Tusculanae Disputationes

The Tusculanae Disputationes (also Tusculanae Quaestiones; English: Tusculanes or Tusculan Disputations), is a series of books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, attempting to popularise Stoic philosophy in Ancient Rome. It is so called as it was reportedly written at his villa in Tusculum.

Cicero - Tusculanae Disputationes illuminated manuscript

Themes

The Tusculan Disputations is the locus classicus of the legend of the Sword of Damocles, as well as of the sole mention of cultura animi as an agricultural metaphor for human culture. Cicero also notes disapprovingly that Amafinius was one of the first Latin writers in Rome.

Books

The Tusculanae Disputationes consist of five books:

1. "On the contempt of death"
2. "On bearing pain"
3. "On grief of mind"
4. "On other perturbations of the mind"
5. "Whether virtue alone be sufficient for a happy life"

Influence

The rhetor's theme De contemptu mundi, on the contempt of the world, was taken up by Boethius in the troubled closing phase of Late Antiquity and by Bernard of Cluny in the first half of the 12th century.

References

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry (Cicero)

External links

•  Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: Tusculanæ Disputationes
• Tusculan Disputations at Internet Archive, Charles Duke Yonge, translator (1877; reprinted 1888)
• Tusculan Disputations public domain audiobook at LibriVox, Charles Duke Yonge, translator (1877; reprinted 1888)
• Tusculan Disputations at Project Gutenberg, Charles Duke Yonge, translator (1877)
• Cicero's Tusculan Disputations – Andrew Peabody, translator (1886)
• Tusculanae Disputationes – Latin hypertext at Perseus
• (Google Books)
• Tusculan Disputations – Chapter Summaries
• Tusculan Disputations Book 4 (On the Passions) – Parallel Latin & English