[Original Latin Title: De Finibus Bonorum Et Malorum; Volume XVII of Loeb Classical Library’s 28-volume series] An Epicurean’s Criticism of Education “[Epicurus] refused to consider any education worth the name that did not help to school us in happiness. Was he to spend his time 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, […]
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“Tusculan Disputations” by Cicero
“Life is not an easy matter…. You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.” –Leon Trotsky “Diary in Exile” For Cicero, the Roman statesman who was beset by sorrows and troubles in his old age (death of his beloved daughter, his political exile and […]
Read more“On Obligations” by Cicero
[Original Latin Title: De Officiis] The Roman Book of Proverbs Cicero, in this letter to his son Marcus, discourses on the four cardinal virtues, wisdom (prudence), justice (beneficence), courage (greatness of the soul), and temperance (concept of the fitting). He reflects on Roman politics and history, draws on the writings of philosophers and poets, as well as personal experience, and stipulates how an individual should conduct himself in his private […]
Read more“On Friendship” by Cicero
[Original Latin Title: De Amicitia] For I am indeed moved by the loss of a friend such, I believe, as I shall never have again, and—as I can assert on positive knowledge— a friend such as no other man ever was to me. But I am not devoid of a remedy, and I find very great consolation in the comforting fact that I am free from the delusion which causes […]
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“Nicomachean Ethics” by Aristotle
Aristotle vs. Plato Having just finished and enjoyed Plato’s complete works, I find this book a bit annoying and uninspiring in comparison. Aristotle seems to take every opportunity to “correct” Plato, when in fact he is only attacking a strawman. His arguments, sometimes self-contradictory, often support and clarify Plato’s ideas, albeit using his own terminology. Aristotle seems to have great difficulty appreciating or understanding Plato’s abstractions (from species to genus, […]
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