Work · Hellenistic, Roman & Late Antique
On Ends (De finibus)
Epicureans, Stoics and Academics dispute the goal of life.
Introduction
A dialogue in five books, written in 45 BCE and dedicated to Marcus Brutus. Each pair of books is set in a different scene: in Books I–II the Epicurean Torquatus sets out his school’s ethics and Cicero refutes it; in Books III–IV Cato the Younger presents Stoic ethics in a library at Tusculum, followed by Cicero’s critique; Book V, set in Athens, gives the view of Antiochus of Ascalon, who tried to unite Academic, Peripatetic and Stoic ethics. The form reflects Cicero’s sceptical method of letting positions argue against one another. It is an important source for Hellenistic ethics, whose own texts are largely lost.
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Connections
Criticizes
- Letter to Menoeceusc. 300 BCE · Epicurus
More works by Cicero
- c. 51 BCEOn the Republic
- c. 44 BCEOn Duties (De officiis)
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