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Tusculan Disputations

Tusculanae Disputationes

Cicero·45 BCE·Latin

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Five books of philosophical dialogue set at Cicero's villa in Tusculum. They tackle the fear of death, the endurance of pain, grief, the passions, and whether virtue alone is sufficient for happiness.

The whole life of a philosopher, as Socrates said, is a preparation for death. For what else do we do when we withdraw the soul from pleasure, that is from the body, what else, I say, do we do but summon the soul to itself, force it to keep its own company, and separate it from the body?

To philosophize is to learn how to die. Not because philosophy is morbid, but because once you have faced death honestly, everything else becomes bearable.

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