Tusculanae Disputationes
The Tusculanae Disputationes (also Tusculanae Quaestiones; English: Tusculan Disputations) is a series of five books written by Cicero, around 45 BC,[1] attempting to popularise Greek philosophy in Ancient Rome, including Stoicism.[2] It is so called as it was reportedly written at his villa in Tusculum. His daughter had recently died and in mourning Cicero devoted himself to philosophical studies. The Tusculan Disputations consist of five books, each on a particular theme: On the contempt of death; On pain; On grief; On emotional disturbances; and whether Virtue alone is sufficient for a happy life.
Author
Context[edit]
In the year 45 BC, when Cicero was around 61 years old, his daughter, Tullia, died following childbirth.[3] Her loss afflicted Cicero to such a degree that he abandoned all public business and left the city retiring to Asterra, which was a country house that he had near Antium.[3] There he devoted himself to philosophical studies, writing several works, including De finibus.[3] It was his custom to take some friends with him into the country for intellectual discussion.[3] His Tusculan villa had a gallery called the Academy, which Cicero had built for the purpose of philosophical conversation.[4]
It is largely agreed that Cicero wrote the Tusculan Disputations in the summer and/or autumn of 45 BC.[5] Cicero addresses the Disputationes to his friend Brutus, a fellow politician of note, and later assassin of Julius Caesar. In the first book Cicero sets up the fiction that they are the record of five days of discussions with his friends written after the recent departure of Brutus.[3] The second book includes the detail that Cicero and his friends spent their mornings in rhetorical exercises and their afternoons in philosophical discussions.[4] The conversations are however very one-sided—the anonymous friend of each dialogue acts merely to supply the topic for the day and to provide smooth transitions within the topic.[6]
Cicero heavily relied on Crantor's "On Grief" (Latin: De Luctu, Greek: Περὶ Πένθους) in his Tusculan Disputations.[7] Cicero also made great use of it while writing his celebrated Consolatio on the death of his daughter, Tullia. Several extracts from "On Grief" are preserved in Pseudo-Plutarch's treatise on Consolation addressed to Apollonius, which has many parallels with Tusculan Disputations.
Other themes[edit]
The work contains frequent allusion to ancient fable, the events of Greek and Roman history, and the memorable sayings of heroes and sages.[8] Cicero references also the ancient Latin poets and quotes from their works.[8] The Tusculan Disputations is the locus classicus of the legend of the Sword of Damocles,[16] as well as of the sole mention of cultura animi as an agricultural metaphor for human culture.[17][18] Cicero also mentions disapprovingly Amafinius, one of the first Latin writers on philosophy in Rome.
Influence[edit]
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.
Thomas Jefferson included the "Tusculan questions", along with Cicero's De Officiis, in his list of recommendations to Robert Skipwith of books for a general personal library.[19]
public domain audiobook at LibriVox, Charles Duke Yonge, translator (1877; reprinted 1888)
