principle pf classiti cation being that the necessary desires are gratified with little trouble or expense; the natural desires also require but little, since nature's own 49
renaer ine
the Wise ^ h of vanity J
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quod ipsa natiira divitias qnibus contenta sit et para- biles et teruiinatas habet; iiiaDiuiO autcm cupidi- tatum nee iiiodcis utlus nee Riiis inveniri potest.
^.fi XIV. Quod si vitatn omnem perttirbari videmus erroreet inscientta,sapientianique esse solam quae nos a libidinuin impetu et a formidinum terrore viiidicet et ipsius fortunae modice ferre doceat iniurias et omnes monstrct vias quae ad quictem et tranquil I itatem ferant, quid est cur dubitemus dicere et sapientiam propter voluptates expetendam et insipientiam pro- pter inolestias esse fugiendam ?
4'T Ea<lemque ratione ne temperantiam quldem pro-
pter se expeteiidam esse dicen;ius, se<l quia pacem animis aiFerat et eos quasi concordia quadam placet ac leniat. Temperantia est enim quae in rebus aut expetendis aut (ugiendis ut rationem sequamur monet. Nee enim satis est iudicare quid faciendum non faciendumve sit, sed stare etiam oportet in eo quod sit iudicntum. Plerique autem, quod tenere atque servare id quod ipsi st&tuerunt non possunt. victi et dfbilitati obiecta specie voluptatis tradunt se libidinibus constringendos nee quid eventurura sit provident, ob eamque causani propter voluptatem et parvam et non necessarian! et quae vel iiliter pararetur et qua etiam carere possent sine dolore, turn in morbus graves, turn in damiia, turn in dede- cora incurrunt, saepe etiam legum iudiciorumque
■1-8 poenis obligantur. Qui autem ita frui voluni; volu- ptatibus ut nulli propter eas consequantur dolores, et
' initni) hollow, vain, unreal, as the opposite or ' natural ' (cf. gijandBk. TT- g j6), means 'based on afalseideaof
what la good or necessary': nl SI {rUr imOviiiur) oCrt ^wKai
Diogenes Ijierliiis lo. i^q.
SO
BOOK I. xiii-xiv
riches^ which suffice to content her^ are both easily procured and limited in amount ; but for the imagin- ary* desires no bound or limit can be discovered.
p6 XIV. If then we observe that ignorance and error \ . reduce the whole of life to confusion, while Wisdom 1 alone is able to protect us from the onslaughts of / appetite and the menaces of fear, teaching us to /I bear even the affronts of fortune with moderation, / / and showing usi" all the paths that lead to calmness / / and to peace, why should we hesitate to avow that / / Wisdom is to be desired for the sake of the pleasures^/ it brings and Folly to be avoided because of its icjurious consequences ?
1-7 * The same principle will lead us to pronounce that Temperance; Temperance also is not desirable for its own sake,\ but because it bestows peace of mind, and soothes ] the heart with a tranquillizing sense of harmony. / For it is temperance that warns us to be guided bj/ reason in what we desire and avoid. Nor is it enough to judge what it is right to do or to leave undone^ we also need to abide by our judgment. Most mem however lack tenacity of purpose; their resolution \ weakens and succumbs as soon as the fair form of ) pleasure meets their gaze, and they surrender them/ selves prisoners to their passions, failing to fores< the inevitable result. Thus for the sake of a pleasur^ at once small in amount and unnecessary, and one' which they might have .procured by other means oi even denied themselves altogether without pain, th< incur serious disease, or loss of fortune, or disgrace, and not infrequently become liable to the penalties
48 of the law and of the courts of justice. Those on the other hand who are resolved so to enjoy their pleasures as to avoid all painful consequences there- e2 51
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iudicium relinent ne voluptate victi faciant id quod sentiant non esse faciendum, ii voluptatem maximam adipiscuntiir praetermittenda voluptate. lideni etiam dolorem saepe perpetiuntur nCj si id iiuu facjaiit, incidanL in maiorem. Ex quo intelle- gilur nee intemperantiam propter se esse fugiendam, teniperantiamque expetendam non, quia voluptates fugiat sed quia maiores consequatur.
XV. Eadem fortitudinis ratio reperietur. Nam neque laborum perfunctio neque perpessio dolorum per se ipsa alHcit, ncc patientia nee assiduitas nee vigiliae nee ipsa quae landatur indiistria, ne fortitudo quidem, sed ista sequimur ut sine cura metuque vi- vaniiis animunique et corpus quantum efficere possi- mus molestia liberemus. Ut enira mortis metu omnis qiiietae vitae status perturbalur, et ut suc- cumbere doloribus eosqiie huniili animo imbecilloque ferre misenim est, ob eamque debilitateni animi multi parentes, niuiti amicos, nonnulli patriam, plerique autem se ipsos penitus perdiderunt, sic robuatus animus et excclsus omni est liber cura et angore, cum et mortem contemnit, qua qui afFecti sunt in eadem causa sunt qua antequuni nati, et ad dolores ita paralus est ut meminerit maximos morte finiri, parvos molta habere intervalla requietis, me- diocriom nos ease dominos, ut si tolerabiles sint feranius, si minus, animo aequo e vita, cum ea non placeat, tamqiiam e theatro exeamus, Quibua rebus
BOOK 1. xiv XV from, and who retain their facultv of judgment and avoid being seduced by pleasure into courses that they perceive to be wrong, reap the very highest pleasure by forgoing pleasure. Similarly also they often voluntarily endure pain, to avoid incur- ring greater pain by not doing so. This clearly proves that Intemperance is not undesirable for its own sake, while Temperance is desirable not because it renounces pleasures, but because it procures greater pleasures. !) XV. " The same account will tie found to hold good of Courage. The perfonnance of labours, the endu- rance of pains, are not in themselves attractive, nor are patience, industry, watchfulness, nor yet that much lauded virtue, perseverance, nor even couragOv but we aim at these virtues in order to live without 1 anxiety and fear and so far as possible to be frep/ from pain of niind and body. The fear of death plays havoc with the calm and even tenor of life, and to bow the head to pain and bear it abjectly and feebly is a pitiable thing; such weakness has caused many men to betray their parents or their friends, some their country, and very many utterly to ruin themselves. So on the other hand a strong and lofty spirit is entirely free from anxiety and sorrow. It makes light of death, for the dead are only as they were before they were bom. It is schooled to encounter pain by recollecting that pains of great , severity are ended by death, and slight ones have frequent intervals of respite ; while those of medium / intensity lie within our own control : we can l>ea^'^ them if they are endurable, or if they are not, we y serenely quit life's ttieatre, when the play has I to please us. These considerations prove 5S
CICF.HO I)E FINIBLS
1
qui»'
intellegitur nee timiditateni ignaviamque vitupeTiari' nee fortitudiiiem patieiitiamque laudari suo nomine, sed illas reici quia dolorem pariant, has optari qui»' i-oluptatcm. *^^
J XVI. "lustitiarestat.utdeoitinivirtulesitdict sed similia fere dici possunt. Ut cnim sapientii teniperantiam, fortitudinein copulatas esse docui ci voluptate ut ab ea nullu modo nee divelli nee dis- trahi possint, sic de iustitia iudicandum est, quae noil modo numquam nocet cutquam, sed contra semper aliqiiid impertit' cum sua vi atque natura, quod tranquillet animos, turn spe nihil earum rerum de- futiirum quas natura non depravata drstdeiet. Et" quemadmodum temeritas et libido ct ignaWa semper animum excruciant et semper sollieitant turbulen- taeque sunt, sic iinE£oWtas_si^ cuius in mente con- sedit, hoc ipso quod adest turbiilenta est; si vero molitu quidpiam est, quamvis occulte fecerit, num- quam tamen id confidet fore semper occuitum. Plerumque improboruni facta prime suspicio inse- quitur, dein sermo atque fama, turn accusator, turn iudex ; multi etiam, ut te consule, ipsi se indicave- \ 51 runt. Quod si qui satis sibi contra horoinum con- scientiam saepti esse et mutiiti videntur, deorum tamen horrent, casque ipsas sollicitu dines quibus eorum aiiimi noctesque diesque eiceduntur a dis im- mortalibus supplici causa importari putant Quae nutem tanta ex improbia factis ad minuendas vitae
' impertit supplied by MQIIeri Mdv. marks lacuna. - Et inserted by Mdv.
'iwprvbitiis si sappViQil by Mdv. (cj). improbori,m, ii„. probe, improbis, iiBprobitalem below).
HOOK I. Nv-xvi
that timidity and cowurdtce are not biamed, t courage and endurance praised, on tlieir account; the former are rejected because they bring pain, the latter coveted because they produt pleasure.^
[) XVI, It remains to speak of Justice, to complete juaiicp m the list of the virtues ; but tliis admits of practically ^*' """"*"'
the same treatment as the others. Wisdom, Tern- ^^M
perance and Courage I have shown to be so closely ^^H
linked with Pleasure that they cannot possibly be ^^H
severed or sundered from it. The same must be ^^H
deemed to be the case with Justice. Not only doesk ^^H
Justice never cause anyone harm, but on the con- ^^H
trary it always brings some benefit, partly owing tof ^^H
its essentially tranquillizing influence upon the mind, ^^H
partly because of the hope that it warrants of a never- ^^H
failing supply of the things that uncorrupted nature ^^H
really needs. And just as Rashness, Licence and ^^H
Cowardice ever torment the mind, ever awaken trouble ^^H
and discord, so Unrighteousnefis, when firmly, rooted ^^H
in .tlie heart, causes restlessness by tlie mere fact of ^^|
its presence; and if once it has found expression in ^^H
some deed of wickedness, however secret the act, | ^^H
yet^tcan never feel assured tliatitwill always rpmnjn^ .1 ^^^^
undetected. 'rheTiSnni consequences of crime are, ^^^H
fitbl suspiLilUfJ, next gossip and rumour, then comes ^^^H
the accuser, then the judge ; many wrongdoers have ^^H
even turned evidence against themselve3,as happened ^^H
1 in your consulship. And even if any think them^ ^^H
selves well fenced and fortified against detection by \ ^^H
their fellow-men, they still dread the eye of heaven, / ^^H
and fancy that the pangs of anxiety night and day/ ^^^|
^Bnawing at their hearts are sent by Providence to ^^^|
^fkish them. iJut what can wickedness contribute ^^^|
^V - — — -— ^^1
CICERO DK FINIBUS moleiftias accessio potest tieri, quanta ad augendas cum conscientia factor um turn poena legum Mlioque eivium? Et tamen in quibusdam neque pecuniae modus est neque honoris neque iinperi nee libidinLim nee epulurum nee reliquamm eupiditatum, quas nulla praeda umquam improbe parta minuit. potiusque in- fluRimat, ut coercendi magis quatn dedocendi esse
52 videantur. Invitat igitur vera ratio bene sanos ad iustitiam, aequitatem, fidem. Neque liomiiii infanti ttut iinpotenti iniuste facta conducunt, qui nee facile cfficcre possit quod conetur nee obtinere si efTecerit, et opes vel fortunae vet ingeni liberalititi magis con- veniurt, qua qui utuntur bene vole ntiani sibi con- ciliant et, quod aptissimum est ad quiete vivendum, curitatein; praesertim cum omnino nulla sit causa
fiS peccandi: .quae enim cupiditates a naturn profici- Gcuntur, facile explentur sine ulla iniuria ; quae autem inancs sunt, iis parendum nun est, nihil enim de- stderabile concupiscunt ; pi usque in ipsa iniuria detri- roenti est quam in iis rebus cmolumenti quae pariuiitut iniuria. Itaque ne iustitiam quidem recte quis dixerit per sc ipsam optabileni, sed quia iucunditatis vel plurinium afferat Nam diligi et carum esse iucun- dum est propterea quia tutioreni vitam etvoluptaluia^ plcniurem efficlt. Itaque non ob ea solum incom- moila quae eveniunt iniprobis fiigiendam improbita- teni putAmus, sed multo etiam magis quod,
H Muller; tvluplalem Mdv. «III.
5ti
I
BOOK I.
towards lessening the annoyances of lifcj i surate with its effect in increasing them, owing to\ the burden of a guilty conscience, the penalties of j the law andfhe"hatfedof one's"fellows? Yet never- | tKelesTBome-sfterrtsrduTge wiihoutilifiit their avarice, ambition and love of power, lust, gluttony and those other desires, which ill-gotten gains can never dimmish but rather must inflame the more ; inso- much that tliej appear proper subjects for restraint
52 rather than for reformation. Men of sound natures, therefore, are summoned by the voice of true reason to justice, equity and honesty. For one without eloquence or resources dishonesty is not good policy, since it is difficult for such a man to succeed in his designs, or to make good his success when once achieved. On the other hand, for the rich and clever generous conduct seems more in keeping, and liberality wins tliem affection and good will, the surest means to a life of peace; especially as there
53 really is no motive for transgressing r since the desires that spring from nature are easily gratidcd without doing any man wrong, while those that are imaginary ought to be resisted, for they set their affections upon nothing that is really wanted ; while there is more loss inherent in Injustice itself thafK. there is profit in tiie gains it brings. Hence Justice ^ also caimot correctly be said to be desirable in and I for itself; it is so because it is so highly productive/ of gratification. For esteem and affection are grati- fying, because they render life safer and fuller of pleasure. Hence we hold that Unrighteousness is to be avoided not simply on account of the dis-
C? that result from being unrighteous, but nore because when it dwells in a man's
CICERO DE FINIBUS
1 respirare, nuiii-
animo versatur, numquani sinit e quam ncquiescere.
I ' Quod si ne ipsarum guidem virtutuni laus, in qua maxime ceterortun philosophorum exultat oratio, re- perire exitum potest nisi dirigatur ad voluptatem, voluptas autem est sola quae nos vocet ad se et alticiat suapte natura, non potest esse dubiuni quin id sit summumatqueextremumbonoruni omnium, lieatequc vivere nihil aliud sit nisi cum voluptate vivere.
I XVil. ' Huic certae stabilique senttntiae quae sint coniunctaenpUcabobrevi. Nullusinipsis error est fini- bus bonorum et malorum, id est in voluptate aut in dolore,sediiiiisrebuspec(.'ant cum e quibus haec etiici~ anturignorant.AnimiautemvoIuptatesetdoloresnasd fatemur e corporis voluptatibus et doloribus (itaque coiicedo quod modo dicebas, cadere causasi qui e nostm aliter existimant, quos quidem video esse multos, scd imperitos); quamquam autem et laetitiam nobis volu- ptas animi et molestiam dolor aiferat, eorum tamen utrumque et ortum esse e corpore et ad corpus referri ; nee ob earn causam non multo maiores esse et voluptates et dolores animi quam corporis. Nam corpore nihil nisi praesens et quod adest sentire possumus, animo au- tem et praeterita et futum. Ut cnim aeque doleamus [animo],' cum corpore dolemus, fieri tamen perniagna accessio potest si aliquodae ternumetinfuiitumimpen-
■ [aaima] brHcketed by Mdv.
a This chap ler appears to bean uniiileiligeiit Iranscripl of a siiiumary of the Epicurean answers lo Ihe tonayving Cyreiiaic criticisms: (i) pleasure is sometimes rejected, owing; to menial perversion, (ij all pleasure is not bodiiy, (3) bodily pleasures are strong^er than mental ones, (4) absence of pain is nol pleasure, {5) memory and nnticipation of pleasure are nol real pleasures.
^ See £25 above
ROOK 1. xvi-xvii sart it tifvur suffers him to breathe freely ^moment's rest.
' If then even the glory of the Virtues, on whicli all the o tiler philosophers love to expatiate s)T\ eloquently, has in the last resort no meaning unless \ it be based on pleasure, whereas pleasure is the only j thing that is intrinsically attractive and alluring, it I cannot be doubted that pleasure is the one supreme | and final Good and that a life of happiness is nothing else than a life of pleasure. .5j XVII. ""The doctrine thus firmly established has Mental pleasun forol lanes which 1 will briefly expound, (l) The Ends Spoif bodily; of Goods and Evils themselves, that is. pleasure and ^"^"/u^,^"" pain, are not open to mistake; where people go wrong '"V|y^^"' is- in not knowing what things are productive of pleasure and pain. (2) Again, we aver that mental pleasures and pains arise out of bodily ones (and therefore I allow your contention'' that any Epicureans who think otherwise put themselves out of court; and 1 am aware that many do, though not those who can speak with authority); but although men do experi- ence mental pleasure that is agreeable and mental pain that is annoying, yet both of these we assert f^%-'"^^ of and are based upon bodily sensations. tV ^^ "Maintain that this does not preclude ■ f P'^tsures and pains from being much more
intense than those of the body;since the body can feel on y what is present to it at the moment, whereas the mind 13 also cosni?.ant of the past and of the fiiture. for granting, that pain of body ia equally painful, ''^ .?'"',^^"aation of pain can be enormously increased i^ J^ '"^ ti»Jit some evil of unlimited magnitude nd aan,tion t:l»reat«ns to befaU us hereafter.
And
59
CICERO DE FINIBUS ^B
Here malum nobis opinemur. Quod idemlicettratisferre in voluptatcm, ut ea maior sit si nihil tale metuamus, 66 lam iiliid quidem perspicuum est, maximam animi aut voluplatem aut molestiam plus aut ad beatam aut ad miseram vitam afferre momenti quam eonim utrumvis si aeque diu sit in corpore. Non placet autem detracts, voluptate aegritudincm statim conse- qui, nisi in voluptatis locum dolor forte succcsserit ; at contra gaudere nosmet omittendis dolorilius, etiamsi voluptas ea quae sensum moveat nulla suc- cesserit; eoque iiitellegi potest quanta voluptas sit r non dolere. Sed ut iis bonis erigimur quae expecta.- mus, sic laetjimur iis quae recordamur. Stulti autem malorun] memoria torquentur; sapientes bona prae- terita grata recovdatione renovata delectant. Est autem situm in nobis ut et adversa quasi perpetua oblivione obruamus et secunda iucunde ae suaviter meminerimus. Sed cum ea quae praeterierunt acri animo et attento intuemur, turn fit ut aegritudo se- quatur si ilia mala sint, si bona, laetitia.
XVIII. O praectaram beate vii'endi et apertam et simplicem et direetam viam ! Cum enim certe nihil homini possit melius esse quam vacare omni dolore et molestia perfruique raasimis et animi et corporis voluptatibus, videtisne quam nihil praetermittatur quod vitam adiuvet, quo facilius id quod propositum est summum bonum consequamur ? Claniat Epicurus is quern vos iiimis voluptatibus esse deditum dicitis, non posse iucunde vivi nisi sapienter, lioneste iuste- que vivatur, nee sapienter, faoneste, iuste nisi iucunde. 60
BOOK L sWi-K^iii tiK isme consideration may be transferred to pies- sure: a pleasure is ^eater if not accornpanted by any
36 apprebenaon of evil. Tiiis therefore clearly ap- pears, that intense mental pleasure or distress con- tributes more to our happiness or miserj- than a bodily pleasure or pain of equal duration. (■() But ■we do not agree that when pleasure is withdrawn un- easiness at once ensues, unless the pleasure happens to have been replaced by a pain: while on the other hand one is glad to lose a pain even though do active sensation of pleasure comes in its place: a fact that serves to show how great a pleasure is
57 absence of pain, (j) But just as we are elated by the anticipation of good things, so we are delighted by their recollection. Fools are tormented by the remembrance of former evils; to wise men memory is a pleasure — by it they renew tlie goods of the past. We have the power if we will both to obliterate our misfortunes by a sort of permanent forgetfulness and to summon up pleasant and agreeable memories of our successes. But when we concentrate our mental
vision closefy on the events of the past, thi or jctadness ensues according as these were evil or good. XVIII. ' Here is indeed a royal road to happiness - — open, simple, and direct! For clearly man can have no greater good than complete freedom from pain and sorrow coupled with the enjoyment of the highest bodily and mental pleasures. Notice then how the theory embraces every possible enhancement of life, every aid to the attainment of that Chief Good which is our object. Epicurus, the man whom jrou denounce as a voluptuary, cries aloud that no ti live pleasantly without living wisely, bono ur- f and justly, and no one wisely, honourably and
CICERO DE FINIBUS
I Neque enim civitas in seditioiie beuta ease potest nee in discordia dominorum domus ; quo minus animus a se ipse dissidens sccumque discordans gustare partem ullam liquidae voluptatis et liberae potest. Atqui pugnantibus ct coiitrariis studils consiliisque semper ut^ns nihil quieti videre, nihil tranquilU potest.
I Quod si corporis griivioribus morbis vitae iucusditas impeditur, quanto magis aiiimi morbis impediri Animi autem morbi sunt cupiditutes nanes divitiarum,gloriae, dominationis, libidinosarum etiam voluptatuni. Acccdunt aegritu- dines, moieatiae, niaerores, qui exedunt aiiimos con- ficiiintque curis lioniinum non intellegentiuro nihil dolendum esse aninio quod sit a dolore corporis prae- senti fiiturove seiunctum. Nee veroquisquani stultus non horum morboram aliquo laborat; nemo igitur
1 stultus ' non miser. Accedit etiam mors, quae quasi saxum Tantalo semper impendet ; turn super- stitio, qua qui est inibutus quietus esSe numquam potest, Fraeterea bona praeterita non ineminerunt, pracsentibus non fruuntur; futura modo exspectant, quae quia eerta esse non possuiit, conficiuntur et an- gore et metu ; maximeque cruciantur cum sero sen- tiunt frustra se aut pecuniae studuisse aut imperiis aut opibus aut gloriae. Nullas enim consequuntur voluptates quarum potiendi spe inHammati multos
I labores magnosque ^usceperunt. Ecce autem aliimi- nutiet angusti. aut omnia semper desperantes,aut ma-
lullus
-, MuUer
:l Mdv.
■I MSS,
J
BOOK I. xviii
S8 justly without living pleasantly. For n city rent liy faction cannot prosper, nor a house whose masters ^^ arc at strii'e; much less then can ii mind divided M against itself and filled with inward discord taste any particle of pure and liberal pleasure. But one who i.^ perpetually swayed by conflicting and incompatible counsels and desires can know no peace or calm.
>9 Why, if the pleasantness of life is diminished by the more serious bodily diseases, how much more must it be diminished by the diseases of the mind '. Butextravagantandiniaginarydesires,for riches, fame, power, and also for licentious pleasures, are nothing but mental diseases. Then, too, there are grief, trouble and sorrow, which gnaw the heart and con- sume it with anxiety, if men fail to reahze that the mind need feel no pain unconnected with some pain ef body, present or to come. Yet there is no foolish man but is afflicted by some one of these diseases; tlierefore there is no foolish man that is not unhappy.
iO Moreover, there is death, the stone of Tantalus ever hanging over men's heads; and superstition, that poisons and destroys all peace of mind. Besides, they do not recollect their past-nor enjoy theii' present blessings; they only look forward to those of the future, and as these are of necessity uncertain, they are consumed with agony and terror; and the climax of their torment is when they perceive too late that all their dreams of wealth or station, power or fame, have come to nothing. For they never attain any of the pleasures, the hope of which inspired them to
}1 undergo all their arduous toils. Or look again at
others, petty, narrow-minded men, or confirmed pes-
simists,orspiteful,envious, ill-tempered creatures, un*
sociable, abusive, eailtankerous ; others again enslaved
«3
CICERO DE FINIBUS levoli, invidi, difficiles, lucifugi, maledici, morosi,' alii autem etiara amakiriis levitatibus dediti, alii petu- lantes, alii audaceSj protervi, iidem iiitemperantes et ignavi, numquam in sententia permanentes, quas ob causas in eorum vita nulla est intercapedo moleatiae. Igitur neque stultomtn quisqunm beatus neque sapi- entium non beatus, Multoque hoc melius nos verius- que quam Stoici. Illi enim negant esse bonum quid- quam nisi nescio quam illam umbram quod appellant Iiunestum, non tam solido quam splendido nomine ; virtutem autem nixam hoc honesto nullam requirere voluptatem atque ad beate vivendum se ipsa esse con ten tarn.
62 XIX. Sed possunt haec quadam ratione dici non modo non repugnantibus, verum etiam approbantibus nobis. Sic enim ab Epicuro sapiens semper beatus inducitur ; tiiiltus habet cupiditates ; tieglegit mortem ; de dis immortalibus sine ullo metu vera sentit; non dubitat, si ita melius sit, migrare de vita. His rebus instructus semper est in voiuptate. Neque enim terapus est ullum quo non plus voluptatum habeat quam dolonim. Nam et praeterita grate meminit et praesentibus ita politur ut animadvertat quanta sint ea quamque iucunda, neque pendet ex' futuris, sed expectat ilia, fruitur praesentibus ; ab iisque vitiis quae paulo ante collegi abest plurinium, et cum stul- torum vitam cum sua comparat, magna afficitur vo- iuptate. Dolores autem si qui incurrunt, numquam vim tantam habent ut non plus babeat sapiens quod
63 gaudeat quam quod angatur, OptJme vero Epicurus, quod 'exiguam' dixit 'fortunam intervenire sapientt.
I Mdv. wilhMSS. ^M
BOOK I. xviii-xix to the follies of love, impudent or reckless, wanton, lieaclstronfl and yet irresolute, always changing tlieir minds. Such tailings render their lives one unbroken round of misery. The conclusion is that no foohsh man can be happy, nor any wise man fail to be happT. This is ii truth that we establish tar more conclusively than do the Stoics. For they maintain that nothing is good save that vngue phantom which they entitle Moral Worth, a title more splendid than substantial; and say that Virtue resting on thisi Moral Worth has no need of pleasure, but is herself, her own sufficient happiness.
62 XIX. At the same time this Stoic doctrine
stated in a form which we do not object to, and in- deed ourselves endorse. For Epicurus thus represents the Wise Man as always happy: his desires are kept within bounds; death he disregards; he has a true conception, untainted by fear, of the Divine nature; if it be expedient to depart from life, he does not hesitate to do so. Thus equipped he enjoys per- petual pleasure, for there is no moment when the pleasures he experiences do not outbalance the pains; since he remembers the past with delight, grasps the present with a full realization of its pleasantness, and does not rely upon the future ; be looks forward to it, but liuds his true enjoyment in the present. Also he is entirely free from the vices that 1 instanced a few moments ago, and he derives no inconsiderable pleasure from comparing his own existence with the hfe of the foolish. More- over, any pains that the Wise Man may encounter are never so severe but that he has more cause forglad-
»3 ncss than for sorrow. Again, it is a fine saying of j Epicurus that 'the Wise Man is but little interfered ' V 65
Ths WlH Mu
CICERO DE FINIBUS • maximasque ah eo et gravissimas res consilio ipsius et ratioiie adntinistrari ; neque inaiorem voluptatem ex infinito tempoiT aetatis pcrcipi posse qunm ex lioc percipiatur quod videamus esse fuiitum.' In disle- ctica autem vestra nullam existimavit esse nee ad melius vivendum nee ad eommodius disserendum vim. In physicis plurimum posuit. Ea scientia et vertrorum vis et natura orationis et consequentium repugnantiumve ratio potest perspici ; omnium autein rerum natura cagnita levamur saperstitione.liberamur mortis metu, non conturbamur i^oratione rerum, e quaipsahorrlbilesexsistuntsaepeformidines;denique etiam morati melius erimus eum didicerimus quid natura desideret. Turn vero, si stabilera scientiam rerum tenebimus, aervata ilia quae quasi delapsa de caelo est ad cognitionem omnium regula, ad quam omnia iudicia rerum dirigentur, numquam ullius 64 oratione vieti sententia desistemus. Nisi autem rerum natura perspecta erit, nuUo modo poterimus cia defendere. Quidquid porro animo omne oritur a sensibus; qui si omnes veri erunt, ut Epicuri ratio docet, tum denique po- terit aliquid cogiiosci et percipi. Quos qui tollunt et nihil posse percipi dicunt, ii remotis sensibus ne
«Epicurus discarded the orliiodox Logic (cp. 9 ai), but ntUcked some of ils problems in the light of his Natural Philosaphy: e,g. denying necessity in Nature, be denied the Law of the Excluded Middle {Academica I. 97, and see W. M. L. Uulchinson, de Finibus a. 234). The 'criterion' or lest of truth he treated under the head of ■ Canonic ' (iciuib', ngula, a measuring -rod). Being based on his theory of sensation (§ zi), 'Canonic* was ranged under 'Physic' (Diogenes Laerlius, lO. 30). It made the senses infallible, and the sole source of knowledge; and it gave rules for testing the validity of inference from sensation, which are a crude adumbration of a Logic of Induction. 6fi
BOOK I.
lom and ^^H
)uld be ^^M
with by fortune : the great concerns of life, the that matter, are controlled by his own wisdom a . reason'; and that no greater pleasure could derived from a hfe of infinite duration than is acttially afforded by this existence which we know to be finite." Logic, on which your scliool lays such stress. Logic i» bwIbbi he held to be of no effect either as a guide to conduct based on «o» or as an aid to thought. Natural Philosophy he L^'cMontor' deemed all-important. Tliis science^ explains to us EJji^'^^^gJ the meaning of terms, the nature of predication, and »s removing tbi the law of consistency and contradiction ; secondly, happiness, a thorough knowledge of the facts of nature relieves us of the burden of superstition, frees us from fear of death, and shields us against tlie disturbing effects of ignorance, which is often in itself a cause of terrifying apprehensions ; lastly, to learn what na- ture's real requirements are improves the mond character also. Besides, it is only by 6rmly grasping a well-established scientific system, observing tlie Rule or Canon that has fallen as it were from heaven to afford us a knowledge of the universe — only by making that Canon the test of all our judgments, that we can hope alwaj's to stand fast in our belief, un- fit shaken by the eloquence of any man. On the other hand, without a full understanding of the world of nature it is impossible to maintain the truth of our sense-perceptions. Further, every mental presenta- tion has its origin in sensation ; so that no knowledge or perception is possible, unless all sensations are true, as the theory of Epicurus teaches that they
S Those who deny the validity of sensation and that nothing can be perceived, having excluded f! 67
CICERO DF, FINIBUS id ipsum quidem expedire possunt quod disserunt. Praeterea sublata cognitione et scientia tollitur om- nis ratio et vitae degendae et rerum gerendarum. " Sic e physicis et fortitudo sumitui' contra mortis timorem et constantia contra metiim religionis et sedatjo animi, omnium rerum occultarum ignoratione Kublata, et moderatio, natura cupiditatum generi- busque earum explicatis, et, ut modo docai, cogni- tionis regula et ludicio ab eodein illo constitute veri a falso distinctio traditur.
6.'> XX. Restat locus huic disputationi vel n necessarius, de amicitia, quam sj volupta^ sit bonum alfirmatis nuUam omnino fore; de qua Epicurus quidem ita dicit, omnium rerum quas ad beate vivenduni sapientia coraparaverit niliit esse maius amicitia, nihil uberius, nihil iucundius. Nee • vero hoc oratioiie solum sed multo magis vita et factis et moribus comprobavit. Quod quam magnum sit fictae veterum fabulae declarant, in quibus tarn multis tamque variis, ab ultima antiquitate repetitis, tria viK amicorum paria reperiuntur, ut ad Orestem pervenias profectus a Theseo. At vero Epicurus una in domo, et ea quidem angusta, quam magnos quun- taque amoris conspiratione consenlientes tenuit ami- corum greges! qtiod fit etiam nunc ab Epicureis. Sed ad rem redeamus; de hominibus dici non ne-
66 cesse est. Tribus igitur modis video esse a nostris de amicitia disputatum. Alii, cum eas voluptates 68
HOOK I. xix-KX the evidence of tlie senses, are iiiiabli? even to ex- pound their own argument. Besides, by abolishing knowledge and science the; alralish all possibility of rational life and action. Tims Natural Philosophy supplies courage to face the fear of death ; resolution to resist the terrors of religion ; peace of mind, for it removes all ignorance of the mysteries of nature; self-control, for it explains llie nature of the desires and distiDguishes their diiferent kinds ; and, as I showed just now, the Canon or Criterion of Know- ledge, which Epicunis also establishedjgives a method of discerning truth from falsehood.
55 XX. "There remains a topic that is pre-eminently Friends^ germane to this discussion, I mean the subject of imoiki i Friendship, Your school maintains that if pleasure b£I^o[ be the Chief Good, friendship will cease to exist, uiiitiy Now Epicuriis's pronouncement about iriendship is that of all the means to happiness that wisdom has devised, none is greater, none more fruitful, none more delightful than this. Nor did he only com- mend this doctrine by his eloquence, hut far more ■ by the example of his life and conduct. How great a thing such friendship is, is shown by the mythical stories of antiquity. Review the legends from the re- motest ages, and, copious and varied as they are, you will barely find in them three paii-s of friends, beginning witli Theseus and ending with Orestes. Yet Epicurus in a single house and that a small one maintained a whole company of friends, united by the closest sympathy and affection; and this still goes on in the Epicurean school. But to return to our subject, for
36 there is no need of personal instances : I notice Three that the topic of friendship has been treated by ^""'' Epicureans in three ways, (l) Some have denied
I
CICERO DE FINIBUS quae ad amieos pertinerent negarent ease per se ip- sa3 tain ex]ietendas quam nostras expeteremus, quo loco videtur quibusdam stabilitas amicitiae vacillare, tucntur tameii eum locum seque facile, ut milii vide- tur, expedinnt. Ut enini virtotes, de quibus ante dictum est, sic amicitiam negant posse a voluptate discedere. Nam cum solitudo et vita sine amicis insidiamm et metus plena sit, ratio ipsa monet ami- citias comparare, quibus partis conlirmatur animus et a spe pariendaruiij voluptalum seiungi non potest.
fi7 Atque ut odia, invidiae, despicationes adversantur voluptatibus, sic amicitiae non modo fautrices fidelis- simae sed etiam effectrices sunt voluptatum tam amicis quam sibi ; quibus non solum praesentibus fruuntur sed etiam spe eriguntur consequentis ac po- ster! temporis. Quod quia nullo modo sine amicitia firmam et perpetuam iucunditatem vitae tenere pos- sumus neque vera ipsam amicitiam tucri nisi aeque amieos et nosmet ipsosdiI{gamu£,tdcircD et hoc ipsum eflicitur in amicitia etamicitia cum voluptate connecti- tur. Nam et laetamur amicorum laetitia aeque atque
68 nostra et pariter dolemus angoribus. Quocirca eodem modo sapiens eritaffectusergaamieum quoin seipsum, quosque labores propter suam voluptatem susciperet, eosdem suscipiet propter amici voluptatem. Quae- que de virtutibus dicta sunt, queraadmodum eae semper voluptatibus inhaererent, eadem de amicitia dicenda stmt. Praectare enim Epicurus Ills paene ver- bis: Eadem,' inquit, sententia conlirmavit a ne quod aut seroipitemum aut diuturnum timeret n 70
^^Rat I
HOOK I.
»t pleasures affecting our friends are in them- selves to be desired b; us in tlie sflnie degree as we desire our own pleasures. 'Ihis doctrine is thought by some critics to undermine the foundations of friend- ship; however, its supporters defend their position, and in my opinion have no difficulty in making good their case. They argue that friendship can no more be sundered from pleasure than can the virtues, which we have discussed already. A solitary, friend- less hfe must be beset by secret dangers and alarms. Hence reason itself advises tJie acquisition of friends; their possession gives confidence, and a
67 firmly rooted hope of winning pleasure. And just as hatred, jealousy and contempt are hindrances to pleasure, so friendship is the most trustworthy pre- server and also creator of pleasure alike for our friends and for ourselves. It affords us enjoyment ill the present, and it inspires us with hopes for the near and distant future. Thus it is not possible to secure uninterrupted gratification in life without friendship, nor yet to preseire friendship itself un- less we love our friends as much as ourselves. Hence this unselfishneBS does oecur in friendship, while also friendship is closely linked with pleasure. For we rejoice in our friends' joy as much as in our own,
8 and are equally pained by their sorrows. Therefore the Wise Man will feel exactly the same towards his friend as he does towards himself, and will exert himself as much for his friend's pleasure as he would for his own. All that has been said about the essen- tial connexion of the virtues with pleasure must be repeated about friendship. Epicurus well said (I give almost his exact words): 'The same creed that has given us courage to overcome all fear of ever-
71
M
CICERO DE FINIBUS ^B
.nnoij quae perspexit in hoc ipso vitae spatio amicitiae
9 praesidium esse firmissimum.' Sunt autem quidam Epicurei timidiores pauIo contra vestra conviria sed tamen satis acutij qui verentur ne, si amicitjam pro- pter nostram voluptatem expetendam putemus, tota amicitia quasi claudicare videatur. Itaque primes congressus copulationesque et consuetudinum insti- tuendarum vo!untates fieri propter voluptatenij cum autem usus progrediens familiaritatem effecerit, turn araorem efflorescere tantum ut, etiamsi nulla sit utilitas ex amicitia, tamen ipsi amici propter se ipsos amentur. Etenim si loca, si faua, si urbes, si gym- nasia, si campum, si canes, si equos, si ludicra exer- cendi aut venandi, consuetudine adamare snieiaus, quanto id in hominiim consuetudine facilius fieri
3 poterit' et iustius? Sunt autem qui dicant foedus esse quoddam sapientimn ut ne mitms amicos quam se ipsos diligant. Quod et posse fieri intellegimus et saepe evenire^ videmus, et perspiciium est nihil ad iucuiide vivendumreperiri posse quod coniuiictione tali sit aptius.
Quibus ex omnibus iudicari potest non modo non impediri rationem aniicitiae si suramum bononi in voluptate ponatur, sed sine hoc institutionem omnino amicitiae non posse reperiri.
I XXI. Quapropter si ea quae dixi sole ipso illu- striora et clariora sunt, si omnia liausta^ e fonte naturae, si tota oratio nostra omnem sibi fidem
iA.ipotue
n Md'
vilh MSS. MSS. dixi bracketed by Mdv.
J
BOOK I. xx-xxi lasting or long-enduring evil hereafter, has discerned
fig that friendship is our strongest safeguard in this present term of life.' — (2)Other Epicureans though by no means lacking in insight are a little less courage- ous in defying the opprobrious criticisms of the Academy. They fear that if we hold friendship to be desirable only for the pleasure that it affords to ourselves, it will be thought that it is crippled alto- gether. They therefore say that the first advances and overtures, and the original inclination to form an attachment, are prompted by the desire for pleasure, but that when the progress of intercourse has led to intimacy, the relationship blossoms into an affection strong enough to make ns love our friends for their own sake, even though no practical advantage accrues from their friendship. Does not familiarity endear to us localities, temples, cities, gymnasia and playing- pounds, horses and hounds, games and field-sports? Then how much more natural and reasonable that it should have the same result in the case of our inter-
70 course with our fellow-men !^3) The third view is that wise men have made a sort of compact to love their friends no less than themselves. We can under- stand the possibility of this, and indeed we often see it happen. Clearly no more effective means to happi- ness could be found than such an alliance.
All these considerations go to prove not only that the rationale of friendship is not impaired by the identification of the Chief Good with pleasure, but also that without this no foundation for friendsliip whatsoever can be found.
n XXI. If then the theory I have set forth is Pcton
clearer and more luminous than daylight itself; ifgreaiVai^vt it is derived entirely from Nature's source; if my manwnii.
CICERO DE FINIBUS sensibus confirmat, id est incorruptis atque integris testibus, si infantes pueri, mutae etiam bestiac paene loquuntur, magistra nc duce nature, nihil esse pro- sperum nisi voluptatem, nihil asperuin nisi dolorem, de quibus neque depravate iudicant neque corrupts, nonne ei maximam gratiam habere debemus qui hac exaudita quasi voce naturae sie earn firrae graviterque comprehenderit ut omnes bene sanos in viain placa- tae, tranquillae, quietae, beatae vitae deduceretf Qui quod tibi parum videtur eruditus, ea causa est quod nullam eruditionem esse duxit nisi quae beatae 72 vitae disciplinam iuvaret. An ille tempus aut in poetis evolvMidis, ut ego et Triarius te hortatore facimus, consumeret, in quibus nulla solida utilitas omnisque puerilis est deltctatio, aut se, ut Plato, in musicia, geometria, numeris, astris contereret, quae et a falsis initiis profecta vera esse non possunt et si essent vera nihil afferrent quo iucundius, id est quo melius viveremus ; — eas ergo artes persequeretur, Vivendi artem tantam tamque operosum et perinde fructuosam relinqueret? Non ergo Epicurus ineru- ditus, sed ii indocti qui quae pueros non didicisse turpe est ea putant usque ad senectuteni esse di- scenda." Quae cum dixisset, ExpHcavi," inquit, sententiam meam et eo quidem consilio, tuum iudicium ut cognoscerem, quae mihi facultas, ut id > arbitratu facerera, ante hoc tempos numquam
est data."
A
BOOK I. xxi
whole discourse relies throughout for confirmation on the unbiased and unimpeachable evidence of the senses; if lisping infants^ nay even dumb animals^ prompted by Nature's teaching, almost find voice to proclaim that there is no welfare but pleasure, no hardship but pain — and their judgment in these matters is neither sophisticated nor biased — ought we not to feel the -greatest gratitude to him who listened to this utterance of Nature's voice, and grasped its import so firmly and so fully that he has guided all sane-minded men into the paths of peace and happiness, calmness and repose? You are pleased to think him uneducated. The reason is that he refused to consider any education worth the name that did not help to school us in happiness. 72 Was he to spend his time, as you encourage Triarius and me to do, in perusing poets, who give us nothing solid and useful, but merely childish amusement? Was he to occupy himself like Plato with music and geometry, arithmetic and astronomy, which starting from false premises cannot be true, and which more- over if they were true would contribute nothing to • make our lives pleasanter and therefore better? Was he, I say, to study arts like these, and neglect the master art, so difficult and correspondingly so fruitful, the art of living? No! Epicurus was not uneducated : the real philistines are those who ask us to go on studying till old age the subjects that we ought to be ashamed not to have learnt in boyhood/' Thus concluding, he added: I have explained my own view, but solely with the object of learning what your verdict is. I have never hitherto had a satisfactory opportunity of hearing it."
75
CICERO DE FINIBUS BOOK II
M. TULLII CICERONIS
DE
FINIBUS BONORUM ET MALORUM
LIBER SECUNDUS
1 I. Hie cum uter^uiiejiie intueretur sesegue ad audi- endum significarent paratos^ Primum/* inquam^
deprecor ne me tamquam philosophum putetis seholam vobis aliquam explieaturum^ quod ne in ipsis quidem philosophis magno opere umquam probavi. Quando enim Socrates, qui parens philosophiae iure dici potest, quidquam tale fecit? Eorum erat iste mos qui turn sophistae nominabantur ; quorum e numero primus est ausus Leontinus Gorgias in con- ventu poscere quaestionem,' id est iubere dicere qua de re quis vellet audire. Audax negotium, dice- rem impudens, nisi hoc institutum postea translatum
2 ad nostros philosophos esset. Sed et ilium quem no- minavi et ceteros sophistas, ut e Platone intellegi potest, lusos videmus a Socrate. Is enim percontando atque interrogando elicere solebat eorum opiniones quibuscum disserebat, ut ad ea quae ii respondissent si quid videretur diceret. Qui mos cum a posteriori- bus non esset retentus, Arcesilas eum revocavit insti- tuitque ut ii qui se audire vellent non de se quaere- rent sed ipsi dicerent quid sentirent; quod cum dixissent, ille contra. Sed eum qui audiebant quoad,
poterant defend ebant sententiam suam ; apud ceteros
78 ^^
DE FIN I BUS
BOOK II
. Upon this they both looked at me, and signified Rnfutiii ir readiness to hearme. Sol began: "First of all, I ^^ c^ 5 of you not to imagine tliat I am going to deliver «plying you a formal lecture, like a professional philosopher, piopoies That is a procedure which even in the case of philo- l^'JJ sophers I have never very much approved, Socrates, mc who is entitled to be styled the father of philosophy, never did anything of the sort. It was the method of his contemporaries the Sophists, as they were called. It was one of the Sophists, Gurgias of Leontini, who first ventured in an assembly to invite a question,' that is, to ask anyone to state what subject he desired to hear discussed. A bold undertaking, indeed, I should call it a piece of effrontery, had not this cus- 2 torn later on passed over into our own school. But we see that Socrates made fun of the aforesaid Gorgias and the rest of the Sophists also, as we can learn from Plato. His own way was to ques- tion liis interlocutors and by a process of cross- examination to elicit their opinions, so that he might express his own views by way of r^oinder to their answers. This practice was abandoned by liis suc- cessors, but was afterwards revived by Arcesilas, who made it a rule that those who wished to hear him should not a.sk him questions but should state their own opinions ; and when they liad done so he argued against them. But whereas the pupils of Arcesilas did
r defend their own position, with the rest of hers the student who has put a question
CICERO DH I'INIHUS autem pliilosophos qui quaesivit aliquid tacet; quod (jiiidein iam fit etiani in Aeadeniin. I Ubi enim is qui audire viilt ita dixit; Voluptas niihi videtur esse summuni bonuni," perpetua oratione contra disputa- tur, ut facile intellegi possit eos qui aliquid sibi videri dicant non ipsos in ea sententia esse sed audire velle
3 contraria. Noa commodius agimus. Non enim solum Torquatus dixit quid sentiret sed ctiam cur. Ego autem arbitror, quaniquam admodum delectatus sum eius oratione perpetua, tamen commodius, cum in rebus singulis insistas et intellegaa quid quisque concedat, quid abnuat, ex rebus concessis concludi quod velis et ad exitum perveniri. Cum enim fertur quasi torrens oratio, quamvis multa euiusquemodi rapiat, nihil tamen teneas, nihil reprehendas,^ nus- quam oration em rapidam coerceas.
Omnis autem in quaerendo quae via quadam et ratione liahetur oratio praeseribere primum debet, ut quibusdam in formulis: ea aea aqetub, ut inter quos disseritur conveniat quid sit id de quo disseratur.
i II. Hoc positum in Phaedro a Platone proliavit Epi- curus sensitque in omni disputatione id fieri oportere. Sed quod proximum fuit non vidit. Negat enim definiri rem placere, sine quo fieri interdum non
' reprekendas Mdv. with B ; Other MSS. apprekendas. ^Phaedrus 237 B.
BOOK II. i-ii
is then silent; and indeed this is nowadays tlie cus- tom ill the Academy too. The would-lM; learner says, for example, The Cliief Good in my opinion is pleasure,' and the contrary is then maintained in a formal discourse; so that it is not hard to realize that those who say they are of a certain opinion do not actually hold the Tiew they profess, but want to hear
3 what ean be argued against it. We are adopting a more profitable mode of procedure, for Torquatus has not only told us his own opinion but also for holding it. Still, for my part, though 1 enjoyed his. long discourse very mucli, I believe all the same that it is better to stop at point after point, and make out what each person is willing to admit and what he denies, and then to draw such inferences as one desires from these admissions and so arr conclusion. When the exposition goes rushing on like a mountain stream in spate, it carries along with it a vast amount of miscellaneous material, but there is nothing one can take hold of or rescue from the flood; there is no point at which one can stem the torrent of oratory.
However, in philosophical investigation a metho- Epicuio*, neg- dical and systematic discourse must always begin by [^Jf^oMimmdei formulating a preamble like that which occurs in '>" ""'E^,^ certain forms of process at law, 'This shall be the ■pleasure'; point at issue'; so that the parties to the debate may be agreed as to what the subject is about which
!■ they are debating. II. This rule is laid down by Plato in the Phaednis," and it was approved by Epicurus, who realized that it ought to be followed in every discussion. But he failed to see what this involved. For he says that he does not hold with giving a definition of the thing in question; yet □ 81
CICERO DE FINIBUS potest ut inter eos qui ambigunt conveniat quid id de quo agatur; velut in hoc ipso de quo nunc di^ putamus. Quaerimus enim finem bonorum; possUI
sne hoc scire quale sit, nisi contulerimus inter D fmem bonorum djxeriinus, quid finis, quid etif 1-5 sit ipsum bonum ? Atqui haec patefactio quasi rcrum opertarum, cum quid quidque sit aperitur, definitio £st; qua tu etiani imprudens utebare nonnuiuquaiu. Nam hunc ipsum sive finem sive estremum sive ulti- m definiebas id esse quo omnia quae recte fierent referrentur neque id ipsum usquam referretur. Prae- clare hoc quidem. Bunum ipsum etiam quid esset fortasse si opus fuisset definisses aut quod esset natura appetendum, aut quod prodesset, aut quod iuvaret, aut quod liberet modo. Nunc idem, nisi molestuni est, quoniam tibi non onmino displicet definire et id s cum vis, vetim definias quid sit voluptas, de quo iiis haec quaestio est." Quis, quaeso," inquit, est qui quid sit voluptas uesciat aut qui quo magis intellegat definitionem aliquanj desideret?" Me ipsum esse dicerem," inquam, "nisi mihi videref^ habere bene cognitam voluptatcm et satis ill ceptam animo atque comprensam. Nunc autem dii ipsum Epicurum nescire et in eo nutare, eumque qui crebro dicat diligenter oportere exprimi quae *is
f
di^H
tM
without this it is sometimes impossible for the dis- putants to agree what the subject under discussion is ; as, for esample, in the case of the very question we are now debating. We are trying to discover the End of Goods ; but how can we possibly know what the nature of this is, without comparing notes as to what we mean, in the phrase ' End of Goods,' by the term
5 End' and also by the term Gcwid' itself? Now this process of disclosiiig latent meiuiuigs, of revealing what a particular thing is, is the process of definition ; and you yourself now and then unconsciously em- ployed it. For you repeatedly defined this very conception of the End or final or ultimate aim as
that to which all right actions are a means while it is not itself a means to anything else.' Excellent so far. Very likely had occasion arisen you would have defined the Good itself, either as the naturally desirable,' or the beneficial,' or the delightful,' or just that whicli we like.' Well then, if you don't mind, as you do not entirely disapprove of definition, and indeed practise it when it suits your purpose, I should be glad if you would now define pleasure, the thing which is the subject of the whole of our pre-
6 sent inquiry." Dear me," cried Torquatus, 'who is there who does not know what pleasure is ? Who needs a definition to assist him to understand it?" I should say that 1 myself was such a per- son," I replied, "did I not beUeve that as a matter of fact 1 do fully understand the nature of pleasure, and possess a well-founded conception and compre- hension of it. As it is, I venture to assert that Epicurus himself does not know what pleasure is, but is in two minds about it. He is always harping
isity of carefully sifting out the meaning
g2
83
CICERO DK FINIBUS subiecta sit vocibus, non intellegere interdunn quid sonet haec vox voluptiktis, id est quae res huic voci subiciatur."
[11. Turn illeridens: Hoc vero," inquit, opti- m, ut is qui finein reruni expetendaruni volupta- tem esse dicat, id extremum, id ultimuin bonorum, id ipsum quid et quale sit nesciat!" Atqui," in- quauij aut Epicurus quid sit voluptaR aut omnes mortales qui ubique sunt neseiunt." ''Quonam,'' inquit, modo?" Quia voluptatem banc esse sen- tiunt onuies quam sensus accipiens movetur ct iucun- 7 ditate quadam perfunditur." Quid ergo? istam voluptatem," inquit, Epicurus ignorat?" Non semper," inquam ; nam interdum nimis etiam novit, quippe qui testificetur ne intellegere quidem se posse ubi sit aut quod sit ullum bonum praeter illud quod cibo et potione et aurium delectatione et obsceiia voluptate capiatur. An haec ab eo non di- cuntur?" Quasi vero me pudeat," inquit, isto- n aut non possim quemadmodum ea dicantur ostendere!" 'Ego vero nondubito," inquam, quin facile possis, nee est quod te pudeat sapienti assentiri qui se unus. quod sciam, sapientem proUteri sit ausus. m Metrudonim non puto ipsum professum, sed, n appellarctur ab Epicuro, repudiare tantum bene-
BOOK II.
Liid yet he occa- ^^^| is the import of ^^H
s the tiling that ^^|
underlying the terms we employ, i sionally fails to understand whiit the word 'pleasure/ that is, what ; underlies the word."
III. I'orquatus laughed. Come, that is a good vEi. pleasure joke," he said, ' that the author of the doctrine «n'^'an^i'ab^ that pleasure is the End of things desirable, the '«"«of P^in. final and ultimate Good, should actually not know distinci [lom' what maimer of thing pleasure itself is ! " " Well," P'='^'"=- I replied, either Epicurus does not know what pleasure is, or the rest of mankind all the world o' do not." How 80?" he asked. Because the universal opinion is that pleasure is a sensation actively stimulating the percipient sense and diffus- 7 ing over it a certain agreea.ble feeling." Wliat then?" he replied; does not Epicurus recognixe pleasure in your sense?" ' Not always," said I; now and then, 1 admit, he is only too well ac- quainted with it ; for he solemnly avows that he cannot even understand what Good there can be or where it can be found, apart from that which is derived from food and drink, the delight of the ei and the grosser forms of gratification. Do I mis- represent his words ? " ' Just as if I were ashamed of all that," he cried, " or unable to explai in which it is spoken ! " " Oh," said I, " I haven't the least doubt you can explain it with ease. And you have no reason to be ashamed of sharing the opinions of a Wise Man — who stands alone, so far as 1 am aware, in venturing to arrogate to himself that title. For I do not suppose that MetrodoruG himself claimed to be a Wise Man, though he did not care to refuse the compliment wher was bestowed upon him by Epicurus; while the
CICERO DE FINIBUS
um noluisse; septem autem illi non suo sed popu- 8 lorum suflragio omnium nominati sunt Venim hoc loco sumo verbis his eandem certe vim voluptatia Epicunim nosse quam ceteros. Omnes enim iucun- dum motum quo sensus hilaretur Graece 7)Sov^v, Latine voluptatem vocant." "Quid est igitur," in- quitj quod requiras?" Dicam," iiiquam, etqui- dem discendi causa niagis quam quo te aut Epicunim repreasum velim." Ego qooque," inqoit, didi-
im libentius si quid attuleris quam te reprende-
I.'' Tenesne igitur," inquani, Hieronymus Rhodius quid dicat esse summum bonum, quo putet
nia referri oportere?" Teneo," inquit, linem illi videri nihil dotere." Quid? idem iste," in- ) quam, de voluptate quid sentit?" Negat esse
ti," inquit, propter se expetendam." Aliud igitur esse ceiiset gaudere, aliud non dolere." Et quidem," inquit, vehementer errat; nam, ut paulo ante docui, augendae voluptatis finis est doloris omnis amotio." Non dolere," inquam, "istud quam vim habeat postea videro ; aliam vero vim voluptatis esse, aliam nihil dolendi, nisi valde pcrtinax fueris, con- 3edas necesse est." Atqui reperies," inqnit, lioc quidetn pertinacem ; dici enim nihil potest
ius." Estne, quaeso," inquam, sitienti
1
^P BOOK II.
Seven Wise Meii of old received their appellation not by their own votes, but by the universal suffrages fi of mankind. StiU, for the present 1 take it for granted that in the utterance in question Epicurus undoubtedly recognizes the same meaning of plea> sure' as everybody else. Every one uses the Greek word kedonr and the Latin votiiptas to mean an agree- able and exhilarating stimulation of the sense."
Well then," he asked, what more do you want f "
I will tell you," I said, though more for the sake of ascertaining the truth than from any desire to criticize yourself or Epicurus." I also," he replied,
would much rather learn aiij^hing you may have to contribute, than criticize your views," Do you remember, then," I said, what Hieronymus of Rhodes pronounces to be the Chief Good, tlie stan- dard as he conceives it to which all other things should be referred ? " I remember," said he, that he considers the End to be freedom from pain,"
Well," said I, what is the same philosopher's 9 view about pleasure ? " He thinks that pleasure is not desirable in itself." Then in his opinion to feel pleasure is a different thing from not feeling pain ? " Yes," he said, and there he is seriously mistaken, since, as 1 have just shown, the complete removal of pain is the limit of the increase of pleasure." " Oh," I said, as for the formula
freedom from pain,' I will consider its meaning later on ; but unless you are extraordinarily obstinate you are bound to admit that freedom from pain ' does not mean the same as 'pleasure.'" "Well, but on this point you will find me obstinate," said he; "for it is as true as any proposition can be." " ftay," said I, " when a man is thirsty, is there any 87
CICERO DR FINIBUS bendo voluptas ? " Quis istud possit," inqiiit, negnre ? ' ' Eademne quae restincta siti ? ' ' Immo alio genere. Restincta enim sitis stabilitatem voluptatis liabet, ilia autem voluptas ipsius restin- ctionis ill niotu est," "Cur igitur," inquani, res
10 taiii dissimiles eodem nomine appellas?" Quid paulo ante," inquit, dixerim nonne meministij cum omnis dolor detraetus esset, variitri, non augeri volu- ptatem ? " Memini vero," inquam ; scd tu istuc dixti bene Latin e, parum plane. Van etas enim Latinum verbum est, idque proprie quidem in dis- paribus coloribus dicitur, sed transfertiir in multa dlsporia : varium poenia, varia oratio, varii mores, varia fortunn, voluptas etiam varia dici solet, rum percipitur e multis dissimilibus rebus dissimiles efE- cientibus voiuptates. Earn si varietatem diceres, iu- tellegerem, ut etiam non dicente te intelleffo ; ista varietas quae sit non satis perspioio, quod uis cum dolore careamus turn in summa voluptate nos esse, cum autem vescamur lis rebus quae dulcem motum afferant sensibus, tarn esse in motu voluptatem, quae^ facial varietatem voluptatum, sed non augeri illara non dolendi voluptatem, quara cur voluptatem ap- pelles nescio."
1 1 IV. An potest," inquit ille,' "quidquam esse
'quae
BOOK II. iii-iv pltasnre in the act of drinking ? " " That is unde- niable," he answered. ' Is it the same pleasure as the pleasure of having quenched one's thirst ? " "No, it is a different kind of pleasure. For the pleasure of having quenched one's thirst is a stainc ' pleasure, but the pleasure of actually quenching it is a kinetic' pleasure." Why then," 1 asked, do you call two such different things by the same ) name?" Do you not remember." he replied,
' what I said just now, that when all pain has been removed, pleasure may vary in kind but cannot be increased in degree?" "Oh, yes, I remember," said I ; but though your language was quite correct in form, your meaning was far from clear. Varia- tion ' is a good Latin term ; we use it strictly of different colours, but it is applied metaphorically to a number of things that differ : we speak of a varied poem, a varied speech, a varied character, varied fortunes. Pleasure too can be termed varied when it is derived from a number of unlike things pro- ducing milike feelings of pleasure. If this were the variation you spoke of, I could understand the term, just as I understand it even without your speaking of it. But I cannot quite grasp what you mean by
variation' when you say that when we are free from pain we experience tlic highest pleasure, and that when we are enjoying things that excite a pleasant activity of the senses, we then experience an active or kinetic ' pleasure that causes a variation of our pleasant sensations, but no increase in the former pleasure that consists in absence of pain — although why you should call this pleasure' I cannot make
1 IV. "Well," he asked, "can anything be more 89
CICERO DE FINIBUS
s quam nihil dolere?" Immo sit sane nihil melius," inquam, "(nondum enim id qnaero), nuiupro- pterea idem voluptas est quod, ut ita dicam, indolen- tia?" Plane idem," inquit, et maxima quidem, qua fieri nulla maior potest." Quid dubitas igitur," iiiquam, summo bono a te ita constitute ut id totum in non dolendo sit, id tenere unum, id tueri, id 12 defendere? Quid enim necesse est, 'tamquam meretricem in matronanim coetum, sic voluptatem in virtutum concilium adducere? Invidiosuni nomen est, infame, suspectum. Itaque hoc frequenter dici solet a vobis, non inteiiegere nos quam dicat Epicurus voluptatem. Quod quidem mihi si quando dictum est (est autem dictum non parum saepe), etsi satis clemens sum in disputando, tamen interdum soleo subirasci. Egone non intellego, quid sit I'lSoinj Graece, Latine 'voluptas'? utram tandem linguam nescio^ Deinde qui fit, ut ego nesciam, seiant omnes quicumqtie Epicurei esse voluerint ? Quod vestri quidem vel optime disputant, nihil opus esse eum qui futurus sit philosophus scire litteras. Itaque ut maiores nostri ab aratro adduxerunt^ Cincinnatum ilium ut dictator esset, sic vos de pagis omnibus colligitis bonos iilos quidem viros sed certe t
I
. BOOK !I. iv pleasant than freedom from pain ?" Still," I Thfreiii» replied, ' granting there is nothing better (that I[^d«iSndir point 1 waive for tlie moment), surely it does not ^JopyJ therefore follow that what I may call the negation ^raMUi"^ b) of pain is the same thing as pleasure?" "Absolutely ,'"J^^"'", the same," said lie, indeed the negation of pain is a very intense pleasure, the most intense pleasure possible," If then," said I, according to your account the Chief Good consists entirely in feeling no pain, why do you not keep to this without waver- ing? Wily do you not fiimly maintain this concep- 12 tion of the Good and no other? What need is there to introduce so aliandoned a character as Mistress Pleasure into the company of those respectable ladies the Virtues? Her veiy name is suspeet, and lies under a cloud of disrepute — so mtfth so that you Epicureans are fond of telling us that we do not understand what Epicurus njeans by pleasure. 1 am a reasonably good-tempered disputant, but for my own part when I hear this assertion (and I have encountered it fairly often), I am sometimes inclined to be a little irritated. Do I not understand the meaning of the Greek word kedone, the Latin voluplas? Pray which of these two languages is it that I am not acquainted with ? Moreover how comes it that 1 do not know what the word means, while all and sundry who have elected to be Epicu- reans do? As for that, your sect argues very plausibly that there is no need for the aspirant to philosophy to be a scholar at all. And you are as good as your word. Our ancestors brought old Cin- cinnatu.s from tlie plough to be dicbitor. You ran- sack the country villages for your assemblage of doubtless respectable but certainly not very learned 91
CICERO DE FINIBUS 1 8 eruditos. Ergo illi intellegunt quid Epicurus dicnt, egonon intellego? Ut sciasme intellegere, primum idem esse dico ' voluptatem/ quod ille -qSovi'iv. Et quidem saepe quaerimus verbum Latinum par Graeco et quod idem valeat ; hie nihil fuit quod quaereremiis. Nullum iiiveniri verbum potest quod magis idem declarct Latine quod Ciraeccj quam declarat vo1u- ptas.' Huic verbo omnes qui ubique sunt qui Latine Gciunt duas res subiciunt, laetitiani in animo, coiu- motionem suavem iucunditatis in corpore. Nam et ille apud Trabeam 'voluptatem anirai nimiam' lae- titiam dicit, eandem quam ille Caecilianus quia omni- bus laetitiis laetum ' esse se narrat. Sed hoc interest, quod voluptas ' dicitur etiam in animo (vitiosa res, ut Stoici putant, qui earn sic definiunt : sublationem animi sine ratione opinnntis se magno bono frui'), i non dicitur laetitia' nee 'gaudium' in corpore. In eo autem voluptas omnium Latine loquentium more ponitur, cum percipitur ea quae sensum aliquem moveat iucunditas. Haiic quoque iucunditatem,' si vis, transfer in animum ('iuvare' enim in utroque dicitur ex eoque iucundum'), modo intellegas inter ilium qui dicat
Tanta laetitia auctus sum ut nihil constet,"
'esse Mdv. bracketa, but cp. II 77, (Mmier).
'ul nihil nms/tl .
Ill :
inf. MSS. ui mthi non n
9. I (where he also refers to th Caecilius Slatlu^i): it appears to II
4. 35 and ad Fam. »,
lowing phrase from run ■ effo voluplalL-m
JM
BOOK 11. iv
IS adherents. Well, if these gentlemen can under- stand what Epicurus means, eaniiot If I will prove to you that I do. In the first place, I mean the same by pleasure ' as he does by kedaiie. One often has some trouble to discover a Latin word that shall be the precise equivalent of a Greek one ; but in this case no search was necessary. No instance can be found of a Latin word that more exactly con- veys the same meaning as the corresponding Greek word than does the word voliiplas. Every person in the world who knows Latin attaches to this word two ideas — that of gladness of mind, and that of a deliglitftil excitation of agreeable feeling in the body. On the one hand there is the character in Trabea who speaks of «tcesaive pleasure of the mind,'" meaning gladness, the same feeling as is in- tended by the person in Caecilius who describes him- self as being glad with every sort of gladness.' But there is this difference, that the word pleasure' can denote a mental as well as a bodily feeling (the former a vicious emotion, iu the opinion of the Stoics, whodefineitas elationof the mind under an irrational conviction that it is eiyoying some great good'), whereas joy' and gladness' are not used of bodily
1 4 sensation. However pleasure according to the usage of all who speak good Latin consists in the enjoyment of a delightful stimulation of one of the senses. The term delight" also you may apply if you like to the mind ('to delight' is said of both mind and body, and from it the adjective delight- ful ' is derived), so long as you understand that between the man who says
LSo full am I of gladness That I am all confusion.
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et e
Nunc denium mihi animus a; quorum alter laetitia gestiat, alter dolore crucietur, esse ilium medium :
Quamquani haec inter nos nuper iiotitia admodum est, qui nee laeteturnecangatur; itenique inter eum qui potiatur corporis eitpetitis voluplatibus et eum qui excrucietur sumiais doloribus esse eum qui utroque
> V. Satiane igitur videor vim verborum tenere, an sum etiam nunc vel Graece loqui vel Latine doceu- dus? Et tanien vide iie, si ego non intellegam quid Epicurus loquatur, cum Graece ut videor luculenter sciam, sit aliqua culpa eius qui ita loquatur ut non intellegatur. Quod duobus modis sine reprensione fitj si aut de industria facias, ut Heraclitus, cogno- mento qui irKintiyoi perhibetur,' quia de natura aimis obscure menioravit," aut cum renmi obscuritas, non verborum, facit ul non intellegatur oratio, qualis est ill Timaeo Platonis. Epicurus autem, ut opinor, nee non vult si possit plane et aperte loqui, nee de re obseura, ut pliysiei, aut artificiosa, ut mathemattci, sed de illustri et taeili et iam in vulgus pervagata loquitur. Quumquam non negatis nos intellegere quid sit voluptas, sed quid ille dicat; e quo efiic-itur
"The first quQlalion is from an unknown comic wriler; (he second from CaeciUus Slalius, who makes a 'heavy I'alher' say ' Nunc enim dcmum mihi animus ardel, nunc meum cor ciimulaltir ira ' (quoted in full by Cicero fire Cnel. 37)j Ihe third is from Terence. Heariloalim.,]. i, c(. IS3 above : Chremes' mild interest in his new neighbour, Ihe Self-Tonnentor, is rather oddly instanced asan illustration of the neutral slate of emotion intermediate between mental
pleas
1" The que
is possibly from Luc
■^ BOOK II. iv-v
and liim who says
Now, now my soul with anger burns, one of whom is transported witli gladness and the other tormented with painful emotion, there is the intermediate state :
Though our acquaintances! lip is but quite recent," where the speaker feels neither gladness nor sor- row ; and that similarly between tlie enjoyment of the most desirable bodily pleasures and the endurance of the most excruciating pains there is the neutral state devoid of either.
j V. "VVell.areyousatisfiedthatlhavegraspedthe meaning of the terms, or do I still require lessons in the use of either Greek or Latin ? And even supposing that 1 do not understand what Epicurus says, still I believe I really have a very clear knowledge of Greek, so that perhaps it is partly his fault for using such unintelligible language. Obscurity is excusable on two grounds : it may be deliberately adopted, as in the case of Heraclitus,
^^ The surname of the Obscure who bore,
^K So dark his philosophic lore ,
■W the obscurity may be due to the abstruseness of the subject and not of the style — an instance of this is Plato's Timaeui. But Epicurus, in my opinion, has no intention of not speaking plainly and clearly if he can, nor is He discussing a recondite subject like natural pliilosophy, nor a technical subject such as mathematics, but a lucid and easy topic, and one that is generally familiar already. And yet you Epicureans do not deny that we understand what pleasure t'*, but what he means by it; which proves
CICERO DE FlNlllUS ^|
not! ut nos noil iiitellegamus quae vis sit istius verbi, sed ut ille suo more loquatur, nostrum ncglegat.
1 6 Si enim idem dicit quod Hieronymus, qui censet summum bonum esse sine uHa molestia vivere, cur mavult dicere voluptatem quam vacuitutem dotoris, ut ille fjicit, qui quid dicat intellegit? sin autem voluptatem putat adiungeiidam earn quae sit in motu (sic enim appellat banc dulcein, iu motu,' illam nihil dolentis, 'in stabilitate Oi quid tendit? cum efflcere non possit ut cuiquam qui ipse sibi notus sit, hoc est qui suam naturam secisumque perspeserit, vacuitas doloris et voluptas idem esse videatur. Hoc est vim afferre, Torquate, sensibus, extorquere ex aniniis cognitiones verborum quibus imbuti sumus. Quis est enim qui non videat haec esse in natura rerum tria? unum cum in voluptate sumus, alterum cum in dolore, tertium hoc in quo nunc equidem sum, credo item vos, nee in dolore nee in voluptate ; ut in voluptate sit qui epuletur, in dolore qui tor- queatur: tu autem uiter haec tantam multitudi- nem hominum interiectam non vides nee laetantium
17 nee dolentium?" Non prorsus," inquit, omnesque qui sine dolore sint in voluptate, et ea quidem sum- ma, esse dico." " Ergo in eadem voluptate eum qui
BOOK ir. V
not that we do not understand the real meaning of the word, but thut Epicurus is speaking an idiom of
1 6 his own and ignoring our accepted terminology. For if Abseooo o/ p»i he means the same as Hieronymus, who holds that «/le bdh«en the Chief Good is a life entirely devoid of trouble, pi"»suro md why does he insist on using tlie term pleasure, and
not ratlier freedom from pain,' as does Hieronymus,
who understands his own meaning ? Whereas if his view is that the End must include kinetic pleasure (for so he describes this vivid sort of pleasure, calling it 'kinetic' iu contrast with the pleasure of freedom from pain, which is static ' pleasure), what is he really aiming at? For he cannot possibly convince any person who knows Aimse(/'^— anyone who has studied his own nature and sensations — that freedom from pain is the same thing as pleasure. To identify them, Torquatus, is to do violence to the senses ; it is uprooting from our minds the knowledge of the meaning of words imbedded in them. Who is not aware that the world of experience contains these three states of feeling: first, the enjoyment of pleasure; second, the sensation of pain; and third, which is my own condition and doubtless also yours at the present moment, the absence of both pleasure ^^^jid pain f Pleasure is the feeling of a man eating I ^^^ good dinner, pain that of one being broken c ^^■lie rack ; but do you really not see that inter- I ^Htoediate between tliose two extremes lies a vast ] multitude of persons who are feeling neitlier gratifi' ,
17 cation nor pain?" "l certainly do not," said he ; " I maintain that all who are without pain are enjoying pleasure, and what is more the highest
Kof pleasure." "Then you think that a man , not being himself thirsty, mixes a drink for
CICEUO DE FINIBUS
alteri misceat mulsum ipse non sitiens, et eum qui illud sitiens bibjif?"
VI. Turn ille : Fiiiem, liiquit, interrogandi, si videtur; quod quidem ego a. priiicipio ita me malle dixeram, lioc ipsum providens, dialecticas captiones."
Rhetorice igitur," inquam, nos mavis quam diale- etice disputare?" "Quasi vero," inquit, perpetua oratio rhetoruni solum, non etiam philosophorum sit."
Zenonis est," iiiquum, hoe Stolci; omnem vim loquendi, ut iam ante Aristoteles, in duas tributam esse partes, rhetoricam palmae, dialecticam pugni similem essediecbat, quod latius loquerentur rhelorea, dialectici autem conipressius. Obsequar igitur voliin- tati tuae dicamque si potero rhetorice, sed hac rhe- torica philosophorum, non nostra ilia forensi, quam necesse est, eum popuhiriter loquatur, esse iiiterdum i paulo hebetiorem. Sed dum dialecticam, Torquate, contemnit Epicurus, quae una continet omnem et perspieiendi quid in quaque re sit scientiam et iudicandi quale quidque sit et ratione ac via dispu- tandi, ruit iji dicendo, ut mihi quidem videtur, nefifl eu quae docere vult ulla arte distinguit; ut liaec ipsa ' quae modo loquebamm*. Summum a vobis bonum voluptas dicitur. Aperiendum est igitur quid sit
;t
J
BOOK II.
IlPther, feels the same pleasure as the tlursty man bo drinks it?" ' VI. At this Torqiiatus exclaimed ; A truce to ques- Torsnaius bn and answer, if you do not tnind. I told you iher qusti from the beginning that I preferred continuous eJ^t'^M'S speeches. I foresaw exactly what would happen; I knew we should come to logic-chopping and quib- bling." Then," said I, would you sooner we adopted the rhetorical and not the dialectical mode of debate?" "Why," he cried, "just as if continuous discourse were proper for orators only, and not for philosophers as well!" That is the view of Zeno the Stoic," I rejoined ; he used to say that the faculty of speech in general falls into two depart- ments, as Aristotle had already laid down; and that Rhetoric was like the palm of the hand, Dialectic like the closed fist; because rhetoricians employ an
Bpansive style, and dialecticians one that is more mpressed. So I will defer to your wish, and will eak if I can in the rhetorical manner, but with the etoric of the philosophers, not with the sort which we use in the law-courts. The latter being addressed tothe public ear must necessarily sometimes beahttle 18 lacking in subtlety. Epicurus however, Torquatus, Epicunaiho in his contempt for dialectic, which comprises at once j^flnd'oii the entire science of discerning tlie essence of sure piiu ' tilings, of judging their qualities, and of conducting * '"'"" v a systematic and logical argument, — Epicurus, 1 say, makes havoc of his exposition. He entirely fails, my opinion at all events, to impart scientific precision to the doctrines he desires to convey. Take f example the particular tenet that we have just b [fliscussing. The Chief Good is pleasu Well then. you must explai
C tails, m ^_
precision ^^H
Take for ^^H
just been ^^^
you Epi- ^^1
: pleasure ^H
99 ^M
CICERO DE FINIBUS voluptas ; aliter enim explicari quod qiiaeritur non potest. Quani si explicavisset, non t taret; aut enim eaui voluptatein tueretur quam AristippoSj id est qua sensus dulciter ac iucunde movetiir, quoni ettam pecudes si loqui possent apel- lorent voluptatem; aut, si magis placeret suo 1 loqui quam ut
Omnes Danai atque Mycenenses, Attica pubes, reliquique Graeci qui hoc anapaesto titantur, nun dolere solum voluptatis nomine appellaret, illud Aristippeum fontemneret ; aut, si uteumque probaret, ut probat, coiiiungeret doloris vacuitatem cum volu- |l9 ptate et duobus ultimis iiteretur. Multi enim ct magni pliilosophi haec ultima bonorum iuncta fece- ruut; ut Aristoteles^ virtutis osum cum vitae perfe- ctae prosperitate coniunxit, Callipho adiunxit ad honestatem voluptatem, Diddorus ad eandcm hone- statem addidit vacuitatem doloris. Idem fecisset Epicurus, si sententiam banc, quae nunc Hieronymi est, coniunxisset cum Aristippi vetcre sententia. Il!i enim inter se dissentiunt ; propterea singulis finibus utuntur, et, cum uterque Graeee egregie loquatur, nee Aristippus, qui voluptatem summum bonum dicit, in voluptate ponit non dolere, neque Hieronymus, qui ^ „/ Aris/fMes; inf. MSS. ut Arisloleles ,
\
HOOK li. ^^
e it is impossible to make clear the sub- ject under investigalion. Had Epicurus cleared up the meaning of pleasure, he would not have fallen into such coiifusion. £itber be would have upheld pleasure in the sune sense as Aristippus, that is, an agreeable and deliglitful excitation of the sense, which
I what even dumb cattle, if they could speak, would 11 pleasure; or, if ho' preferred to use an idiom of i owHj instead of spe^ir^ the language of the Danaans one and all, men of Mycenae, Scions of Athens,' d the rest of the Greeks invoked in these anapaests, might have confined the name of plcjisgre to this state of freedom from pain, and despised picture as Aristippus understands it ; or else, if he approv^ of both sorts of pleasure, as in fact he does, iJien .he ought to combine together pleasure and abserict' of 19 pain, and profess tfpo ultimate Goods. Many fli.j^" ' tinguished philosophers have as a matter of fact thus interpreted the ultimate Good as composite. For instance, Aristotle combined the exercise of virtue with well-being lasting throughout a complete life- time; Callipho united pleasure with moral worth; Diodorus to moral worth added freedom from pain. Epicurus would have followed their example, had he coupled the view we are discussing, which as it is belongs to Hieronynius, with the old doctrine of Aristippus. For there is a real difference of opinion between them, and accordingly each sets up his own separate End; and as both speak unimpeachable £reek, Aristippus, who calls pleasure the Chief not count absence of pain as pleasure, Hieronymus, who makes the Chief Good
iUL
CICERO DE FINiBUS suminuin bonum statuit non dolere, voluptatis nominel umquam utitur pro ilia mdolentia, quippe qui n expetendis quidem rebus numeret voluptatem. I 20 VII. Duae sunt enim res quoque, ne tu verba I solum putes. Unum est sireB_ ijolore esse, alteram j cum Toluptate ; vos ex bis.-tiun dlssimilibus rebus n modo nomen unum (itan) id facilius paterer), sed etiam rem unara ,es d'uabus facere conamini, quod I fieri nullo modo poiest. Hie, qui utrumque probat, ambobus debuit!uti, sicut facit re neque tamen divi- dit verbis; Cum enim earn ipsam voluptatem quam eodeiii nomine omnes appellaraus laudnt locis pluri- .□ulj.a^idet dicere ne suspicari quidem se uUum bonum. '^iilnctum ab illo Aristippco genere voluptatis; atr I que ibi hoc dicit ubi omnis eius est oratio de summa ' bono. In alio vero libro, in quo breviter compre- hensis gravissimis sententiis quasi oracuta edidisse sapientiae dicitur, scribit his verbis, quae nota tibi profectp, Torquate, sunt (quis enim vestrum non edi- i dicit Epicuri Kvpia^ &I^as, id est quasi maxime ratas, quia gravi.ssimae sint ad beate vivendum breviter ' enuntiatae sententiae ?) animadverte igitur, rectene | ;1 banc sententiam interpreter : ' Si ea quae sunt , efficientia voluptatum liberarent eos deo- 1 I et mortis et doloris metu docerentquc qui ^ 103
BOOK II.
ipt does ^^H
at ^1
absence of pain, never employs the name plea to denote this negation of pain, and in fact d not reckon pleasure among things desirable a
} Vn. For you must not suppose it is merely a ButuEifeba verbal distinction ■ the things themselves are differ- J^^^J^ ent. To be without pain is one thing, to feel on*; to[(ii pleasure another; yet you Epicureans try to combine dcicD^^wn- these quite dissimilar feelings — not merely under a ^'^^^^ j( single name (for that I could more easily tolerate), be «mioiuiiiwi but as actually being a single thing, instead of really two; which is absolutely impossible. Epicurus, approving Iwth sorts of pleasure, ought to have re- cognized both sorts ; as he really does in fact, though he does not distinguish them in words. In a number of passages where he is commending that real pleasure which all of us call by the same name, he goes so far as to say that be cannot even imagine any Good that is not connected with pleasure of the kind intended by Aristippus. This is the language that he holds in the discourse dealing solely with the topic of the Chief Good. Then there is an- other tre.itise containing his most important doc- trines in a compendious form, in which we are told he ottered the very oracles of Wisdom. Here he writes the following words, with which you, Torquatus, are of course fanailiar (for every good Epicurean has got by heart the master's Kuriai Doxai or Autlioritative Doctrines, since these brief aphor- isms or maxims are held to be of sovereign efficacy for happiness). So I wUl ask you kindly to notice
I whether I translate this maxim correctly ; If the things in which sensualists find pleasure could deliver them from the fear of the gods and of death and pain, and could teach them to set bounds to their
CICERO DK riNIBLS CBSent fines cupiditatum, niliil haberemus quod re- prehenderemus,' cum undique complerentur vnlupta.- tibus nee haberent ulla ex parte aUquid aut dolens aut aegmm, id est autem malum.'"
Hoc loco tenereseTmrmsnonpotuit. "Obseero," iiiquit] Torquate, haec dicit Epicurus?" (quod mihi quidem visus est, cum sciret, velle tamen confitentem audire Torquatum). At ille iion perttmuit saneque fidenter: Istis quidem ipsis verbis," tnquit; sed quid sentiat nou videtis." Si alia sentit," inquatn, alia loquitur, numquam intellegam quid seiitiat ; sed plane dicit quod intellegit. Idque si ita dicit, non esse reprendendos luxuriosos si sapientes sint, dicit absurde, similiter et si dicat non reprendendos parricidas si nee cupidi sint nee dcos metuant nee mortem nee dolorem. Et tamen quid attinet Iuku- riosis ullam exceptionem dari aut fingere aliquos qui, cum luxuriose viverent, a aummo philosopho non re- prenderentur eo nomine dumtaxat, cetera caverent? [ 22 Sed tanien nonne reprenderes. Epicure, luxuriosos ob earn ipsam causam quod ita viverent ut perse- querentur cuiusquemodi voluptates, cum esset prae- sertim, ut ais tu, summa voluptas nihil dolere ? Atqui reperiemus asotos primum ita non religiosos ut edint de patella,' deinde ita mortem non ti- mentes ut iltud in ore babeant ex Hymnide :
; yiiod reptehenilereinus
■ Apparently proverbial for shameless g'Jultony. The fia/elia was ustd for offerings of food made to the house- hold ({ods.
bA comedy by Caecilius Slalios, Iranslaled from the Greek of Menander. 104.
BOOK II, rii desires, we should have no reason to hlame them, since on every hand tliey would be abundantly sup- plied with pleasures, and on no side would be exposed to any pain or grief, which are the sole evil.*"
At this point Triarius could contain himself no longer. Seriously now, Torquatus," he broke out, "does Epicurus really say that?" (For my own part, I believe that he knew it to be true, but wanted to hear Torquatus admit it.) Torquatus, nothing daunted, answered with complete assurance :
Certainly, those are his very words. But you don't understand his meaning." ' Oh," I retorted,
if he means one thing and says another, I never shall understand his meaning. But he does not; he states the case eleariy as he understands it. If his meaning is that sensualists are not to be blamed provided they are wise men, he is talking nonsense. He might as well say that parricides are not to be blamed provided they «re free from avarice arid from fear of the gods, of death and of pain. Even so, what is the point of granting the sensual any saving clause? Why imagine certain fictitious per- sons who, though living sensually, would not be blamed by the wisest of philosophers, at all events for their sensuality, and who avoided other faults ? 22 All the same, Epicurus, would not you blame sen- sualists for the very reason that their one object in life is the pursuit of pleasure of any and every sort, especially as according to you the highest pleasure is to feel no pain ? Yet we shall find profligates in the first place so devoid of religious scruples that they will eat the food on the paten,' " and secondly so fearless of death as to be always quoting the lines from the HymnU^:
CICERO DE FINIBUS Mihi sex menses satis sunt vitae : septimum Oreo spondeo.
lam doloris medicamenta ilia Epiciirea tamquam de narthecio plomcnt: Si gravis, brevis: si longus, levis.' Unum nescio, quomodo possit, si liiKurioBus sit, finitas cupiditates habere. 1 VIII. Quid ergo attinet dicere: 'Nihil haberem quod rcprenderem, si finitas cupiditates haberent?' Hoc est dicere ; Non reprenderem asotos si non essent asoti.' Isto modo ne improbos quidem si es- sent boni viri. Hie homo severus luxuriani ipsam per Be reprendendam non putat. Et herculc, Tor- quate, ut verum loquamur, si summum bonum volu- ptas est, rectissiTne non putat. Nolim enim mihi fingere asotos, ut soletis, qui in raensam vomant et qui de convivlis auferantur crudique postridie se rursus ingurgitent, qui solem, ut aiunt, nee oceiden- tem umquam viderint nee orientem, qui consumptis patrimoniis egeant. Nemo nostrum istius generis asotos iucunde putat vivere. Mundos, elegantes, optimis cocis, pistoribus, piscatu, aueupio, venatione, bis omnibus exquisitis, vitantes eruditatem, quibus ' vinum defiisum e pleno sit, t hirsizon ' (ut ait Luci- lius) cui nihil dum sit vis et SAceulus abstulerit,' ad-
^hirsieon, hirsyphon or the like, MSS.; and for dum sit some have dempsit, dempseril. No plausible reconstruction has been auggresltid; but the reference seemi to be to the process of straining wine to remove the lees and get rid of vis, harshness of flavour.
^Cf. I 840.
BOOK II. vii-viii Enough for me six months of life, the seventh to Hell I pledge 1 Or if they want an antidote to pain, out comes from their medicine-chest the great Epicurean panacea, Short if it's strong, light if it's long.'' Only one point I can't make out: how can a man at once be a sensualist and keep his desires within bounds? 3 VIII. " What then is the point of saying ' I should have no fault to find with them if they kept their desires within bounds ' ? That is tantamount to saying 'l should not blame the profligate if they were not profligate.' On tliat principle you would not blame the dishonest either, if tiiey were upright men. Here is a rigid moralist, who tliinks that sensuality is not in itself blameworthy ! And I profess, Torquatus, on the hypothesis that pleasure is the Chief Good he is perfectly justified in think- ing so. 1 had rather not draw disgusting pictures, as you are so fond of doing, of debauchees who are sick at table, have to be carried home from dinner- parties, and next day gorge themselves again before they have recovered from the effects of the night before ; men who, as the saying goes, have never seen either sunset or sunrise; men who run through their inheritance and sink into penury. None of us sup- poses that profligates of that description live plea- santly. No, but fastidious gourmets, with first-rate chefs and confectioners, fish, birds, game, and all of the very best; careful of their digestion ; with Wine in flask Decanted from a new-hroach'd cask, . . . as Lucilius has it,
I Wine of tang bereft,
All harshness in the strainer left; ■ :
CICERO DE FlNlliUS ^H
hibentes ludos et quae sequuntur, ilia quibiis detractis clamat Epicurus se nescire quid sit Ixinuni; adsint etiam formosi pueri qui miiiiatreiit ; respondeat his vestis, argentum, Corinthium, locus ipse, acdificium ; — iios ergo asotos bene quidem vivere aut beate 24 numquaui diserim. Ex quo efficitur noii ut voluptas ne sit voluptas, sed ut voluptas non sit sumnium bonum. Nee ille qui Diogenem Stoicum adulescens, post aotem Paiiaetium audierat, Laelius eo dictus est sapiens quod non intellegeret quid suavissimum essct (nee enim sequitur ut cui cor sapiat ei non sapiat palatus), sed quia parvi id dueeret.
O lapathe, ut iactare nee es satis cognitus qui sis '. In quo Laelius clamores ct<h^i)$ ille solebat _*^| Edere, compellans gumias ex ordine nostros. ^^H
Praeclare laelius, et recte o-ot^os, illudque vere : ^^
O Puhli, o giirges, Galloni, es homo raiser,' inquit. Cenasti in vita numquani bene, eura omnia in ista Consumis squilla atque acipensere cum decimano.'
Is haee loquitur qui in voluptate nihil ponens negat eum bene cenare qui omnia ponat in voluptate; et
a This passage of Luoilius is alluded to by Horace Sat. 2. 1. 46, wliere it appears llial Gallonius was an auctioneer, notorious for having- inlroduced acipenser (sturgeon ?) to Roman tables.
^r BOOK 11. viii
fth the acponipaninient of dramatic perfor
id their usual sequel, the pleasures apart from
tiich Epicurus, as he loudly proclaims, does not
LOW what Good is; give them also beautiful boys
wait upon them, with drapery, silver, Corinthian onzea, and the scene of the feast, the banqueting- om, all in keeping; take profligates of this sort; at these live well or enjoy happiness I v low. The conclusion is, not that pleasure is not easure but that pleasure is not the Chief Good. le famous Laelius, who had been a pupil of Dio- ■nes the Stoic In his youth and later of Panaetius, y,treaii» IS not called 'the Wise' because he was no judge "„0"^™°"
good eating (for a wise mind is not necessarily hms;
inl1n.
CICERO DE FINIBUS tamen non negat libenter uraquam cenasse Gallo- nium (mcntiretur enim), sed bene. Ita graviter et severe voluptatem secemit a bono. Es quo illud efficitur, qui bene ceuent omnes libenter cenare, qui libenter, non continue bene. Semper Laelius bene. 25 Quid bene? Dicet Lucilius:
Condito, sed cedo caput cenae :
sennone bono, quid ex eo?
;i quaeris, libenter;
iebat t
1 ad •
naturae.
1 ut animo quieto satiaret Recte ergo is negat uniiiuam , recte miserum, cum prae- sertim in eo omne studium consumeret. Quern libenter cenasse nemo negat. Cur igitur non bene? Quia quod bene, id recte, frugaliter, honeste ; ille porro prave,^ nequiter, turpiter cenabat ; non i^tur bene." Ncc lapathi suavitatcni acipenseri Gallon! Laelius anteponebat, sed suavitatem ipsani neglegebat; quod non faeeret si in voluptate sum- mum bonum poneret. ) IX. Semovenda est igitur voluptas non solum ut recta sequamini sed etiatn ut loqui deceat fruga-
'porro male prove MSS.; male Mdv. brackets. ^bene inserted by Mdv. 110
'— - -^
rfB^a
BOOK II. viii-ix say Gallonius never dined pleasantly (which would be untrue), but never well. So strict and severe is the distinction he draws between pleasure and good. The conclusion is that tliough all who dine well dine pleasantly, yet he who dines pleasantly does not necessarily dine well. Laelius always dined well. 35 What does well' mean? Lucilius shall say:
Well-cook 'd, well-season' d,
ah, but now the principal dish t
Of honest talk, and the result :
a pleasant meal ; for he came to dinner tliat with mind at ease he niig'iit satisfy the wants of Nature. Laelius is right therefore in denying that Gallonius ever dined well, right in calling him unhappy, and that too althougli all his thoughts were centred on the pleasures of the table. No one will deny that he dined pleasantly. Then why not well"? Because weir implies rightly, respectably, worthily ; whereas Gallonius diued wrongly, disreputably, basely ; there- fore he did not dine welL It was not that I^elius thouglit his 'dinner of herbs' more palatable than Gallonius's sturgeon, but that he disregarded the pleasures of the palate altogether ; and this he could not have done, had he made the Chief Good consist .^
K.. "Consequently you are bound to discard plea- i , not merely if you are to guide your conduct I Ight, but even if you are to be able consistently to : the language (Of respectable people. Can we i
CICERO DE FINIBUS liter. Possiunusne ergo in vita summum bonum di- cere quod ne in cena' quideni posse videamur? Quomodo autem philoaophiis loquitur ? Tria genera cupiditatura, naturales et necessariae, naturales et non necessariae, nee naturales nee necessariae.' Primum divisit ineleganter ; duo enim genera quae erant, fecit tria. Hctc est non dividere sed frangere. Qui haec didicerunt quae ille contemnit, sie solent ; Duo genera cupiditatum, naturales et inanes : naturalium duo, necessariae et non necessariae.' Confect.1 res esset. Vitiosum est enim in dividendo 27 partem in genere numerare. Sed hoc sane conce- damus. Contemnit disserendi elegantiam ; confuse loquitur ; gerendus est mos, modo recte sentiat. Equideui illud ipsum non niniium probo et tantum patior, pbilosophum loqui de cupiditatibus liniendis. An potest cupiditas finiri ? Tollcnda est atque ex- trabenda radicitus. Quis est enim in quo sit cupi- ditas, quin recte cupidus dici possit ? Ergo et avams erit, sed finite, et adulter, verum habebit modum, et luxuriosus, eoilcm modo. Qualis ista philusopliia est quae non interitum afferat pravitatis sed sit contenta mediocritate vitioi'uni? Quaniqiiam in hac divisione rem ipsam prorsus probo, elegantiam desidero. Ap- pellet baec desideria naturae; cupiditutis nomen servet alio, ut earn cum de avaritia, cum de intem-
fl Thos. Benlley ;
nidn.
«Mdv.
■ BOOK II. ix ■
Imssibly therefore rail a tiling the Chief Good with regard to livuig, w)ieii we feel we cannot call it so even in regard to dining ? But how sajs our philo- and man: sopher? The desires are of three kinds, natural ^||^j^"", and necessary, natural but not neeessary, neither S"'?".'' natural nor necessary.' To begin with, this is a misitadin clumsy division ; it makes three classes when there are really only two. This is not dividing but hacking in pieces. Thinkers trained in the si^ience which Epicurus despised usually put it thus: The desires are of two kinds, natural and imaginary*; natural desires again fall Into two subdivisions, necessary and not necessary.' That would have rounded it off properly. It is a fault in division to
7 reckon a species as a genus. Still, do not let us stickle about form. Epicurus despises the niceties of dialectic ; he affects a careless style ; we must humour him in this, provided that his meaning is correct. But for my own part I eannotcordially approve, I inerely tolerate, a philosoplier who talks of setting bounds to the desires. Is it possible for desire to be kept within bounds? It ought to be destroyed, uprooted altogether. On your principle there is no form of desire whose possessor could not be morally approved. He will be a miser-^within limits ; an adulterer— in moderation ; a sensualist — to the I same extent. What sort of a philosophy is this, I that instead of dealing wickedness its death-bloi is satisfied with moderating- our vices? Albeit ij quite approve the substance of this classifi cation ; is the form of it to which I take exception. Let him speak of the first class as the needs of ,' and keep the term desire ' for another in, to be put on trial for its life when he
CICERO DF, FINIBUS ^H
pernntia, cum de maximis vitiis loquetur tamquam capitis occuset.
Sed haec quidem liberius ab eo dicuntur et saepius. Quod equidein non reprendo ; est eniin tanti pliilo3ophi tamque iiobilis audacter sua de- creta defendere. Sed tamen ex eo quod earn vol»- ptatem quam omnes {feiites hoc nomine appellant vidt'tur ample xari saepe vehementius, iii magnis interdom versatur angustjis, ut hominum conscientia remota nihil tam turpe sit quod voluptatis causa non videatur esse facturus. Delude ubi erubuit (vis enim est perraagna naturae), confugit illuc ut neget accedere quidquam posse ad voluptatem nihil dolen- tis. At iste non dolendi status non vocatur voluptas. Non laboro, inquit, de nomine. — Quid quod res alia tota est ? — Reperiam multos vel miiumerabiles potius non tam curiosos nee tam molestos quam voa estis, quibus quidquid velim facile persuadeam. — Quid ergo dubitamas quin, si non dolere voluptas sit sumnia, non esse in voluptate dolor sit maximus ? cur id non ita fit? — Quia dolori non voluptas con- trarla est sed doloris privatio.
^oc vero non videre, maximo argumento esse voluptatem iltam, qua sublutu neget se intellegere omnino quid sit bonum (earn autem ita perscquitur : quae palato percipiatur, quae auribus, — cetera addit.
BOOK II. ix-x comes tn deal with Avarice, Intemperance, and all the major vices.
I "This classification of the desires is then a subject (2)wii on which Epicurus is fond of enlarging. Not that back q I find fault with him for that ; we expect so gi-eat and q^I^\ famous a philosopher to maintain his dogmas boldly. But he often seems unduly eager to approve of plea- sure in the common acceptation of the term, for this occasionally lands him in a very awkward position. < It conveys the impression that there is no action so base but that he would be ready to commit it for tlie sake of pleasure, provided he were guaranteed against detection. Afterwards, put to the blush by this conclusion (for the force of natural instinct after all is overwhelming), he turns for refuge to the assertion that nothing can enhance the pleasure of freedom from pain. Oh but,' we urge, your stalif condition of feeling no pain is not what is termed pleasure at all.' — I don't trouble about the name,' lie replies,— Well, but the thing itself is abso- lutely different.' — Oh, I can find Jiundreds and thousands of people less precise and tiresome than yourselves, who will be glad to accept as true any- thing I like to teach tlieiii.' — ' Then why do we not go a step further and argue that, if not to feel pain is the highest pleasure, therefore not to feel pleasure is the greatest pain ? Wliy does not this hold good ? ' — Because the opposite of pain is not pleasure but absence of pain.'
) X. But fancy his failing to see how strong a proof n n- bi it is that the sort of pleasure, without which he „°„"f. declares he has no idea at all what Good means (and he defines it in detail as the pleasure of the palate; of tlie ears, and subjoins the other kind;
J
CICERO DE FINIIJUS
quae Hi appellos, lionos praefandiis sit)— hoc igitui quod solum bonuiu severus et gravis pliilosophus no vit, idem quod earn deremus, |30 contraria 1 loqueiidi
in videt ne expetendum quidem esse, iluptjitem hoc codem auelore non desi- in dulore careamus ! Qunm liaec sunt Hie si definire, si dividere didicisset, si I, si denique consuetudiiiem verborum tcneret, numquam in tantas salebras incidisset. Nunc vides quid fuciat. Quam nemo umquam voluptatem appellavit, appellat ; quae duo sunt, unum faeit, Hanc in motu voluptateni (sic enira has suaves et quasi dulces voluptates appellat) interdum ita extenuat ut M'. Curium putes loqui, interdum ita laiidat ut quid praeterea sit bonuni neget se posse ne suspicari qui- dem. Quae iam oratio non a pliiloaoplio aliquo sed a eensore opprimenda est ; non pst enim vitium in ora- tione solum sed etiam in moribus, Luyuriam non reprendit, modo sit vacua intinita cupiditate et timore. Hoe loco discipulos quaerere videtur, ut qui asoti esse velint philosoptii ante Rant.
A primo, ut opinor, animantium ortu pctitur origo summi boni. Siniul atque natum animal est, gaudet voluptate et earn appetit ut bonum, aspeniatur dolorem ut malum. De malis autem et bonis ab iis animalilius quae nondum depravata sint ait opti- me iudicnri. Haec et tu ita posuisti et verba 116
lug la ■aUly.
BOOK n. X
pleasure, which cannot he specified without an apology), — he fails, I say. to see that this, the sole Good with which our strict and serious philosopher is acquainted, is actually not even desirable, in- asmuch as on his own showing we feel no need of this sort of pleasure, so long as we are free from ?0 pain I How inconsistent this is ! If only Epicurus ti had studied Definition and Division, if he understood "I the meaning of Predication or even the customary "" uses of terms, lie would never have fallen into such a quandary. As it is, you see what he does. He »^Is a thing pleasure that no one ever called by that name before ; he confounds two things that are dis- tinct. The ' kinetic ' sort of pleasure (for so he terms the delightful and so to speak sweet-flavoured pleasures we are considering) at one moment he so disparages that you would tliink you were listening to Manius Curius, while at another moment he so extols it that he tells us he is incapable even of imagining what other good there can be. Now that is language that does not call for a philosopher to answer it, — it ought to be put down by the police. His morality is at fault, and not only his logic. He does not censure proHigaey, provided it be free from unbridled desire, and ftom fear of conse- quences. Here he seems to be making a bid for disciples : the would-be roue need only turn philo-
3 1 For the origin of the Chief Good he goes back, I Again, If
understand, to the birth of living things. As soon as sctirepii^asure an animal is bom, it delights in pleasure and seeks it p^^ng' jj^ as a sood, but shuns pain as an evil. Creatures as yet Chiol Good.
ETjpted are accoi-ding to him the best judges " "^^
CICERO DE FINIBUS
vestra sunt. Quam multa vitiosa ! Summnm enim bonuin et malum vagiens puer utra voluptate diiudicabit, stnnte an movente ? qiioniam, si dis placet, ab Epicuro loqui discimiis. Si stante, hoc natura videlicet vult, salvaiji esse se, quod concedi- mus ; si movente, quod tamen didtis, nulla turpis voluptas erit quae praetemiittenda sit, et siniul non proHciscitur animal illud modo natum a sumnin vo-
2 luptate, quae est a te posita in non dolendo. Nee tamen ai'guraentum hoc Epicurus a parvis petivit aut etiam a bestiis, quae putat esse speculu naturae, ut diceret ab iis duce natura banc voluptatem expeti nihil dolendi. Neque enim haec movere potest ap- petitum animi, nee ullum habet ictum quo pellat animmn status hie non dolendi (itaque in hoc eodem peccat Hieronymus), at ilie pellit qui perniuleet sen- sum voluptate. Itaque Epicurus semper iioc utitur ut probet voluptatem natura expeti, quod ea volu- ptas quae in motu sit et parvos ad se alliciat et bestias, non ilia stabilia in qua tantum inest nihil dolere. Qui igitur convenit ab alia voluptate dicerc naturam proticisci, in alia summum bonum ponere ?
i XI. " Bestiarumvero nullum iudiciumputo.Quam- vis enim depravatae non sint, pravae tamen esse pos- sunt. Ut bacillum aliud est inflexom et incurvatum de industria, aliud ita natum, sic ferarum natura non
^■^ BOOK II. x-xi
pounded it and as it is expressed in the phraseology of your school. What a mass of fallacies ! Which kind of pleasure will it be that guides a mewling infant to distinguish between the Chief Good and Evil,
static ' pleasure or kinetic ' ?— since we leam our language, heaven help us I from Epicurus. If the
static ' kind, the natural instinct is clearly towards self-preservation, as we agree ; but if the 'kineticj' and this is what neverthuless you maintain, then no pleasure will be loo liase to be accepted ; and also our new-bom animal in this case does not find its earliest motive in the highest form of pleasure, since this on your showing consists in absence of pain.
32 For this latter doctrine, however, Epicurus cannot have gone to children nor yet to animals, which ac- cording to liim give a true reflection of nature ; he could hardly say that natural instinct guides the young to desire tlie pleasure of freedom from pain, Tiiis cannot excite appetition; the static' condition of feeling no pain exerts no driving-power, supplies no impulse to the will (so that Hieronymus also is wrong here) ; it is the positive sensation of pleasure and delight that fumislies a motive. Accordingly Epicurus's standing argument to prove that pleasure is naturally desired is that infants and animals are attracted by the kinetic ' sort of pleasure, not the
static ' kind which consists merely in freedom from pain. Surely then it is inconsistent to say that natural instinct starts from one sort of pleasure, but that the Chief Good is found in another.
33 XI. "As for the lower animals, I set no value on :„ their verdict. Their instincts may be wrong, although '■^^ we catmot say they are perverted. One stick has sm been bent and twisted on purpose, another has grown ^
CICERO DE FINIBUS est ilia, quidem depravata mala disciplina, sed natura sua. Nee ^ero «t voluptatem expetat natura iiiovet infantem, sed tantum lit se ipse diligat, ut integrum se salvumque velit. Omne enini animal, simul est tirtum/ et se ipsum et omnes partes suas diligit, du- asque quae maximae sunt in primis amplectitiir, ani- mum et corpus, deiiide utriusque partes. Nam sunt et in aiiimo praecipua quaedam et in corpore, quae cum ]eviter agnovit, tum discemere incipit, ut ea quae prima data sint natura appctat asperneturque 34 contraria. In his primis naturalibus voluptas insit iiecne, magna quaestio est; nihil vero putare esse praeter voluptatem, non membra, non sensus, non ingeni motum, non integritatem corporis, non vale- tudinem, summae mihi videtur inscitiae. Atque ab isto capite fluere necesse est omnera rationem bono- rum et malorura. Polemoni et iam ante Aristoteli ea prima visa sunt quae paulo ante dixi. Ergo nata est sententia veterum Academicorum et Peripateti- corum ut iinem bonorutn dicerent secundum naturam vivere, id est virtute adbibita frui piimis a natura datis. Callipho ad virtutem nihil adiunxit nbi volupta~ tem; Diodorus vacuitatem doloris. . . . ' His omnibus quos dixi consequent«3 sunt fines bonorum : Aristippo simplex voluptas; Stoicis consentire naturae, quod esse votunt e virtute, id est honeste vivere, quod ita
' siatiil est ortnm a coiijectiire of Mdv., who prinia simitl \ct\ orlum esl with MSS.
'Mdv. nmrks a lacuna. A sentence has been lost iudi- ing the ' primary objects of desire * of the philosophers
BOOK II. xi crooked ; similarly the nature of wild animals, though not indeed corrupted by bad education, is corru])t of its own nature. Again in the infant the. iiaturaljn- ■ atinct is not to seek pleasure ; its instinct is meycly to^Srspt^Fe^BCIsiilEipresetviRon and proteetjon. from injury, Every living creature, from the moment of birtliTToves itself and all its members ; primarUy this setf-regard embraces the two main divisions of mind and body, and subsequently the parts of each of these. Both mind and body have certain excel- lences; of these the young animal grows vaguely conscious, and later begins to discriminate, and to seek for the primary endowments of Nature and shun 3+ their opposites. Whether the list of these primary i natural objects of desire includes pleasure or not is a f much debated question ; but to hold that it includes nothing else but pleasure, neither the limbs, nor the.i senses,' nor mental activity, nor bodily integrity nor ] health, seems to me to be the height of stupidity. And on one's view as to the objects of instinctive desire must depend one's whole theory of Goods and Evils. Polemo, and also, before him Aristotle, held that the primary objects were the ones 1 have just men- tioned. Thus arose the doctrine of the Old Academy and of the Peripatetics, maintaining that the End of Goods is to live in accordance with Nature, that is, to enjoy the primary gifts of Nature's bestowal with the accompaniment of virtue. Callipho coupled with virtue pleasure alone ; Diodorus freedom from pain. , . . In the case of all the philosophers mentioned, their End of Goods logically follows ; with Aristippus it is pleasure pure and simple ; with the Stoics, harmony with Nature, which they interpret ing virtuous or morally good life, and further expl;
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inlerpretantur, vivere cum intellegentia rerum earum
quae natura evenireiit, eligeotem ea quae essent
35 secundum naturam reicientemque contraria. Ita tres
sunt fines expertes honestatis, unus Aristippi vel Epicuri, alter Hieronymi, Cameadi tertius; tres in' quibus honestas cum aliqua accessione, Polemonis, Calliphontis, Dioilori ; uiia simplex, cuius Zeno auctor, posita in decore tota, id est in honestatc. (Nam Pyrrho, Aristo, Erillus iam diu abiecti.) Reliqui sibi constiterunt, ut extrema cum initiis convenirent, ut Aristippo voluptas, Hieronymo doloris vaeuitas, Car- neadi frui principiis naturalibus esset extremum ; XII. Epicurus autem cum in prima commeiidatione voluptatem dixiaset, si earn quam Aristippus, idem tenere debuit ultimum bonorum quod Ule ; sin eam quam Hieronymus, fecisset idem ut voluptatem itlam Aristippi in prima commendatione poneret?'
36 Nam quod ait sensibus tpsis iudicari voluptatem bonum esse, dolorem malum, plus tribuit sensibus quam nobis leges permittunt cum^ privatarum litium iudices sumus. Nihil enim possumus iudicare nisi quod est nosti-i iudici ; in quo frustra iudices soleiit, cum sejitentiam pronuntiant, addere : si quid mei
^Aristipfii. . . ponerclPs6.i[Arislippi\.
Muller
f. Mdv„
erted here by Mdv. > afler lill
BOOK II. xi-xii this as meaning to live with an understanding of the natural course of events, selecting things that are in accordance with Nature and rejecting the opposite.
S.i Thus there are three Ends that do not include moral worth, one that of Aristippus or Epicurus, the second that of Hieronymus, and the third that of Cameades; three that comprise moral goodness to- gether with some additional element, those of Poli Callipho and Diodorus ; andone theory that is simple, of which Zeno was the author, and which is based entirely on propriety, that is, on moral worth. (As for Pyrrho, Aristo and Erillus, they have long ago been exploded.) All of these but Epicurus consistent, and made their final Ends agree with their first principles,— Aristippus holding tile End to be Pleasure, Hieronymas freedom from pain, Cameades the enjoyment of the primary natural objects, XII. WhercHS Epicurus, if in saying that pli was the primary object of attraction, he meant pleasure in the sense of Aristippus, ought to have gjj maintained the same ultimate Good as Aristippus ; fm or if he made pleasure in the sense of Hieronymus his fa Chief Good, should he at the same time have allowed ^'"x^.- himself to make the former kind of pleasure, that of Aristippus, the primary attraction?
S6 The fact is that when he says that the verdict of N'oi ihe the senses themselves decides pleasure to be good and nHu - ' pain evil, he assigns more authority to the senses than ^^^ the law allows to us when we sit as judges in private Viii suits. We cannot decide any issue not within our jurisdiction ; and there is not really any point in the proviso which judges are fond of adding to their ver- dicts: 'if it be a matter within my jurisdiction,' for if it were not within their jurisdiction, the verdict 123
oughl oc
CICERO DE FINIBUS iudici est '; si enim noii fuit eoruni iudici, niliilo magis hoc non addito illud est iudicatutn. Quid iudicant' aensus? Dulce, amarum, leve, asperum, propCj longCj stare, niovere, quadratum, rotundum.
37 Aequam' igitur pronuntiabit sententiaiu ratio, ad- hibita primiun divinarum liumanarumque rerum scientia, quae potest appellari rite sapientia, deinde adiunctis virtutibus, quas ratio rerum omnium do- minas, tu voluptatum satellites et miiiistraa esse voluisti; quarum adeo omnium es sententia pro- nuntiabit primum de voluptate, nihil esse ei loci,, non modo ut sola ponatur in sununi boni sede quam quaerimus, sed ne illn quidem modo ut ad honesta- tem applicetur. De vacuitate doloris eadem sen-
88 tentia erit. Reioietur etiani Carneades, uec ulla de summo bono ratio aut voluptatis non dolendive par- ticeps aut honestatis expers probabitur. Ita rehn- quet durts, de quibus etiam atque etiam consideret. Aut enim statuet nihil esse bonum nisi lionestum, nihil malum nisi turpe, cetera aut omiiino niliil habere momenti aut tantum ut nee expetenda nee fugieuda sed eligenda modo aut reicienda sint; aut ^nteponet eam quam cum honestate ornatissimam, turn etiam ipsis initiis naturae et totius perfectione vitae locupletatam videbit, Quod eo liquidius faciet,
'aequam Mdv., guuiu MSS.
^^ HOOK II, xii
Would be equally invalid were the proviso omitted. What does coiue under tlie verdict of the senses? Sweetness, sourness, smoothness, roughness, proxi- mity, distance ; whether an object is stationary or
37 moving, square or round. A just decision can there- fore only be delivered by Reason, with the aid in the first place of that knowledge of things human and divine, which may rightly claim the title of Wisdom ; and secondly with the assistance of the Virtues, which Reason would have to be the mistresses of all thinjifs, but you considered as the handmaids and subordinates of the pleasures. After calling all of these into council, she will pronounce first us to Pleasure, that she has no claim, not merely to be enthroned alone in the seat of that Chief Good which we are seeking, but even to be admitted as the associate of Moral Worth. As regai'ds (reedom
38 from pain her decision will be the same. For Car- neades will be put out of court, and no theory of the Chief Good will be approved that either includes pleasure or absence of pain, or does not include moral worth. Two views will thus be left. After , prolonged consideration of these, either her final verdict will be that jhere_i_s_no_QotMLljut_moral | worth and no Evil but moral baseness,, ajj other ,
THTngsjjeing eitKer~enture1y uiiiihportant or oF so HttteTinportance that they are not~ff^3rable or to be avoided, but only to be selected or rejected ; or else \ she will prefer the theory which she will recognizee as including the" full beauty of moral worth, enriched l)y~tfre addition of the primary natural objects and of a life. coraDleteiJ (9. its. perieot-sp««H. ~Ka& her
Cill lie all the clearer, if she can first of all her the dispute between these rival
CICERO DR FINIUUS
si perspexerit reriim inter eas verbonimne sit con- troversia.
I 59 XIII. Huiuseg'o nunc auctoritatemsequens idem faciam. Quantum enim potero, minuam contentiones omnesque sententias simplices eorum in quibus nulla estvirtutisadiunctiooinninoaphilosopliiasemovendas putabo, — primum Aristippi Cyrenaicorumque om- niuin, quos non est verituni in ea voluptate quae maxima dulcedine seiisuni tuuveret suiiimum bonum
WiO ponere, contemnentes istam vacuitateiu doloris. Hi non vidertint, ut ad cursum equum, ad aranduni bovem, ad indagandum caoem, sic hominem ad duas res, at ait Aristoteles, ad intelleRendum et ad ' agen- dum esse natum, quasi mortalem deum, contraque ut tardara aliquam et languidam pecudem ad pastum et ad procreandi voluptatein hoc divinuni animal ortum I esse voluerunt, quo nihil mihi videtur absurdius. Atque haec contra Aristippum, qui earn voluptatem non modo Bummam sed solam etiam ducit, quam omnes unam appellamus voluptatem. Aliter auteni vobis placet. Sed ille, ut dixi. vitiose. Nee enim figura corporis neo ratio excellens ingeni liumani significat ad unam hanc rem natum hominem ut frueretur voluptatibus. Nee vero audiendus Hieronymus, cui summum bonum est idem quod vos Interdum vel potius nimium saepe dicitis, nihil dolere. Non enim, si malum est dolor, cavere eo nialo satis est ad bene
' at/ siippiifd bv Mdv. 126
^V BOOK II. xii-xiJi
theories is one of fact, or turns on verbal differences only.
(9 XIII. "Guided by the autboritj of Reason I will now adopt a similar procedure niyself. As far as possible I will narrow the issue, and will assume that all those theories of the simple type, that in- clude no admixture of virtue, are to be eliminated from philosophy altogether. First among these comes the system of Aristippus and the Cyrenaic school in general, who did not shrink from finding their Chief Good in pleasure of the sort that excites the highest amount of actively agreeable sensation,
K) and who despised your freedom from pain. They failed to sec that just as the hurse is designed by nature for running, the ox for ploughing, and the dog for hunting, so man, as Aristotle obseiiv^Sris-borwibr. ^w^ piiiTvigfgi tt'ouglit^nd_action : he mortal God. The Cy renal cs~ held on the contrary that this godlike animal came into being, like some dull, hnlf-witted sheep, in order to feed and to enjoy tbe pleasure of procreation,^a view that
H tlje climax of absurdity. So much in answer to Aris- tippus, who considers pleasure in the only which we all of us employ the term to be not merely the highest but the sole pleasure that exists. Your school holds a different view. However, as I said, Aristippus is wrong. Neither man's bodily c formation nor his surpassing mental faculty of reason indicates that he was bora for the sole purpose of en- joying pleasure. Nor yet can we listen to Hierony- mus, whose Chief Good is the same as is occasionally, or rather only too frequently, upheld by yourselves, I from pain. If pain is an evil, to be without s not enough to constitute the Good Life.
1
CICERO DF. FINIBUS
vivendiim. Hoc dixerit potiiis Eiinius :
Nimium boni est cui »ihjl est muli nos beatam vitam aon depulsione mali sed ftdeptione boni iudicemus, nee earn cessaiido, sive gatideiitena, ut Aristippus, sive non dolenteni, ut hie, sed agendo aliquid con sideran dove quaeramus.
42 Quae possunt eadem contra Carneadeuni illud summuni bonum dici, quod is non tam ut probaret pro- talit. quain ut Stoicis quibuscum bellum gerebat oppo- neret ; id autem eiusmodi est ut additum ad virtutem auctoritatemvideaturhabiturumet expleturum cumu- late vitam beatam, de quo oninis haec quaestio est. Nam qui ad virtutem adlungunt vel voluptatem, quam unam virtus niiiiimi facit, vel vacuitatem doloris, quae etiamsi malo caret tamen non est siiramum bonum, accessione utunlur non ita probabili, nee tamen cur id tam parce tamque restricte faoiant intellego. Quasi enim emendum eis sit quod addant ad virtutem, pri- mum vilissimaa res addunt, deinde singulaa potius quam omnia quae prima natura approbavisset ea cum.
43 honestate coniungerent. Quae quod' Aristoni et Pyrrhoni omnino visa sunt pro nihilo, ut inter optime valere et gravissime aegrotare niliil prorsus dicerent interesse, recte lam pridem contra eos desitum est disputari. Dum cnim in una virtute sic omnia esse
'gnadMdv.ietiiaMSS.
F
BOOK II. xiit Ennius say if he likes that [idm< 3 ill ;'
!, of good
but let us reckon happiness not hy the avoidance of evil but by the attainment of good. Let us seek it not in the idle acceptance whether of positive delights, like Aristippus, or of freedom from pain, like Hier-
»C
i, but in a life of action or of study.
The same arguments can be urged against the Chief Good of Cameades, wliich he advanced less from a desire to prove it true than to use it as a weapon in his battle with the Stoics; though it is such that if added to Virtue it may be thought to be of import- ance and to be likely to augment the sum total of Happiness, which is the one subject of our inquiry. Whereas those who join with Virtue either pleat the one thing she values least, or freedom from pain, which even though it is devoid of evil yet is not the Chief Good, make a less satisfactory combination ; nor yet can I undci-stand why they go to work in so cautious and niggardly a fashion. You would think they had to purchase the commodity which is to be added to virtue. To begin with they cheapest things they can find to add, and then they each dole out one only, instead of coupling with moral 13 worth all the things initially approved by Nature. Aristo and Pyirho thought all these things utterly worthless, and said, for example, that there was abso- lutely nothing to choose between the most perfect health and the most grievous sickness ; and conse- quently men have long ago quite rightly given up arguing against them. For in insisting upon the unique importance of virtue in such
12:
I
volu
CICERO DE FINIBUS ^I'unt ut earn renim selectione exspoliareiit,!)
. II ec quo vita 1 pridem lie est di
quidquam aut uiide oriretur darent aut ubi niteretur,
virtuteni ipsam quain amplexabantur sustuleruiit.
Erillus aottni ad scientiam omnia
quoddam bonuni vidit, sed iiec optir
gubernari possit. Itaque hie ipse
reiectus; post enim Clirysippum no
tatum.
XIV, Restatis igitur vos ; nam cum Academi eerta luctatio est, qui nihil affirmant et quasi desperata cognitione certi id sequi volunt quodcumque veri I simile videatur. Cum Epicuru auteni hoc plus eat negoti quod e duplici genere voluptatis coniunctus est, quodque et ipstr et amici eius et miilti postea de- fensores eius sententiae fueruiit, et nescio quomodo, is qui auctoritatem minimam habet, maximani vim, populus cum iUis fadt. Quos nisi redarguinius, om- nis virtus, omue decus, omnis vera laus deserenda est. Ita cetei-orum sententiis scmotis, relinquitur non mihi eum Torquato sed virtiiti cum volaotaJie;^ certatio. Quam quidem cei'tationem homo et ueutus et diligens, Chrysippus, non contemnit, totumque discrimen summi boni in earuni comparatione posi- tum putat. Ego autem existimo, si honestum esse aliqutd ostendero quod sit ipsum sua vi propter seque expetenduni, iacere vestra omnia. Ituque eo quale sit breviter ut tempus postulat constitute, accedam ISO
roll it nt' any power of clioice amoag external things and to deny it any starting-point or basis, they destroyed the very virtue they desired to cherish. Again, ErOlus, in basing everything on knowledge, fixed his eyes on one definite Good, but this not the greatest Good, nor one that could serve as the guide of life. Accordingly Erillus himself has long ago been set aside ; since Chrysippus no one has even troubled to refute him.
XIV, Accordingly your seliool remains ; for there is no coining to grips with the Acadi affii-m nothing positively, and despairing of a know- ledge of certain truth, make up their minds to take t+ apparent probability as their guide. Epicurus how- ever is a more troublesome opponent, because he is a combination of two different sorts of pleasure, and because besides himself and his friends there have been so many later champions of his theory, which somehow or other enlists the support of that least competent but most powerful adherent, the general public. Unless we refute these adversaries, all virtue, all honour, all true merit must be abandoned. Thus, when all the other systems have been discarded, there remains a duel in which ttie-^pmbatants are. not myself and Torquatus, but Virtue! an;! Pleasure. This contest is by no means ignored4»y«t> penetrating and so industrious a writer as Chrysiripus, who con- siders that the rivalry between pleasure and virtue is the cardinal issue in the whole question of the Chief Good. My own view is that, if I dan succeed in proving the existence of Moral Worth as a thing essentially and for itself desirable, you^ entire system at once collapses. Accordingly I wilt begin by de- fining, with such brevity as the occasion demands,
Vi 'J«iS->- - ^°S
forte d»- I
CICERO DE FINIBUS omniit fua, Torquate. n
Honestum igltur id iiiteliegimus quod tale est u detracts omni utilitate sine ullis praemiis finictibusvif per se ipsum possit Sure laudari. Quod quale
1 tain definitione, qua sum usus, intellegi potes (quamquam aliquantum potest) quam comuiuni om
m iudicio et optimi cuiusque studiis atqiie factis,1 qui pemiulta ob earn imam causa m faciunt quia decet, quia rectum, quia honestum est, etsi nullum consecuturum cmolumentum vident. Homines
Ti, etsi aliis multis, tamen hoc uno plurimum a bestiis differunt quod rationem liabent a natura datam nientemque acrem et vigentem celer- rimeque multa simul agitantem et, ut ita dicam, sagacem, quae et causas reruin et consecutiones videat et similitudines transferat et disiuncta con- iungat et cum praesentibus futura copulet om- nemque complectatur vitae conseqiientis statum. Eademque ratio fecit hominem homtnum appeten- tem cumque lis natura et sermone et usu congruen- tem, ut profectus a caritate domesticorum ac suorum -serpat longius et se implicet primum civium, deinde
lium mortalium societate atque, ut ad Archytam scripsit Plato, non sibi se soli natum meminerit sed patriae, sed suis. ut perexigua pars ipsi relinquatur.
^ BOOK n. xiv -,- ' ,
tile nature of Moral Worth ; aiid tlieu, I'oKluutiis, I will proceed to deal with each of your points, unless my memory should liappen to fail mc.
■t.,5 ■' By Moral Worth then, we understand that Moral wl^ch is'STsm-'h a nature thatj^tliougli devoid_pf all jn En utility, it can jusfly be corMuendcd in and for itself^'l^^i apart 'from any profit or reward. A formal definition and h. stieh"as"TTiive given may do something to indicate ™tfit\
its nature; but this is •n}ftTf i,',]parljf fxplained hy the ,
general^ierdict.of mankind at large, and by tile aims and actions of all persons of high character. Good men do a great many things from which they antici- pate no advantage, solely fro™ the motive of pro- priety, _naoralitj;_Mid fright. For among the many points of diifference between man and the lower ani- mals, the greatest difference is that Nature has bestowed on man the gift of_Reasoij, of an active, vigorous intelligence, able to prosecute several trains of thought with great swiftness at the same time, and having, so to speak, a keen scent to discern the sequence of causes and effects, to draw analogies, combine things separate, connect the ftiture with the present, and survey the entire field of the sub- sequent course of life. It is Reason moreover that has inspired man with a relish for his kind; she has produced conformity of character, of lan- guage and of Iinbif ; she bus prompted the indi- . vi3nst;~EtaFting" from friendship and from family \ affection, to expand his interests, forming social ties first with his fellow- citizens and later with all mankind. She reminds him that, as Plato puts it in his letter to Archytas,'^ man was not born for self alone, but for country and for kmdred, claims that i6 leave but a small part of him for himself. Nature
CICERO DE FINIBUS +6 Et quoiiiam eadem natura cupiditatem ingenuit ho- mjni veri videndi, quod facillime apparet cum vatrui curis etiam quid in caelo liat sa'ire avemus, his initiis inducti omniii vera diligimus, id est fidelia, simplicia, constantia, turn vana, falsa, fallentia odimus, ut frau- dem, periurium, malitiam, iniuriam. Eadejn ratio habet in se quiddum ajiiplum utque tuagniRcum, ad iinperanduni iiiagis quam ad parendum accommoda- tum, omnia humaiia iioii tolerabilla solum sed etiam levia ducens,altum quiddam et excelsum, nihil timens, ■il nemini eedens, semper invictum. Atque his tribus Reneribus honestoriun notatis, quartum sequitur et in eadem pulchritudine et aptuin ex illis tribus, in quo inest ordo et moderatio. Cuius similitudine perspecta in formarum specie ac dignitate, transitum est ad honestateiTi dictorum atque factorura. Nam ex his tribus laudibus (juas ante dixi, et temeritatem reiormidat et non audet puiquam aut dicto protervo aut facto nocere, vereturque quidquam aut facere aut eloqui quod pannn virile videatur. ■VS XV. Habes undique expletara et perfectam, Tor- quate, fomiam lionestalis, quae tota quattuor his vir- tutibus quae a te quoque commemoratae sunt conti- netiir. Hanc se tuus Epicurus omniiioigiioraredicit quam aut qualem esse velint ii qui honestate summum 134.
^P BOOK II. xiv-xv
has also enffendercd in mankind the dfsirp gf mn- (i templatms triitli. This is most clearly manifested in our hours of leisure; when our minds are at ease we are eager to acquire knowledge even of the movements of the heavenly bodies. Thia primary instinct leads us on tu love aU truth as such, («] jni that is, all that is trustworthy, simple and consistent, ;i)id to hate things insuicere, false and deceptive,, such as cheating, perjury, malice and injustice. I'urther, Reason possesses an intrinsic elenjent ofC3)C( di^iity and grandeur, suited rather to reqaire obedience than to render it, esteeming all the a dents of human fortunes not merely as endurable but also as unimportant ; a quality of loftiness and elevation, fearing nothing, submitting to no one,
7 ever unsubdued. These three kinds of moral good- U) Temp«rui« ness being noted, there follows a fourth kind, possessed of equal beauty, and indeed combining ii itself the other three. This is the principle of order and of restraint From recognizing something analogous to this principle in the beauty and dignity of outward forms, we pass to beauty i: sphere of speech and conduct. Each of the three excellences mentioned before contributes something to this fourth one: it dreads rashness; it shrinks from injuring anyone by wanton word or deed; and it fears to do or say anything that may appear unmanlv.
fl XV. There, Torquatus, is a full, detailed a
plete account of Moral Worth, a whole of which these f™^°SS^ four virtues, which you also mentioned, constitute the "' parts. Yet your Epicurus tells us that he is uttetly at a loss to know what nature or qualities are assigned to this Morality by those who make it the n
135
i) lemperinc.
^H
CICEKO DE flNIBUS boDum metinntur. Si enim ad honestatcm
referantur neque in ea voluptatem dicant inesse, nit aani sonai'e (his enim ipsis verbis utitur), neque intellege renecvideresubhancvocemhonestatis quae sit subicienda sententia. Ut enim consuetudo loquitur, id solum dicitur hoiiestum quod est popular fama gloriosum. Quod, iiiquit, quamquam voluptati- bus quibusdam est saepe iucundius, tamen expetitur 1.49 propter voluptatem. Videsne quam sit magna dis- .0? Philosophusnobilis, aquonon solum Graecia et Italia sed etiam omiiis barbaria commota est, honestum quid sit, si id non sit in voluptate, negat intellegere, nisi forte illud quod raultitudinis more laudetur. Ego autem hoc etiam turpe esse saepe iudico et, si quando turpe non sit, turn esse non turpe cum id a multitudine laudetur quod sit ipsum per se rectum atque laudabile ; tamen non ob earn causam illud dici esse honestum quia laudetur a multis, sed quia tale sit ut, vel si ignorarent id ho- si obmutuissent, sua tamen pulchritudine esset specieque laudabile. Itaque idem natura victuSi eui obsisti non potest, dicit alio loco id quod a te etiam paulo ante dictum est, non posse iucunde vin nisi etiam honeste. Quid nunc honeste' dicit? idemne quod iucunde ' ? Ergo ita : non posse
elsewhere no iranslalion can convey Ihe double 1 ling of the word honestum, ' honourable," used a! i!Tisa\6r, ' lite moralty beautiful org'ood.'
ait
ir). 1
BOOK 11. jiv of the Chief Good. For if Morality be tliestandarf to which all things are referredj while yet thej will not allow that pleasure forms any parb of it, he de- 1 clares that they are utterine sounds devoid of sfr*^" (those are his actual words), and that he has no nation or perception whatever of any meaning that this term Morality cati have attached to it. In common parlance ' mgraT (honourable)' means mpr^ly tlipt whif-h rnnWrhlg.^Lin PTulnr psfi-Pin And popular esteensrsays Epicuf aB,-tliQugh often m itself mure-flgrp'''' hip tlinn r£rtnji|_fnmi^i_nrplpii';iirei
t9 yet iB-*li»niiinH simply ^g ft mgnns to pleasufeT Do you realize how vast a difference of opinion this is ? Here is a famous philosopher, whose influence has spread not only over (ireece and Italy but through- out all barbarian lands as well, protesting that he can- not understand what Moral Worth is, if it does not\ consist in pleasure ; unless indeed it be that which \ wins the approval and applause of the multitude. For my part I hold that what is popular is often poai- | tively base, and that, if ever it is not base, this is only when the multitude happens to applaud somethuig that is right and praiseworthy in and for itself; which ■ even so is not called ' moral ' (honourable) because ' it is widely applauded, but because It is of such a ' nature that even if men were unaware of its eitist- . ence, or never spoke of it, it would still be worthy of ' praise for its own beauty and loveliness. Hence ' Epicurus is compelled by the irresistible force of in- stinct to say in another passage what you also said just now, that it is impossible to live pleasantly with-
iO out also living morally (honourably). What does he mean by morally' now? The same as pleasantly'? If so, does it amount to saying that it is impfossible 137
CICERO DF, FINIBUS honeate vivi nisi honeste vivatiir? An nisi populnri famu? Sine ea iKitur tucunde negat posse se vivere^? Quid tiirpius quam sapientis vitam ex insipientiutn s<^rmone pendere ? Quid ergo hoc loco intellegit boiiestiini ? Certe nihil nisi quod possit ipsum prop- ter Be iure luudari. Nam si propter voluptatem, (juae est ista laus quae possit e inacelio peti ? Non is vir est ut, eum honeatatem eo loco Iiabeat ut sine eu iucunde neget posse vivi, illud honestum quod popuUre sit scntiat et sine co neget iucunde vivi posse, aut quidquam aliud honestum intellegat nisi quod sit rectum ipsuniquc per se, sua vi, sua sponte, sua natura laudabih'. I XVI. 'Ituque, Torquate, cum diceres elamare Epi- eurnm non posse iucunde vivi nisi honeste et sapi- enteret iuste viveivtur, tu ipse milii gloriari videbare. Tiutta vis inerut iu verbis propter earuin rerum quae signitieabanliir his verbis dignitatem, nt altior fieres.. ut interdum insisleres, ut nos intuens quasi testifica- rere Inudari honestatrui et iustitiaia aliquando ab Kpieura Qiuun te decebtit iis verbis uti quibus si philosoplii iiiMi uterentur. philosophia onmino non (.'gereuuis. Istorum enim verbonim amorer quae pemru appeUantur ab Epicuro, sapientiae. fortitudi- nis, institiae. temperantiae, praestantissimis ingeniis
^fiKai/srvirrivildv. ^ fnsr Pivi OnUi : passe ^mtr ilSS, 138
^ BOOK II. xv-xvi
to live morally unless you — livt morally ? Orj unles you make public opinion your standard ? then that he cannot live pleasantly without tlie approval of public opinion ? But what can be baser than to make the conduct of the Wise Man depend upon thp^oasip of tRiTfooItBt^ What therefore does he understand by moral' in this passage ? Clearly, nothing but that which can be rightly praised for its own sake. For if it be praised as being a means to pleasure, what is there creditable about this ? You can get pleasure at the provision-dealer's. Ho,— Epicurus, who esteems Moral Worth so highly as to say that it is impossible to live pleasantly without it. is not the man to identify 'moral' (honourable) with popular' and mumtain that it is impossible to live pleasantly without popular esteem ; he cannot under- stand moral' to mean anything else than that which is right, — that which is in and for itself, independently, intrinsically, and of its own nature praiseworthy.
XVI. This, Torquatus, accounts for the glow of Si pride with which, as I noticed, you iiifomied us how ..g loudly Epicurus proclaims the impossibility of living f' pleasantly without living morally, wisely and justly. Your words derived potency from the grandeur of the things that they denoted ;youdrewyourself up to your full height, and kept stopping and lixing us with your gaze, and solemnly asseverating tliat Epicurus does occasionally commend morality and justice. Were those names never mentioned by philosophers we should have no use fo^hilosophy ; how well they sounded on your lips I Too seldom does Epicurus speak to us ofWisdom, Courage, Justice. Temperance. Yet it is the love that those great nanies inspire wliich U9
CICERO UE FINIBUS homines se ad pliilosophiae studium contulerunt.
,)2 Oculorum, inquit Plato, est in nobia sensus acerriinus, quibus sapientiam nan cemimua ; quam ilia ardentes amores encitaret sui, si videretur'! Cur tandem? an quod ita callida est ut optime possit architectari vo- luptates? Cur iustitia laudatur? aut unde est hoc contritum vetustate proverbium : 'quicum in tene- bris'*? Hoc, dictum in una re, latissime patet, ut
53 in omnibus factis re, non teste moveaniur. Sunt enim levia ct perinfirma quae dicebantur a te, animi con- seientia improbos esi-ruciari, turn etiam poenae timore qua aut afficiantur aut semper sint in metu ne affici- antur aliquando. Non oportet timidum aut imbecillo animo fiii|^ non bonuni ilium virum, qui quidquid fecerit ipse se cruciet omniaque formidet, sed omnia calHde referentem ad utilitatem, acutum, versutum, veteratorem, facile ut excogitet quomodo occulte,
5* sine teste, sine ullo conscio fallat. An tu me de L. Tubulo putas dicere ? qui cum praetor quaestionem inter siearios exercuisset, ita aperte cepit pecunias ob rem iudjcandam ut anno pruximu P. Seaevola tribunus plebis ferret ad plebem, vellentne de ea re quaeri. Quo plebiscite decreta a senatu est consul! quaestio Cn. Caepioni; profectus in exsilium Tubulus statim nee respondere ausus ; erat enim res aperta.
'si videretur Mdv. om. with A, B, E, but cp. Plato, Phaedr. 250 D. S^it yd/) Ti/ijy i^irTAnt -rHv 3id rou aiinaros fpXf^tiL ata6Tj<riun', ^ ^pdytj^it oCx opaTai.Seiifoi/i yiip &v ra.peT\tr Ipurrtt, tC Ti TQiaihov ^aurfli ^apyis riiaXov wapclxtro ilt
^guicum in lenebiis micesXnt MSS. Cp. ,/« O/I 3. 77, cum
tEnebris mices (sc. digitis).
^H BOOK II. Mi
Eas lured the ablfKt of mankind to devote themselves 53 to philosophical studies. The sense of sight, says Plato, is the keenest sense we possess, yet our eyes cannot behold Wisdom ; could we see her, what passionate love would she awaken ! And why is this so f Is it because of her supreme ability and cunning in the art of contriving pleasures ? Why is Justice commended ? What gave rise to the old familiar saying, ' Aman with whom you might play odd and even in the dark ' ? This proverb strictly applies to the particular cose of honesty, but it has this general application, that in all our conduct we should be influenced by the character of the action, not by yi the presence or absence of a witness. How weak and ineffectual are the deterrents you put forward, — -the torture of a guilty conscience, and fear of the punishment that offenders incur, < all events stand in continual dread of incurring ii end ! We must not picture our unprincipled man as a poor-spirited coward, tormenting himself about his past misdeeds, and afraid of everything ; but as shrewdly calculating profit in all he does, sharp, dexterous, a practised hand, fertile in devices for cheating in secret, without witness or accomplice. 5-i Don't suppose I am speaking of a Lucius Tubulus, who when he sat as praetor to try charges of murder made so little concealment of taking bribes for his verdict that nest year the tribune of the plebs, Publius Scaevola, moved in the plebeian assembly for a special inquiry. The bill passed the plebs, and the senate commissioned the consul Gnaeus Caepio to hold the investigation; but Tubulus promptly left the country, and did not venture to stand his trial, so open was his guilt.
141
J
CICERO DE FINIBUS
XVII. ■"'Nonigiturdeimpi-obosedde' callido im- probo quaerimus, quatis Q. Pompeiiis in foedere Nu- raantino infitiando fuit, iiec vero omnia tiiuente sed prinium qui animi conscientiam non curet, quam scilicet eoiupiimere nihil est negoti. Is enim qui ocpultus et teetus dicitur, tantum abest ut se indicet, perficiet etiam ut dolere alterius improbe facto vi- deatur; quid est enim atiud esse versutum? i Meniiiii me adesse P. Sextilio Rufo cum is rem ad
aiuicos ita deferret, se esse heredem Q. Fadio Gallo, cuius in testamento scriptum esset se ab eo rogatum ut omnis hereditas ad filiam perveniret. Id Sextilius factum negabat ; jxiterat autem impune ; quis enim redargueret ? Nemo nostrum credebat, eratque veri similtus huuc meutiri, cuius iuteresset, quam ilium, qui id se rogasse scripsisset quod debuisaet rogare. Addebat etiam se in legem Voeoniam iuratuni contra earn facere non audere, nisi aliter amicis videretur. Aderamus nos quidem adulesceiites, sed multi am* plissimi viri, quorum nemo censuit plus Fadiae dan- dum quam posset ad earn lege Voconia pervenire. Tenuit permagnam Sextilius liereditatem unde, si secutus esset eorum sentt^ntiam qui honesta et recta eniolumeiitis timnibus et cominodia anteponerent, ' de inserted by Mdv.
1 Presumably a reference to the customary oaih to main- tain the laws, taken on assuming an office of state. The Vocoaian law prohibitEil a woman from being* left heir to an estate. It was evaded by bequeathing the estate lo a
end who had promised to hand it on to the intended
heirt
b The Vol
1 have allov
passed to the ' here.s * proper, had been made to Kadia, or It get nothing.
)r bequest
V BOOK II. wii
XVII "It id nut therefore a question uf a rascal Poieaay&- merely, but of a crafty rascal, like Quiutus Pompeius escape^Mm- wheii he disowned the treaty he had made with the ^°°'' ""^usii Numanttnes : nor yet of a timid, cowardly knave, fits some rishii but of one who to begin with is deaf to the voice of p^^fj^]^' "* conscience, which it is assuredly no difficult matter to stifle. The man we call stealthy iind secret, so far from betraying his own Ruilt, will actually make believe to be indignant at the knavery of aiiotlicr ; that ia what we mean by a cunning old hand.
i I remember assisting at a consultation which
Publius Sextilius Rufus held with his friend on the following matter. He Iiad been left heir to Quintus Fadius Gallus. Fadius's will contained a statement that he had requested Sextilius to allow the whole of the estate to pass to his daughter. Sextilius now de- nied the arrangement, as he could do with impunity, for there was no one to rebut him. Not one of us believed his denial ; it was more probable that he should be lying, as his imcket was concerned, than the testator, who had left it in writing that he had made a request which it had been his duty to make. Sextilius actually went on to say that, having sworn to maintain the Voeonian law,'' he would not venture to break it, unless his friends thought he ought to do so. I was only a young man, but many of the company were persons of high consideration ; and every one of these advised him not to give Fadla more than she was entitled to get under the Voeonian law. Sestilius kept a hand.'jome property, not a penny of which he would have touched had he followed the advice of those who placed honour and right above all considerations of profit and advantage. Do you therefore suppose that he was afterwards 143
CICERO DE FINIBUS nummum niillum' attigisset. Num igitur eum postea censes anxio animo aut suUicito fuisse ? Nihil minus, contraque ilia hereditate dives ob eamque rem laetus. Magiii enijn aestimabat pecuniam non modo non contra leges sed etiam legibus partam ; quae quidem vel cum pcriculo est quaerenda vobis ; est enim effectrix multarum et mognarum voluptatum.
56 Ut igitur illis qui, recta et honesta quae sunt, ea
statuunt per ae expeteiida, adeunda sunt saepe peri- cula decgris honestatisquc causa, sic vestrls, qui omnia voluptate metiuutur, pericula adeunda sunt ut adipi- seantur magnas voluptates. Si magna res, magna hereditas ag-ctur, cum pecunja voluptates pariantur plurimae, idem crit Epicuro veatro ' faciendum, si suum finem bonorum sequi volet, quod Scipioni, magna gloria proposita si Hannibalem in Africam retraxisset, Itaque quantum adiit periculum ! Ad honestatem enim ilium omnem conatum suum re- ferebat, non ad voluptatem. Sic vester sapiens, magno aliquo emolumento commotus, cum causa,'
S? si opus erit, dimicabit. Occultum facinua esse po- tuerit, gaudebit ; deprehensus omnem poenam con- temiiet. Erit enim instructus ad mortem contemnen- dam, ad exiliura, ad ipsum etiani dolorem. Quern quidem vos cum improbis poenam proponitis impe- tibilem facitis, cum sapientem semper boni plus habere vultis tolerabilem.
XVIII. " Sed finge non solum callidum eum qui ali-
' nummum nullum ; some inf. MSS. ne nummum guidem 'mm causa Mdv. marks as corrupt, and cortjeckires cum
BOOK U. xviUxviii troubled by remorse ? Not a bit of it. On the con- trary, the inheritance made him a rich roan, and he was thoroughly pleased with himself in consequence. He thought he had scored heavily : he had won a fortune, not only by no illegal means, but actually by the aid of the law. And according to your school it is right to try to get money even at some risk ; for money procures many very delightful pleasures.
56 Thereforejustas those who hold that things right
and honourable are desirable for their own sake must often take risks in the cause of honour and morality, so Epicureans, who measure all Ihing.s by pleasure. may properly take risks in order to obtain consider- able pleasures. If a large sum of money or a great inheritance is at stake, inasmuch as money buys a vast number of pleasures, your Epicurus, if he wishes to attain his own End of Goods, will have to act as Scipio did, when he had the chance of winning great renown by enticing Hannibal back to Africa. To do so, he risked enormous dangers. For honour and not pleasure was the aim of that great enter- prise. Similarly, your Epicurean Wise Man, when stirred by the prospect of some considerable gain, will fight to the death, if need be, and with good
51 reason. Do circumstances allow his crime to go undetected, so much the better ; but if found out, he will make light of every penalty. For he will have been schooled to make Ught of death, of exile, even of pain itself. The latter indeed you make out to be unendurable when you are enacting penalties for the wicked, but easy to bear when , you are maintaining that the WiSe Man will always ib eonainand a preponderance of Good. ^
XVIII. "But suppose that our evil-doer is not only "
CICERO DF. FINIBUS quid improbe tiaciat, verutn etiam- praepotetitem, ut M. Crassus fiiit, — qui tamen solebat oti suo bono,— uthodie est noBter Pompeius, cui recte fac i en ti gratia est habenda ; esse enim quam vellet iniquus poterat impune. Quam multa vero iniuste fieri possunt quae
,'j8 nemo possit reprehendere ! Si te amicus tuusmoriens rogaverit ut hereditatem reddas suae filiae, nee us- quam id scrijiserit, ut scripsit Fadius, nee cuiquun dixerit, quid fades? Tu quidem reddes; ipse Epi- curus fortassc redderet; ut Sex. Peducaeus, Sex. F., is qui hunc nostrum reliquit effigiem et bumanitatis et probitntis suae (ilium, cum doctus, turn ommum vir optimus et iustissimus, cum sciret nemo eum ro- gatum a C, Plotio, equite Romano splendido, Nur- sino, ultro ad mulierem veiiit eique nihil opinanti viri mandatum exposuit hereditatemque reddidit. Sed ego ex te quaero, quoniam idem tu certe fecisses, nonne intellegas eo raaiorem vim esse naturae quod ipsi vos, qui omnia ad vestrum eommodum et ut ipsi dicitis ad voluptatein referatis, tamen ea faciatis e quibus appareat nun voluptateui ^'os sed oHieium se- qui, plusque rectam naturam quam rationem pravain
59 valere? Si scieris, inquit Carneades, aspidem occulte latere uspiam et velle atiquem imprudentem super earn assidere cuius more tibi «mulunieiituni futum sit,
B BOOK II. Kviii
**Wlever but also supremely iiuwerful, as was Marcus Crassus,^who however was mostly content to rely on his private resources; or like our friend Poinpeius atthepresent time, who deserves our gratitude for his upright conduct, since he might be as unjust as he liked with impunity. But how many unrighteous acts are possible which no one would be in a position
i 8 to censure ! If a friend of yours requests you on his death-bed to hand over his estate to his daughter, without leaving his intention anywhere in writing, !is Tadiusdid, or speaking of it to anybody, what will you do ? You no doubt wiU hand over the money ; perhaps Epicurus himself would have done the same ; as did Sextus Peducaeus, son of Sextus, a scholar and a gentleman of scrupulous honour, who left behind him a son, our friend of to-day, to recall his father's culture and integrity. Ko one knew that a similar request bad been made to Sextus by a distinguished Roman knight named Gaius Plotius, of Nursia ; but Sextus of his own accord went to Plotius's widow, in- formed her, much to her surprise, of her husband's commission, and handed over the property to her. But the question 1 want to put to you is this : since you yourself would undoubtedly have done the sa: do you not see tli.it the force of natural instinct is all I the more firmly established by the fact that even yon l Epicureans, who profess to make your own interest ] and pleasure your sole standard, nevertheless perfor actions that prove you to be really aiming not at 'J pleasure but at duty ; prove, I say, that the natural impulse towards right is more powerful than corrupt
.')9 reason ? Suppose, says Cameades, you should know that there is a viper lurking somewhere, and that some one, by whose death you stiuid to profit, is about
CICERO DE FINIBUS improbe feceris nisi monueris ne asaidat. Sed im- punite tnmen ; scisse enim te quis coarguere possit ? Sed nimis multa. Perspicuum est eniin, nisi aequitas, fidcSj iustitia proficiscantur a natura, et si omnia haec ad utilitatem referantur, virum boniim non posse re- periri, deque Jiis rebus satis multa ill nostris de re publica libris sunt dicta a Laelio. ) XIX. ' Transfer idem ad modestiam vel temiwran- tiam,quac est moderatto cupiditatum rationi obediens. Satiane ergo pudori consulat si quis sine teste libidini pareat? An est aliquid per se ipsum flagitiosum, etiamsi nulla comitetur infaijiia ? Quid ? fortes viri voluptatuinne calculis subductis proeliuin ineunt, sanguinem pro patria profundunt, an quodain aninii ardore atque impetu concitati ? U trum tandem censes, Torquate, Imperiosum ilium, si nostra verba Audiret, tuamne de se omtionem lilientius auditurum fuisse an meani, cum ego dicerem nihil eum fecisse sua causa omiiiaque rei publicae, tu contra nihil nisi sua? Si vero id etiam explanare velles, apertiusque
diceres
61 modo eum
fecerit, si
sertim vir
148
ihil eum fecisse nisi voluptatis causa, quo- n tandem laturum fuisse existimas? Esto; i its vis, Torquatus propter suas utilitates im dicere quara voluptates, in tanto prae- <); num etiam eius collega P. Decius.
^P BOOK 11. xviii-Kix
to sit ilown on it uuawares : then you will do a wicked deed if you do not warn him not to sit down. But still your wickedness would go unpunished, for who could possibly prove that yoii knew ? How- ever, I labour the point unnecessarily. It is obvious that, if fair-dealing, honesty and justice have not their source in nature, and if all these things are only valuable for their utility, no good nian can anywhere be found. The subject is fully discussed by Laelius in my volumes On the Slate.
3 XIX. Apply the same test to Temperanee or m Moderation, which means the control of the appetites '' ^ in obedience to the reason. * Suppose a, man yields to Coutige. vicious impulses in secret, — is that no offence against \ ^
purity? Ori«-itiioXt^e_that an act can be sinfiil in \ ' , itself, even-thougb-ao disgrace attehdsjt? And again, \ ■ ' does a brave soldier go into battle and shed his blood ' I'or his country upon a nice calculation of the balance of pleasures, or in liot blood and under the stimulus of impulse ? Come, Torquatus, if the great Ini- periosus were listening to our debate, which of our two speeches about himself would he have heard with greater satisfaction, yours or mine ? Me declar- ing that no deed of his was done for selfish ends, but all from motives of patriotism, or you maintaining that he acted solely for self ? And suppose you had wanted to make your meaning clearer, and had said more explicitly that all his actions were prompted by desire for pleasure, pray how do you imagine he >1 would have taken it? But grant your view; assume if you like that Torquatus acted for his own advan- tage (l would sooner put it in that way than say ' for his own pleasure,' especially in the case of so great a man), Yet what about his colleague Publius 149
CICEHO DE FINIBUS printeps iu ea f&niJlJH. consulatus, cum se ilevovenit ctequofidimsBO in median) acieniLatinorum irruebat, aliquid de voluptAtibus suia cogitabat? ubi ut earn caperet aiit quaiido? cum seiret cunfestim esse mori- cndum, eamque mortem ardentiore studio peteret quam Epicurus voluptatem petendam putat Quod quidem eius factum nisi esset iure laudatum, non esset imitatus quarto consulatu suo lilius, iieque porro es eo natus cum Pyn'ho bellum gerens consul cecidis- set in proelio seque e continenti genere tertiam
62 victimam rei publicae praebuisset. Contineo me ab esemplis. Graecis hoc modicum est, Leouidas, Epaminondas, tres aliqui aut quattuor : ego si nostros coUigere coepero, perijciaro illud qiiidem ut se vir- tuti tradat coiistringeudam voluptas, sed dies me delieiet, et, ut A. Varius, qui est habitus iudex durior, dicere eonsessori tiolebat, cum datis testibus alii tamen citarentur: 'Aut hoc testium satis est aut iiescio quid satis sit,' sic a me satis datum est te- stium. Quid enim ? te ipsum, diguissimum niaiori- bus tuis, voluptasne induxit ut adulescentulus eripe- res P. Sullac consulatum ? Quern cum ad patrem tuum rettulisses, fortissimum vinim, quHlis ille vel consul vel civis cum semper, turn post consulatum fuit! Quo quidem auctore nos ipsi ea gessimus ut omnibus potius quam ipsis nobis consuluerimus.
63 At quam pulchre dicere videbare, cum en altera.
BOOK U. xix Decius, the first of his family to be consul ? When Decius vowed liimself to death, and setting spurs to his horse was eharging into the thickest of the Latin ranks, surely he had no thought of personal pleasure? Pleasure where to be enjoyed or when ? For he knew he must die in a moment, aye and he courted death with more passionate ardour than Epicurus would have us seek pleasure. Had not his exploit earned renown, it would not have been imitated by his son in his fourth consulship ; nor would the letter's son again, commanding as consul in the war with Pyrrhus, have also fallen in battle, third in suc- cession of his line to give himself a victim for the
[>2 state. I refrain from further instances. The Greeks have but a modest liat, — Leonidas, Epaminondas, some three or four ; but were 1 to begin to cite the heroes of our race, I should doubtless succeed in making Pleasure yield herself prisoner to Virtue, but — daylight would fail before 1 had done. Aulus Varius, noted for his severity as a judge, used to say to his colleague on the bench, when after witnesses had been produced still further witnesses were called ; ' Either we have evidence enough already, or I do not know what evidence can be enough.' Well, I have cited witnesses enough, ^^'hy, you yourself, in every way a worthy scion of your stock, — was pleasure the inducement that led you, a mere
■ youth, to wrest the consulship from Publius Sulla ? You won that office for your gallant father ; and what a consul he was! What a patriot, all his life long and more especially aCler his consulship ! It was with his support that I carried through an affair, which was for all men's interest rather than my o
jS " But how well you thought you put your 131
CICERO DE FINIBUS parte ponebascumulatum aliqueni plurimiset maximis voluptatibus nullo nee praeseiiti nee future dolore, ex altera autem cniciatibus maximis toto corpore nulla nee adiuncta nee sperata voluptate, et quaere- bas quis aut hoc miserior aut superiore illo beatior delude concludebas summum malum esse doloi sum mum bonum voluptatem I
XX. " L. ThorJus Balbus fuit, Lanuvinus, qi meminisse tu non potes ; is ita vivebat ut nulla exquisita posset inveniri voluptas qua non abundi Erat et cupidus voluptatum et eius generis intelli gens et copiosus ; ita non superstitiosus ut ilia plurima in sua palria sacrificia et fana contemneret; ita non timidus ad mortem ut in acie sit ob rem publicam i interfectus. Cupiditates non Epicuri divisione fiuie- bat sed sua satietate. Habebat tamen nitionem valetudinis; utebatur iis exercitationibus ut ad cenam et sitiens et esuriens veniret, eo cibo qui et suavissimus esset et idem facillimus ad concoquen- dum, vino et ad voluptatem et ne noceret. Cetera ilia adhibebat, quibus demptis negat se Epicurus intellegere quid sit bonum. Aberat omnis dolor; qui si adesset, nee molliter ferret et tamen medicis pluK quam philosophis uteretur. Color egregius, In- tegra valetudo, sumina gratia'; vita deuique conferta
ppVthM
, 01 Vergiaini.
BOOK II. xix-xx when you pictured on the one hand a person loaded The voiuptn»r)> with an abundance of the most delightful pleasures f^pp^ and free from all pain whether present or in pros- ^ pectj and on the other one racked throughout liis frame by the most excruciating pains, unqualified by any pleasure or hope of pleasure ; then proceede3 to ask who could be more wretched than the tatter or more happy than the former ; and finally drew the conclusion that pain was the Chief Evil and pleasure the Chief Good I
XX. Well, there was a certain Lucius Thorius of Lanuvium, whom you cannot remember ; he lived on the principle of enjoying in the fullest measure all the most exquisite pleasures that could possibly be found. His appetite for pleasures was only equalled by his taste and ingenuity in devising them. He was so devoid of superstition as to scoff at all the gacriftees and shrines for which his native place is famous; and so free from fear of death that he died 64 in battle for his country. Epicurus's classification of the desires meant nothing to him ; he knew no limit but satiety. At the same time he was care- ful of his health : took sufheient exercise to come hungry and thirsty to table ; ate what was at once most appetizing and most digestible ; drank enough wine for pleasure and not too much for health. Nor did he forgo those other indulgences in the absence of which Epicurus declares that he cannot under- stand what Good is. Pain he never experienced at all ; had it come to him, he would have borne it with fortitude, yet would have called in a doctor sooner than a philosopher. He had excellent health i^»ida sound constitution. He was extremely popular. ^^Kl short, his life was replete with pleasure of every
CICERO DR FINIBUS r fi,') voluptatum omnium varietate. Hunc vos beatum.—
ratio quidem vestra sic cogit; at ego quem huic anteponam non audeo dicere ; dicet pro me ipsa virtus, nee dubitabit isti vestro beato M- Reguluni anteponere, quem quidem, cum sua voluntatej nulla. vi coactus praeter lidem quam dederat hosti, ex patria Carthaginem revertisset, tum ipsum, cum tigiliis et fame cruciaretur, claniat virtiis beatiorem fiiisse quam potantem in rosa Thorium. Bella magna gesserat, bis consul fuerat, triunipharat, nee tamen sua ilia superiora tarn magna neque tam praeclara ducelrat quam ilium iiltimtim casum quem propter fidem constant iamque susceperat ; qui nobis misera- hilis videtur audientibus, illi perpetienti erat volu- ptarius. Non enim hilaritate nee lascivia nee risu aut ioco, comite levitatis, saepe etiam tristes firmi- \ 66 tate et constantia sunt lieati. Stuprata per vim Lucretia a regis filio testata cives se ipsa interemit. Hie dolor populi Romani duce et auctore Bruto causa civitati libertatis fuit, ob eiusque mulieris memoriam primo anno et vir et pater eius consul est factus. Tenuis L. Verginius unusque de anno post libertatem receptam virginem filiam manu oecidit potius quam ea Ap. Claudi libidini. tum erat cum^ suramo imperio, dedereti
se.iagcsimo filiam SU^^H ibidini, q^^^l
BOOCILtt
at least svmr ikim* n^mt» ymm to d» a*. Bat I place abam fc^ — I d» mat »ff t. Ib atf wk^m: Virtue bcncif ^aH 9eA 6r me. a^ ike «9 Mot hesiUte to n^ SbRm Bccdbs t^Kr Iba Ok
tj|ili iillj liini) Ml», ai J— auMliI i illliw Ecpalat, of his own free «fl ^id aad^ no d^^fdoea except that m a pmHaae gii<ui to an tfoeTj ictuiuea &aM his natiTc had to C
that vbcB be bad d tonuested vitb al caroo^ng on his cmmJi of rvse*. Bcgvlvs had faa^il great van, had tviee been cansal, had eelebraled a trinin[ifa : j*t aD his earfier exploits be counled less givat and gfawuw» than thmk final disaster, vhiefa be ebosc to undeig* foe the sake of hoooar and of lo3^t)* : > pitiahle end, aa it seems to ns who be«r of it, but full of pleasore foa- faim «ho endured >t Gaiety and tuerriment, langfater and jesting, those romnules of frivolitT, are not the <>n]}' sigiis of happiness : often in sadness those are happf whose fit) wills are strong and tme. Lucretia outraged b.v the royal prince called on her fellow-ciliiens lo witness her wrong and died by her own haiKJ. The indignation that this aroused in titc RoDian People, under the leadership and guidance of Brutus, wo» freedom for the state ; and in gratitude to Lucretia'a memory both her husband ajid her father were made consuls for the first year of the republic. Sixty years after our liberties had been won, Lucius Verginius, a poor man of humble station, killed his mitideii daughter with his own hand rather than surrender r to the lust of Appius Clnudiiis. who then held e highest power in the state.
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' 67 XXI. '■ Aut haec tibi, Torquate, sunt vituperanda aut putrocinium vohiptatis repudiandum. Quodauteni patrocinium aut quae ista causa est voluptatis quae nee testes uUos e claris viris nee laudatores poterit^ adhibere ? Ut enim nos ex aimalium monumentis testas exdtamus eos quorum omnis vita consumpta est in laboribus gloriosis, qui voluptatis nomen audire non possent, sic in vestris dispiitationibus historia muta est. Numquam audivi in Epicuri schola LycuT- gam, Solonem, Miltiadem, Themistoclem, Epami- nondam nominari, qui in ore sunt celerorum pliiloso^, phorum omnium. Nunc vero, quoniam haec no*) etiam traetare coepimus, suppeditabit nobis Atticu»'
68 noster e thesauris suis quos et quantos mehus est de his aliqoid quam tantis voluniinibus d« Tbemista loqui ? Sint ista Graecorum ; quamquara ab lis philosophiam et omnes ing'enuas disciplinas habemus ; sed tamen est aliquid quod nobis non liceat, liceat illis. Pugnant Stoici eum Peripateticis. Alteri negant quidquani esse bonum nisi quod ho» nestum sit, alteri plurimuni se et longe longeqae plurimiini tribuece honestati, sed tamen et in corpore et extra esse quaedam bona. Et certamen honestum et disputatio splendida '. Omnis est enim de virtutis dignitate contentio. At cum tuis cum diss eras, multa sunt audienda etiam de obscenis voluptatibus,
69 de quibus ab Epicuro saepissime dicitur. Non potes ergo ista tueri, Torquate, mihi crede, si te ipse et
\
e historical and biographical m
cellanksi' ^^^
BOOK 11. xxi
67 XXI. Ritlier, Torquatus, you must reprobate Epfamsnbm these actions, or you must give up your championship J^" peaVSS of Pleasure. But what defence can Pleasure offer, of hatory. what case can you make out for her, when she will be able to produce no famous men as her witnesses or supporters ? On our side we cite in evidence from our records and our annals men who spent their whole lives in glorious toils, men who would not have borne to hear pleasure so mucli as named ; but in your discourses history is dumb. In the school of
■Spicurus I never beard one mention of Lycurgus, Solon, MiltiadeS] Themistocles, Epaminondas, who DC always on the lips of tbe other philosophers. And bofw that we Romans too have begun to treat of these themes, what a marvellous roll of great men will our friend Atticus supply to us from his store-houses of
68 learning!" Would it not be better to talk of these than ^^^ to devote those bulky volumes to Th emista ? Let us ^^■geave that sort of thing to the Greeks. True we owe ^^■e ibem philosophy and all tlie liberal sciences : yet -^^^Wiere are topics not permitted to us, that are allow- ^^^rt)le for them. Battle rages between the Stoics and
the Peripatetics. One. school declares that nothing is good but Moral Worth, the other that, while it assigns the greatest, and by far the greatest, value to Morality, yet still some bodily and external things ate good. Here is an honourable quarrel, fought out in high debate ! For the whole dispute turns on the true worth of virtue. But when one argues with your friends, one has to listen to a great deal about even the grosser forms of pleasure ! Epifurus is
69 always harping upon them ! Believe me then. Tor- it painu the
Kitus, if you will but look within, and study your ha'^d^ld.'S n thoughts and inclinations, you cannot con- p'""""-
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tuas cogitationes et studia perspexeris ; piidebit inquam, Ulius tabulae qiiam Cleanthes sane com^l mode verbis depingere solebat. lubebat aiidiebant secum ipsos cogitare pictam in tabula voluptatem puleherrimo vestitu et omatii regali in solio sedentem ; praesto esse virtutcs nt ancillolas, quae nihil aliud agerent, nullum suum offidum duce- rent nisi ut voluptati ministrarent, et earn tantum ad aurem admonerent (si modo id pietura intellegi pos- set) ut caveret ne quid faceret imprudens quod offen- deret animos hominunij aut quidquam e quo orireti aliquis dolor. Nos quidem virtutes sic natae ut tibi serviremus ; aliud negoti nihil habemu
D XXII. At negat Epicurus (hoc enim vestruni lumen est) quemquam qui honeste non vivat iucunde posse vivere. Quasi ego id curem quid ille aiat aut neget; illud quaero, quid et qui in voluptate sum- mum bonum ponat consentaneuni sit dicere, Qi affers cur Tliorius, cur Chius Postumi nium horum magister, Orata, non iucundissime xerit? Ipse negat, ut ante dixi, luxuriosorum vitam^ reprendendam nisi plane fatui sint, id est nisi aut cnpiant aut metuant. Quaruni anibarum rerum cum niedicinam pollicelur, luxuriae liceiitiam pollicetur. His enim rebus detractis negat se reperire in asoto-
l rum vita quod reprcudat. Non igitur potestig volu- ptate omnia dirigentes aut tueri aut re tinere virtu tem. Nam iiec vir bonus ac iustus haberi debet qui n^i
Mnf. MSS. have Posiumius cur Cliius. \ a coTTiiptioii, suspect ingr tliat three persons tneraled before cur emnium horum: perhaps (an epicure mcnlioned by X'arro and Pliny the Eldrrl, t
1
ini de
ut
BOOK II. xxi-xxii tinue to del'eiid the doctrines you profess. Yon will be put to tlie blush, I say, by tile picture that Cleanthes used to draw so cleverly in his lectures. He would tell liis audience to imagine a paint- ing representing Pleasure, decked as a queen, «nd gorgeously apparelled, seated on a throne ; nt lier side should stand the Virtues as her handmaids, who should make it their sole object and duty to minister to Pleasure, merely whispering in her ear the warning (provided this could be conveyed by the painter's art) to beware of unwittingly doing aught to offend' public opinion, or anything from which pain might result. As for us Virtues, we were born to be your slaves ; that is our one and only business.'
70 XXn, "But, you will tell me, your great luminary inji Epicurus denies that anyone who does not live oX morally can live pleasantly. As if I cared what '^ Epicurus says or denies ! What I ask is, what is it | consistent for a man to say who places the Chief Good in pleasure? What reason can you give for thinking that Thorius, or Postumius of Chios, or the ', master of them all, Orata, did not live extremely pleasant lives ? Epicurus himself says that the life
of sensualists is blameless, if they are not utter fools— for that is what his proviso, if tliey are free from fear and from desire," amounts to. And, as he offers an antidote for both desire and fear, he vir- tually offers free indulgence for sensuality. Eliminate those passions, he says, and he cannot find anything
7 1 to blame in a life of proHigacy. Consequently you Epicureans, by taking pleasure as the sole guide, make it impossible for yourselves either to uphold or to retain virtue. For a man is not to be thought good and just who refrains from doing wrong to
15')
CICERO DE FINIBUS malum habeat abstinet se ab iniuria; m illud;
Nemo pius est qui pietatem — ; ; putes quidquam esse verius. Nee
c'rfJ
metuit iustus est, et certe si metuere destiterit non erit; non metuet autem sive celnre poterit sive opibus magnis quidquid fecerit obtinere, certeque malet existimari vir bonus ut non sit, quam esse ut non putetur. Itaj quod certissimum est,' pro vera certaque iustitia siiuulationcm nobis iustitiae traditis praecipitisque quodam modo ut nostram-stabilem conscientiam contemnamus, aliorum errantem opi- nionem aucupemur. Quae dici eiidem de ceteris virtutibus possunt, quarum omnia fundamenta vos in voluptate tamquam in aqua ponitis. Quid enim ? fortenme possumus dicere eundem ilium Torqua- tum ? — delector enim, quamquam te non possum, ut ais, comimpere, delector, inquam, et familia vestra et nomine ; et hercule mllii vir optimus nostrique amantissimus, A. Torquatus, versatur ante octilos, cuius quantum studium et qnam insigne fuerit erga me temporibus illis quae nota sunt omnibus, scire necesse est utrumque vestrum ; quae mihi ipsi, qui volo et esse et haberi gratus, grata non essent nisi eum perspicerem mea causa mihi auiicum fuisse, non sua ; nisi hoc dieis, sua, quod interest omnium recte facere. Si id dicis, vicimus ; id enim volumus, id
I Mdv. suspects
«An unknown quolalion. ^^ce ended with mclu coUt oi liCp. S 6j above.
>e ""-^
J
avoid incurring harm ; line:
I doubt yoii know the
None is good, whose love of goodness — ;"
believe me, nothing can be truer. As long as his motive is fear, he is not just, and assuredly as soon as he ceases to fear, he will not be just ; and lie will not feel fear, if he can conceal his wrong-doing, or is sufficientiy powerful to brazen it out ; and he will assuredly prefer the reputation without the reality of goodness to the reality without the reputation. So your school undoubtedly preaches the pretence of justice instead of the real and genuine thing. Its lesson amounts to this — we are to despise the trust- worthy voice of our own conscience, and to run after 78 the f^lible imaginations of other men. The same applies in the case of the other virtues. Basing them entirely on pleasure you are laying their foundations in water. Wliy, take the great Torquatus again; can he really be called brave ?^for I delight, albeit my flattery, as you put it, is powerless to bribe you, I delight, I say, in your name and lineage; and indeed I have personal recollections of that distin- guished man. Aulus Torquatus, who was an affec- tionate friend of my own, and whose signal loyalty and devotion to me in circumstances that are within universal knowledge^ must be familiar to you both ; yet for my part, anxious as I am to feel and show a proper gratitude, I would not have thanked him for his friendship had I not known that it was dis- intereBted; unless you choose to say that it was for his own interest in the sense that it is to every man's interest to act rightly. If you do say so, we have won our case ; for our one principle, our one M 161
CICERO D£ FINIBUS ^M
73 contendimus, ut ofEcl fi-uctus ait ipaum ofScium. Hoc
ille tuus non vult, omiiibusque ex rebus voluptatem quasi mercedem esigit. Sed ad ilium redeo ; si vo- luptatis L'ausa cum Gallo apud Aniciiem dcpugiiavit provocatus et ex eius spoliis sibi et torquem et co- gnomen iuduit ullam aliam ob causam nisi quod ei talia facta digna viro videbantur, fortem non puto. lam si pudoFj si modestia, si pudicitia, si ano verbo temperantia poenae aut infamiae metu coercebuntur, non sanctitate sua se tuebuntur, quod adulterium, quod stuprum, quae libido non se proripiet ac proiciet aut occultatione pruposita aut impunitate aut li-
i Quid i illud, Torquate, quale tandem videtur, — te
isto nomine ingenio gloria, quae facis, quae cogitas, quae contendis quo referas, cuius rei causa perficere quae conaris velis, quid optimum denique in vita iudiees, non audere in conventu dicere ? Quid enim mereri velis, iam cum magistratum inieris et in con- tionem ascenderis (est enim tibi edicendum quae sis observaturus in iure ijicendo, et fortasse etiam, si tibi erit visum, aliquid de maioribus tuis et de te ipso dices more maiorum), — quid mcrearis igitur ut dicas te in eo magistratu omnia voluptatis causa facturum esse teque nihil fecisse in vita nisi voluptatis causa ? — \62
BOOK II. xxii
rS contention is, that duty is its own reward. This your great master does not allow ; he expects everything to pay — to yield its quota of plet But I return to old Torquatus. If it was to win pleasure that he accepted the Gallic warrior's chal- lenge to single combat on the banks of the Anio, and if he despoOed him and assumed liis necklet and the corresponding surname for any other reason than that he thought such deeds became a i do not consider him brave. Again, if modesty, self- control, chastity, if in a word Temperance is to depend for its sanction on the fear of punishment or of disgrace, and not to maintain itself by its c intrinsic sacrednt-ss, what form of adultery, ' lust will not break loose and run riot when it is assured of concealment, impunity or indulgence.
74, Or what, pray, are we to think of the situation if ^0 nub
you, Torquatus, bearing the name you do, and gifted g""* ■" and distinguished as you are, dare not profess before a , public audience tlie real object of all your actions, 1 aims and endeavours, the motive that inspires you to accomplish your undertakings, what it is in short that you consider the greatest good in life? In re- turn for what payment or consideration, when not long hence you have attained to public office and come forward to address a meeting (for you will have to announce the rules that you propose to observe in administering justice, and very likely also, if you think good, you will follow the time-honoured custom of making some reference to your ancestors and to yourself), — for what consideration then would you con- sent to declare that you intend in office to guide your conduct solely by pleasure, and that pleasure has been your aim in every action of your life? — Do you M2 163
CICEBO DE FINIBUS All me,' inquis, ' taxa amentem putas ut apud imperitos isto modo loquar ? '^At tu eadem ista die in iudicio aut, si coronam times, die in senatu. Num- quam fades. Cur, nisi quod turpis oratio est ? Mene ergo et Triarium digiios existimas apud quos turpiter loquare?
75 XXIII. Veruni esto : verbum ipsum voluptatia non habet dignitatem, nee nos fortasse intellegi- mus; hoc enim identidem dicitis, non intellegere nos quam dicatis voluptatem. Rem videlicet difficilem et obscuram ! Individua cum dicitis et intermundia, quae nee sunt ulla nee possunt esse, intellegimus ; voluptas, quae passeribus nota est omnibus, a nobis intellegi non potest ? Quid si efficio ut fateare me non modo quid sit voluptas scire (est enim iucundus motus in sensu), sed etiam quid earn tu velis esse? Turn enim eam ipsam vis quam modo ego dixi, et nomen imponis in raotu ut sit et faciat aliquam varie- tatem, tum aliam quandam sumniam voluptatem cui addi nihil possit ; earn tum adesse cum dolor omnis
76 absit ; eam stabilem appellas. Sit sane ista. voluptas. Die in quovis conventu te omnia facere ne doleas. Si ne hoc quidem satis ample, satis honeste dici putas, die te omnia et in isto magistratu et in omni vita utilitatie tuag causa facturum, nihil nisi quod
16*
BOOK II.
take me for such au imbecile,' you exblaim, as < in that fashion before ignorant people?' — Well, the same profession in a law-court, or if you are of the public there, say it in the senate. You never do it. Why not, unless because sueh language is disgraceful? Then what a compliment to TwquiiliirLr^ and myself, to use it in our presence! ^
75 XXJII. ' But let us grant your position. Theactual word pleasure' has an undignified sound; and per- haps we do not understand its significance : you are always repeating that we do not understand what you mean by pleasure. As though it were a difficult or recondite notion! We understand you when you talk of indivisible atoms' and cosmic interspaces,' things that don't exist and never can exist; then is our intelligence incapable of grasping the meaning of pleasure, a feeling known to every sparrow ? What if I force you to admit that I do know not only what pleasure really is (it is an ajjxeeable activity ofthe
jenseX but also what you meanby it f i-or at one moment you mean by it the feeling that I have just defined, and this you entitle ' kinetic ' pleasure, as producing a definite change of feeling, butat anotlier nioment you say it is quite a different feeling, which is the acme and climax of pleasure, but yet consists merely in the complete absence of pain ; this you
76 call ' static ' pleasure. Well, grant that pleasure is the latter sort of feeling. Profess in any public assembly that the motive of all your actions is the desire to avoid pain. If you feel that this too does not sound sufficiently dignified and respectable, say that you intend both in your present office and all your life long to act solely for the sake of your own advantage, — to do nothing but what will pay, nothing
165
to talk ^^M
afraid ^^^
CICERO DE FINIBUS expediat, nihil deuique nisi tua causa ; quetn cla- morem i^ontionis aut quam spem consutatus eius qui tibi pai-atissimus est iiituram putas ? Eamne rationem igitiir sequere* qua tecum ipse et cum tuis utare, pro- fiteri et in medium proferre non audeas ? At vero ilia quae Peripiatetici, quae Stoici dicunt, semper tibi in ore sunt in iudiciis, in senatu. Oflicium, aequi- tatem, disnitatero, fidem, recta, honesta, digna im- perio, digna populo Romano, omnia perieula pro re publica, niori pro patria, — liaec cum loqueris, nos barones stuperaus, tu videlicet tecum ipse rides. ' Nam inter tsta tarn magnifica verba tamque praeclara non habet nllum voluptas locum, non modo ilia quam in motu esse dicitis, quam omnes urbani, rustici, omnes, inquam, qui Latine loquuntur, voluptatem vocaiit, sed ne haec quidem stabilis, quam praeter vos nemo appellat voluptatem. XXIV, Vide igitur □e non debeas verbis nostris uti, sententiis tuis. Quod si vultum tibi, si incessum fingeres quo gravior vide- rere, non esses tui siniilis ; verba tu fingas, et ea dicas quae non sentias ? aut etiam, ut vestitum, sic sen- tentiam habeas aliam domesticam, aliain forensera, ut in fronte ostentatio sit, intus Veritas occultetur ? Vide, quaeso, rectumne sit. Mihi quidem eae verae videntur opiniones quae lionestae, quae laudabiles, quae gloriosae, quae in senatu, quae apud populum, ^sequere A; most MSS. stquare.
BOOK II. xxiii-xxiv in short that is not for your own interest ; imagine the uproar among the audience ! What would be- come of your chances of the consulship, which as it is seems to be a certainty for you in the near future ? Will you then adopt a rule of life which you can ap- peal to in private and among friends but which you dare not openly profess or parade in public ? All, but it is the vocabulary of the Pt^ripatetics and the Stoics that is always on your lips, in the law-courts and the senate. Duty, Faii'-dealuig, Moral Worth, Fidelity, Uprightness, Honour, the Dignity of office, the Dignity of the Roman People, Risk all for the state. Die for your Country, — when you talk in this style, we simpletons stand gaping in admiration, 77 — and you no doubt laugh in your sleeve. For in that glorious array of high-sounding words, pleasure finds no place, not only what your school calls kinetic ' pleasure, which is what every one, polished or rustic, every one, I say, who can speak Latin, means hy pleasure, but not even this static ' pleasure, which no one but you Epicureans would call pleasure at all. XXIV. Well then, are you sure you have any right to employ our words with meanings of your own ? If you assumed an unnatural expression or demeanour, in order to look more important, that would be insin- cere. Are you then to affect an artificial language, and say what you do not think f Or are you to change your opinions like your clothes, and Lave one set for indoor wear and another when you walk abroad ? Outside, all show and pretence, but your genuine self concealed within ? Reflect, I beg of you, is this honest ? In my view those opinions are ^■frne which are honourable, praiseworthy and noble ^^Krwhich can be openly avowed in the senate and ^B 167
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li coetu coiicilioque profitendae sint, ne id lion pudeat seiitire quod pudeat dicere.
\ Amicitiae vero locus ubi esse potest aut quis
amicus esse cuiquam quern nou ipsum amet propter ipsum ? Quid autem est aniare, e quo nonien du- ctum amicitiae est, nisi velle bonis aliquem alRci quam maximis etiamsi ad se ex iis nihil redundet' ? Pro- dest, inquit, niihi eo esse animo. Immo videri for- tasse. Esse enim, nisi eris, non potes^; qui autem esse poteris nisi te amor ipse ceperit ? quod non subducta utilitatis ratione effici solet, sed ipsum a se oritur et sua sponte nascitur. At enini sequor utilitatem.' Manebit ergo amicitia tani diu quam diu sequetur otilitas, et, si utilitas constituet amici-
) tiam, toilet eadeiQ. Sed quid ag-es tandem si utilitas a\) amicitia, ut fit saepe, defecerit? Relinquesne? quae ista amicitia est ? Retinebia ? qui convenit ? quid enim de amicitia statueris utilitatis causa expe- tenda vides. Ne in odium veniam si amicum de- stitero toeri.' Primiim cur ista res digna odio est nisi quod est turpis ? Quod si ne quo incommodo afficiare non relinques amicum, tanicn, ne sine fructu alligatus sis, ut moriatur optabis. Quid si non modo utUitatem tibi nuUam afferet, sed iacturae
' redundet Mdv.; M5S. rcdcunt et, redeat et, redeal quid.
■ For the suspicious words esse enim, nisi eris, non potea, which make the Following^ sentence tautological, Graser conjeclures esse enim, nisi videris, non prodest. '"It pays me (you say) to be a disinterested friend.' No, to seem so perhaps : it doesn't pay to be so without seeming so. But
Ids
^P BOOK II. \xiv
the popular assembly, and in every company gathermg, so tlutt one need not be ashamed Ui say what one is not ashamed to think.
78 Again, how will fHendsliip be possibli can one man be another man's friend, if he does not , love him in and for himself? What is the meaning of to love ' — from which our word for friendship is derived — except to wish some one to receive the greatest possible benefits even though one gleans no advantage therefrom oneself? It pays me,' you say, 'to be a disinterested friend.' No, perhaps it pays you to seem so. Be so you cannot, unless you really are ; but how can you be a disinterested friend unless you feel genuine affection ? Yet affection does not commonly result from any calculation of expediency. It is a spontaneous growth ; it springs up of itself. But.' you will say, I am guided by expediency," Tlien your friendship will last just so long as it is attended by expediency. If expediency
79 creates the feehng it will also destroy it. But what, pray, will you do, if, as often happens, expediency parts company with friendship ? Will you throw your friend over ? What sort of friendship is that ? Will you keep him ? How does that square with your principles ? You remember your pronounce- ment that friendship is desirable for the sake of expediency. 1 might become unpopular if I left a friend in the lurch.' Well, in the first place, why is such conduct unpopular, unless because it is base ? And if you refrain from deserting a friend because to do so will have inconvenient consequences, still you will long for his death to release you from an unprofitable tie. What if he not only brings you no advantage, but causes you to suffer loss of pro-
169
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rei familiaris erunt faciundae, labores suscipiendi, sdeundum vitae periculum f ne turn quidem te re- spicies et cogitabis sibi quemque iiatuni esse et suis voluptatibus ? Vadem te ad mortem tyranno dabis pro amico, ut Pytliagoreus iile Siculo fecit tyranno, aut Pylades cum sis, dices te esse Oresten ut mo- riare pro amico, aut si esses Orestes, Pyladem refel- leres, te uidicares, et si id iion probares, quo minus ambo una necaremini non deprecarere* ?
J XXV. Faceres tu quidem, Torquate, haec omnia; nihil enim arbitror magna laude dlgnum esse quod te praetermissurum credam aut mortis aut doloris metu. Non quaeritur autem quid naturae tuae con- sentaneura sit, sed quid disciplinae. Ratio ista quam defendis, praecepta quae didicisti, quae probas, fun- ditus evertunt amicitiam, quamvis earn Epicurus, ut facit, in caelum efFerat laudibus. At coluit ipse amicitias.' Quis, quaeso, ilium negat et bonum virirni et comem et hiimanum fuisse ? De ingenio eius in his disputation! bus, non de moribus quaeritur. Sit ista in Graecorum levitate perversitas, qui raale- dictis insectantur eos a quibus de veritate dissenti- unt. Sed quamvis comls in amicis tuendis fuerit, tamenj si haec vera sunt (nihil enim affirmo), non
I satis acutus fuit. At multis se probavit.' Et qui- dem iure fortasse ; sed tamen non gravissimum est testimonium multitudinis. In omni enim arte vel
'deflrtcarereedd.;precaren Mdv. with the MSS.
■ Phintias, plea ding for his friend Damoii before Dionysius, 'tyrant' of Syracuse; Dionysius pardoned them both and beerged to become a third insucb afriendahip. Cf. 0^.3.45.
6Cr. V. 63. Cicero refers to a scene in the DulorcsUs of Pacuvius, where Thoas King of the Tauri wished to kill ■whichever of the two captives brought before him was
J 70
^H BOOK II. xxiv-xxv
perty, to undergo toil and trouble, to risk your Ij Will you not even then take interest into account, and reflect that each man is born for himself and for his own pleasure ? Will you go bail with your life to a tyrant on behalf of a friend, as the famous Pytha- gorean' did to the Sicilian despot? or being Pylades'' will you say you are Orestes, so as to die in your friend's stead ? or supposing you were Orestes, would you say Pylades was lying and reveal your identity, and if they would not believe you, would you entreat Uiat you both might die together ?
jO XXV. 'YeSjTorquatus, you personally would do all ^fJPJ these tilings ; for I do not believe there is any high or bciui Doble action which fear of pain or death could induce "™ you to forgo. But the question is not what conduct is consistent with your character, but what is consis- tent with your tenets. The system you uphold, the principles you have studied and accept, under- znine the very foundations of friendship, however much Epicurus may, as he does, praise friendship up to the skies. But,' you tell nie, Epicurus himself had many friends.' Wlio pray denies that Epicurus was a good man, and a kind and humane man ? In these discussions it is his intellect and not his character that is in question. Let us leave to the frivolous Greeks the wrong-headedhabitofattackingand abus- ing the persons whose views of truth they do not share. Epicurus may have been a kind and faithful friend ; but if what I say is true (for I do not dog-
Bl matiae), he was not a very acute thinker. But he won many disciples.' Yes, and perhaps he deserved to do so ; but still the witness of the crowd does not carry much weight; for as in every art or study or of any kind, so in right conduct itself,
CICERO DE FINIBUS studio vel quavis scientia, vel in ipsa virtutc, optimum quidque rarissimum est Ac mihi quidem, quod et ipse bonus vir fuit et multi Epicurei et fuerunt et hodie sunt et in amieitiis fideles et in omni vita con- stanles et graves iiec voluptate sed officio consilia moderantes, hoc videtur maior vis honestatis et minor voluptatis. Ita enini vivunt quidam ut eorum vita refetlatur oratio. Atque ut ccteri dicere existi- maiitur melius quam facere, sic hi mihi videiitur facere melius quam dicere.
82 XXVI. " Sed haec nihil sane ad rem ; ilia videamus quae a te de amicitia dicta sunt. E quibus unum mihi videbar ab ipso Epicuro dictum cognoscere, amicitiam a voluptate non posse divelli ob eamque rem cglendam esse quod, cum' sine ea tuto et sine metu vivi non posset, ne iucunde quidem posset. Satis est ad hoc responsum. Attulisti aliud humanius liorum recentiorum, numquam dictum ab ipso illo, quod sciara, primo utilitatis causa amicum expeti, cum autem usus accessisset, turn Ipsum amari per se, etiam omissa spe voluptatis. Hoc etsi multis modis reprendi potest, tamen accipio quod dant; mihi enim satis est, ipsls non satis. Nam aliquaiido posse recte fieri dicunt, nulla exspectata nee quaesit« voluptate.
83 Posuisti etiam dicere alios foedus quoddam inter a
ted by Mdv.
1 mter ji^^
J
^^ BOOK n. ssY-un
sapreme escellence is estremely rare. And to my mind the fact that Epicurus himself was a good n and that many Epicureans both have been and to- day are loyal to their friends, consistent and high- principled throughout their lives, niling thei duct by duty and not by pleasure ,^-aIl this does but enforce the value of moral goodness and diminish that of pleasure. The fact is that some persons' lives and behaviour refute the principles they pro-. fess. Most men's words are thought to be bettert, than their deeds ; these people's deeds on the con-| trary seem to me better than their word?
82 XXVI. " But this I admit is a digression. Let us The ii.t« Epi. return to what you said about friendship. In one of ot fTienibhip your remarks I seemed to recognize a saying of Epi- *^ "" curus himselfj^that friendship cannot be divorced from pleasure, and that it deserves to be cultivated for the reason that without it we cannot liv( and free from alarm, and therefore cannot live agree- ably. Enough has been said in answer to this already. You quoted another and a more humane dictum of the more modem Epicureans, which so far as I know was never uttered by the master himself This was to the effect that, although at the outset we desire a man's friendship for utilitarian reasons, yet when intimacy has grown up we love our friend for his own sake, even if all prospect of pleasure be left out of sight. It is possible to take exception to this position on several grounds ; still I welcome tiieir concession, as it is sufiicient for my case and not sufficient for theirs. For it amounts to saying that moral action is occasionally possible, — action prompted by no anticipation or desire of plei
83 You further alleged that other thinkers speak of
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facere sapientes ut, quemadmodum sint in se ipsos animati, eodetn modo sint erga amicos ; id et fieri posse et saepe esse factum et ad volupta.tes percipi- endas maxime pertinere. Hoc foedus facefe si potuerunt, faciant etiam illud, ut aequitatem, mode- atiam, virtutes onines per se ipsas gratis diligant. An vero si fructibus et emolumentis et utilitatibus amicitias colemus, si nulla caritas erit quae facial amicitiam ipsam s»a sponte, vi sua, ex se et propter se expetendam, dubium est quin lundos et insulas
^ amieis anteponanius ? Licet hie rursus ea camme- mores quae optimis verbis ab Epicuivj de laude ami- citiae dicta sunt. Non quaero quid dicat, sed quid convenienter possit rationi et sententiae suae dicere. Utilitatis causa amicitia est quaesita.' Num igitur utiliorem tibi bunc Triariuni putas esse posse quam si tua sint Pubeolis granaria? Collige omnia quae soletis: Praesidium aniicorum.' Satis est tibi in te, satis in legibus, satis in mediocribus amicitiis praesidi ; iam coutemni non poteris ; odium autem et invidiam facile vitabis : ad eas enim res ab Epi- curo praecepta dantur. £t tamen tantls vectigatibus ad liberal itatem utens, etiam sine liac Pyladea amici- tia multoruni te benevolentia praeclare tuebere et
5 munies. At quicum ioca seria, ut dicitur, (juicum arcana, quicum occulta omnia ? Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum medtocri amico. Sed fac ista esse 17+
^^tee I
BOOK I[.
: making a sort of mutual comp&<? to entertain the same sentiments towards their friends as they feel towards themselves ; this (you said) was possible, and in fact had often occurred ; and it was highly conducive to the attainment of pleasure. If men have succeeded in making this compact, let them make a further compact to love fair-dealing, self-control, and all the virtues, for their own sakes and without reward. If on the other hand we are to cultivate friendships for their results, for profit and utility ; if there is to be no affection to render friendship in and for itself, intrinsically and spontaneously, desirable ; can we doubt that we shall value land and house -property more than friends ?
!4 It is no good your once again repeating Epicurus'a admirable remarks in praise of friendship. I am not asking what Epicurus actually says, but what he can say consistently while holding the theory he pro- fesses. Friendship is originally sought after from motives of utility.' Well, but surely you don't reckon Triarius here a more valuable asset than the granaries at Puteoli would be if they belonged to you ? Cite all the stock Epicurean maxims. ' Friends are a pro- tection.' You can protect yourself; the laws will protect you ; ordinary friendships offer protection enough ; soon you will be too powerful to be des- pised ; moreover you will easily avoid hatred and envy, — Epicurus gives rules for doing so 1 And even otherwise, with so large an income to give away, you can dispense with the om nt' so t of friendship that we have in mind you w 1 ha e plenty of well-
B5 wishers to defend you qu e ff e y. But a con- fidant, to share your gra e ougl or gay ' as the saying is, all your sec e and pn a affairs? Your 175
CICERO DE FINIBUS
non importuna ; quid ad utUitatem tantae pecimiae? Vides igitur, si amicitiain sua caritate metiare, nihil esse praes tan tins, sin emoliinieDto, siiminos familiari-
I fructuosorum mercede superari.
mes oportet, non mea
tates praediorui Me igitur ipsum
XXVII. Sed in rebus apertiii flumus. Perfecto eiiim et concluso neque virtutil neque amicitiis usqiiam locum esse si ad voluptatem omnia teferantur, niliil praeterea est magno opere dicendum. Ac tamen, ne cui loco non videatur esse responsum, pauca etiam nunc dicam ad reli- Ij6 quani orationem tuam. Quoniam igitur omnis sum- ma philosophiae ad beate vivendum refertur, idque unum expetentes homines se ad hoc studium contu- leruntj beate autem vivere alii in aUo, luptate ponitis, item contra dolore, id prinjiim videamus, beate quale sit. Atque hoc dabitiSj ut opinor, si modo sit aliquid esse beatum, id oportere totiun poni in pote- state sapientis. Nam si amitti vita beata potest, beatrt esse non potest. Quis enim confidit semper sibi ilhid stabile et finniim pennansurum quod fragile
tib^H I
omnen. i^
e vestninl^^l
bonorum g
176
Qui autem diffidit perpetuitati timeat necesse est ne aliquando
BOOK II. xxvi-ssvii best confidant is yourself; you may also confide in & friend of the average type. But granting that friendship lias the conveniences you mention, what are they compared with the advantages of such vast wealth ? You see then that although if you measure friendship by the test of its own charm it is unsur- passed in value, by the standard of profit the most afiectionate intimacy is outweighed by the rents of a valuable estate. So you must love me myself, not my possessions, if we are to be genuine friends,
XXVII. But we dwell too long upon the obvious, khi For when it has been conclusively proved that 'f JJluatwanW pleasure is the sole standard there is no room left tappy, if plea- either for virtue or friendship, there is no great need cS^; ' ° to say anything fiirther. Still 1 do not want you to think I have failed to answer any of your points, so I will now say a few words more in reply to the B6 remainder of your discourse. The end and aim of every system of philosophy is the attainment of hap- piness; and desire for happiness is the sole motive that has led men to engage in this study. But different thinkers make happiness consist in different things. According to your school it consists in pleasure, and conversely misery consists solely in pain. Let us then begin by examining what sort of thing happiness as you conceive it is. You will grant, I suppose, that if there is such a thing as happiness, it is bound to be attainable in its entirety by the Wise Man. For if happiness once won can be lost, a happy life is impossible. Since who can feel confident of permanently and securely retaining a possession that is perishable and precarious ? yet one who is not sure of the permanence of his Goods, must inevitably fgar that a time may come when he N 177
CICRRO DE FINIBUS ainissis illis sit miser. Beatus autem esse in maxi-
J marum rerum timore nemo potest. Nemo igitur esse beatus potest. Neque enim in aliqua parte sed in perpetuitate temporis vita beata dici ' solet, nee appellatur omnino vita nisi confecta atque absoluta, iiec potest quisquam alias beatus esse, alias miser ; qui enim existimabit posse se miserum esse, beatus non erit. Nam cum suscepta, seme! est beata vita, tarn permanet quam ipsa ilia effectrix bealae vitae sapientia, neque exspectat ultimum tempus aetatis, quod Croeso scribit Herodotus praeceptum a Soloue. At enim, quemaduiodum tute dicebas, negat Epi- curus ne diutumitatem quidem temporis ad beate vivendum aliquid afFeiTe, nee rainorem voluptatem percipi in brevitate temporis quam si iila sit sempi-
) tema. Haec dJcutitur inconstantissime. Cum enim summum bonum in voluptate ponat, negat inlinito tempore aetatis voluptatem fieri maiorem quam finlto atque modico. Qui bonum orane in virtute ponit, is potest dicere perfici beatam vitam perfectione vlr- tutis: negat enim summo bono afferre incrementum diem ; qui autem voluptate vitam effici beatam pu- tabit, qui sibi is conveniet si negabit voluptatem crescere longinquitnte ? Igitur ne dolorem quidem. An dolor longissimus quisque miserrimus, volupta- tem non optabiliorem diuturnitas facit ? Quid est igitur cur ita semper deum Epicurus beatum appel- let et aeternum ? Dempta enim aeternitate itiliilo beatior luppiter quam Epicurus; uterquc e
'rfrWMd».;rfartMSS. 178
r enim suni^H
BOOK ri. xxvii Doay lose them and so be miserable. I
1 can be happy who fears utter ruin. Therefore no one can be happy at all. For we usually speak of a life as a happy one not in reference to a part of it, but to the whole of a Hfetime ; indeed a life ' means a finished and complete life ; nor is it possible to l>e at one time happy and at another miserable, since he who thinks that he may be miserable, will not be happy. For when happiness has once been achieved, it is as permanent as Wisdom itself, which is the efficient cause of happiness ; it does not wait for the end of our mortal term, as Croesus in Hero- dotus's history was warned by Solon to do.
It may be rejoined that Epicurus, as you your- ; self were saying, denies that long duration can i add anytfiing to happiness; he says that as much' pleasure is enjoyed in a brief span of time as if
I pleasure were everlasting. In saying this lie is grossly inconsistent. He places the Chief Good in pleasure, and yet he says that no greater plei would result from a lifetime of endless duration than from a limited and moderate period. If a person finds the sole Good in Virtue, it is open to him to say that the happy life is consummated by the con- summation of Virtue ; for his position is that the Chief Good is not increased by lapse of time. But if one thinks that happiness is produced by pli how can he consistently deny that pleasure is in- creased by duration ? If it is not, pain is not either. Or if pain is worse the longer it lasts, is not pleasure rendered more desirable by continuance.' Epicurus always speaks of the Deity as happy and everlasting ; but on what ground ? Take away his everlasting life, and Jove is no happier than Epicurus; each of nS 179
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mo bono fruitur, id est volnpt&te. At enhn hic
etiam dolorel' At eum nihili facit; ait enim se,
) si uratur, Quam hoc suave '. ' dicturum. Qua igitur re a deo vincitur si aeternitate non vincitur ? In qua quid est boni praeter sumitiam voluptatem et earn sempitemam ? Quid ergo attiuet gloriose loqui nisi constanter loquare ? In voluptate corporis (addam. si vis, atiimi, dum ea ipsa, ut vultis, sit e corpore) situm est vivere beate. Quid ? istam vo- luptatem perpetuam quis potest praestare sapienti ? Nam quibus rebus efficiuntur voluptates, eae non sunt in potestate sapientis. Non enim in ipsa sa- pientia positum est beatum esse, sed in lis rebus quas sapientia eomparat ad voluptatem. Totum autem id extemiim est, et quod externum, id in casu est. Ita fit beatae vitae domina fortuna, quam Epicurus ait exiguam intervenire sapienti.
i XXVIII, ' Age,' inquies, ista parva sunt. Sapi- entem locupletat ipsa natura, cuius divitias Epicurus parabiJes esse docuit.' — Haec bene dicuntur, nee ego repugno ; sed inter sese ip.sa pugnant. Negat enim tenuisstmo victu, id est contcmptissirais escis et potionibus, minorem voluptatem percipi quam rebus esquisitissimis ad epulandum. Huic ego, si negaret quidquam interesse ad beate vivendum quali uteretur victu, concederem; laudarem etiam;
a I.e.
n the brazen bull of Phalaiis, qf. V. 80, 85,
]
BOOK II. X
them eigoys the Chief Good, that is to say, pleasure. Ah but,' you say, Epicurus is liable to pain as well.' Yes, but he thinks nothing of pain ; for he tells us that if he were being burnt to death* he would
99 esclaim, ' How delightfiil this is I ' Wherein then is he inferior to God, except that God lives for e But what good has everlasting life to offer beside supreme and never-ending pleasure ? What then is the use of your high-fiowii language, if it be not consistent ? Physical pleasure (and I will add if you like mental pleasure, so long as this, as yoii hold, is understood to have its source in the body) consti- tutes happiness. Well, who can guarantee this pleasure for the Wise Man in perpetuity ? For the things that produce pleasure are not in the Wise Man's control; since happiness does not consist in wisdom itself, but in the means to pleasure which wisdom can procure. Butall the apparatus of plet is ekternal, and what is external must depend on chance. Consequently happiness becomes the slave of fortune ; yet Epicurus says that fortune inter- feres with the Wise Man but little!
30 XXVIII. " 'Come,' you will say, 'these are trivial e. objections. The Wise Man is endowed with Nature's ^ own riches, and these, as Epicurus has shown, are «» easy of attainment.' This is excellently said, and I J, do not combat it; but Epicurus's own statements P' are at war with each other. He tells us that the simplest fare, that is, the meanest sorts of food and drink, afford no less pleasure than a banquet of the rarest delicacies. For my part, if he said that it Diade no diiference to happiness what sort of food
t.e, I should agree, and what is more I should ud; for he would be telling the truth. I
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enini diceret, idque Socratem, qui voluptateiu nullo loco niimerat, audio dicentem, cibi tondimentum esse famem, potiouis sitim. Sed qui ad voluptatem omnia referens vivit ut Gallonius, loquitur ut Frugi ille Piso, lion audio, nee euni quod sentiat dicere
91 existimo. Naturales divitias dixit parabiles esse quod parvo esset iiatura contenta. Certe, nisi volu- ptatem tanti aestimaretis. Non minor, inquit, volu- ptaspercipitur ex vilissimis rebus quara ex pretiosis- simis. Hoc est non raodo cor non habere aed ne palatum quidem. Qui enlm voluptatem ipsam con- temnunt, iis licet dicere se acipenserem maenae non antepoiiere ; cui ve est, huic omnia sei
93 eaque die en da opti esto ; coiisequatur sed per me nihilo, si in nasturcio Olo quo Xenophon, quam in Syracusanis mensis quae a Platone graviter vituperantur ; sit, inquam, tarn Tacilis guam vultis comparatio voluptatis; quiddedoloredieemus? cuius tantu tormeuta sunt ut in iis beata vita, si modo dolor summum malum est, esse non possit. Ipse enim Mctrodorus, paene alter Epicunis, beatum esse describit liis fere verbis: cum corpus bene con- stitutum sit et sit exploratum ita futurum. An id esploratum cuiquam potest esse, quoniodo se hoc habituruui sit corpus non dico ad annum, sed ad veaperum ? Dolor igitur, id est summum malum.
voluptate , non rationc sunt iudicanda, quae sunt suavissima. \"erum ■oluptates non modo parvOj potest; sit voluptas non minor vesci Persas esse solitos
bit
1
BOOK II. xsviii will listen to Socrates, wiio holds pleasure of no account, when he says that the best sauce for food is hunger and the best fliivouring for drink thirst. But I will not listen to one who makes pleasure the sole standard, when while living like Gallonius be talks like Piso the Thrifty ; I refuse to believe in his
91 sincerity. He said that natural wealth is easUy won, because nature is satisfied with little. Undoubtedly, — if only you Epicureans did not value pleasure so highly. As much pleasure, he says, is derived from the cheapest things as from the most costly. Dear me, his palate must be as dull as his wits. Persons who despise pleasure in itself are at liberty to say that they value a sturgeon no higher than a sprat ; but a man whose chief good consists jn pleasure is bound to judge everything by sensation, not by reason, and to call those things the best which are the pleasant-
J2 est. However, let us grant his point: let him get the highest pleasures cheap, or for all I care for nothing, if he can; allow that there is as much pleasure to be found in the cress salad which accord- ing to Xenophon^ formed the staple diet of the Persians, as in the Syracusan banquets which Plato'' takes to task so severely; grant, I say, that pleasure is as easy to get as your school makes out; — but what are we to say of pain? Pain can inflict such tortures as to render happiness absolutely impossible, that is, if it be true that paui is the Chief Evil. Metrodorus himself, who was almost a second Epi- curus, describes happiness (I give almost his actual words) as 'sound health, and an assurance of its continuance.' Can anyone have an assurance of what his health will be, I don't say a year hence, but this evening? It follows that we can never be 183
CICERO DE FINIBUS .■
metuetur semper etiajnsi tion aderit ; iam enim adesse poterit. Qui potest iffitur habitare in beabi vita summi
93 njali ijietus? Traditur, inquit, ab Epicure ratio ne- glegendi doloris, lani id ipsuni absurdum, maximum malum neglegi. Sed quae tandem ista ratio est?
Maximus dolor,' ijiquit, brevis est.' Primum quid tu dicis breve? deinde dolorem queni ) Quid enim ? Summus dolor plures dies n potest? Vide ne etiam menses! Nisi forte eum dicis qui simul atque arripuit interficit. Quis istum dolorem timet ? lUum mallem levares quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. Octavium, M. F., familiarem meum, confici vidi, nee vero serael nee ad breve tempus sed et saepe et plane diu. Quos Ule, di immortales ! cum omiies artus ardere viderentur, cruciatus perferebat '. Nee tamen miser esse, quia suiumuni id malum not) erat, tantummodo laboriosus videbatur. At miser, si in fiagitiosa atque vitiosa vita afflueret voluptatibus.
94 XXIX. Quod autem magnum doiorem brevem, longinquum levem esse dicitis, id nou tntellcgo quale sit. Video enim et magnos et cosdem bene longin- quos dolores ; quorum, alia toleratio est verior, qua uti VDS non potestis qui honestatem ipsam. per se non amatis. Fortitudini(> quaedam praecepta sunt ac paene leges, quae effeminari virum vetant in dolore. Quamobrem turpe putandum est, non dico
184
BOOK II. KKViii-x: freefromtheappreheijsionofpain, which is the Chief Evil, even when it is absent, for at any moment it may be upon us. How then can life be happy when
93 haunted by fear of the greatest Evil? Ah but,' he rejoins, Epicurus teaches a method for disregarding pain.' To begin with, the mere idea of disregard- ing that which is the greatest of evils is absurd. But what is this method, pray? The severest pain,' says he, 'is brief.' First of all, what do you mean by brief? and secondly, what do you mean by the severest pain? Why, cannot the most intense pain last for several days? You may find it last for months! Unless indeed you mean a seizure tliat instantaneously kills you. But no one is aA-aid of such a pain as that. I want you rather to alleviate such agony as I have seen afflicting my excellent and amiable friend, Gnaeus Octavius, son of Marcus ; and . that not once only or for a short time, but repeatedly and for very long periods. Great heavens, what torments he used to suffer! All his joints felt as if on Rre. And yet one did not think of him as miserable, because such pain was not the greatest evil, — ^only as afflicted. Mi.serahie he would have been if he had lived a life of profligacy and vice sur- rounded by every pleasure.
9+ XXIX. As for your maxim that severe pain is short and prolonged pain light, I cannot make out what it may mean. For I see paius that are at ouce severe and considerably prolonged; and the truer way endure them is that other method, which you whi not love moral wortli for its own sake are not able to employ. Courage has its precepts and its rules, i of constraining force, that forbid a V womanish weakness in pain. Hence it must
won
105
' to ^H
ido . ^H
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dolere (nam id quidem est tnterdum necease), sed saxum illud Lemniuni ' clamore Philocteteo fiine-
Quod eiulatu, questu, gemltu, fiemitibus Resonando mutum flebiles voces refert. Huic Epicurus praeceiitet, si potest, cui
I
Sic Epicurus ; ' Philocteta, si gravis dolor, brevis.' * At iam decimum annum in spelunca iacet. Si longus,
95 levis; dat enim intervalla et relaxat.' Primum non saepe, deinde quae est ista relaxatio, cum et praeter- iti doloris menioria recens est et fiituri atque im- pendentis torquet timor? Moriatur, inquit. Fortasse id optimum, sed ubi illud: Plus semper voluptatis?' Si enim ila est, vide ne facinus facias cum mori Euadeas. Potius ergo ilia dicantur, turpe esse, viri non esse debilitari dolore, frangi, succumbere. Nam ista vestra ; Si gravis, brevis ; si longus, levis' dictata sunt. Virtutis, magnitudinis animi, patientiae, for- titudinis fomentis dolor mitigari solet.
96 XXX. Audi, ne longe abeam, nioriens quid dicat Epicurus, ut iiitellegas facta eius cum dictis disere- pare: Epicurus Hermarcho S. Cum ageremus,' inquit,
'£ inserted by Baiter.
'5i (or sit) gravis dolor, brevis inf. MSS. ; si brevis dolor, U'nis A. B, E.— Mdv. ^Philocteta, st! Brevis dohir.' But cp,
a Quoted probably from the Fhilocteles of Atti
]
I considered a disgrace, I do not say to feel pain lat is sometimes inevitable), but that rock of mnos to outrage ' ' with the cries of a Philoctetes, Ti; t Ep
BOOK II.
Till the dumb stones utter a voice of weeping. Echoing his wails and plaints, his sighs and groanings.
^t Epicurus soothe with his spells, if he can, the n whose
^_^th.
^■biiii
I_ then, ^Lj»anl<
Veins and vitals, from the viper's fang Envenom' d, throb witli pangs of anguish dire. Thus Epicurus: Philocletes' If piin is severe, it is short.' Oh, but he has been languishing in his cave these ten years past. 'If it is long it m light: for it grants intervals of respite In the first place, few and far between and secondly, what the good of a respite embittered bj retent pain fresh in memory, and tormented by Jear of pain kpending in the future? Let liim die sajs Epicu- Perhaps that were the best tourse but what les of the maxim about a tonstant preponder- ofplea-sure'? If that be true, are you not guilty crime in advising him to end his life? Well then, let us rather tell him that it is base and un- ly to be enfeebled, crushed and overpowered by As for the formula of your sect. Short if strong, light if it's long,' it is a tag for copy- books. Virtue, magnanimity, endurance, courage, ■it is these that have balm to assuage pain. XXX. "But I must not digress too far. Let me fi repeat the dying words of Epicurus, to prove to you JJ^'own^^' ^e discrepancy between his practice and his prin- w— '--■— Iples : ' Epicurus to Hermarchus, greeting. I write
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vitae beatum et eundem supremiim diem, scribe- bamus haec. Tanti aderant vesicae et torminum morbi ut nihil ad eorum magnitiidinem posset acce- dere.' Miserum hominetii! Si dulor summum malum est, dici aliter noti potest. Sed audiamus ipsum.
Compensabatur/ inquit, tamen cum Ills omnibus animi laetitia quam capiebam memoria rationum in- ventonjmque nostrorum. Sedtu, ut dignum est tua erga me et pliilosophiam voluntate ab aduleseentulo ' 97 suscepta, fac ut Metrodori tueare liberos.' Non ego iam Epaminondae, non Leonidae mortem huius morti antepono ; quorum alter cum vicisset Lacedae- monios apud Mantineam atque ipse gravi vulnere exanimari se videret, ut primum dispexit, quaesivit salvusne esset clipeus. Cum salvum esse tlentes sui respundisseiit, rogavit essentne fusi hostes. Cum id quoque ut cupiebat audivisset, evelli iussit earn qua erat transfixus hastam. Ita multo sanguine profuso in laetitia et victoria est mortuus. Leonidas autem, rex Lacedaemoniorum se in Thermopylis trecen- tosque eos quos eduxerat Sparta, cum esset proposita aut fuga turpis aut gloriosa mors, opposuit hostibus. Praeclarae uiortes sunt imperatoriae ; philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerum.que moriuntur. Refert tamen quomodo. Beatus sibi videtur esse moriens. Magna laus.^ Compensabatur,' inquit, cum sum- ) mis doloribus laetitia,' Audio equidem pliilosophi vocem. Epicure ; sed quid tibi dicendum sit oblitus es. Primura enim, si vera sunt ea quorum recorda-
BOOK II. ssK
these words,' he sajs, 'on the happiest, and the Isat, day of my life. I am suffering from diseases of the bladder and intestines, which are of the utmost possible severity.' Unhappy creature '. If pain is the Chief Evil, that is the only thing to be said. But let us hear his own words. Yet nil iny sufferings," he continues, are counterbalanced by the joy which
■ derive from remembering my theories and dis- Bveries. I charge you, by the devotion which from Our youth up you have displayed towards nayself nd towards philosophy, to protect the children of
97 Metrodorus.' When I read this I rank the death- scene of Epicurus on a level with those of Epami- nondas and of Leonidas. Epaminondas had defeated
_the Lacedemonians at Mantinea, and perceived him-
lelf to be mortally wounded. As soon as he regained
mess he inquired if his shield were safe.
I weeping followers told him that it was. He
■ere the enemy routed. Satisfied on this
int also, he bade them pluck out the spear that
lerced his side. A rush of blood followed, and so
1 the hour of joy and victory he died. Leonidas,
king of the Lacedemonians, had to choose between
dishonourable Hight and a glorious death ; with the
three hundred warriors that he had brought fi-om
^^^Spsrta he confronted the foe at Thermopylae. It is
^^nrlorious to fall when leading an army ; but philoso-
^^^pbers mostly die in their beds. Still the manner of
^^ their death makes a difference. Epicurus counts
himself happy in his last moments, A11 honour to
him. My joy,' he writes, counterbalances the
98 acverest pain." There, Epicurus, it is true, I hear of a philosopher; but you forget what you
gically ought to say. In the first place, if tlie thing
CICERO DE FINIBUS tione te gaudere dicis, hoc est si vera sui et invents, gaudere non potes ; nihil er quod ad corpus referas ; est autem a te semper ctum nee gaudere quemquam nisi propter corpus nee dolere. Praeteritis, inquit, gaudeo, Quihusnam praeteritis? si ad corpus pertinentibus, rationes tuas te video compensare cum istis doloribus, memoriam corpore perceptarum voluptatum autem ad animuni, falsum est quod iiegas t nllum esse gaudium quod non referatur ad corpus. Cur deinde Metrodori liberos commendas ? quid in istoegregio tuo officio et tantafide (sic enim existimo) ad corpus refers ?
) XXXI. " Hue etiltuc,Torquate,vosversetis licet; nihil in hac praeclara epistola scriptum ab Epicuro congruens et conveniens decretis eius reperietis. Ita redarguitur ipse a sese, convincunturque scripta eius probitate ipsius ac moribus. Nam ista commendatio puerorum, memoria et caritas amicitiae, summorum officiorum in estremo spiritu conservatio indicat in- natam esse liomini probitatem gratuitam, non invita- tam voluptatibus nee praemiorummereedibusevoca- tam. Quod enim testimonium maius quaerimus, quae honesta et recta sint, ipsa esse optabilia per sese,
) cum videamus tanta oflicia morientis ? Sed ut epi~ stulam laudandam arbitror earn quam raodo totidem fere verbis interpretatus sum, quamquum ea. < summa eius philosophia nullo niodo congruebat,
hab^H
nes
' MSS, t
St cdd.
le prepos
; Mdv.
uggcst;
iiifur^uc I1<.\v. after Davis
BOOK II. xsx-xxxi in the recollection of which you profess to find plea- sure, I mean jnur writings and your theories, are true, you cannot really he feeling pleasure. All feelings referable to the body are over for you ; yet you have always maintained that no one feels either pleasure or pain except on account of the body. He says I take pleasure in my past feelings." What past feelings ? If you mean bodily feelings, I notice that it is not the memory of hodily delights, but your philosophical theories, that counterbalance for you your present pains ; if mental feelings, your doctrine that there is no delight of the mind not ultimately referable to the body is an error. And secondly, why do you provide for the children of Metrodorus? What standard of bodily pleasure are you following in this signal act (for so I esteem it) of loyalty and duty?
) XXXI. '' Vea, Torquatus, you people may turn and twist as you like, but you will not find a line in this famous letter of Epicurus that is not inconsistent and incompatible with his teachings. Hence he is his own refutation ; his writings are disproved by the uprightness of his character. That provision for the care of the children, that loyalty to friend- ship and affection, that observance of these solemn i dutieswithhislatestbreathjprovethat there was innate in the man a disinterested uprightness, not evoked by pleasure nor elicited by prices and rewards. Seeing so strong a sense of duty in a dying man, what clearer evidence do we want that morality and rectitude
) are desirable for their own sakes ? But while I think 'j"[^'''"|l°J' that the letter I have just translated almost word (or ihe pos- for word is most admirable, although entirely incon- bta^ud '"h'! sistent with the general tenor of his philosophy, yet binbday. 191
CICERO DE FINIBUS
eiusdera testamentum non solum a philosophi gravi- tate sed etiam ab ipsius sententia iuHico discrepare. Scripsit enini et multis saepe verbis et breviter aper- teque in eo libro quern modo nominavi, mortem nihU ad nos pertinere ; quod enim dissolutum sit, id esse sine sensu; quod autem sine sensu sit, id nihil ad nos pertinere omnino.' Hoc ipsiiin elegantius poni meliusque potuit. Nam quod ita positum est, quod dissolutum sit, id esse sine sensu,' id eiusmodi
I est ut non satis plane dicat quid sit dissolutum. Sed tamen intellego quid velit. Quaere autem quid sit quod, cum dissolutione, id est morte sensus omnis ex- stinguatur, et cum reliqui nihil sit omnino quod per- tineat ad nos, tamaecurate tamque diligenter caveat et sanciat ut Amynomachus et Timocrates, heredes sui, de Hermarchi sententia dent quod satis sit ad diem agendum natalem suum quotinnis mense Game- Hone, itemque omnibus mensibus vicesimo die lunae dent ad eorum epolas qui una secum phllosophati
i sint, utet sui et Metrodori memoria colatur.' Haec ego non possum dicere non esse hominis quamvis et belli et humani, sapientis vero nullo modo, physici praesertim, quem se ille esse vult, putare uUum esae cuiusquam diem natalem. Quid? idemne potest esse dies saepius qui serael fuit? Certe non potest. An eiusdemmodi? Ne id quidem, nisi multa onnorum intercesserint milia, ut omnium siderum eodem unde
HOOK II. x\xi I eoiisider his will to bt quite out of harmony not only with the dignity of a philosopher but also with his own pronouncement. For. he repeatedly argued at length, and also stated briefly and plainly in the book I have just mentioned, that death does not aKect us at all ; for a thing that has experienced dis- solution must be devoid of sensation ; and that which is devoid of sensation cannot affect us in any degree whatsoever,' The maxim such as it is might have been better and more neatly put. For the phrase, ' what has experienced dissolution must be devoid of sensation,' does not make clear what it is that has
01 experienced dissolution. However in spite of this 1 understand the meaning intended. What I want to know is this : if all sensation is annihilated by dis- solution, that is, by death, and if nothing whatever that can affect us remains, why is it that he makes such precise and careful provision and stipulation
that his heirs, Amynochiis and Timocrates, shall after consultation with Hermarchus assign a sufficient sum to celebrate his birthday every year in the month of Gamelion, and also on the twentieth day of every month shall assign a sum for a banquet to his fellow-studenta in philosophy, in order to keep alive the memory of himself and of Metrodorus" ?
02 That these are the words of as amiable and kindly a man iis you like, I cannot deny ; but what business has a philosopher, and especially a natural philoso- pherj which Epicurus. claims to be, to think that any day can be anybody's birthdaj' ? Why, can the identical day that has once occurred recur again and again ? Assuredly it is impossible. Or can a similar day recur? This too is impossible, except afler an interval of many thousands of years, when all the
o 193
CICERO DE FINIBUS profeeta sint fiat ad unum tempus reversio. Nullus est igitur euiusqiiam dies natalis. At habetur.' Et ego id scilicet ne.sciebam I Scd ut sit, etiamne post mortem coletur? idque testamento cavebit is qui nobis quasi oraculum ediderlt lulijl post mortem ad nos perlinere? Haec non erant eius qui innumera- biles mundos infinitasque regiones, quarum nulla esset ora, nulla extremitas, mente peragravisset.' Num quid tale Democritus ? (L't alios omittam, hunc
S appello quem ille unum secutus est.) Quod si dies notandus fuit, eumne potius quo natus, an eum quo sapiens factus est ? Non potuit,' inquies, fieri sapiens nisi natus esset.' Isto raodo ne si avia qui- dem eius nata non esset. Res tota, Torquate, non doctorum hominum, velle post mortem epulis cele- brari memoriam sui nominis. Quos quldem dies quemadmodum agatis et in quantam hominum face- torum urbaiiitatem incurratis, non dico ; nihil opus est litibus ; tantum dico magis fuisse vestrum agere Epicuri diem natalem quam illius testamento cavere ut agere tur.
1 XXXII. Sed ut ad propositum revertamur (,de dolore enini cum diceremus, ad istani epistulam de- lati sum us), nunc totum illud concludi sic licet : Qui in
ceplio
is found in Plal
mmensuiri peragravi
BOOK II.
heavenly bodies simultaneously achieve their return to the point from which they started.' It follows liiat there is no sueh thing as anybody's birthday. ' All the same, people do keep birthdays.' Much obliged, I am sure, for the information ! But even granting birthdays, is a person's birthday to be observed when he is dead ? And to provide for this by will — is this appropriate for a man who told us in oracular tones that nothing can affect us after death ? Such a provision ill became one whose ' intellect had r()anied ' over unnumbered worlds and realms of infinite space, unbounded and unending. Did Democritus do anything of the kind? (To omit others, I cite the case of the philosopher who
i was Epicurus's only master.) And if a special day was to be kept, did he do well to tHke the day on which he was bom, and not rather that on which he became a Wise Man ? You will object that he could not have become a Wise Man if he had not first of all been born. You might equally well say, if his grandmother had not been bom either. The entire notion of wishing one's name and memory to be celebrated by a banquet after one's death is alien to a man of learning. I won't refer to your mode of keeping these anniversaries, or to the ridicule you bring upon yourselves from persons with a sense of humour. We do not want to quarrel. I only remark that it was more your business to keep Epicurus's birthday than his business to provide by will for its celebration.
t XXXn. "But to return to our subject {for we were u
discussing the question of pain, when we digressed [j|
to the letter of Epicur