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Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero

M >> Marcus Tullius Cicero >> Cicero\'s Tusculan Disputations




XXXVII. But good men have sometimes success. They have so; but we
cannot, with any show of reason, attribute that success to the Gods.
Diagoras, who is called the atheist, being at Samothrace, one of his
friends showed him several pictures[287] of people who had endured very
dangerous storms; "See," says he, "you who deny a providence, how many
have been saved by their prayers to the Gods." "Ay," says Diagoras, "I
see those who were saved, but where are those painted who were
shipwrecked?" At another time, he himself was in a storm, when the
sailors, being greatly alarmed, told him they justly deserved that
misfortune for admitting him into their ship; when he, pointing to
others under the like distress, asked them "if they believed Diagoras
was also aboard those ships?" In short, with regard to good or bad
fortune, it matters not what you are, or how you have lived. The Gods,
like kings, regard not everything. What similitude is there between
them? If kings neglect anything, want of knowledge may be pleaded in
their defence; but ignorance cannot be brought as an excuse for the
Gods.

XXXVIII. Your manner of justifying them is somewhat extraordinary, when
you say that if a wicked man dies without suffering for his crimes, the
Gods inflict a punishment on his children, his children's children, and
all his posterity. O wonderful equity of the Gods! What city would
endure the maker of a law which should condemn a son or a grandson for
a crime committed by the father or the grandfather?

Shall Tantalus' unhappy offspring know
No end, no close, of this long scene of woe?
When will the dire reward of guilt be o'er,
And Myrtilus demand revenge no more?[288]

Whether the poets have corrupted the Stoics, or the Stoics given
authority to the poets, I cannot easily determine. Both alike are to be
condemned. If those persons whose names have been branded in the
satires of Hipponax or Archilochus[289] were driven to despair, it did
not proceed from the Gods, but had its origin in their own minds. When
we see AEgistus and Paris lost in the heat of an impure passion, why are
we to attribute it to a Deity, when the crime, as it were, speaks for
itself? I believe that those who recover from illness are more indebted
to the care of Hippocrates than to the power of AEsculapius; that Sparta
received her laws from Lycurgus[290] rather than from Apollo; that
those eyes of the maritime coast, Corinth and Carthage, were plucked
out, the one by Critolaus, the other by Hasdrubal, without the
assistance of any divine anger, since you yourselves confess that a
Deity cannot possibly be angry on any provocation.

XXXIX. But could not the Deity have assisted and preserved those
eminent cities? Undoubtedly he could; for, according to your doctrine,
his power is infinite, and without the least labor; and as nothing but
the will is necessary to the motion of our bodies, so the divine will
of the Gods, with the like ease, can create, move, and change all
things. This you hold, not from a mere phantom of superstition, but on
natural and settled principles of reason; for matter, you say, of which
all things are composed and consist, is susceptible of all forms and
changes, and there is nothing which cannot be, or cease to be, in an
instant; and that Divine Providence has the command and disposal of
this universal matter, and consequently can, in any part of the
universe, do whatever she pleases: from whence I conclude that this
Providence either knows not the extent of her power, or neglects human
affairs, or cannot judge what is best for us. Providence, you say, does
not extend her care to particular men; there is no wonder in that,
since she does not extend it to cities, or even to nations, or people.
If, therefore, she neglects whole nations, is it not very probable that
she neglects all mankind? But how can you assert that the Gods do not
enter into all the little circumstances of life, and yet hold that they
distribute dreams among men? Since you believe in dreams, it is your
part to solve this difficulty. Besides, you say we ought to call upon
the Gods. Those who call upon the Gods are individuals. Divine
Providence, therefore, regards individuals, which consequently proves
that they are more at leisure than you imagine. Let us suppose the
Divine Providence to be greatly busied; that it causes the revolutions
of the heavens, supports the earth, and rules the seas; why does it
suffer so many Gods to be unemployed? Why is not the superintendence of
human affairs given to some of those idle Deities which you say are
innumerable?

This is the purport of what I had to say concerning "the Nature of the
Gods;" not with a design to destroy their existence, but merely to show
what an obscure point it is, and with what difficulties an explanation
of it is attended.

XL. Balbus, observing that Cotta had finished his discourse--You have
been very severe, says he, against a Divine Providence, a doctrine
established by the Stoics with piety and wisdom; but, as it grows too
late, I shall defer my answer to another day. Our argument is of the
greatest importance; it concerns our altars,[291] our hearths, our
temples, nay, even the walls of our city, which you priests hold
sacred; you, who by religion defend Rome better than she is defended by
her ramparts. This is a cause which, while I have life, I think I
cannot abandon without impiety.

There is nothing, replied Cotta, which I desire more than to be
confuted. I have not pretended to decide this point, but to give you my
private sentiments upon it; and am very sensible of your great
superiority in argument. No doubt of it, says Velleius; we have much to
fear from one who believes that our dreams are sent from Jupiter,
which, though they are of little weight, are yet of more importance
than the discourse of the Stoics concerning the nature of the Gods. The
conversation ended here, and we parted. Velleius judged that the
arguments of Cotta were truest; but those of Balbus seemed to me to
have the greater probability.[292]






ON THE COMMONWEALTH.

* * * * *




PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.


This work was one of Cicero's earlier treatises, though one of those
which was most admired by his contemporaries, and one of which he
himself was most proud. It was composed 54 B.C. It was originally in
two books: then it was altered and enlarged into nine, and finally
reduced to six. With the exception of the dream of Scipio, in the last
book, the whole treatise was lost till the year 1822, when the
librarian of the Vatican discovered a portion of them among the
palimpsests in that library. What he discovered is translated here; but
it is in a most imperfect and mutilated state.

The form selected was that of a dialogue, in imitation of those of
Plato; and the several conferences were supposed to have taken place
during the Latin holidays, 129 B.C., in the consulship of Caius
Sempronius, Tuditanus, and Marcus Aquilius. The speakers are Scipio
Africanus the younger, in whose garden the scene is laid; Caius Laelius;
Lucius Furius Philus; Marcus Manilius; Spurius Mummius, the brother of
the taker of Corinth, a Stoic; Quintus AElius Tubero, a nephew of
Africanus; Publius Rutilius Rufus; Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the tutor of
Cicero; and Caius Fannius, who was absent, however, on the second day
of the conference.

In the first book, the first thirty-three pages are wanting, and there
are chasms amounting to thirty-eight pages more. In this book Scipio
asserts the superiority of an active over a speculative career; and
after analyzing and comparing the monarchical, aristocratic, and
democratic forms of government, gives a preference to the first;
although his idea of a perfect constitution would be one compounded of
three kinds in due proportion.

There are a few chasms in the earlier part of the second book, and the
latter part of it is wholly lost. In it Scipio was led on to give an
account of the rise and progress of the Roman Constitution, from which
he passed on to the examination of the great moral obligations which
are the foundations of all political union.

Of the remaining books we have only a few disjointed fragments, with
the exception, as has been before mentioned, of the dream of Scipio in
the sixth.

* * * * *




INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST BOOK,

BY THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATOR.


Cicero introduces his subject by showing that men were not born
for the mere abstract study of philosophy, but that the study
of philosophic truth should always be made as practical as
possible, and applicable to the great interests of
philanthropy and patriotism. Cicero endeavors to show the
benefit of mingling the contemplative or philosophic with the
political and active life, according to that maxim of
Plato--"Happy is the nation whose philosophers are kings, and
whose kings are philosophers."

This kind of introduction was the more necessary because many
of the ancient philosophers, too warmly attached to
transcendental metaphysics and sequestered speculations, had
affirmed that true philosophers ought not to interest
themselves in the management of public affairs. Thus, as M.
Villemain observes, it was a maxim of the Epicureans,
"Sapiens ne accedat ad rempublicam" (Let no wise man meddle
in politics). The Pythagoreans had enforced the same
principle with more gravity. Aristotle examines the question
on both sides, and concludes in favor of active life. Among
Aristotle's disciples, a writer, singularly elegant and pure,
had maintained the pre-eminence of the contemplative life
over the political or active one, in a work which Cicero
cites with admiration, and to which he seems to have applied
for relief whenever he felt harassed and discouraged in
public business. But here this great man was interested by
the subject he discusses, and by the whole course of his
experience and conduct, to refute the dogmas of that
pusillanimous sophistry and selfish indulgence by bringing
forward the most glorious examples and achievements of
patriotism. In this strain he had doubtless commenced his
exordium, and in this strain we find him continuing it at the
point in which the palimpsest becomes legible. He then
proceeds to introduce his illustrious interlocutors, and
leads them at first to discourse on the astronomical laws
that regulate the revolutions of our planet. From this, by a
very graceful and beautiful transition, he passes on to the
consideration of the best forms of political constitutions
that had prevailed in different nations, and those modes of
government which had produced the greatest benefits in the
commonwealths of antiquity.

This first book is, in fact, a splendid epitome of the
political science of the age of Cicero, and probably the most
eloquent plea in favor of mixed monarchy to be found in all
literature.

* * * * *




BOOK I.


I. [Without the virtue of patriotism], neither Caius Duilius, nor Aulus
Atilius,[293] nor Lucius Metellus, could have delivered Rome by their
courage from the terror of Carthage; nor could the two Scipios, when
the fire of the second Punic War was kindled, have quenched it in their
blood; nor, when it revived in greater force, could either Quintus
Maximus[294] have enervated it, or Marcus Marcellus have crushed it;
nor, when it was repulsed from the gates of our own city, would Scipio
have confined it within the walls of our enemies.

But Cato, at first a new and unknown man, whom all we who aspire to the
same honors consider as a pattern to lead us on to industry and virtue,
was undoubtedly at liberty to enjoy his repose at Tusculum, a most
salubrious and convenient retreat. But he, mad as some people think
him, though no necessity compelled him, preferred being tossed about
amidst the tempestuous waves of politics, even till extreme old age, to
living with all imaginable luxury in that tranquillity and relaxation.
I omit innumerable men who have separately devoted themselves to the
protection of our Commonwealth; and those whose lives are within the
memory of the present generation I will not mention, lest any one
should complain that I had invidiously forgotten himself or some one of
his family. This only I insist on--that so great is the necessity of
this virtue which nature has implanted in man, and so great is the
desire to defend the common safety of our country, that its energy has
continually overcome all the blandishments of pleasure and repose.

II. Nor is it sufficient to possess this virtue as if it were some kind
of art, unless we put it in practice. An art, indeed, though not
exercised, may still be retained in knowledge; but virtue consists
wholly in its proper use and action. Now, the noblest use of virtue is
the government of the Commonwealth, and the carrying-out in real
action, not in words only, of all those identical theories which those
philosophers discuss at every corner. For nothing is spoken by
philosophers, so far as they speak correctly and honorably, which has
not been discovered and confirmed by those persons who have been the
founders of the laws of states. For whence comes piety, or from whom
has religion been derived? Whence comes law, either that of nations, or
that which is called the civil law? Whence comes justice, faith,
equity? Whence modesty, continence, the horror of baseness, the desire
of praise and renown? Whence fortitude in labors and perils? Doubtless,
from those who have instilled some of these moral principles into men
by education, and confirmed others by custom, and sanctioned others by
laws.

Moreover, it is reported of Xenocrates, one of the sublimest
philosophers, that when some one asked him what his disciples learned,
he replied, "To do that of their own accord which they might be
compelled to do by law." That citizen, therefore, who obliges all men
to those virtuous actions, by the authority of laws and penalties, to
which the philosophers can scarcely persuade a few by the force of
their eloquence, is certainly to be preferred to the sagest of the
doctors who spend their lives in such discussions. For which of their
exquisite orations is so admirable as to be entitled to be preferred to
a well-constituted government, public justice, and good customs?
Certainly, just as I think that magnificent and imperious cities (as
Ennius says) are superior to castles and villages, so I imagine that
those who regulate such cities by their counsel and authority are far
preferable, with respect to real wisdom, to men who are unacquainted
with any kind of political knowledge. And since we are strongly
prompted to augment the prosperity of the human race, and since we do
endeavor by our counsels and exertions to render the life of man safer
and wealthier, and since we are incited to this blessing by the spur of
nature herself, let us hold on that course which has always been
pursued by all the best men, and not listen for a moment to the signals
of those who sound a retreat so loudly that they sometimes call back
even those who have made considerable progress.

III. These reasons, so certain and so evident, are opposed by those
who, on the other side, argue that the labors which must necessarily be
sustained in maintaining the Commonwealth form but a slight impediment
to the vigilant and industrious, and are only a contemptible obstacle
in such important affairs, and even in common studies, offices, and
employments. They add the peril of life, that base fear of death, which
has ever been opposed by brave men, to whom it appears far more
miserable to die by the decay of nature and old age than to be allowed
an opportunity of gallantly sacrificing that life for their country
which must otherwise be yielded up to nature.

On this point, however, our antagonists esteem themselves copious and
eloquent when they collect all the calamities of heroic men, and the
injuries inflicted on them by their ungrateful countrymen. For on this
subject they bring forward those notable examples among the Greeks; and
tell us that Miltiades, the vanquisher and conqueror of the Persians,
before even those wounds were healed which he had received in that most
glorious victory, wasted away in the chains of his fellow-citizens that
life which had been preserved from the weapons of the enemy. They cite
Themistocles, expelled and proscribed by the country which he had
rescued, and forced to flee, not to the Grecian ports which he had
preserved, but to the bosom of the barbarous power which he had
defeated. There is, indeed, no deficiency of examples to illustrate the
levity and cruelty of the Athenians to their noblest citizens--examples
which, originating and multiplying among them, are said at different
times to have abounded in our own most august empire. For we are told:
of the exile of Camillus, the disgrace of Ahala, the unpopularity of
Nasica, the expulsion of Laenas,[295] the condemnation of Opimius, the
flight of Metellus, the cruel destruction of Caius Marius, the massacre
of our chieftains, and the many atrocious crimes which followed. My own
history is by no means free from such calamities; and I imagine that
when they recollect that by my counsel and perils they were preserved
in life and liberty, they are led by that consideration to bewail my
misfortunes more deeply and affectionately. But I cannot tell why those
who sail over the seas for the sake of knowledge and experience [should
wonder at seeing still greater hazards braved in the service of the
Commonwealth].

IV. [Since], on my quitting the consulship, I swore in the assembly of
the Roman people, who re-echoed my words, that I had saved the
Commonwealth, I console myself with this remembrance for all my cares,
troubles, and injuries. Although my misfortune had more of honor than
misfortune, and more of glory than disaster; and I derive greater
pleasure from the regrets of good men than sorrow from the exultation
of the worthless. But even if it had happened otherwise, how could I
have complained, as nothing befell me which was either unforeseen, or
more painful than I expected, as a return for my illustrious actions?
For I was one who, though it was in my power to reap more profit from
leisure than most men, on account of the diversified sweetness of my
studies, in which I had lived from boyhood--or, if any public calamity
had happened, to have borne no more than an equal share with the rest
of my countrymen in the misfortune--I nevertheless did not hesitate to
oppose myself to the most formidable tempests and torrents of sedition,
for the sake of saving my countrymen, and at my own proper danger to
secure the common safety of all the rest. For our country did not beget
and educate us with the expectation of receiving no support, as I may
call it, from us; nor for the purpose of consulting nothing but our
convenience, to supply us with a secure refuge for idleness and a
tranquil spot for rest; but rather with a view of turning to her own
advantage the nobler portion of our genius, heart, and counsel; giving
us back for our private service only what she can spare from the public
interests.

V. Those apologies, therefore, in which men take refuge as an excuse
for their devoting themselves with more plausibility to mere inactivity
do certainly not deserve to be listened to; when, for instance, they
tell us that those who meddle with public affairs are generally
good-for-nothing men, with whom it is discreditable to be compared, and
miserable and dangerous to contend, especially when the multitude is in
an excited state. On which account it is not the part of a wise man to
take the reins, since he cannot restrain the insane and unregulated
movements of the common people. Nor is it becoming to a man of liberal
birth, say they, thus to contend with such vile and unrefined
antagonists, or to subject one's self to the lashings of contumely, or
to put one's self in the way of injuries which ought not to be borne by
a wise man. As if to a virtuous, brave, and magnanimous man there could
be a juster reason for seeking the government than this--to avoid being
subjected to worthless men, and to prevent the Commonwealth from being
torn to pieces by them; when, even if they were then desirous to save
her, they would not have the power.

VI. But this restriction who can approve, which would interdict the
wise man from taking any share in the government beyond such as the
occasion and necessity may compel him to? As if any greater necessity
could possibly happen to any man than happened to me. In which, how
could I have acted if I had not been consul at the time? and how could
I have been a consul unless I had maintained that course of life from
my childhood which raised me from the order of knights, in which I was
born, to the very highest station? You cannot produce _extempore_, and
just when you please, the power of assisting a commonwealth, although
it may be severely pressed by dangers, unless you have attained the
position which enables you legally to do so. And what most surprises me
in the discourses of learned men, is to hear those persons who confess
themselves incapable of steering the vessel of the State in smooth seas
(which, indeed, they never learned, and never cared to know) profess
themselves ready to assume the helm amidst the fiercest tempests. For
those men are accustomed to say openly, and indeed to boast greatly,
that they have never learned, and have never taken the least pains to
explain, the principles of either establishing or maintaining a
commonwealth; and they look on this practical science as one which
belongs not to men of learning and wisdom, but to those who have made
it their especial study. How, then, can it be reasonable for such men
to promise their assistance to the State, when they shall be compelled
to it by necessity, while they are ignorant how to govern the republic
when no necessity presses upon it, which is a much more easy task?
Indeed, though it were true that the wise man loves not to thrust
himself of his own accord into the administration of public affairs,
but that if circumstances oblige him to it, then he does not refuse the
office, yet I think that this science of civil legislation should in no
wise be neglected by the philosopher, because all resources ought to be
ready to his hand, which he knows not how soon he may be called on to
use.

VII. I have spoken thus at large for this reason, because in this work
I have proposed to myself and undertaken a discussion on the government
of a state; and in order to render it useful, I was bound, in the first
place, to do away with this pusillanimous hesitation to mingle in
public affairs. If there be any, therefore, who are too much influenced
by the authority of the philosophers, let them consider the subject for
a moment, and be guided by the opinions of those men whose authority
and credit are greatest among learned men; whom I look upon, though
some of them have not personally governed any state, as men who have
nevertheless discharged a kind of office in the republic, inasmuch as
they have made many investigations into, and left many writings
concerning, state affairs. As to those whom the Greeks entitle the
Seven Wise Men, I find that they almost all lived in the middle of
public business. Nor, indeed, is there anything in which human virtue
can more closely resemble the divine powers than in establishing new
states, or in preserving those already established.

VIII. And concerning these affairs, since it has been our good fortune
to achieve something worthy of memorial in the government of our
country, and also to have acquired some facility of explaining the
powers and resources of politics, we can treat of this subject with the
weight of personal experience and the habit of instruction and
illustration. Whereas before us many have been skilful in theory,
though no exploits of theirs are recorded; and many others have been
men of consideration in action, but unfamiliar with the arts of
exposition. Nor, indeed, is it at all our intention to establish a new
and self-invented system of government; but our purpose is rather to
recall to memory a discussion of the most illustrious men of their age
in our Commonwealth, which you and I, in our youth, when at Smyrna,
heard mentioned by Publius Rutilius Rufus, who reported to us a
conference of many days in which, in my opinion, there was nothing
omitted that could throw light on political affairs.

IX. For when, in the year of the consulship of Tuditanus and Aquilius,
Scipio Africanus, the son of Paulus AEmilius, formed the project of
spending the Latin holidays at his country-seat, where his most
intimate friends had promised him frequent visits during this season of
relaxation, on the first morning of the festival, his nephew, Quintus
Tubero, made his appearance; and when Scipio had greeted him heartily
and embraced him--How is it, my dear Tubero, said he, that I see you so
early? For these holidays must afford you a capital opportunity of
pursuing your favorite studies. Ah! replied Tubero, I can study my
books at any time, for they are always disengaged; but it is a great
privilege, my Scipio, to find you at leisure, especially in this
restless period of public affairs. You certainly have found me so, said
Scipio, but, to speak truth, I am rather relaxing from business than
from study. Nay, said Tubero, you must try to relax from your studies
too, for here are several of us, as we have appointed, all ready, if it
suits your convenience, to aid you in getting through this leisure time
of yours. I am very willing to consent, answered Scipio, and we may be
able to compare notes respecting the several topics that interest us.

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Various - "Notes and Queries, Number 32, June 8, 1850"