TERMS STARTING WITH
Cicero: De Natura deorum; De officiis; Disputationes: Tuscalanae; De finibus bonorum et malorum.
Cicero: (Marcus Tullius, 106-43 B.C.) Famous for his eclectic exposition of general scientific knowledge and philosophy, by which he aimed to arouse an appreciation of Greek culture in the minds of his countrymen, the Romans. -- M.F.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, who helped popularize Greek philosophy in Roman thought and create a philosophical language in Latin. Famous for the style of his speeches, letters, and essays, he is credited as the creator of classical Latin prose. A firm republican, he was executed for opposing the imperial factions after Caesar’s murder.
cicerone ::: n. --> One who shows strangers the curiosities of a place; a guide.
cicerones ::: pl. --> of Cicerone
ciceronian ::: a. --> Resembling Cicero in style or action; eloquent.
ciceronianism ::: n. --> Imitation of, or resemblance to, the style or action Cicero; a Ciceronian phrase or expression.
ciceroni ::: pl. --> of Cicerone
cicero ::: n. --> Pica type; -- so called by French printers.
CICERO "project" Control Information system Concepts based on Encapsulated Real-time Objects. A {CERN} {DRDC} proposal. (1995-01-25)
CICERO ::: (project) Control Information system Concepts based on Encapsulated Real-time Objects.A CERN DRDC proposal. (1995-01-25)
TERMS ANYWHERE
Aeschylus One of the three greatest Greek tragic poets, born at Eleusis (525-456 BC), the seat of the Mysteries of Demeter, into which he undoubtedly was initiated. Of his perhaps 90 plays, only seven survive. Plato accuses him of impiety and Cicero describes him as almost a Pythagorean. He profaned the Mysteries in the eyes of the Athenians (e.g. in the real meaning of the allegories present in Prometheus Bound and The Eumenides) and has been accused of introducing antagonism among the celestial powers, transferring the political radicalism and demagogy of Athens from the agora to Olympus. His works introduced a second actor, thus creating true dramatic dialogue; he also introduced masks and imposing headdresses and costumes for the actors.
Aether, Ether (Greek) [from aitho shining, fire] The upper or purer air as opposed to aer, the lower air; the clear sky; the abode of the gods. In Classical antiquity it denoted primordial substance, Proteus or protyle, the unitary source both of all substances and energies, the mask of all kosmic phenomena. Often used loosely to embrace a domain which extends from the All-Father himself down to the atmosphere of our earth. Vergil speaks of “Jupiter omnipotens aether,” and Cicero describes aether as the ultimate zone of heaven encircling, embracing, and permeating all things. At one time a member of the pantheon and object of veneration, at another the quest of the alchemist in search of the “absolute element” which would give him power over nature, and finally a hypothetical medium of science for conveying light waves.
antiochian ::: a. --> Pertaining to Antiochus, a contemporary with Cicero, and the founder of a sect of philosophers.
Of or pertaining to the city of Antioch, in Syria.
antiquity ::: n. --> The quality of being ancient; ancientness; great age; as, a statue of remarkable antiquity; a family of great antiquity.
Old age.
Ancient times; former ages; times long since past; as, Cicero was an eloquent orator of antiquity.
The ancients; the people of ancient times.
An old gentleman.
A relic or monument of ancient times; as, a coin, a
antonomasia ::: n. --> The use of some epithet or the name of some office, dignity, or the like, instead of the proper name of the person; as when his majesty is used for a king, or when, instead of Aristotle, we say, the philosopher; or, conversely, the use of a proper name instead of an appellative, as when a wise man is called a Solomon, or an eminent orator a Cicero.
apposition ::: n. --> The act of adding; application; accretion.
The putting of things in juxtaposition, or side by side; also, the condition of being so placed.
The state of two nouns or pronouns, put in the same case, without a connecting word between them; as, I admire Cicero, the orator. Here, the second noun explains or characterizes the first.
Cicero: De Natura deorum; De officiis; Disputationes: Tuscalanae; De finibus bonorum et malorum.
Cicero: (Marcus Tullius, 106-43 B.C.) Famous for his eclectic exposition of general scientific knowledge and philosophy, by which he aimed to arouse an appreciation of Greek culture in the minds of his countrymen, the Romans. -- M.F.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, who helped popularize Greek philosophy in Roman thought and create a philosophical language in Latin. Famous for the style of his speeches, letters, and essays, he is credited as the creator of classical Latin prose. A firm republican, he was executed for opposing the imperial factions after Caesar’s murder.
Boethius: (470-525) An influential commentator on Aristotle and Cicero, who, in his own thinking, reflected a strong influence of Neo-Platonism and Augustinianism. De Consolatione Philosophiae (Migne PL, 63-4, 69-70). -- R.B.W.
CERN "body" The European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Swizerland. Sir {Tim Berners-Lee} invented the {World-Wide Web} while working at CERN. Other notable computing developments at CERN include {ADAMO}, {Application Software Installation Server}, {CERNLIB}, {cfortran.h}, {CHEOPS}, {CICERO}, {Cortex}, {EMDIR}, {HBOOK}, {LIGHT}, {NFT}, {PATCHY}, {PL-11}, {Schoonschip}, {SHIFT}, and {ZEBRA}. {CERN Home (http://cern.ch/)}. (2004-10-24)
CERN ::: (body) The European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Swizerland.Tim Berners-Lee invented the World-Wide Web while working at CERN.Other notable computing developments at CERN include ADAMO, Application Software Installation Server, CERNLIB, cfortran.h, CHEOPS, CICERO, Cortex, EMDIR, HBOOK, LIGHT, NFT, PATCHY, PL-11, Schoonschip, SHIFT, and ZEBRA. .(2004-10-24)
cicerone ::: n. --> One who shows strangers the curiosities of a place; a guide.
cicerones ::: pl. --> of Cicerone
ciceronian ::: a. --> Resembling Cicero in style or action; eloquent.
ciceronianism ::: n. --> Imitation of, or resemblance to, the style or action Cicero; a Ciceronian phrase or expression.
ciceroni ::: pl. --> of Cicerone
cicero ::: n. --> Pica type; -- so called by French printers.
CICERO "project" Control Information system Concepts based on Encapsulated Real-time Objects. A {CERN} {DRDC} proposal. (1995-01-25)
CICERO ::: (project) Control Information system Concepts based on Encapsulated Real-time Objects.A CERN DRDC proposal. (1995-01-25)
Consectarium: (Lat. consectarius) Peculiar to the philosophical vocabulary of Cicero, it means an inference, a conclusion. It is the substantive for the phrase "that follows logically". -- H.H.
Economics: (Lat. aeconomicus, domestic economy, from oikos, house, + nomos, law) That branch of social science which is concerned with the exchange of goods. Employed by Xenophon, Aristotle and Cicero to describe treatises on the proper conduct of the household. In more recent times, combined with politics as political economy, the study of the laws and system of society. Now, more specially, the study of the production, distribution and consumption of material wealth and skills. -- J.K.F.
Form, logical: See Logic, formal. Forma: Latin noun meaning shape, figure, appearance, image; also plan, pattern, stamp, mould. As a philosophic term used by Cicero and Augustine in the sense of species, and similarly by Scotus Eriugena. Boethius and fhe mediaeval writers employed it in the Aristotelian sense of a constituent of being, synonymous with causa formalis. Generally speaking it is an intrinsic, determining, perfective principle of existence of any determinate essence. More strictly it is a forma substantialis, or that constitutive element of a substance which is the principle or source of its activity, and which determines it to a definite species, or class, and differentiates it from any other substance. It is distinguished from a forma accidentalis which confers a sort of secondary being on a substance already constituted in its proper species and determines it to one or other accidental mode, thus a man may become a musician. A forma corporeitatis is one by which a being is a body, on which its corporeal nature and essence depend and which is its principle of life. A forma non-subsistens or materialis is one whose existence depends on matter without which it cannot exist and be active. It is distinguished from a forma subsistens or immaterialis which can exist and act separately from matter. An immaterial form may be an incomplete substance, like the human soul, which is created to be united with a body to complete its own species, or a complete substance, a pure spirit, which is not destined to be united with matter to which it cannot communicate its being, hence it is also called a forma separata. -- J.J.R.
Legal Philosophy: Deals with the philosophic principles of law and justice. The origin is to be found in ancient philosophy. The Greek Sophists criticized existing laws and customs by questioning their validity: All human rules are artificial, created by enactment or convention, as opposed to natural law, based on nature. The theory of a law of nature was further developed by Aristotle and the Stoics. According to the Stoics the natural law is based upon the eternal law of the universe; this itself is an outgrowth of universal reason, as man's mind is an offshoot of the latter. The idea of a law of nature as being innate in man was particularly stressed and popularized by Cicero who identified it with "right reason" and already contrasted it with written law that might be unjust or even tyrannical. Through Saint Augustine these ideas were transmitted to medieval philosophy and by Thomas Aquinas built into his philosophical system. Thomas considers the eternal law the reason existing in the divine mind and controlling the universe. Natural law, innate in man participates in that eternal law. A new impetus was given to Legal Philosophy by the Renaissance. Natural Jurisprudence, properly so-called, originated in the XVII. century. Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, Benedictus Spinoza, John Locke, Samuel Pufendorf were the most important representatives of that line of thought. Grotius, continuing the Scholastic tradition, particularly stressed the absoluteness of natural hw (it would exist even if God did not exist) and, following Jean Bodin, the sovereignty of the people. The idea of the social contract traced all political bodies back to a voluntary compact by which every individual gave up his right to self-government, or rather transferred it to the government, abandoning a state of nature which according to Hobbes must have been a state of perpetual war. The theory of the social compact more and more accepts the character of a "fiction" or of a regulative idea (Kant). In this sense the theory means that we ought to judge acts of government by their correspondence to the general will (Rousseau) and to the interests of the individuals who by transferring their rights to the commonwealth intended to establish their real liberty. Natural law by putting the emphasis on natural rights, takes on a revolutionary character. It played a part in shaping the bills of rights, the constitutions of the American colonies and of the Union, as well as of the French declaration of the rights of men and of citizens. Natural jurisprudence in the teachings of Christian Wolff and Thomasius undergoes a kind of petrification in the vain attempt to outline an elaborate system of natural law not only in the field of international or public law, but also in the detailed regulations of the law of property, of contract, etc. This sort of dogmatic approach towards the problems of law evoked the opposition of the Historic School (Gustav Hugo and Savigny) which stressed the natural growth of laws ind customs, originating from the mysterious "spirit of the people". On the other hand Immanuel Kant tried to overcome the old natural law by the idea of a "law of reason", meaning an a priori element in all existing or positive law. In his definition of law ("the ensemble of conditions according to which everyone's will may coexist with the will of every other in accordance with a general rule of liberty"), however, as in his legal philosophy in general, he still shares the attitude of the natural law doctrine, confusing positive law with the idea of just law. This is also true of Hegel whose panlogism seemed to lead in this very direction. Under the influence of epistemological positivism (Comte, Mill) in the later half of the nineteenth century, legal philosophy, especially in Germany, confined itself to a "general theory of law". Similarily John Austin in England considered philosophy of law concerned only with positive law, "as it necessarily is", not as it ought to be. Its main task was to analyze certain notions which pervade the science of law (Analytical Jurisprudence). In recent times the same tendency to reduce legal philosophy to logical or at least methodological tasks was further developed in attempting a pure science of law (Kelsen, Roguin). Owing to the influence of Darwinism and natural science in general the evolutionist and biological viewpoint was accepted in legal philosophy: comparative jurisprudence, sociology of law, the Freirecht movement in Germany, the study of the living law, "Realism" in American legal philosophy, all represent a tendency against rationalism. On the other hand there is a revival of older tendencies: Hegelianism, natural law -- especially in Catholic philosophy -- and Kantianism (beginning with Rudolf Stammler). From here other trends arose: the critical attitude leads to relativism (f.i. Gustav Radbruch); the antimetaphysical tendency towards positivism -- though different from epistemological positivism -- and to a pure theory of law. Different schools of recent philosophy have found their applications or repercussions in legal philosophy: Phenomenology, for example, tried to intuit the essences of legal institutions, thus coming back to a formalist position, not too far from the real meaning of analytical jurisprudence. Neo-positivism, though so far not yet explicitly applied to legal philosophy, seems to lead in the same direction. -- W.E.
Lorem ipsum ::: (text) A common piece of text used as mock-content when testing a given page layout or font.The following text is often used:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetaur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.This continues at length and variously. The text is not really Greek, but badly garbled Latin. It started life as extracted phrases from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (The Extremes of Good and Evil), which read:Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.Translation:But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.-- Translation by H. Rackham, from his 1914 edition of De Finibus.However, since textual fidelity was unimportant to the goal of having random text to fill a page, it has degraded over the centuries, into Lorem ipsum....The point of using this text, or some other text of incidental intelligibility, is that it has a more-or-less normal (for English and Latin, at least) distribution of ascenders, descenders, and word-lengths, as opposed to just using abc 123 abc 123, Content here content here, or the like.The text is often used when previewing the layout of a document, as the use of more understandable text would distract the user from the layout being examined. A related technique is greeking. .(2006-09-18)
Lorem ipsum "text" A common piece of text used as mock-{content} when testing a given page layout or {font}. The following text is often used: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetaur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." This continues at length and variously. The text is not really Greek, but badly garbled Latin. It started life as extracted phrases from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of Cicero's "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" ("The Extremes of Good and Evil"), which read: Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur? At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat. Translation: But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure? On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains. -- Translation by H. Rackham, from his 1914 edition of De Finibus. However, since textual fidelity was unimportant to the goal of having {random} text to fill a page, it has degraded over the centuries, into "Lorem ipsum...". The point of using this text, or some other text of incidental intelligibility, is that it has a more-or-less normal (for English and Latin, at least) distribution of ascenders, descenders, and word-lengths, as opposed to just using "abc 123 abc 123", "Content here content here", or the like. The text is often used when previewing the layout of a document, as the use of more understandable text would distract the user from the layout being examined. A related technique is {greeking}. {Lorem Ipsum - All the facts (http://lipsum.com/)}. (2006-09-18)
Manticism [from Greek mantis seer from mainomai to act ecstatically under a divine impulse] A seer, one inspired with divine ecstasy; according to Plato, one who uttered oracles while under a divine impulse, which in its lowest forms was a kind of frenzy, while a prophetes (prophet) was one who interpreted the oracles. Frenzy, now used only to denote madness or anger, meant in classic times a state of exaltation both of mind and psychical nature which enabled inner faculties of perception to come into play, whereby seership and prophetic power were attained. Certain exhalations from the earth would often act upon the body of the seer or seeress, inducing a state of physical receptivity, as occurred in the grotto of Delphi; and Cicero speaks highly of the better side of the power thus conferred. The condition produced by Bacchic rites was similar, but in later times degenerated into mere frenzy or ravings in the modern sense of the word; and as these rites became degraded into profligacy, the meaning of the word frenzy naturally altered pari passu.
Methodology: The systematic analysis and organization of the rational and experimental principles and processes which must guide a scientific inquiry, or which constitute the structure of the special sciences more particularly. Methodology, which is also called scientific method, and more seldom methodeutic, refers not only to the whole of a constituted science, but also to individual problems or groups of problems within a science. As such it is usually considered as a branch of logic; in fact, it is the application of the principles and processes of logic to the special objects of the various sciences; while science in general is accounted for by the combination of deduction and induction as such. Thus, methodology is a generic term exemplified in the specific method of each science. Hence its full significance can be understood only by analyzing the structure of the special sciences. In determining that structure, one must consider the proper object of the special science, the manner in which it develops, the type of statements or generalizations it involves, its philosophical foundations or assumptions, and its relation with the other sciences, and eventually its applications. The last two points mentioned are particularly important: methods of education, for example, will vary considerably according to their inspiration and aim. Because of the differences between the objects of the various sciences, they reveal the following principal methodological patterns, which are not necessarily exclusive of one another, and which are used sometimes in partial combination. It may be added that their choice and combination depend also in a large degree on psychological motives. In the last resort, methodology results from the adjustment of our mental powers to the love and pursuit of truth. There are various rational methods used by the speculative sciences, including theology which adds certain qualifications to their use. More especially, philosophy has inspired the following procedures: The Soctattc method of analysis by questioning and dividing until the essences are reached; the synthetic method developed by Plato, Aristotle and the Medieval thinkers, which involves a demonstrative exposition of the causal relation between thought and being; the ascetic method of intellectual and moral purification leading to an illumination of the mind, as proposed by Plotinus, Augustine and the mystics; the psychological method of inquiry into the origin of ideas, which was used by Descartes and his followers, and also by the British empiricists; the critical or transcendental method, as used by Kant, and involving an analysis of the conditions and limits of knowledge; the dialectical method proceeding by thesis, antithesis and synthesis, which is promoted by Hegelianlsm and Dialectical Materialism; the intuitive method, as used by Bergson, which involves the immediate perception of reality, by a blending of consciousness with the process of change; the reflexive method of metaphysical introspection aiming at the development of the immanent realities and values leading man to God; the eclectic method (historical-critical) of purposive and effective selection as proposed by Cicero, Suarez and Cousin; and the positivistic method of Comte, Spencer and the logical empiricists, which attempts to apply to philosophy the strict procedures of the positive sciences. The axiomatic or hypothetico-deductive method as used by the theoretical and especially the mathematical sciences. It involves such problems as the selection, independence and simplification of primitive terms and axioms, the formalization of definitions and proofs, the consistency and completeness of the constructed theory, and the final interpretation. The nomological or inductive method as used by the experimental sciences, aims at the discovery of regularities between phenomena and their relevant laws. It involves the critical and careful application of the various steps of induction: observation and analytical classification; selection of similarities; hypothesis of cause or law; verification by the experimental canons; deduction, demonstration and explanation; systematic organization of results; statement of laws and construction of the relevant theory. The descriptive method as used by the natural and social sciences, involves observational, classificatory and statistical procedures (see art. on statistics) and their interpretation. The historical method as used by the sciences dealing with the past, involves the collation, selection, classification and interpretation of archeological facts and exhibits, records, documents, archives, reports and testimonies. The psychological method, as used by all the sciences dealing with human behaviour and development. It involves not only introspective analysis, but also experimental procedures, such as those referring to the relations between stimuli and sensations, to the accuracy of perceptions (specific measurements of intensity), to gradation (least noticeable differences), to error methods (average error in right and wrong cases), and to physiological and educational processes.
Nasargiel, and in this acceptable guise served Moses as cicerone when the Lawgiver visited the
Neo-Pythagoreanism: A school of thought initiated in Alexandria, according to Cicero, by Nigidius Figulus, a Roman philosopher who died in 45 B.C. It was compounded of traditional Pythagorean teachings, various Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic doctrines, including some mystical and theosophical elements. -- J.J.R.
Notiones communes: Cicero's translation of the phrase koinai ennoiai, by which the Stoics designated such notions as good, evil, and the existence of God, which they regarded as common to all men, and as, in some sense, natural (physikai) or implanted (emphytai), though not, perhaps, in the sense of being literally innate. -- W.K.F.
Panaetius: (180-110 B.C.) A prominent Stoic philosopher whose thought was influenced by the Skeptics; in his attempt to adapt Stoicism to practical needs of life, he abandoned some of the more speculative notions current among his predecessors. Influenced Cicero and Augustine. -- R.B.W.
Platonic School The philosophers of the Academy, who followed Plato and can be traced down to the days of Cicero, gradually undergoing change during that period and divisible into schools connected with the names of prominent philosophers. Distinguished from the Aristotelian or Peripatetic school, much as philosophy is distinguished from science or as idealism is distinguished from naturalism. The principal feature is the Platonic dualism: of noumenon and phenomenon, of the self-moving and that which is moved, of the Idea and its manifestation in an organic being, of the permanent and the impermanent, of soul and body, nous and psyche, etc. In epistemology this dualism appears as philosophia and sense experience — the wisdom which apprehends reality and that which forms concepts from the data of sense experience; in morals, as the contrast between the Good, which is altruistic because it apprehends the unity of all beings, and the ethic of self-seeking based on the illusion of separateness.
point 1. "unit, text" (Sometimes abbreviated "pt") The unit of length used in {typography} to specify text character height, {rule} width, and other small measurements. There are six slightly different definitions: {Truchet point}, {Didot point}, {ATA point}, {TeX point}, {Postscript point}, and {IN point}. In Europe, the most commonly used is Didot and in the US, the formerly standard ATA point has essentially been replaced by the PostScript point due to the demise of traditional typesetting systems and rise of desktop computer based systems running software such as {QuarkXPress}, {Adobe InDesign} and {Adobe Pagemaker}. There are 20 {twips} in a point and 12 points in a {pica} (known as a "Cicero" in the Didot system). {Different point systems (http://vakcer.com/oberon/dtp/fonts/point.htm)}. (2004-12-23) 2. "hardware" To move a {pointing device} so that the on-screen pointer is positioned over a certain object on the screen such as a {button} in a {graphical user interface}. In most {window systems} it is then necessary to {click} a (physical) button on the pointing device to activate or select the object. In some systems, just pointing to an object is known as "mouse-over" {event} which may cause some help text (called a "tool tip" in {Windows}) to be displayed. (2001-05-21)
point ::: 1. (unit, text) (Sometimes abbreviated pt) The unit of length used in typography to specify text character height, rule width, and other small measurements.There are six slightly different definitions: Truchet point, Didot point, ATA point, TeX point, Postscript point, and IN point.In Europe, the most commonly used is Didot and in the US, the formerly standard ATA point has essentially been replaced by the PostScript point due to the systems running software such as QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Pagemaker.There are 20 twips in a point and 12 points in a pica (known as a Cicero in the Didot system). .(2004-12-23)2. (hardware) To move a pointing device so that the on-screen pointer is positioned over a certain object on the screen such as a button in a graphical some systems, just pointing to an object is known as mouse-over event which may cause some help text (called a tool tip in Windows) to be displayed.(2001-05-21)
Religion ::: An operation of the human spiritual mind in its endeavor to understand not only the how and the why ofthings, but comprising in addition a yearning and striving towards self-conscious union with the divineAll and an endlessly growing self-conscious identification with the cosmic divine-spiritual realities. Onephase of a triform method of understanding the nature of nature, of universal nature, and its multiformand multifold workings; and this phase cannot be separated from the other two phases (science andphilosophy) if we wish to gain a true picture of things as they are in themselves.Human religion is the expression of that aspect of man's consciousness which is intuitional, aspirational,and mystical, and which is often deformed and distorted in its lower forms by the emotional in man.It is usual among modern Europeans to derive the word religion from the Latin verb meaning "to bindback" -- religare. But there is another derivation, which is the one that Cicero chooses, and of course hewas a Roman himself and had great skill and deep knowledge in the use of his own native tongue. Thisother derivation comes from a Latin root meaning "to select," "to choose," from which, likewise, we havethe word lex, "law," i.e., the course of conduct or rule of action which is chosen as the best, and istherefore followed; in other words, that which is the best of its kind, as ascertained by selection, by trial,and by proof.Thus then, the meaning of the word religion from the Latin religio, means a careful selection offundamental beliefs and motives by the higher or spiritual intellect, a faculty of intuitional judgment andunderstanding, and a consequent abiding by that selection, resulting in a course of life and conduct in allrespects following the convictions that have been arrived at. This is the religious spirit.To this the theosophist would add the following very important idea: behind all the various religions andphilosophies of ancient times there is a secret or esoteric wisdom given out by the greatest men who haveever lived, the founders and builders of the various world religions and world philosophies; and thissublime system in fundamentals has been the same everywhere over the face of the globe.This system has passed under various names, e.g., the esoteric philosophy, the ancient wisdom, the secretdoctrine, the traditional teaching, theosophy, etc. (See also Science, Philosophy)
Sodales (Latin) Members or fellows of a fraternity, society, or recognized corporation, hence members of a mystic, secret, or occult fraternity. It suggests the Shemitic, as in the Hebrew sod (both an assembly or fraternity, and a secret and sacred mystery). Cicero in his De Senectute speaks of sodalities in the Idaean Mysteries of the Magna Mater (great mother, mystic nature).
Space-time A concept taken over by Einstein from Minkowski, in which time (considered as a vector) is no longer regarded as independent of spatial extension, but is made a fourth coordinate in determining the position of an event. Our ordinary threefold spatial extension is a concept due to our physical experience, so that there is no reason why we cannot adopt a concept of another order if we find it suits our purposes better. We can view the universe under the form of a threefold spatial extension and an independent time, or we can view it under the form of a four-dimensional continuum, wherein a coordinate representing position in time takes its place along with three others representing position in space. The points of light form distant stars which we view in the sky are separated from each other not only by spatial distances but also by distances in time, owing to the time taken by light to travel. Space-time is a mathematical conception, useful in certain measurements demanded by modern science, but not answering to anything of which we can form a clear mental image. It is difficult to picture a line drawn from the American President in Washington to Cicero in the Roman Forum; or vice versa, but such a line in either direction would according to modern mathematical theory traverse space-time.
tenet ::: n. --> Any opinion, principle, dogma, belief, or doctrine, which a person holds or maintains as true; as, the tenets of Plato or of Cicero.
tullian ::: a. --> Belonging to, or in the style of, Tully (Marcus Tullius Cicero).
KEYS (10k)
16 Cicero
3 Marcus Tullius Cicero
2 Voltaire
1 reading :::
50 Philosophy Classics: List of Books Covered:
1. Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition (1958)
2. Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (4th century BC)
3. AJ Ayer - Language
1 Mortimer J Adler
1 Aleister Crowley
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
1224 Marcus Tullius Cicero
35 Noah Cicero
23 Cicero
21 Robert Harris
18 Mary Beard
17 Anthony Everitt
8 Anonymous
5 Plutarch
4 Saint Augustine of Hippo
4 Quintus Tullius Cicero
4 Michel de Montaigne
3 Voltaire
3 Stacy Schiff
2 Saint Augustine
2 Ron Chernow
2 Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 Orison Swett Marden
2 Norman Vincent Peale
2 Niccol Machiavelli
2 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
1:The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. ~ Cicero, #KEYS
2:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Cicero, #KEYS
3:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
~ Cicero,#KEYS
4:The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #KEYS
5:Ignorance of future ills is a more useful thing than knowledge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #KEYS
6:All you have to do then is to comm and yourselves. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
7:Let not the talk of the vulgar make any impression on you. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
8:Let us respect men, and not only men of worth, but the public in general ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
9:This is our special duty, that if anyone specially needs our help, we should give him such help to the utmost of our power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #KEYS
10:Every man who returns into himself, will find there traces of the Divinity. ~ Cicero, "De Regibus. I. 22, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
11:When we can draw from ourselves all our felicity, we find nothing vexatious to us in the order of Nature. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
12:hat is the true law? It is a right reason invariable, eternal, in conformity with Nature, -which is extended in all human being. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
13:The mighty power of the infinite is most worthy of great and loving contemplation [Summa vero vis infinitatis et magna ac diligenti contemplatione dignissima est]. ~ Cicero, De natura deorum 1.50, #KEYS
14:Let us impose upon our desires the yoke of submission to reason, let them be ever calm and never bring trouble into our souls; thence result wisdom, constancy, moderation. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
15:I have never counted as real possessions either treasures or palaces or the places which give us credit and put authority in our hands or the pleasures of which men are slaves. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
16:But most men, I know not why, love better to deceive themselves and fight obstinately for an opinion which is to their taste than to seek without obduracy the truth ~ Cicero, "Academy" II. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
17:There is a primary law, eternal, invariable, engraved in the heads of all; it is Right Reason. Never does it speak in vain to the virtuous man, whether it ordains or prohibits. The wicked alone are untouched by its voice. It is easy to be understood and is not different in one country and in another; it is today what it will be tomorrow and for all time. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
18:Let each contemplate himself, not shut up in narrow walls, not cabined in a corner of the earth, but a citizen of the whole world. From the height of the sublime meditations which the spectacle of Nature and the knowledge of it will procure for him, how well will he know himself how he will disdain, how base he will find all the futilities to which the vulgar attach so high a price. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
19:All souls have within them something soft, cowardly, vile, nerveless, languishing, and if there were only that element in man, there would be nothing so ugly as the human being. But at the same time there is in him, very much to the purpose, this mistress, this absolute queen, Reason, who by the effort she has it in herself to make, becomes perfect and becomes the supreme virtue. One must, to be truly a human being, give it full authority over that other part of the soul whose duty it is to obey the reason. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
20:There is only one Ethics, as there is only one geometry. But the majority of men, it will be said, are ignorant of geometry. Yes, but as soon as they begin to apply themselves a little to that science, all are in agreement. Cultivators, workmen, artisans have not gone through courses in ethics; they have not read Cicero or Aristotle, but the moment they begin to think on the subject they become, without knowing it, the disciples of Cicero. The Indian dyer, the Tartar shepherd and the English sailor know what is just and what is injust. Confucius did not invent a system of ethics as one invents a system of physics. He had discovered it in the heart of all mankind. ~ Voltaire, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
21:But in what circumstances does our reason teach us that there is vice or virtue? How does this continual mystery work? Tell me, inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, Africans, Canadians and you, Plato, Cicero, Epictetus! You all feel equally that it is better to give away the superfluity of your bread, your rice or your manioc to the indigent than to kill him or tear out his eyes. It is evident to all on earth that an act of benevolence is better than an outrage, that gentleness is preferable to wrath. We have merely to use our Reason in order to discern the shades which distinguish right and wrong. Good and evil are often close neighbours and our passions confuse them. Who will enlighten us? We ourselves when we are calm. ~ Voltaire, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
22:reading :::
50 Philosophy Classics: List of Books Covered:
1. Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition (1958)
2. Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (4th century BC)
3. AJ Ayer - Language, Truth and Logic (1936)
4. Julian Baggini - The Ego Trick (2011)
5. Jean Baudrillard - Simulacra and Simulation (1981)
6. Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex (1952)
7. Jeremy Bentham - Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)
8. Henri Bergson - Creative Evolution (1911)
9. David Bohm - Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980)
10. Noam Chomsky - Understanding Power (2002)
11. Cicero - On Duties (44 BC)
12. Confucius - Analects (5th century BC)
13. Rene Descartes - Meditations (1641)
14. Ralph Waldo Emerson - Fate (1860)
15. Epicurus - Letters (3rd century BC)
16. Michel Foucault - The Order of Things (1966)
17. Harry Frankfurt - On Bullshit (2005)
18. Sam Harris - Free Will (2012)
19. GWF Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (1803)
20. Martin Heidegger - Being and Time (1927)
21. Heraclitus - Fragments#KEYS
23:Reading list (1972 edition)[edit]
1. Homer - Iliad, Odyssey
2. The Old Testament
3. Aeschylus - Tragedies
4. Sophocles - Tragedies
5. Herodotus - Histories
6. Euripides - Tragedies
7. Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War
8. Hippocrates - Medical Writings
9. Aristophanes - Comedies
10. Plato - Dialogues
11. Aristotle - Works
12. Epicurus - Letter to Herodotus; Letter to Menoecus
13. Euclid - Elements
14.Archimedes - Works
15. Apollonius of Perga - Conic Sections
16. Cicero - Works
17. Lucretius - On the Nature of Things
18. Virgil - Works
19. Horace - Works
20. Livy - History of Rome
21. Ovid - Works
22. Plutarch - Parallel Lives; Moralia
23. Tacitus - Histories; Annals; Agricola Germania
24. Nicomachus of Gerasa - Introduction to Arithmetic
25. Epictetus - Discourses; Encheiridion
26. Ptolemy - Almagest
27. Lucian - Works
28. Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
29. Galen - On the Natural Faculties
30. The New Testament
31. Plotinus - The Enneads
32. St. Augustine - On the Teacher; Confessions; City of God; On Christian Doctrine
33. The Song of Roland
34. The Nibelungenlied
35. The Saga of Burnt Njal
36. St. Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologica
37. Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy;The New Life; On Monarchy
38. Geoffrey Chaucer - Troilus and Criseyde; The Canterbury Tales
39. Leonardo da Vinci - Notebooks
40. Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy
41. Desiderius Erasmus - The Praise of Folly
42. Nicolaus Copernicus - On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
43. Thomas More - Utopia
44. Martin Luther - Table Talk; Three Treatises
45. François Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel
46. John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion
47. Michel de Montaigne - Essays
48. William Gilbert - On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies
49. Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote
50. Edmund Spenser - Prothalamion; The Faerie Queene
51. Francis Bacon - Essays; Advancement of Learning; Novum Organum, New Atlantis
52. William Shakespeare - Poetry and Plays
53. Galileo Galilei - Starry Messenger; Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
54. Johannes Kepler - Epitome of Copernican Astronomy; Concerning the Harmonies of the World
55. William Harvey - On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals; On the Circulation of the Blood; On the Generation of Animals
56. Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
57. René Descartes - Rules for the Direction of the Mind; Discourse on the Method; Geometry; Meditations on First Philosophy
58. John Milton - Works
59. Molière - Comedies
60. Blaise Pascal - The Provincial Letters; Pensees; Scientific Treatises
61. Christiaan Huygens - Treatise on Light
62. Benedict de Spinoza - Ethics
63. John Locke - Letter Concerning Toleration; Of Civil Government; Essay Concerning Human Understanding;Thoughts Concerning Education
64. Jean Baptiste Racine - Tragedies
65. Isaac Newton - Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy; Optics
66. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz - Discourse on Metaphysics; New Essays Concerning Human Understanding;Monadology
67.Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
68. Jonathan Swift - A Tale of a Tub; Journal to Stella; Gulliver's Travels; A Modest Proposal
69. William Congreve - The Way of the World
70. George Berkeley - Principles of Human Knowledge
71. Alexander Pope - Essay on Criticism; Rape of the Lock; Essay on Man
72. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu - Persian Letters; Spirit of Laws
73. Voltaire - Letters on the English; Candide; Philosophical Dictionary
74. Henry Fielding - Joseph Andrews; Tom Jones
75. Samuel Johnson - The Vanity of Human Wishes; Dictionary; Rasselas; The Lives of the Poets
~ Mortimer J Adler,#KEYS
24:SECTION 1. Books for Serious Study
Liber CCXX. (Liber AL vel Legis.) The Book of the Law. This book is the foundation of the New Æon, and thus of the whole of our work.
The Equinox. The standard Work of Reference in all occult matters. The Encyclopaedia of Initiation.
Liber ABA (Book 4). A general account in elementary terms of magical and mystical powers. In four parts: (1) Mysticism (2) Magical (Elementary Theory) (3) Magick in Theory and Practice (this book) (4) The Law.
Liber II. The Message of the Master Therion. Explains the essence of the new Law in a very simple manner.
Liber DCCCXXXVIII. The Law of Liberty. A further explanation of The Book of the Law in reference to certain ethical problems.
Collected Works of A. Crowley. These works contain many mystical and magical secrets, both stated clearly in prose, and woven into the Robe of sublimest poesy.
The Yi King. (S. B. E. Series [vol. XVI], Oxford University Press.) The "Classic of Changes"; give the initiated Chinese system of Magick.
The Tao Teh King. (S. B. E. Series [vol. XXXIX].) Gives the initiated Chinese system of Mysticism.
Tannhäuser, by A. Crowley. An allegorical drama concerning the Progress of the Soul; the Tannhäuser story slightly remodelled.
The Upanishads. (S. B. E. Series [vols. I & XV.) The Classical Basis of Vedantism, the best-known form of Hindu Mysticism.
The Bhagavad-gita. A dialogue in which Krishna, the Hindu "Christ", expounds a system of Attainment.
The Voice of the Silence, by H.P. Blavatsky, with an elaborate commentary by Frater O.M. Frater O.M., 7°=48, is the most learned of all the Brethren of the Order; he has given eighteen years to the study of this masterpiece.
Raja-Yoga, by Swami Vivekananda. An excellent elementary study of Hindu mysticism. His Bhakti-Yoga is also good.
The Shiva Samhita. An account of various physical means of assisting the discipline of initiation. A famous Hindu treatise on certain physical practices.
The Hathayoga Pradipika. Similar to the Shiva Samhita.
The Aphorisms of Patanjali. A valuable collection of precepts pertaining to mystical attainment.
The Sword of Song. A study of Christian theology and ethics, with a statement and solution of the deepest philosophical problems. Also contains the best account extant of Buddhism, compared with modern science.
The Book of the Dead. A collection of Egyptian magical rituals.
Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, by Eliphas Levi. The best general textbook of magical theory and practice for beginners. Written in an easy popular style.
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. The best exoteric account of the Great Work, with careful instructions in procedure. This Book influenced and helped the Master Therion more than any other.
The Goetia. The most intelligible of all the mediæval rituals of Evocation. Contains also the favourite Invocation of the Master Therion.
Erdmann's History of Philosophy. A compendious account of philosophy from the earliest times. Most valuable as a general education of the mind.
The Spiritual Guide of [Miguel de] Molinos. A simple manual of Christian Mysticism.
The Star in the West. (Captain Fuller). An introduction to the study of the Works of Aleister Crowley.
The Dhammapada. (S. B. E. Series [vol. X], Oxford University Press). The best of the Buddhist classics.
The Questions of King Milinda. (S. B. E. Series [vols. XXXV & XXXVI].) Technical points of Buddhist dogma, illustrated bydialogues.
Liber 777 vel Prolegomena Symbolica Ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticæ Viæ Explicandæ, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicam Sanctissimorum Scientiæ Summæ. A complete Dictionary of the Correspondences of all magical elements, reprinted with extensive additions, making it the only standard comprehensive book of reference ever published. It is to the language of Occultism what Webster or Murray is to the English language.
Varieties of Religious Experience (William James). Valuable as showing the uniformity of mystical attainment.
Kabbala Denudata, von Rosenroth: also The Kabbalah Unveiled, by S.L. Mathers. The text of the Qabalah, with commentary. A good elementary introduction to the subject.
Konx Om Pax [by Aleister Crowley]. Four invaluable treatises and a preface on Mysticism and Magick.
The Pistis Sophia [translated by G.R.S. Mead or Violet McDermot]. An admirable introduction to the study of Gnosticism.
The Oracles of Zoroaster [Chaldæan Oracles]. An invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical.
The Dream of Scipio, by Cicero. Excellent for its Vision and its Philosophy.
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras, by Fabre d'Olivet. An interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this Master.
The Divine Pymander, by Hermes Trismegistus. Invaluable as bearing on the Gnostic Philosophy.
The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians, reprint of Franz Hartmann. An invaluable compendium.
Scrutinium Chymicum [Atalanta Fugiens]¸ by Michael Maier. One of the best treatises on alchemy.
Science and the Infinite, by Sidney Klein. One of the best essays written in recent years.
Two Essays on the Worship of Priapus [A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus &c. &c. &c.], by Richard Payne Knight [and Thomas Wright]. Invaluable to all students.
The Golden Bough, by J.G. Frazer. The textbook of Folk Lore. Invaluable to all students.
The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine. Excellent, though elementary, as a corrective to superstition.
Rivers of Life, by General Forlong. An invaluable textbook of old systems of initiation.
Three Dialogues, by Bishop Berkeley. The Classic of Subjective Idealism.
Essays of David Hume. The Classic of Academic Scepticism.
First Principles by Herbert Spencer. The Classic of Agnosticism.
Prolegomena [to any future Metaphysics], by Immanuel Kant. The best introduction to Metaphysics.
The Canon [by William Stirling]. The best textbook of Applied Qabalah.
The Fourth Dimension, by [Charles] H. Hinton. The best essay on the subject.
The Essays of Thomas Henry Huxley. Masterpieces of philosophy, as of prose.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Appendix I: Literature Recommended to Aspirants#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 2:Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 3:The Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer & Ovid, of Plato & Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 4:After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Suum Cuique ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
2:Dum Spiro, spero ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
3:Cum dignitate otium ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
4:O tempora! O mores! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
5:Per aspera ad astra ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
6:Vivere est Cogitare ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
7:War leads to peace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
8:Be, rather than seem ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
9:As I breathe, I hope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
10:I am a Roman citizen. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
11:Leisure with dignity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
12:O, tempora! O, mores! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
13:Always the same thing. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
14:Do nothing twice over. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
15:Omnia mea mecum porto. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
16:Our thoughts are free. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
17:Calamus fortior gladio. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
18:More law, less justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
19:No sane man will dance. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
20:No sober person dances. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
21:A letter does not blush. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
22:Hatred is settled anger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
23:More laws, less justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
24:No one has leave to sin. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
25:Respiraro, si te videro. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
26:a friend is a second self ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
27:Hunger is the best sauce. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
28:Let reason govern desire. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
29:Virtue is its own reward. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
30:What times! What manners! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
31:All soils are not fertile. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
32:Every animal loves itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
33:Hatred is a settled anger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
34:He who suffers, remembers. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
35:Like associates with like. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
36:Thrift is a great revenue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
37:To be rather than to seem. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
38:To live long, live slowly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
39:All things are full of God. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
40:Economy is a great revenue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
41:Hatred is inveterate anger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
42:Historia magistra vitae est ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
43:Laws are inoperative in war ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
44:Man is his own worst enemy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
45:Man must suffer to be wise. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
46:Nature abhors annihilation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
47:Non nobis solum nati sumus. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
48:Thrift is of great revenue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
49:Dogs wait for us faithfully. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
50:Falsehoods border on truths. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
51:non deterret sapientem mors. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
52:Si quieres aprender, enseña. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
53:The spirit is the true self. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
54:Time is the herald of truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
55:By doubting we come at truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
56:Nothing quite new is perfect. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
57:The law is silent during war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
58:History is the teacher of life ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
59:Honor is the reward of virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
60:The freedom of poetic license. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
61:There were poets before Homer. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
62:Angustus animus pecūniam amat". ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
63:Books: our unfailing companions ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
64:Everyone has his besetting sin. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
65:Genius is fostered by industry. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
66:Gut ist, was den Guten gefällt. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
67:Kindness is stronger than fear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
68:Laws are silent in time of war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
69:Life without learning is death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
70:Pardon is granted to necessity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
71:There is nothing god cannot do. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
72:Unraveling the web of Penelope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
73:Friends are proved by adversity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
74:Like readily consorts with like. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
75:No man in his senses will dance. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
76:Peace is freedom in tranquility. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
77:The more laws, the less justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
78:The real friend is another self. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
79:We make allowance for necessity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
80:What is dignity without honesty? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
81:Ability without honor is useless. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
82:All places are filled with fools. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
83:Before beginning, plan carefully. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
84:Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
85:During war, the laws are silent. ~ Quintus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
86:Fortune, not wisdom, rules lives. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
87:Kindness is produced by kindness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
88:Nothing dries sooner than a tear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
89:O philosophy, you leader of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
90:Peace is liberty in tranquillity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
91:To freemen, threats are impotent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
92:While there's life, there's hope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
93:All you have to do then is to command yourselves. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
94:Freedom is participation in power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
95:Patria est communis omnium parens. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
96:Taxes are the sinews of the state. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
97:True nobility is exempt from fear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
98:Work makes a callus against grief. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
99:All you have to do then is to command yourselves. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
100:As thou sowest, so shalt thou reap. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
101:As you have sown so shall you reap. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
102:He has no worse enemy than himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
103:Ill gotten gains will be ill spent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
104:Life is nothing without friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
105:Nature has inclined us to love men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
106:The popular breeze - Aura popularis ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
107:There is no life without friendship ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
108:What is sweeter than lettered ease? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
109:Before beginning, prepare carefully. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
110:Let your desires be ruled by reason. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
111:Never injure a friend, even in jest. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
112:Not every mistake is a foolish one. —CICERO ~ Liaquat Ahamed, #NFDB
113:Strict law is often great injustice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
114:The wise man never loses his temper. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
115:We are not born for ourselves alone. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
116:After victory, you have more enemies. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
117:All great men are partially inspired. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
118:Certain signs precede certain events. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
119:Extreme justice is extreme injustice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
120:Justice renders to every one his due. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
121:Law stands mute in the midst of arms. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
122:Let the punishment match the offense. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
123:Life is short, but art lives forever. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
124:Of evils one should choose the least. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
125:Religion is the pious worship of God. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
126:Solo un loco bailaría estando sobrio. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
127:Sweet is the memory of past troubles. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
128:The forehead is the gate of the mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
129:There is no moment without some duty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
130:There is nothing which God cannot do. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
131:The sinews of war are infinite money. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
132:Through doubt we arrive at the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
133:We are born poets. we become orators. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
134:When war is raging the laws are dumb. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
135:A bachelor's bed is the most pleasant. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
136:A man has no enemy worse than himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
137:A man of faith is also full of courage ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
138:A wise man does nothing by constraint. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
139:Brevity is a great charm of eloquence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
140:Endless money forms the sinews of war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
141:Every man's friend is no man's friend. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
142:Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
143:generation was consumed with serial monogamy. We ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
144:Habit is, as it were, a second nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
145:I am never less alone than when alone. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
146:In times of war, the law falls silent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
147:Let the soldier yield to the civilian. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
148:Loyalty is what we seek in friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
149:Old age by nature is rather talkative. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
150:Old age is by nature rather talkative. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
151:Probability is the very guide of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
152:Strain every nerve to gain your point. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
153:The first bond of society is marriage. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
154:There are no true friends in politics. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
155:When they remain silent, they cry out. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
156:A friend is, as it were, a second self. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
157:A man of courage is also full of faith, ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
158:A man of courage is also full of faith. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
159:A s laws multiply, injustice increases. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
160:A true friend is a sort of second self. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
161:Generosity should never exceed ability. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
162:It is a great thing to know your vices. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
163:It is pleasant to recall past troubles. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
164:Nature herself makes the wise man rich. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
165:The beginnings of all things are small. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
166:What is more agreeable than one's home? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
167:An agreement of rash men (a conspiracy). ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
168:A thankful heart is the greatest virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
169:Our country is wherever we are well off. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
170:Reason should direct, and appetite obey. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
171:The foundation of justice is good faith. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
172:The memory of past troubles is pleasant. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
173:There is not a moment without some duty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
174:The remembrance of past misery is sweet. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
175:To some extent I liken slavery to death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
176:Whatever you do, do with all your might. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
177:Wisdom often exists under a shabby coat. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
178:Yo era tan pobre que el gobierno me lo pagaba todo ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
179:A good orator is pointed and impassioned. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
180:Frugality includes all the other virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
181:I hate all children of precocious talent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
182:Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
183:Man's best support is a very dear friend. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
184:No one dances sober, unless he is insane. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
185:Philosophy is the true mother of science. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
186:The fruit of too much liberty is slavery. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
187:The human mind ever longs for occupation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
188:They condemn what they do not understand. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
189:An ancient custom obtains force of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
190:An unjust peace is better than a just war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
191:Friends, though absent, are still present. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
192:He is rich who wishes no more than he has. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
193:It is better to receive than to do injury. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
194:L'amico certo si vede nella sorte incerta. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
195:Let war yield to peace, laurels to paeans. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
196:The best interpreter of the law is custom. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
197:To-morrow will give some food for thought. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
198:Victory is by nature insolent and haughty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
199:Vivere est cogitare. (To think is to live) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
200:We all are imbued with the love of praise. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
201:A community is like the ones who govern it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
202:All things tend to corrupt perverted minds. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
203:Cum mulieribus non est disputandum, as Cicero says. ~ Theodora Goss, #NFDB
204:For the laws are dumb in the midst of arms. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
205:Judge not by the number, but by the weight. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
206:Let each man have according to his deserts. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
207:Let not the talk of the vulgar make any impression on you. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
208:Our minds are rendered buoyant by exercise. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
209:Superstition is an unreasoning fear of God. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
210:The good of the people is the greatest law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
211:The great theatre for virtue is conscience. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
212:Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
213:While the sick man has life, there is hope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
214:Yo era tan pobre que el gobierno de me lo pagaba todo ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
215:A home without books is a body without soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
216:It is our own evil thoughts which madden us. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
217:Nothing is difficult in the eyes of a lover. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
218:Not in opinion but in nature is law founded. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
219:Politicians are not born; they are excreted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
220:There is no place more delightful than home. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
221:The welfare of the people is the highest law ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
222:To live long it is necessary to live slowly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
223:What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
224:What is permissible is not always honorable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
225:Ye immortal gods! where in the world are we? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
226:A happy life consists in tranquility of mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
227:A home without books is a body without a soul ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
228:Aquele que se ama a si próprio não tem rivais ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
229:Freedom is a possession of inestimable value. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
230:I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
231:Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
232:Let the punishment be equal with the offence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
233:No grief is so acute but time ameliorates it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
234:Nothing is more disgraceful than insincerity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
235:Our liberality should not exceed our ability. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
236:Pleasant is the recollection of dangers past. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
237:The whole of virtue consists in its practice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
238:What is thine is mine, and all mine is thine. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
239:Friendship is infinitely better than kindness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
240:Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
241:I criticize by creation, not by finding fault. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
242:I would rather be an expert on me than on Cicero ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
243:Man's life is ruled by fortune, not by wisdom. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
244:No obligation to do the impossible is binding. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
245:There is no thing which God cannot accomplish. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
246:The whole glory of virtue resides in activity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
247:Tomorrow will give us something to think about ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
248:Advice is judged by results, not by intentions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
249:All the arts of refinement have mutual kinship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
250:Dum Spiro, spero- As long as I breathe, I hope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
251:I criticize by creation - not by finding fault. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
252:In the approach to virtue there are many steps. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
253:Rashness belongs to youth; prudence to old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
254:Reason is the mistress and queen of all things. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
255:The aim of justice is to give everyone his due. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
256:The works of nature must all be accounted good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
257:To the sick, while there is life there is hope. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
258:We must not say every mistake is a foolish one. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
259:What an ugly beast is the ape, and how like us. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
260:What is dishonestly got vanishes in profligacy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
261:Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
262:Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but enjoyed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
263:Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
264:Let a man practise the profession he best knows. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
265:Men of different tastes have different pursuits. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
266:Nothing troubles you for which you do not yearn. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
267:Old age: the crown of life, our play's last act. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
268:Saving the virtues includes all other advantages ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
269:We are bound by the law, so that we may be free. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
270:Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
271:Anger should never appear in awarding punishment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
272:Be a pattern to others and then all will go well. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
273:For walk where we will, we tread upon some story. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
274:In anger nothing right nor judicious can be done. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
275:It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
276:Man was born for two things--thinking and acting. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
277:Mea mihi conscientia pluris est quam omnium sermo ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
278:Men do not realize how great an income thrift is. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
279:No man was ever great without divine inspiration. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
280:Our generosity never should exceed our abilities. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
281:Probabilities direct the conduct of the wise man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
282:Rashness attends youth, as prudence does old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
283:Religion is not removed by removing superstition. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
284:Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
285:There is in superstition a senseless fear of God. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
286:There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosopher has said it. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
287:There is not only an art, but an eloquence in it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
288:Let every man practice the art that he knows best. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
289:Let the welfare of the people be the ultimate law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
290:Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
291:The false is nothing but an imitation of the true. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
292:The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
293:The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
294:The safety of the people shall be the highest law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
295:The science of love is the philosophy of the heart ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
296:We must not only obtain Wisdom: we must enjoy her. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
297:A room without books is like a body without a soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
298:Favours out of place I regard as positive injuries. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
299:Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
300:he grew old learning many a fresh lesson every day. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
301:It is the act of a bad man to deceive by falsehood. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
302:Let the punishment be proportionate to the offense. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
303:Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
304:Philosophy is true mother of the arts [of science]. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
305:Slowly and imperceptibly old age comes creeping on. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
306:Sweet is the recollection of difficulties overcome. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
307:The multitude of fools is a protection to the wise. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
308:The soul in sleep gives proof of its divine nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
309:We are all servants of the laws in order to be free ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
310:We forget our pleasures, we remember our sufferings ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
311:Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
312:Certain signs are the forerunners of certain events. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
313:Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
314:Everything is alive... Everything is interconnected. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
315:He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
316:I do not wish to die: but I care not if I were dead. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
317:I have sworn with my tongue, but my mind is unsworn. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
318:It is our duty, my young friends, to resist old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
319:Law applied to its extreme is the greatest injustice ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
320:Let the force of arms give place to law and justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
321:Memory is the receptacle and sheath of all knowledge ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
322:Morals today are corrupted by our worship of riches. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
323:Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
324:Piety and holiness of life will propitiate the gods. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
325:There are more men ennobled by study than by nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
326:To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
327:We forget our pleasures, we remember our sufferings. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
328:We must not say that every mistake is a foolish one. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
329:You may never be less alone than when you are alone. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
330:A liar is not believed even though he tell the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
331:Courage is virtue which champions the cause of right. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
332:Dissimulation creeps gradually into the minds of men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
333:Ein Zimmer ohne Bücher ist wie ein Körper ohne Seele. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
334:Enmity is anger watching the opportunity for revenge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
335:Grief is not in the nature of things, but in opinion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
336:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
~ Cicero,#NFDB
337:In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
338:I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
339:Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
340:Next to God we are nothing. To God we are Everything. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
341:Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina, patientia nostra? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
342:Secret enmities are more to be feared than open ones. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
343:The strictest law often causes the most serious wrong ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
344:We don't believe a liar even when he tells the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
345:What is dishonorably got, is dishonorably squandered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
346:Esse quam videri - "To be, rather than to seem (to be) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
347:I don’t think we ever had one real conversation our whole lives. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
348:I would rather be an authority on myself than on Cicero. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
349:Let a man practice the profession which he best knows. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
350:Nothing is so secure as that money will not defeat it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
351:Summer lasts not for ever; seasons succeed each other. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
352:The existence of virtue depends entirely upon its use. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
353:The man who has a garden and a library has everything. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
354:There is no mortal whom pain and disease do not reach. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
355:The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
356:The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
357:Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
358:We do not destroy religion by destroying superstition. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
359:What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
360:A good man will not lie, although it be for his profit. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
361:There are gems of thought that are ageless and eternal. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
362:There is pleasure in calm remembrance of a past sorrow. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
363:Too much liberty leads both men and nations to slavery. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
364:We should be as careful of our words as of our actions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
365:Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
366:Cicero was nothing if not a genius at character assassination. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
367:Little by little old age renders the body less powerful. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
368:No wise man has called a change of opinion in constancy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
369:Rashness is the companion of youth, prudence of old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
370:Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
371:The comfort derived from the misery of others is slight. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
372:The life of the dead is set in the memory of the living. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
373:There is no fortune so strong that money cannot take it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
374:There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
375:Why do anything if the apex of human development is Fran Drescher? ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
376:From all sides there is equally a way to the lower world. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
377:I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
378:La pobreza no curte el alma ni la favorece. La esclaviza. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
379:Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed . ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
380:Let us respect men, and not only men of worth, but the public in general ~ Cicero, #NFDB
381:Longing not so much to change things as to overturn them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
382:Nam eloquentiam quae admirationem non habet nullam iudico ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
383:People do not understand what a great revenue economy is. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
384:Prudence in action avails more than wisdom in conception. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
385:The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
386:To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
387:Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praise, ye laurels. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
388:A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
389:He he he... Crazy? Cicero? He he he he! That's... madness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
390:If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
391:If wisdom be attainable, let us not only win but enjoy it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
392:In the master there is a servant, in the servant a master. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
393:I shall always consider the best guesser the best prophet. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
394:NEOTAP replaces God and parents. We have surveillance to replace God ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
395:No wise man ever thought that a traitor should be trusted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
396:The gods attend to great matters, they neglect small ones. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
397:There is no place more delightful than one's own fireside. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
398:The thirst of desire is never filled, nor fully satisfied. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
399:Those who do not know history will forever remain children ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
400:Though laughter is allowable, a horse-laugh is abominable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
401:To remain ignorant of history is to remain forever a child ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
402:You’re really friendly. This isn’t really a job for friendly people. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
403:Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
404:Cultivation of the mind is as necessary as food to the body ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
405:For it is commonly said: accomplished labours are pleasant. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
406:I depart from life as from an inn, and not as from my home. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
407:Let every man practise the trade which he best understands. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
408:The absolute good is not a matter of opinion but of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
409:The higher our position the more modestly we should behave. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
410:The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
411:The roots of knowledge are bitter, but its fruit are sweet. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
412:You are only allowed to ask questions if I give you questions to ask. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
413:A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
414:Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
415:How much in love with himself, and that too without a rival! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
416:It is difficult to remember all, and ungracious to omit any. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
417:Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
418:Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
419:Politeness and an affable address are our best introduction. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
420:Prudence must not be expected from a man who is never sober. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
421:The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
422:The hope of impunity is the greatest inducement to do wrong. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
423:The office of liberality consisteth in giving with judgment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
424:When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
425:Fire and water are not of more universal use than friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
426:History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
427:I hope that the memory of our friendship will be everlasting. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
428:In everything satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
429:Like, according to the old proverb, naturally goes with like. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
430:Never can custom conquer nature, for she is ever unconquered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
431:Nothing is too absurd to be said by some of the philosophers. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
432:Opinionum enim commenta delet dies; naturæ judicia confirmat. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
433:Porque los que luchan contra el mal son los soldados de D•os. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
434:The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
435:The dutifulness of children is the foundation of all virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
436:The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
437:The eyes, like sentinels, hold the highest place in the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
438:Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
439:He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
440:No one sees what is before his feet: we all gaze at the stars. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
441:That which is not forbidden, is not on that account permitted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
442:The name of peace is sweet, the thing itself is most salutary. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
443:The only excuse for war is that we may live in peace unharmed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
444:Yo no he abandonado Roma, es Roma la que me ha abandonado a mí ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
445:Your enemies can kill you, but only your friends can hurt you. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
446:History is indeed the witness of the times, the light of truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
447:However one defines man, the same definition applies to us all. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
448:If the truth were self-evident, eloquence would be unnecessary. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
449:Loquor enim de docto homine et erudito, cui vivere est cogitare ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
450:Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.”
— Cicero ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
451:room without books is like a body without a soul. —MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ~ Ellery Adams, #NFDB
452:Silent enim leges inter arma (Laws are silent in times of war). ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
453:The whole life of a philosopher is the meditation of his death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
454:I am not ashamed to confess I am ignorant of what I do not know. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
455:Ignorance of future ills is a more useful thing than knowledge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
456:In the usual course of study I had come to a book of a certain Cicero. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
457:Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of God ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
458:Peace is so beneficial that the word itself is pleasant to hear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
459:Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
460:Sound conviction should influence us rather than public opinion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
461:The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
462:The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
463:There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
464:they follow nature as the most perfect guide to a good life. Now ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
465:This wine is forty years old. It certainly doesn't show its age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
466:To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one’s self to die. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
467:You do not see God, and yet you acknowledge him as God by his works; Cicero. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
468:Denn wirklich tugendhaft wollen nicht so Viele sein als scheinen. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
469:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
470:It is a true saying that 'one falsehood easily leads to another.' ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
471:It is not enough to acquire wisdom, it is necessary to employ it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
472:Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
473:No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
474:Not to know what happened before means to remain forever a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
475:The master sometimes serves, and the servant sometimes is master. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
476:There is no statement so absurd that no philosopher will make it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
477:There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosopher has said it. ~ Cicero De Divinatione., #NFDB
478:Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
479:What we call pleasure, and rightly so is the absence of all pain. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
480:You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
481:Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
482:Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
483:Men think they may justly do that for which they have a precedent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
484:Non nobis solum nati sumus. (Not for ourselves alone are we born.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
485:No one dances while he is sober. Unless he happens to be a lunatic. -Cicero ~ Stacy Schiff, #NFDB
486:Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
487:Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
488:Not to be covetous, is money; not to be a purchaser, is a revenue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
489:The last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
490:There is no one so old as to not think they may live a day longer. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
491:To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbial disgrace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
492:Wisdom is the only thing which can banish sorrow from the breast . ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
493:Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
494:Avoid any specific discussion of public policy at public meetings. ~ Quintus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
495:Care must be taken that the punishment does not exceed the offence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
496:For surely to be wise is the most desirable thing in all the world. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
497:If you wish to remove avarice you must remove its mother, luxuries. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
498:No one dies too soon who has finished the course of perfect virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
499:No one is so old that he does not think he could live another year. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
500:No phase of life, whether public or private, can be free from duty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
501:Our minds possess by nature an insatiable desire to know the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
502:That last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
503:The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
504:There is no castle so strong that it cannot be overthrown by money. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
505:The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
506:To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbsial disgrace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
507:No one can speak well, unless he thoroughly understands his subject. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
508:No one sees what is before his feet: they scan the tracks of heaven. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
509:The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
510:To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
511:We should be careful that our benevolence does not exceed our means. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
512:Whatever befalls in accordance with nature should be accounted good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
513:Within the character of the citizen, lies the welfare of the nation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
514:I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
515:Inability to tell good from evil is the greatest worry of man's life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
516:In everything, without doubt, truth has the advantage over imitation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
517:I prefer the wisdom of the uneducated to the folly of the loquacious. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
518:Los humanos buscan respuestas constantemente.
Pero saben que no hay ninguna. ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
519:Men in no way approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
520:n the face of a true friend a man sees as it were a second self...... ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
521:Prosperity demands of us more prudence and moderation than adversity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
522:To err is human, but to persevere in error is only the act of a fool. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
523:What is there that is illustrious that is not also attended by labor? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
524:A sensual and intemperate youth hands over a worn-out body to old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
525:Because all the sick do not recover, therefore medicine is not an art. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
526:El que no esta con Roma, sus leyes y sus libertades, está contra Roma. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
527:If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
528:Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
529:Let us drink for the replenishment of our strength, not for our sorrow ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
530:Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
531:The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
532:There is no duty more indispensible than that of returning a kindness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
533:There is sufficient reward in the mere consciousness of a good action. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
534:Vuelvo a la lectura.
Me encanta leer.
Es lo único que me mantiene a flote. ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
535:What fervent love of herself would Virtue excite if she could be seen! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
536:What society does to its children, so will its children do to society. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
537:Friendship is given us by nature, not to favor vice, but to aid virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
538:He who obeys with modesty appears worthy of being some day a commander. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
539:Honourable mention encourages science, and merit is fostered by praise. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
540:Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
541:No man should so act as to make a gain out of the ignorance of another. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
542:Salus populi suprema est lex [the good of the people is the chief law]. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
543:There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
544:Whatever is graceful is virtuous, and whatever is virtuous is graceful. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
545:What is impossible by the nature of things is not confirmed by any law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
546:Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can uncover falsehood. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
547:Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
548:If nature does not ratify law, then all the virtues may lose their sway. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
549:I have never yet known a poet who did not think himself super-excellent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
550:In all matters, before beginning, a diligent preparation should be made. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
551:In extraordinary events ignorance of their causes produces astonishment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
552:In prosperity let us most carefully avoid pride, disdain, and arrogance. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
553:La cultura no garantiza el buen juicio, el escepticismo ni la sabiduría. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
554:Let our friends perish, provided that our enemies fall at the same time. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
555:Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
556:Mental stains can not be removed by time, nor washed away by any waters. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
557:To give counsel, as well as to take it, is a feature of true friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
558:We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
559:Who can love the man he fears. or by who he thinks he is himself feared? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
560:Who does not know that the first law of historical writing is the truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
561:Inhumanity is harmful in every age. - Inhumanitas omni aetate molesta est ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
562:In the usual course of study I had come to a book of a certain Cicero. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
563:is no greater bane to friendship than adulation, fawning, and flattery.’ Cicero. ~ Kasey Michaels, #NFDB
564:Let us not go over the old ground but rather prepare for what is to come. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
565:The Founding Fathers were devotees of Cicero and Locke, of the Bible and Aristotle. ~ Ben Shapiro, #NFDB
566:The more peculiarly his own a man's character is, the better it fits him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
567:There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
568:We study history not to be clever in another time, but to be wise always. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
569:An army abroad is of little use unless there are prudent counsels at home. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
570:Fortune is not only blind herself, but blinds the people she has embraced. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
571:He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
572:He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty from it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
573:History illumes reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
574:If you would abolish covetousness, you must abolish its mother, profusion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
575:In a disturbed mind, as in a body in the same state, health can not exist. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
576:Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed (from friendship). ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
577:Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
578:Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
579:Rather leave the crime of the guilty unpunished than condemn the innocent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
580:The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
581:The consciousness of good intention is the greatest solace of misfortunes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
582:The first duty of man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
583:You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
584:As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the mind is eloquence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
585:Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
586:I do not understand what the man who is happy wants in order to be happier. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
587:Ignorance of impending evil is far better than a knowledge of its approach. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
588:In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
589:I would rather be wrong, by God, with Plato than be correct with those men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
590:Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
591:No well-informed person has declared a change of opinion to be inconstancy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
592:Omnium Rerum Principia Parva Sunt – 'The beginnings of all things are small ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
593:The cultivation of the mind is a kind of food supplied for the soul of man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
594:Though silence is not necessarily an admission, it is not a denial, either. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
595:We ought to regard amiability as the quality of woman, dignity that of man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
596:What is becoming is honest, and whatever is honest must always be becoming. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
597:Anyone who has got a book collection/library and a garden wants for nothing. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
598:Excessive liberty leads both nations and individuals into excessive slavery. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
599:For many wish not so much to be, as to seem to be, endowed with real virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
600:Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
601:In nothing do humans approach so nearly to the gods as doing good to others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
602:It is besides necessary that whoever is brave should be a man of great soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
603:It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
604:Please go on, make your threats. I don't like to submit to mere implication. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
605:The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
606:To teach is a necessity, to please is a sweetness, to persuade is a victory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
607:Fewer possess virtue, than those who wish us to believe that they possess it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
608:Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
609:In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
610:I wonder that a soothsayer doesn't laugh whenever he sees another soothsayer. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
611:No one could ever meet death for his country without the hope of immortality. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
612:No sensible man ever imputes inconsistency to another for changing his minds. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
613:So you see, old age is really not so bad. May you come to know the condition! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
614:The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intention. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
615:There is no opinion so stupid that it can't be expressed by some philosopher. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
616:Time puts an end to speculation in opinions, and confirms the laws of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
617:To be content with what we possess is the greatest and most secure of riches. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
618:A life of peace, purity and refinement leads to a calm and untroubled old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
619:He removes the greatest ornament of friendship who takes away from it respect. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
620:In the conduct of almost every affair slowness and procrastination are hateful ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
621:Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
622:that human life depends upon resources, good soil, and governments with just procedures. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
623:The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
624:The diseases of the mind are more and more destructive than those of the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
625:There has never been a poet or orator who thought another better than himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
626:Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
627:Action is the language of the body and should harmonize with the spirit within. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
628:Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
629:Guilt is present in the very hesitation, even though the deed be not committed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
630:Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
631:Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
632:Our span of life is brief, but is long enough for us to live well and honestly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
633:The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
634:The house should derive dignity from the master, not the master from the house. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
635:There is no praise in being upright, where no one can, or tries to corrupt you. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
636:A youth of sensuality and intemperance delivers over to old age a worn-out body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
637:Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
638:Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
639:Democritus maintains that there can be no great poet without a spite of madness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
640:El pasado es también el presente y el futuro. La nación que olvida está pérdida. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
641:Every evil in the bud is easily crushed: as it grows older, it becomes stronger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
642:Every man who returns into himself, will find there traces of the Divinity. ~ Cicero, “De Regibus. I. 22, #NFDB
643:For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
644:Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. —CICERO ~ Crystal Paine, #NFDB
645:Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
646:I know not any season of life that is past more agreeably than virtuous old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
647:I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
648:Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
649:It is like taking the sun out of the world, to bereave human life of friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
650:Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
651:Men ought to be most annoyed by the sufferings which come from their own faults. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
652:Non nobis solum nati sumus.
(Not for ourselves alone are we born.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
653:No power is strong enough to be lasting, if it labours under the weight of fear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
654:The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
655:The purpose of education is to free the student from the tyranny of the present. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
656:Todos los hombres pueden caer en un error; pero sólo los necios perseveran en él ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
657:Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
658:War should be undertaken in such a way as to show that its only object is peace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
659:What gift has providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
660:Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
661:Hatreds not vowed and concealed are to be feared more than those openly declared. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
662:I like myself, but I won't say I'm as handsome as the bull that kidnapped Europa. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
663:In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
664:In the face of a true friend a man sees, as it were, a second self. —CICERO, De Amicitia I ~ Anne Fortier, #NFDB
665:In times of war, the law falls silent.
Silent enim leges inter arma ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
666:It is as hard for the good to suspect evil, as it is for the bad to suspect good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
667:It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
668:It shows a weak mind not to bear prosperity as well as adversity with moderation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
669:Long life is denied us; therefore let us do something to show that we have lived. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
670:The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
671:The judgment of posterity is truer, because it is free from envy and malevolence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
672:To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
673:Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
674:Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
675:He has no other recommendation, save an assumed and crafty solemnity of demeanour. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
676:In a promise, what you thought, and not what you said, is always to be considered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
677:It shows a brave and resolute spirit not to be agitated in exciting circumstances. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
678:Knowledge which is divorced from justice may be called cunning rather than wisdom. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
679:No poet or orator has ever existed who believed there was any better than himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
680:The Intellect engages us in the pursuit of Truth. The Passions impel us to Action. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
681:The life of the dead consists in the recollection cherished of them by the living. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
682:An intemperate, disorderly youth will bring to old age, a feeble and worn-out body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
683:If we lose affection and kindliness from our life: we lose all that gives it charm. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
684:It is a shameful thing to be weary of inquiry when what we search for is excellent. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
685:It is difficult to set bounds to the price unless you first set bounds to the wish. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
686:Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
687:Not only is there an art in knowing a thing, but also a certain art in teaching it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
688:Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to continue always a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
689:The home is the empire! There is no peace more delightful than one's own fireplace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
690:The more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
691:Things sacred should not only be touched with the hands, but unviolated in thought. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
692:"What greater gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth?" ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
693:Men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow creatures. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
694:No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
695:Of all nature's gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
696:The mansion should not be graced by its master, the master should grace the mansion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
697:To disregard what the world thinks of us is not only arrogant but utterly shameless. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
698:will not tremble,” Cicero wrote in the first century BC, “however much it is tortured. ~ Daniel Todd Gilbert, #NFDB
699:A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
700:All action is of the mind and the mirror of the mind is the face, its index the eyes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
701:An old man with something of the youth in him, may feel young in mind and heart only. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
702:Cicero’s eloquence, even if only half understood, still informs the language of modern politics. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
703:Everything that thou reprovest in another, thou must most carefully avoid in thyself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
704:Exercise and temperance can preserve something of our early strength even in old age. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
705:Friendship was given by nature to be an assistant to virtue, not a companion in vice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
706:from Cicero: “To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child always. ~ John Lukacs, #NFDB
707:He is sometimes slave who should be master; and sometimes master who should be slave. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
708:I hear Socrates saying that the best seasoning for food is hunger; for drink, thirst. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
709:In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
710:It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
711:Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor's] laurel yield to the [orator's] tongue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
712:Nature has granted the use of life like a loan, without fixing any day for repayment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
713:No deceit is so veiled as that which lies concealed behind the semblance of courtesy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
714:Persistence in a single view has never been regarded as a merit in political leaders. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
715:The divinity who rules within us, forbids us to leave this world without his command. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
716:Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
717:What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
718:Wohl niemand tanzt, wenn er nüchtern ist, er müsste denn den Verstand verloren haben. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
719:As a philosopher, I have a right to ask for a rational explanation of religious faith. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
720:As I continued through Cicero's pages, I found much more material celebrating my way of life. ~ Charlie Munger, #NFDB
721:Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
722:Cicero says—[Tusc., i. 31.]—"that to study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one's self to die. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
723:Freedom will bite back more fiercely when suspended than when she remains undisturbed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
724:I am pleased to be praised by a man so praised as you, father. [Words used by Hector.] ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
725:I cease not to advocate peace; even though unjust it is better than the most just war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
726:In omni disciplina informa est artis praeceptio sine summa assiduitate exercitationis. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
727:It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
728:Nature has lent us life at interest, like money, and has fixed no day for its payment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
729:No one has lived a short life who has performed its duties with unblemished character. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
730:Pleasure blinds (so to speak) the eyes of the mind, and has no fellowship with virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
731:Quacks pretend to cure other men's disorders, but fail to find a remedy for their own. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
732:The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
733:What one has, one ought to use; and whatever he does, he should do with all his might. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
734:Crimes are not to be measured by the issue of events, but by the bad intentions of men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
735:Eloquence which does not startle I don’t consider eloquence.” CICERO, LETTER TO BRUTUS, 48 B.C. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
736:Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
737:Men, in whatever anxiety they may be, if they are men, sometimes indulge in relaxation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
738:The foolishness of old age does not characterize all who are old, but only the foolish. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
739:The most desirable thing in life after health and modest means is leisure with dignity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
740:We are all excited by the love of praise, and the noblest are most influenced by glory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
741:En un mot, nos mains tâchent de faire dans la nature, pour ainsi dire, une autre nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
742:Every one is least known to himself, and it is very difficult for a man to know himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
743:He cannot be strict in judging, who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
744:Justice extorts no reward, no kind of price; she is sought, therefore, for her own sake. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
745:The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
746:Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
747:We are born for justice, and . . . what is just is based, not on opinion, but on nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
748:We cannot employ the mind to advantage when we are filled with excessive food and drink. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
749:We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
750:When money is unreasonably coveted, it is a disease of the mind which is called avarice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
751:A perverse temper and fretful disposition will make any state of life whatsoever unhappy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
752:A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all the other virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
753:Authority is not required to supply reasons for their behavior, because hierarchy trumps procedure. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
754:For my own part, I had rather be old only a short time than be old before I really am so. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
755:Great is the power, great is the authority of a senate that is unanimous in its opinions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
756:In honorable dealing you should consider what you intended, not what you said or thought. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
757:Nihil est quod deus efficere non possit. ~ There is nothing which God cannot do. ~ Cicero, De Divinatione, II. 41, #NFDB
758:There is no being of any race who, if he finds the proper guide, cannot attain to virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
759:A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
760:En política sólo puedes estar seguro de una cosa, de que jamás puedes estar seguro de nada ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
761:Every man should bear his own grievances rather than detract from the comforts of another. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
762:Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
763:He who hangs on the errors of the ignorant multitude, must not be counted among great men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
764:Physicians, when the cause of disease is discovered, consider that the cure is discovered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
765:The hours pass and the days and the months and the years, and the past time never returns. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
766:There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
767:Thus in the beginning the world was so made that certain signs come before certain events. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
768:When we can draw from ourselves all our felicity, we find nothing vexatious to us in the order of Nature. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
769:Apollo, sacred guard of earth's true core, Whence first came frenzied, wild prophetic word. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
770:A war is never undertaken by the ideal state, except in defense of its honor or its safety. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
771:Die Menschen kommen durch nichts den Göttern näher, als wenn sie Menschen glücklich machen. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
772:For he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a copy of himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
773:It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
774:It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
775:It is not the place that maketh the person, but the person that maketh the place honorable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
776:Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
777:The brief arc of our days,
O Sestius,
prevents us from launching
prolonged hopes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
778:The leaders should all relate to this principle: the governed must be as happy as possible. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
779:The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
780:To know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
781:What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
782:You must therefore love me, myself, and not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
783:Cuanto más depravado se vuelve un pueblo, más se indigna públicamente contra la inmoralidad. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
784:É impossível não ser felicíssimo quem em tudo depende apenas de si e em si mesmo tudo apóia. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
785:Even the ablest pilots are willing to receive advice from passengers in tempestuous weather. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
786:For he (Cato) gives his opinion as if he were in Plato's Republic, not in Romulus' cesspool. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
787:For the whole life of a philosopher is, as the same philosopher says, a meditation on death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
788:For to me every sort of peace with the citizens seemed to be of more service than civil war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
789:Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
790:It is foolish to pluck out one's hair for sorrow, as if grief could be assuaged by baldness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
791:It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
792:It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
793:Victories in the field count for little if the right decisions are not taken at home (45) - Cicero ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
794:A person who is wise does nothing against their will, nothing with sighing or under coercion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
795:Apollo, sacred guard of earth's true core, Whence first came frenzied, wild prophetic word... ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
796:El cariño es muy traicionero. La justicia tiene sus exigencias, pero el cariño pugna por ella ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
797:Hatreds not voiced, but which are concealed, is to be feared more than those openly declared. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
798:If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
799:I remember the very thing that I do not wish to; I cannot forget the things I wish to forget. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
800:That folly of old age which is called dotage is peculiar to silly old men, not to age itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
801:The avarice of the old: it's absurd to increase one's luggage as one nears the journey's end. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
802:For one day spent well, and agreeably to your precepts, is preferable to an eternity of error. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
803:Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
804:Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant, and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
805:It was fear that was then making you a good citizen, which is never a lasting teacher of duty. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
806:Nothing is so great an adversary to those who make it their business to please as expectation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
807:The spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can be pointed out by your finger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
808:A mental stain can neither be blotted out by the passage of time nor washed away by any waters. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
809:Anyone may fairly seek his own advantage, but no one has a right to do so at another's expense. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
810:No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
811:Study carefully, the character of the one you recommend, lest their misconduct bring you shame. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
812:we know that he read a considerable amount of philosophy, including Bacon, Hobbes, Montaigne, and Cicero. ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
813:I look upon the pleasure we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
814:It is difficult to tell how much men's minds are conciliated by a kind manner and gentle speech. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
815:There is in superstition a senseless fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of Him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
816:There is no more sure tie between friends than when they are united in their objects and wishes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
817:To wonder at nothing when it happens, to consider nothing impossible before it has come to pass. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
818:Wars are to be undertaken in order that it may be possible to live in peace without molestation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
819:Angosciarsi profondamente per le proprie disgrazie non è proprio di chi ama l'amico ma se stesso. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
820:Can any one find in what condition his body will be, I do not say a year hence, but this evening? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
821:I have no interest in dying.
But I have to. I have to care one day about things that don't matter to me. ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
822:Let war be so carried on that no other object may seem to be sought but the acquisition of peace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
823:There is wickedness in the intention of wickedness, even though it be not perpetrated in the act. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
824:This is a proof of a well-trained mind, to rejoice in what is good and to grieve at the opposite. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
825:Ut conclave sine libris ita corpus sine anima" A room without books is like a body without a soul ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
826:A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
827:Let arms give place to the robe, and the laurel of the warriors yield to the tongue of the orator. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
828:Not to have knowledge of what happened before you were born is to be condemned to live as a child. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
829:The proof of a well-trained mind is that it rejoices in which is good and grieves at the opposite. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
830:We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends, have a share in us. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
831:Were Cicero alive in the America of today he would be aghast and appalled. He would find it so familiar. ~ Taylor Caldwell, #NFDB
832:Whatever that be which thinks, understands, wills, and acts, it is something celestial and divine. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
833:He who acknowledges a kindness has it still, and he who has a grateful sense of it has requited it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
834:If the soul has food for study and learning, nothing is more delightful than an old age of leisure. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
835:I will adhere to the counsels of good men, although misfortune and death should be the consequence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
836:Plato divinely calls pleasure the bait of evil, inasmuch as men are caught by it as fish by a hook. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
837:We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
838:But I must at the very beginning lay down this principle—friendship can only exist between good men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
839:Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
840:So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
841:Without your knowledge, the eyes and ears of many will see and watch you, as they have done already. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
842:It has seemed to be more necessary to have regard to the weight of words rather than to their number. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
843:It is not only arrogant, but it is profligate, for a man to disregard the world's opinion of himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
844:Lucretius and Cicero testify to the view that people dream about the things that concern them in waking life. ~ Sigmund Freud, #NFDB
845:Most happy is he who is entirely self-reliant, and who centers all his requirements in himself alone. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
846:Nor am I ashamed, as some are, to confess my ignorance of those matters with which I am unacquainted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
847:The chief recommendation is modesty, then dutiful conduct toward parents, then affection for kindred. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
848:The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
849:A hatred not shown and which remains concealed, is to be feared more than that which is openly voiced. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
850:Are we looking for the absolute truth or the absolute feeling? Or the answer that best suits our personal needs? ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
851:As in the case of wines that improve with age, the oldest friendships ought to be the most delightful. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
852:But in every matter the consensus of opinion among all nations is to be regarded as the law of nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
853:Friendship makes prosperity brighter, while it lightens adversity by sharing its griefs and anxieties. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
854:In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
855:No power on earth, if it labours beneath the burden of fear, can possibly be strong enough to survive. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
856:The foundations of justice are that on one shall suffer wrong; then, that the public good be promoted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
857:To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
858:Deos placatos pictas efficiet et sanctitas. - Piety and holiness of life will propitiate the gods. ~ Cicero, De Officiis. II. 3, #NFDB
859:For even if the allotted space of life be short, it is long enough in which to live honorably and well. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
860:The injuries that befall us unexpectedly are less severe than those which are deliberately anticipated. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
861:When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
862:I am of the opinion which you have always held, that "viva voce" voting at elections is the best method. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
863:If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
864:I follow nature as the surest guide, and resign myself with implicit obedience to her sacred ordinances. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
865:The rabble estimate few things according to their real value, most things according to their prejudices. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
866:A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
867:Every generous action loves the public view; yet no theatre for virtue is equal to a consciousness of it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
868:Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
869:Friendship is the only point in human affairs concerning the benefit of which all, with one voice, agree. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
870:Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself; you will never err if you listen to your own suggestions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
871:the man to open his ears widest to flatterers is he who first flatters himself and is fondest of himself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
872:The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
873:To live without having a Cicero and a Tacitus at hand seems to me as if it was aprivation of one of my limbs. ~ John Quincy Adams, #NFDB
874:Cicero said ‘So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.’ ~ Alan Russell, #NFDB
875:For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
876:Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
877:It is the character of a brave and resolute man not to be ruffled by adversity and not to desert his post. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
878:Orators are most vehement when they have the weakest cause, as men get on horseback when they cannot walk. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
879:When time and need require, we should resist with all our might, and prefer death to slavery and disgrace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
880:Any man may make a mistake; none but a fool will stick to it. Second thoughts are best as the proverb says. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
881:Instead let Virtue herself, by her own unaided allurements, summon you to a glory that is genuine and real. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
882:The recovery of freedom is so splendid a thing that we must not shun even death when seeking to recover it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
883:There is nothing better fitted to delight the reader than change of circumstances and varieties of fortune. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
884:The spirit is the true self. The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
885:ait enim declinare atomum sine causa; quo nihil turpius physico, quam fieri quicquam sine causa dicere, — et ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
886:Cicero once said of Cato, ‘he talks as if he were in the Republic of Plato, when in fact he is in the crap of Romulus’. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
887:If a man aspires to the highest place, it is no dishonor to him to halt at the second, or even at the third. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
888:Promises are not to be kept, if the keeping of them is to prove harmful to those to whom you have made them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
889:There is nothing more shocking than to see assertion and approval dashing ahead of cognition and perception. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
890:Enmities which are unspoken and hidden are more to be feared than those which are outspoken and open.’ —CICERO. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
891:In friendship we find nothing false or insincere; everything is straight forward, and springs from the heart. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
892:Law is the highest reason implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
893:No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor temperate, who considers pleasure the highest god. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
894:No tempest or conflagration, however great, is harder to quell than mob carried away by the novelty of power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
895:The good life is impossible without a good state; and there is no greater blessing than a well-ordered state. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
896:There are no snares more dangerous than those which lurk under the guise of duty or the name of relationship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
897:It is a common saying that many pecks of salt must be eaten before the duties of friendship can be discharged. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
898:It is the stain and disgrace of the age to envy virtue, and to be anxious to crush the very flower of dignity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
899:Money, endless money, is the sinews of war,” wrote Cicero in his Philippics (43 BC). Not only money, but credit, too. ~ Michael Hudson, #NFDB
900:No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor temperate, who considers pleasure the highest good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
901:Death is dreadful to the man whose all is extinguished with his life; but not to him whose glory never can die. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
902:He who has once deviated from the truth, usually commits perjury with as little scruple as he would tell a lie. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
903:It is the soul itself which sees and hears, and not those parts which are, as it were, but windows to the soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
904:Nature has circumscribed the field of life within small dimensions, but has left the field of glory unmeasured. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
905:All pain is either severe or slight, if slight, it is easily endured; if severe, it will without doubt be brief. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
906:Everyone cleaves to the doctrine he has happened upon, as to a rock against which he has been thrown by tempest. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
907:Men may construe things, after their fashion / Clean them from the purpose of the things themselves
-Cicero ~ William Shakespeare,#NFDB
908:More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
909:The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
910:What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
911:For nothing is more commendable, nothing more becoming in a preeminently great man than courtesy and forbearance. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
912:It is a great proof of talents to be able to recall the mind from the senses, and to separate thought from habit. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
913:It is of no avail to know what is about to happen; for it is a sad thing to be grieved when grief can do no good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
914:It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
915:La conducta privada de un hombre no puede ser separada de su conducta pública; son dos caras de una misma moneda. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
916:O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
917:Let—not—your—heart—be—troubled. In—my —Father's—house—are—many—mansions. I—go—to—prepare—a—place—for—you." Cicero, ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, #NFDB
918:Odiosa razza di uomini, quella che rinfaccia i favori, che dovrebbe ricordare chi li ha ricevuti, non chi li fece. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
919:The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
920:Una nación puede sobrevivir a sus locos y hasta a sus ambiciosos, pero no puede sobrevivir a la traición intestina ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
921:Virtue is increased by the smile of approval; and the love of renown is the greatest incentive to honourable acts. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
922:What is the true law? It is a right reason invariable, eternal, in conformity with Nature, -which is extended in all human being. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
923:It is certain that memory contains not only philosophy, but all the arts and all that appertain to the use of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
924:My precept to all who build, is, that the owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
925:And, to his credit, he was a true defender of the republican virtues of debate, compromise, and consensus; a man like Cicero ~ Steven Saylor, #NFDB
926:Aristoteles quidem ait: 'Omnes ingeniosos melancholicos esse.' Aristotle says that all men of genius are melancholy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
927:Can there be greater foolishness than the respect you pay to people collectively when you despise them individually? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
928:If only every man would make proper use of his strength and do his utmost, he need never regret his limited ability. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
929:By Hercules! I prefer to err with Plato, whom I know how much you value, than to be right in the company of such men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
930:Friendship is not to be sought for its wages, but because its revenue consists entirely in the love which it implies. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
931:I didn’t write this to make you feel guilty or embarrass you
the only weapon i have is silence
i don’t hate you ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
932:nothing cruel is in fact beneficial; for cruelty is extremely hostile to the nature of man, which we ought to follow. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
933:Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
934:Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? In heaven's name,Catiline, how long will you abuse ourpatience? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
935:The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
936:The name of peace is sweet and the thing itself good, but between peace and slavery there is the greatest difference. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
937:He stops to look at a garbage can. He realizes the garbage can will never be his friend and cannot help him. So he wanders away. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
938:It is virtue itself that produces and sustains friendship, not without virtue can friendship by any possibility exist. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
939:Nature ordains that a man should wish the good of every man, whoever he may be, for this very reason that he is a man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
940:Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more, than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
941:That is probable which for the most part usually comes to pass, or which is a part of the ordinary beliefs of mankind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
942:Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
943:Were floods of tears to be unloosed In tribute to my grief, The doves of Noah ne'er had roost Nor found an olive-leaf. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
944:Friendship is nothing else than an accord in all things, human and divine, conjoined with mutual goodwill and affection. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
945:I have always been of the opinion that unpopularity earned by doing what is right is not unpopularity at all, but glory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
946:Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
947:Cicero's words also increased my personal satisfaction by supporting my long-standing rejection of a conventional point of view. ~ Charlie Munger, #NFDB
948:Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
949:Cuando lo hombres renuncian voluntariamente a su libertad po su seguridad, pronto pierden incluso esa degradada seguridad ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
950:Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
951:The authors who affect contempt for a name in the world put their names to the books which they invite the world to read. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
952:They are eloquent who can speak low things acutely, and of great things with dignity, and of moderate things with temper. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
953:Vicious habits are so odious and degrading that they transform the individual who practices them into an incarnate demon. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
954:It is disgraceful when the passers-by exclaim, "O ancient house! alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy former one. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
955:I will go further, and assert that nature without culture can often do more to deserve praise than culture without nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
956:Everything is indefinite, misty, and transient; only virtue is clear, and it cannot be destroyed by any force. —MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
957:It is virtue, virtue, which both creates and preserves friendship. On it depends harmony of interest, permanence, fidelity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
958:Old age, especially an honored old age, has so great authority, that this is of more value than all the pleasures of youth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
959:Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
960:Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
961:There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
962:This is our special duty, that if anyone specially needs our help, we should give him such help to the utmost of our power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
963:atque illi artifices corporis simulacra ignotis nota faciebant; quae uel si nulla, nihilo sint tamen obscuriores clari uiri. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
964:The wise man knows nothing if he cannot benefit from his wisdom. Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but also to be utilized. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
965:This is our special duty, that if anyone specially needs our help, we should give him such help to the utmost of our power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
966:For what people have always sought is equality before the law. For rights that were not open to all alike would be no rights. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
967:Hmm... That's like telling you about the cold of space, or terror of midnight. Sithis is all those things. He is... the Void. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
968:If a man cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of any feeling at all. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
969:Nothing is more praiseworthy, nothing more suited to a great and illustrious man than placability and a merciful disposition. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
970:For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
971:He is an eloquent man who can treat humble subjects with delicacy, lofty things impressively, and moderate things temperately. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
972:Of all the rewards of virtue, . . . the most splendid is fame, for it is fame alone that can offer us the memory of posterity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
973:The well-known old remark of Cato, who used to wonder how two soothsayers could look one another in the face without laughing. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
974:Cicero once wrote that to be completely free one must become a slave to a set of laws. In other words, accepting limitations is liberating. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
975:He [William Harvey] bid me to goe to the Fountain-head, and read Aristotle, Cicero, Avicenna, and did call the Neoteriques shitt-breeches. ~ John Aubrey, #NFDB
976:That which is usually called dotage is not the weak point of all old men, but only of such as are distinguished by their levity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
977:The habit of arguing in support of atheism, whether it be done from conviction or in pretense, is a wicked and impious practice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
978:The swan is not without cause dedicated to Apollo, because foreseeing his happiness in death, he dies with singing and pleasure. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
979:According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
980:Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
981:Nothing is so swift as calumny, nothing is more easily propagated, nothing more readily credited, nothing more widely circulated. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
982:Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
983:True glory strikes root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fall as do flowers, nor can any feigned thing be lasting. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
984:Does it make me a better person to read Cicero in the original? Cicero, for god’s sake? The Alan Dershowitz of the Roman Republic? ~ Robert Charles Wilson, #NFDB
985:In men of the highest character and noblest genius there is to be found an insatiable desire for honor, command, power, and glory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
986:The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
987:True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
988:What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
989:As the scale of the balance must give way to the weight that presses it down, so the mind must of necessity yield to demonstration. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
990:Days when I came to flower serenely
in Lycée gardens long ago,
and read my Apuleius keenly,
but spared no glance for Cicero. ~ Alexander Pushkin,#NFDB
991:I cheerfully quit from life as if it were an inn, not a home; for Nature has given us a hostelry in which to sojourn, not to abide. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
992:The first bond of society is the marriage tie; the next our children; then the whole family of our house, and all things in common. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
993:If the Aeneid is language as metaphor, as the sacramental ritualizing of human experience, Cicero’s speeches are language as practical tool. ~ Thomas Cahill, #NFDB
994:History is truely the witness of times past, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
995:How do our philosophers act? Do they not inscribe their signatures to the very essays they write on the propriety of despising glory. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
996:If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
997:Nemo enim est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere.
(No one is so old as to think that he cannot live one more year.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
998:Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
999:Doctrina est ingenii naturale quoddam pabulum. - Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind. ~ Cicero, Adapted from Acad. Quaest., 4. 41, and De Sen. 14., #NFDB
1000:Here is a man whose life and actions the world has already condemned - yet whose enormous fortune...has already brought him acquittal! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1001:In so far as the mind is stronger than the body, so are the ills contracted by the mind more severe than those contracted by the body. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1002:It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1003:There is no one who can give you wiser advice than you can give yourself: you will never make a slip, if you listen to your own heart. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1004:The sword must yield to the toga, Cicero had told the Roman Senate, and the friars in the Philippines thought a cassock was as good as a toga. But ~ Jos Rizal, #NFDB
1005:But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobedience? And surely... punishment? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1006:Learning maketh young men temperate, is the comfort of old age, standing for wealth with poverty, and serving as an ornament to riches. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1007:Quamquam scripsit artem rhetorieam Cleanthes, Chrysippus etiam, sed sic, ut si quis obmutescere concupierit, nihil aliud legere debeat. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1008:That, Senators, is what a favour from gangs amounts to. They refrain from murdering someone; then they boast that they have spared him! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1009:They who dare to ask anything of a friend, by their very request seem to imply that they would do anything for the sake of that friend. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1010:This excessive licence, which the anarchists think is the only true freedom, provides the stock, as it were, from which a tyrant grows. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1011:We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1012:Nature loves nothing solitary, and always reaches out to something, as a support, which ever in the sincerest friend is most delightful. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1013:No sensible man (among the many things that have been written on this kind) ever imputed inconsistency to another for changing his mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1014:For what is there more hideous than avarice, more brutal than lust, more contemptible than cowardice, more base than stupidity and folly? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1015:In our amusements a certain limit is to be placed that we may not devote ourselves to a life of pleasure and thence fall into immorality. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1016:Nulla (enim) res tantum ad dicendum proficit, quantum scriptio Nothing so much assists learning as writing down what we wish to remember. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1017:If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1018:It is more important to have greatly extended the frontiers of the Roman spirit than the frontiers of the Roman empire. [Speaking of Cicero] ~ Gaius Julius Caesar, #NFDB
1019:It is not a virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue, when we are led to the performance of duty by pleasure as its recompense. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1020:The precept, "Know yourself," was not solely intended to obviate the pride of mankind; but likewise that we might understand our own worth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1021:Exile is terrible to those who have, as it were, a circumscribed habitation; but not to those who look upon the whole globe but as one city. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1022:If our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1023:An acute first-class brain is the finest asset anyone can have- and, if we want to be happy, it is an asset we must exploit to the uttermost. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1024:Cicero once wrote that to be completely free one must become a slave to a set of laws. In other words, accepting limitations is liberating. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
1025:He was so sad he didn't even know it. He was convinced if he could just make meaning, he would have meaning. Not knowing meaning came from the outside. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1026:The man who commands efficiently must have obeyed others in the past, and the man who obeys dutifully is worthy of someday being a commander. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1027:To be endowed with strength by nature, to be actuated by the powers of the mind, and to have a certain spirit almost divine infused into you. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1028:You might as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life: for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1029:The contemplation of celestial things will make a man both speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when he descends to human affairs. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1030:When a person screams in pain, the actual pain is only half the noise they make. The other half is the terror at being forced to accept that they exist. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1031:Every stage of human life, except the last, is marked out by certain and defined limits; old age alone has no precise and determinate boundary. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1032:Nor do I regret that I have lived, since I have so lived that I think I was not born in vain, and I quit life as if it were an inn, not a home. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1033:That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1034:The administration of government, like a guardianship ought to be directed to the good of those who confer, not of those who receive the trust. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1035:The magistrates are the ministers for the laws, the judges their interpreters, the rest of us are servants of the law, that we all may be free. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1036:There are two ways to resolve conflicts, through violence or through negotiation. Violence is for wild beasts, negotiation is for human beings. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1037:The people, as Cicero says, may be ignorant, but they can recognize the truth and will readily yield when some trustworthy man explains it to them. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
1038:Who doesn't know that the first law of history is not to dare to say anything false, and the second is not to refrain from saying anything true? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1039:Cicero once wrote that to be completely free one must become a slave to a set of laws. In other words, accepting limitations is liberating. For ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
1040:nemo enim umquam est oratorem, quod Latine loqueretur, admiratus; si est aliter, inrident neque eum oratorem tantum modo, sed hominem non putant. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1041:Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1042:It is generally said, "Past labors are pleasant," Euripides says, for you all know the Greek verse, "The recollection of past labors is pleasant." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1043:What Cicero said of men-that they are like wines, age souring the bad, and bettering the good-we can say of misfortune, that it has the same effect upon them. ~ Jean Paul, #NFDB
1044:Advice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey's end. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1045:The nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in one's home port after a long voyage. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1046:For a courageous man cannot die dishonorably, a man who has attained the consulship cannot die before his time, a philosopher cannot die wretchedly. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1047:I am much beholden to old age, which has increased my eagerness for conversation in proportion as it has lessened my appetites of hunger and thirst. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1048:Not to be avaricious is money; not to be fond of buying is a revenue; but to be content with our own is the greatest and most certain wealth of all. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1049:Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill. - Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1050:Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1051:The Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer & Ovid, of Plato & Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible ~ William Blake, #NFDB
1052:Friendship embraces innumerable ends; turn where you will it is ever at your side; no barrier shuts it out; it is never untimely and never in the way. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1053:In all great arts, as in trees, it is the height that charms us; we care nothing for the roots or trunks, yet it could not be without the aid of these. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1054:Istoria ştiinţei este ca o ştafetă. Copernic a preluat steagul de la Aristarh, de la Cicero, de la Plutarh; şi Galileo a preluar steagul de la Copernicus. ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
1055:The devil finds work for idle hands to do. Better to reign in the hell than serve in heaven. We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1056:Thus nature has no love for solitude, and always leans, as it were, on some support; and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1057:How great an evil do you see that may have been announced by you against the Republic? - Videtis quantum scelus contra rem publicam vobis nuntiatum sit? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1058:The happiest end of life is this: when the mind and the other senses being unimpaired, the same nature which put it together takes asunder her own work. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1059:The mind becomes accustomed to things by the habitual sight of them, and neither wonders nor inquires about the reasons for things it sees all the time. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1060:But as Cicero had long tried to convince him, a speech is a performance, not a philosophical discourse: it must appeal to the emotions more than to the intellect ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1061:for in history there is nothing more pleasing than clear and brilliant brevity.
(Latin:Nihil est enim in historia pura et illustri brevitate dulcius.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1062:If I err in belief that the souls of men are immortal, I gladly err, nor do I wish this error which gives me pleasure to be wrested from me while I live. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1063:Sed nescio quo modo nihil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosphorum. (There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1064:What he sees often, he does not wonder at, even if he does not know why it is. If something happens which he has not seen before, he thinks it a prodigy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1065:This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1066:Death approaches, which is always impending like the stone over Tantalus: then comes superstition with which he who is imbued can never have peace of mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1067:For just as some women are said to be handsome though without adornment, so this subtle manner of speech, though lacking in artificial graces, delights us. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1068:If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1069:There is no quality I would rather have, and be thought to have, than gratitude. For it is not only the greatest virtue, but is the mother of all the rest. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1070:I should kill myself. Things would be better if I did. For me anyway. I don’t know how it would affect global warming or penguins in Antarctica. But it might help me. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1071:Leisure consists in all those virtuous activities by which a man grows morally, intellectually, and spiritually. It is that which makes a life worth living. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1072:Let us impose upon our desires the yoke of submission to reason, let them be ever calm and never bring trouble into our souls; thence result wisdom, constancy, moderation. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1073:Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circumstances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1074:Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1075:Cicero argues that the source of justice, truth, virtue, etc.—in a word, morality—is natural law. It is permanent and supreme, unalterable by man or his institutions. ~ Mark R Levin, #NFDB
1076:Cicero himself appeared, hand in hand with Tullia, nodding good morning to everyone, greeting each by name (“the first rule in politics, Tiro: never forget a face”). ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1077:God's law is 'right reason.' When perfectly understood it is called 'wisdom.' When applied by government in regulating human relations it is called 'justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1078:The essence of Ciceronian philosophy is a sense of wonder at the interconnectedness of human beings to one another and to the universe that encompasses them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1079:For of all gainful professions, nothing is better, nothing more pleasing, nothing more delightful, nothing better becomes a well-bred man than # agriculture ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1080:What is so beneficial to the people as liberty, which we see not only to be greedily sought after by men, but also by beasts, and to be prepared in all things. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1081:I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
1082:Just when the gods had ceased to be, and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone. ~ Gustave Flaubert, #NFDB
1083:Neither can embellishments of language be found without arrangement and expression of thoughts, nor can thoughts be made to shine without the light of language. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1084:The celestial order and the beauty of the universe compel me to admit that there is some excellent and eternal Being, who deserves the respect and homage of men ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1085:The evil implanted in man by nature spreads so imperceptibly, when the habit of wrong-doing is unchecked, that he himself can set no limit to his shamelessness. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1086:Wat kan in de bezigheden der mensen van belang lijken voor een man die de eeuwigheid voor ogen houdt en zich bewust is van de uitgestrektheid van het universum? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1087:Another of Cicero's maxims was that if you must do something unpopular, you might as well do it wholeheartedly, for in politics there is no credit to be won by timidity. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1088:I have never counted as real possessions either treasures or palaces or the places which give us credit and put authority in our hands or the pleasures of which men are slaves. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1089:...the counsels of the Divine Mind had some glimpse of truth when they said that men are born in order to suffer the penalty for sins committed in a former life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1090:Should this my firm persuasion of the soul's immortality prove to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing delusion, and I will cherish it to my last breath. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1091:The illustrious and noble ought to place before them certain rules and regulations, not less for their hours of leisure and relaxation than for those of business. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1092:To reduce man to the duties of his own city, and to disengage him from duties to the members of other cities, is to break the universal society of the human race. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1093:Nothing is so difficult to believe that oratory cannot make it acceptable, nothing so rough and uncultured as not to gain brilliance and refinement from eloquence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1094:There is a wonderful line in one of Cicero’s letters to Atticus in which he describes moving into a property and says: I have put out my books and now my house has a soul. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1095:A man does not wonder at what he sees frequently, even though he be ignorant of the reason. If anything happens which he has not seen before, he calls it a prodigy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1096:A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1097:Cicero smiled at us. 'The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destory one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance. Especially tonight. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1098:If a man could mount to Heaven and survey the mighty universe, his admiration of its beauties would be much diminished unless he had someone to share in his pleasure. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1099:Socrates, indeed, when he was asked of what country he called himself, said, "Of the world"; for he considered himself an inhabitant and a citizen of the whole world. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1100:But most men, I know not why, love better to deceive themselves and fight obstinately for an opinion which is to their taste than to seek without obduracy the truth ~ Cicero, “Academy” II. 13, #NFDB
1101:Mine is the disaster, if disaster there be; and to be severely distressed at one's own misfortunes does not show that you love your friend, but that you love yourself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1102:One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1103:The men who administer public affairs must first of all see that everyone holds onto what is his, and that private men are never deprived of their goods by public men. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1104:For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1105:When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1106:I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1107:The gardener plants trees, not one berry of which he will ever see: and shall not a public man plant laws, institutions, government, in short, under the same conditions? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1108:What the object of senile avarice may be I cannot conceive. For can there be anything more absurd than to seek more journey money, the less there remains of the journey? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1109:He must protect the lives and interests of the people, appeal to his fellow citizens' patriotic interests, and, in general, set the welfare of the community above his own ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1110:We must be ever on the search for some persons whom we shall love and who will love us in return. If good will and affection are taken away, every joy is taken from life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1111:Do you remember that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, "How well he spoke" but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march. ~ Demosthenes, #NFDB
1112:Those who lack within themselves the means for living a blessed and happy life will find any age painful.
- How to grow old: ancient wisdom for the second half of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1113:History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquities. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1114:Roman lawyers were expressly forbidden to receive fees for their service, and it is often rightly said that what Cicero gained by pleading in high-profile cases was public prominence. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1115:There is nothing which wings its flight so swiftly as calumny, nothing is uttered with more ease; nothing is listened to with more readiness, nothing disbursed more widely. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1116:History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquities. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1117:While all other things are uncertain, evanescent, and ephemeral, virtue alone is fixed with deep roots; it can neither be overthrown by any violence or moved from its place. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1118:They who say that we should love our fellow-citizens but not foreigners, destroy the universal brotherhood of mankind, with which benevolence and justice would perish forever ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1119:Zoals de dwaasheid nooit tevreden is, zelfs niet als haar wensen worden vervuld, zo is de wijsheid steeds tevreden met wat voorhanden is, en heeft nooit onvrede met zichzelf. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1120:433.—The most certain sign of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy. ["Nemo alienae virtuti invidet qui satis confidet suae." —Cicero In Marc Ant.] ~ Fran ois de La Rochefoucauld, #NFDB
1121:Avoid taking a definite stand on great public issues either in the Senate or before the people. Bend your energies towards making friends of key men in all classes of voters. ~ Quintus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1122:Cicero, Hortensius, teaching that happiness is not found in physical pleasures of luxurious food, drink, and sex, but in a dedication of the mind to the discovery of truth. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1123:For most people bedtime was early, although Cicero admitted to writing speeches or books and reading papers at night (there was a Latin word for it, lucubrare—to work by lamplight). ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1124:They who say that we should love our fellow-citizens but not foreigners, destroy the universal brotherhood of mankind, with which benevolence and justice would perish forever. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1125:You must learn that it is not important for you to ask questions. Nobody needs for you to ask questions. Your job is to follow procedure. Following procedure does not require questions. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1126:History of science is a relay race, my painter friend. Copernicus took over his flag from Aristarchus, from Cicero, from Plutarch; and Galileo took that flag over from Copernicus. ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
1127:We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1128:primam esse historiae legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat, n quid veri non audeat" - "Historiju trebamo poznavati kako ne bi govorili neistinu
i kako imali hrabrosti za istinu ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1129:Such are a well regulated militia, composed of the freeholders, citizen and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve their property, as individuals, and their rights as freemen. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1130:What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1131:Scurrility has no object in view but incivility; if it is uttered from feelings of petulance, it is mere abuse; if it is spoken in a joking manner, it may be considered raillery. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1132:But if I am wrong in thinking the human soul immortal, I am glad to be wrong; nor will I allow the mistake which gives me so much pleasure to be wrested from me as long as I live. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1133:L'amicizia supera in questo la parentela: nella parentela l'affetto si può eliminare, nell'amicizia no; infatti, tolto l'affetto viene meno l'amicizia stessa, la parentela rimane. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1134:All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1135:Death darkens his eyes, and unplumes his wings, Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings: Live so, my Love, that when death shall come, Swan-like and sweet it may waft thee home. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1136:In ancient times music was the foundation of all the sciences. Education was begun with music with the persuasion that nothing could be expected of a man who was ignorant of music. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1137:People always thought if no one believed in God and we were nihilists then people would go around murdering each other. That didn't happen at all, we just bought a lot of things with credit. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1138:To give and receive advice - the former with freedom, and yet without bitterness, the latter with patience and without irritation - is peculiarly appropriate to geniune friendship. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1139:Either the future is subject to chance--in which case nobody, not even a god, can affect it one way or the other--or it is predestined, in which case foreknowledge cannot avert it. ~ Quintus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1140:If you possess a library and a garden, you have everything you need. (translation from the French) Si vous possedez une bibliotheque et un jardin, vous avez tout ce qu'il vous faut. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1141:Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1142:Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1143:Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1144:Hours and days and months and years go by; the past returns no more, and what is to be we cannot know; but whatever the time gives us in which we live, we should therefore be content. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1145:I know that it is likely that as worship of the gods declines, faith between men and all human society will disappear, as well as that most excellent of all virtues, which is justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1146:There is no power like oratory. Caesar controlled men by exciting their fears, Cicero by . . . swaying their passions. The influence of the one perished; that of the other continues to this day. ~ Henry Clay, #NFDB
1147:Años poderosos les gustan los sicofantes, los iguales les estaban agradecidos por su amabilidad y los inferiores no deseaban otra cosa que servir a personas mas nobles y excepcionales. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1148:I cannot find a faithful message-bearer," he wrote to his friend, the scholar Atticus. "How few are they who are able to carry a rather weighty letter without lightening it by reading. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1149:The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1150:It is a man's own dishonesty, his crimes, his wickedness, and boldness, that takes away from him soundness of mind; these are the furies, these the flames and firebrands, of the wicked. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1151:Res sacros non modo manibus attingi, sed ne cogitatione quidem violari fas fuit. - Things sacred should not only be untouched with the hands, but unviolated in thought. ~ Cicero, Orationes in Verrem. II. 4. 45, #NFDB
1152:Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1153:There is, I know not how, a certain presage, as it were, of a future existence; and this takes the deepest root, and is most discoverable, in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1154:It is not easy to distinguish between true and false affection, unless there occur one of those crises in which, as gold is tried by fire, so a faithful friendship may be tested by danger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1155:If we are forced, at every hour, to watch or listen to horrible events, this constant stream of ghastly impressions will deprive even the most delicate among us of all respect for humanity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1156:The guests filed out, the women turning toward the tablinum, the men moving into the study. Cicero told me to close the door. Immediately the pleasure drained from his face. “What’s all this about, ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1157:An innocent man, if accused, can be acquitted; a guilty man, unless accused, cannot be condemned. It is, however, more advantageous to absolve an innocent than not to prosecute a guilty man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1158:Nemo est qui tibi sapientius suadere possit te ipso: numquam labere, si te audies.
(Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself: if you heed yourself, you'll never go wrong.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1159:SPQR is still plastered over the city of Rome, on everything from manhole covers to rubbish bins. It can be traced back to the lifetime of Cicero, making it one of the most enduring acronyms in history. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1160:The life of the dead is placed on the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who was given love will always live on in another's heart. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1161:I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money. Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1162:Petrarch sometimes wrote letters to long-dead authors. He was also a dedicated hunter of classic manuscripts. Once, after discovering some previously unknown works of Cicero, he wrote Cicero the news. ~ David Markson, #NFDB
1163:Oh, how great is the power of truth! which of its own power can easily defend itself against all the ingenuity and cunning and wisdom of men, and against the treacherous plots of all the world. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1164:We can more easily avenge an injury than requite a kindness; on this account, because there is less difficulty in getting the better of the wicked than in making one's self equal with the good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1165:Justice looks for no prize and no price; it is sought for itself, and is at once the cause and meaning of all the virtues. . . . The worst kind of injustice is to look for profit from injustice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1166:That he who hath the loan of money has not repaid it, and he who has repaid has not the loan; but he who has acknowledged a kindness has it still, and he who has a feeling of it has requited it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1167:True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1168:In communities and individuals alike, excessive freedom topples over into excessive slavery. Extreme freedom produces a tyrant, along with the extremely harsh and evil slavery that goes with him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1169:Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. —Marcus Tullius Cicero ~ Tom Standage, #NFDB
1170:The beauty of the world and the orderly arrangement of everything celestial makes us confess that there is an excellent and eternal nature, which ought to be worshiped and admired by all mankind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1171:To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1172:Virtue is uniform, conformable to reason, and of unvarying consistency; nothing can be added to it that can make it more than virtue; nothing can be taken from it, and the name of virtue be left. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1173:I speak of that learning which wakes us acquainted with the boundless extent of nature, and the universe, and which even while we remain in this world, discovers to us both heaven, earth, and sea. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1174:After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
1175:Socrates was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and to place it in cities, and even to introduce it into homes and compel it to inquire about life and standards and goods and evils. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1176:The impulse which directs to right conduct, and deters from crime, is not only older than the ages of nations and cities, but coeval with that Divine Being who sees and rules both heaven and earth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1177:All the arts, which have a tendency to raise man in the scale of being, have a certain common band of union, and are connected, if I may be allowed to say so, by blood-relationship with one another. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1178:Softly! Softly! I want none but the judges to hear me. The Jews have already gotten me into a fine mess, as they have many other gentleman. I have no desire to furnish further grist for their mills. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1179:Cicero himself had large amounts of money invested in low-grade property and once joked, more out of superiority than embarrassment, that even the rats had packed up and left one of his crumbling rental blocks. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1180:I can't use logic concerning my feelings, my feelings demand musical notes, violins, guitar solos, the stomping of feet, poetic language, metaphors, poetic lines about birds or deserts or tree-crowded forests. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1181:Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1182:All I can do is to urge on you to regard friendship as the greatest thing in the world; for there is nothing which so fits in with our nature, or is so exactly what we want in prosperity or adversity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1183:Either the future is subject to chance--in which case nobody, not even a god, can affect it one way or the other--or it is predestined, in which case foreknowledge cannot avert it." --Quintus Tullius Cicero ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1184:That man is guilty of impertinence who considers not the circumstances of time, or engrosses the conversation, or makes himself the subject of his discourse, or pays no regard to the company he is in. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1185:As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1186:In fact the whole passion ordinarily termed love (and heaven help me if I can think of any other term to apply to it) is of such exceeding triviality that I see nothing that I think comparable with it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1187:This is the part of a great man, after he has maturely weighed all circumstances, to punish the guilty, to spare the many, and in every state of fortune not to depart from an upright, virtuous conduct. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1188:We should never so entirely avoid danger as to appear irresolute and cowardly; but, at the same time, we should avoid unnecessarily exposing ourselves to danger, than which nothing can be more foolish. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1189:Cicero had the men summarily executed, with not even a show trial. Triumphantly, he announced their deaths to the cheering crowd in a famous one-word euphemism: vixere, ‘they have lived’ – that is, ‘they’re dead’. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1190:Tall oaks grow from little acorns.Testing. This is the text of an item. Testing. Origin. Testing. Quoted. Testing. Source. The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1191:The budget should be balanced, the treasury refilled, public debt reduced, the arrogance of officialdom tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1192:The party at the bar was for an Internet literary journal that prints a hard copy version that was famous in the world of Internet literary journals that prints hard copy versions. What that means, I do not know. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1193:Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other doctor whatsoever, if but a man. ~ Thomas Hobbes, #NFDB
1194:It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in chains, it is an enormity to flog one, sheer murder to slay one: what, then, shall I say of crucifixion? It is impossible to find the word for such an abomination. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1195:it is by no means surprising that though we are first commended to Wisdom by the primary natural instincts, afterwards Wisdom itself becomes dearer to us than are the instincts from which we came to her. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1196:Princeton applicants had to know Virgil, Cicero's orations, and Latin grammar and also had to be 'so well acquainted with Greek as to render any part of the four Evangelists in that language into Latin or English. ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
1197:For as the law is set over the magistrate, even so are the magistrates set over the people. And therefore, it may be truly said, "that the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law is a silent magistrate. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1198:So commonplace was crucifixion in the Roman Empire that Cicero referred to it as “that plague.” Among the citizenry, the word “cross” (crux) became a popular and particularly vulgar taunt, akin to “go hang yourself. ~ Reza Aslan, #NFDB
1199:The Jews belong to a dark and repulsive force. One knows how numerous this clique is, how they stick together and what power they exercise through their unions. They are a nation of rascals and deceivers. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1200:Even while Jerusalem was standing and the Jews were at peace with us, the practice of their sacred rites was at variance with the glory of our empire, the dignity of our name, the customs of our ancestors. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1201:Nothing so cements and holds together all the parts of a society as faith or credit, which can never be kept up unless men are under some force or necessity of honestly paying what they owe to one another. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1202:Did not he, then, who, if he had died at that time, would have died in all his glory, owe all the great and terrible misfortunes into which he subsequently fell to the prolongation of his life at that time? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1203:Quod enim munus reipublicæ afferre majus, meliusve possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimus juventutem? - What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth? ~ Cicero, De Divinatione, II. 2., #NFDB
1204:Whichever side won, as Cicero again observed, the result was set to be much the same: slavery for Rome. What came to be seen as a war between liberty and one-man rule was really a war to choose between rival emperors. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1205:Cicero, in his treatise concerning the Nature of the Gods, having said that three Jupiters were enumerated by theologians, adds that the third was of Crete, the son of Saturn, and that his tomb is shown in that island. ~ Lactantius, #NFDB
1206:This seems to be advanced as the surest basis for our belief in the existence of gods, that there is no race so uncivilized, no one in the world so barbarous that his mind has no inkling of a belief in gods. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1207:Writers of literature, if they are real writers, know that their readers are confused about reality and the emotions derived from that reality and are looking for clarity concerning the life that they are engulfed in. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1208:For old age is respected only if it defends itself, maintains its rights, submits to no one, and rules over its domain until its last breath.
-- How to grow old: ancient wisdom for the second half of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1209:Some people will say that memory fades away as the years pass. Of course it does if you don't exercise it or aren't very bright to begin with.
-- How to grow old: ancient wisdom for the second half of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1210:To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history? Cicero, Orator, 46 BC ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1211:There is a difference between justice and consideration in one's relations to one's fellow men. It is the function of justice not to do wrong to one's fellow men of considerateness, not to wound their feelings. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1212:To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history? —Cicero, Orator, 46 BC ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1213:Quid? Quod eadem mente res dissimillimas comprehendimus, ut colorem saporem, calorem, odorem, sonum? Quae numquam quinque nuntiis animus cognosceret, nisi ad eum omnia referrentur et is omnium iudex solus esset. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1214:What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself? Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1215:Elephanto beluarum nulla prudentior: at figura quae vastior? De bestiis loquor: quid, inter ipsos homines nonne et simillimis formis dispares mores et moribus simillimis figura dissimilis? (1.97 De Natura Deorum) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1216:As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1217:There is also a tradition about Socrates. He liked walking, it is recorded, until a late hour of the evening, and when someone asked him why he did this he said he was trying to work up an appetite for his dinner. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1218:Cicero may even have convinced himself, whatever the evidence, that Catiline was a serious threat to the safety of Rome. That, as we know from many more recent examples, is how political paranoia and self-interest often work. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1219:For every man's nature is concealed with many folds of disguise, and covered as it were with various veils. His brows, his eyes, and very often his countenance, are deceitful, and his speech is most commonly a lie. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1220:Humans do not want to be better. A person may want to swim better or have a better smile. But they don't want humanity to swim better or have a better smile. It isn't even a question of “want,” they don't care. I don't care. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1221:When I notice how carefully arranged his hair is and when I watch him adjusting the parting with one finger, I cannot imagine that this man could conceive of such a wicked thing as to destroy the Roman constitution. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1222:When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's [children's] minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1223:A careful physician . . . before he attempts to administer a remedy to his patient, must investigate not only the malady of the man he wishes to cure, but also his habits when in health, and his physical constitution. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1224:Friendship is nothing else than entire fellow feeling as to all things human and divine with mutual good-will and affection; and I doubt whether anything better than this, wisdom alone excepted, has been given to man. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1225:Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body. For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself; the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which and be pointed out by your finger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1226:I do not now so much as wish to have the Strength of Youth again that I wish'd in Youth for the Strength of an Ox or Elephant. For it is our Business only to make the best Use we can of the Powers granted us by Nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1227:The first law for the historian is that he shall never dare utter an untruth. The second is that he shall suppress nothing that is true. Moreover, there shall be no suspicion of partiality in his writing, or of malice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1228:We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1229:for my own part I cannot cordially approve, I merely tolerate, a philosopher who talks of setting bounds to the desires. Is it possible for desire to be kept within bounds? It ought to be destroyed, uprooted altogether. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1230:with a mental equipment which allows me to tell the difference between hot and cold, I stand out in this community like a modern day Cicero. Dropped into any other city of the world, I'd rate as a possibly adequate night watchman. ~ Anita Loos, #NFDB
1231:Diligence which, as it avails in all things, is also of the utmost moment in pleading causes. Diligence is to be particularly cultivated by us; it is to be constantly exerted; it is capable of effecting almost everything. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1232:Mathematics is an obscure field, an abstruse science, complicated and exact; yet so many have attained perfection in it that we might conclude almost anyone who seriously applied himself would achieve a measure of success. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1233:Wars, therefore, are to be undertaken for this end, that we may live in peace, without being injured; but when we obtain the victory, we must preserve those enemies who behaved without cruelty or inhumanity during the war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1234:For as I like a man in whom there is something of the old, so I like a man in whom there is something of the young; and he who follows this maxim, in body will possibly be an old man but he will never be an old man in mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1235:When a government becomes powerful it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurer which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance, for votes with which to perpetuate itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1236:So it may well be believed that when I found him taking a complete holiday, with a vast supply of books at command, he had the air of indulging in a literary debauch, if the term may be applied to so honorable an occupation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1237:For hardly any man dances when sober, unless he is insane. Nor does he dance while alone, nor at a respectable and moderate party. Dancing is the final phase of a wild party with fancy decorations and a multitude of delights. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1238:In 58 BCE Cicero’s enemies argued that, whatever authority he had claimed under the senate’s prevention of terrorism decree, his executions of Catiline’s followers had flouted the fundamental right of any Roman citizen to a proper trial. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1239:Can you also, Lucullus, affirm that there is any power united with wisdom and prudence which has made, or, to use your own expression, manufactured man? What sort of a manufacture is that? Where is it exercised? when? why? how? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1240:I look upon the pleasure which we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life. . . It gives us a great insight into the contrivance and wisdom of Nature, and suggests innumerable subjects for meditation. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1241:...don't be snowed by a handsome guy at a bookstore who quotes Cicero and Proust. They are often not the real thing. As with many fleeting pleasures--travel in their company, enjoy them every so often, and then get on with your life. ~ Jennifer Kaufman, #NFDB
1242:No cries, no convulsions, nothing more than a face fixed in thought. The gods no longer existed, Christ didn’t exist yet, and there was, from Cicero to Marcus Aurelius, a unique moment in which man was alone. —GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, IN AN 1861 ~ Clive James, #NFDB
1243:Studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1244:Meek young men grow up in libraries believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote those books. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1245:The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said: ‘Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
1246:Nothing is more damaging to a state, nothing so contrary to justice and law, nothing less appropriate to a civilized community, than to force through a measure by violence where a country has a settled and established constitution. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1247:The great Roman statesman Cicero observed that, 'Not to know what happened before one was born is to be always a child.' In our ignorance of the values that form part of our history and heritage, we Americans have become perpetual children. ~ Ilana Mercer, #NFDB
1248:As a Roman philosopher, Cicero, said of him a few hundred years later, Socrates 'called philosophy down from the sky and established her in the towns and introduced her into homes and forced her to investigate life, ethics, good and evil. ~ Jostein Gaarder, #NFDB
1249:It is strong proof of men knowing things before birth, that when mere children they grasp innumerable facts with such speed as to show that they are not then taking them in for the first time, but are remembering and recalling them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1250:Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1251:O philosophy, life's guide! O searcher-out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1252:There is no doubt that a person who is called generous and open-handed has duty in mind, not gain. So likewise justice looks for no prize and no price; it is sought for itself, and is at once the cause and meaning of all the virtues. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1253:A nation can survive its fools, even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within....for the traitor appears not to be a traitor...he rots the soul of a nation...he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1254:Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1255:What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1256:When confronted by a hungry wolf, it is unwise to goad the beast, as Cato would have us do. But it is equally unwise to imagine the snarling animal a friend and offer your hand, as Pompey does." "Perhaps you would have us climb a tree! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1257:in Theo – quiet, efficient Theo – to get him through the morning. Trusting in luck to get him through the day. Trusting in the drinking at Cicero’s to get him through the night. Trusting in the unimportance of his posting to get him through life. ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
1258:Let art, then, imitate nature, find what she desires, and follow as she directs. For in invention nature is never last, education never first; rather the beginnings of things arise from natural talent, and ends are reached by discipline. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1259:Throw that dreary man Cicero out of the window, and request the divine Virgil (with the utmost love and respect) to take a seat along with his fellow-Augustans and the First Consul, until your pupils are ready to be ushered into the presence. ~ Dorothy L Sayers, #NFDB
1260:I found, for example, that Cicero was fond of repeating certain phrases, and these I learned to reduce to a line, or even a few dots--thus proving what most people already know, that politicians essentially say the same thing over and over again. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1261:It is a strong proof of men knowing most things before birth, that when mere children they grasp innumerable facts with such speed as to show that they are not then taking them in for the first time, but are remembering and recalling them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1262:They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1263:Speaking Latin properly is indeed to be held in the highest regard – not just because of its own merits, but in fact because it has been neglected by the masses. For it is not so much Noble to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1264:Trusting in Theo—quiet, efficient Theo—to get him through the morning. Trusting in luck to get him through the day. Trusting in the drinking at Cicero’s to get him through the night. Trusting in the unimportance of his posting to get him through life. ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
1265:Each part of life has its own pleasures. Each has its own abundant harvest, to be garnered in season. We may grow old in body, but we need never grow old in mind and spirit. No one is as old as to think he or she cannot live one more year. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1266:By all means press on . . . and bear in mind that you are not mortal, but only that body of yours. You are not the person presented by your physical appearance. A man's true self is his mind, not that form which can be pointed out by a finger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1267:Lay down this rule of friendship: neither ask nor consent to do what is wrong. The plea, 'for friendship's sake,' is a discreditable one, and should not be admitted for a moment. We should ask from friends and do for friends only what is good. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1268:It is necessary for a Senator to be thoroughly acquainted with the constitution; and this is a knowledge of the most extensive nature; a matter of science, of diligence, of reflection, without which no Senator can possibly be fit for his office. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1269:Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum. (Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.) ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1270:Once you have surrounded the entire place with the nets of your thought, at least if practical experience has sharpened your skill, nothing will escape you, and everything that is in the subject matter will run up to you and fall into your hands. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1271:The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquillity, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1272:Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the passions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquility and peace. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1273:Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1274:There is, I assure you, a medical art for the soul. It is philosophy, whose aid need not be sought, as in bodily diseases, from outside ourselves. We must endeavor with all our resources and all our strength to become capable of doctoring ourselves. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1275:My dear Scipio and Laelius. Men, of course, who have no resources in themselves for securing a good and happy life find every age burdensome. But those who look for all happiness from within can never think anything bad which Nature makes inevitable. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1276:There is a certain virtue in every good man, which night and day stirs up the mind with the stimulus of glory, and reminds it that all mention of our name will not cease at the same time with our lives, but that our fame will endure to all posterity. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1277:But as to the affection which anyone may have for us, it is the first demand of duty that we do most for him who loves us most; but we should measure affection, not like youngsters, by the ardour of its passion, but rather by its strength and constancy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1278:Who does not know history's first law to be that an author must not dare to tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must make bold to tell the whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his writings? Nor of malice? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1279:As you grow older, you start to realize that your parents have lives of their own, separate from you, but by that time your parents have formed the habit of keeping you out of their lives, and no matter how old you get they will never let you get to really know them. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1280:Contents: De finibus bonorum et malorum, Cicero. Notes: The famous section "-lorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit" begins at page 7, with the "do" of the initial "dolorem" cut to page 6. The last page has a single phrase, centered: "factum est". ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1281:The process, indeed, of nature is this: that just in the same manner as our birth was the beginning of things with us, so death will be the end; and as we were noways concerned with anything before we were born, so neither shall we be after we are dead. And ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1282:An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.’ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~ S J A Turney, #NFDB
1283:A guy is on the radio talking about the war.
Speculating.
Speculating.
Speculating.
He says in less than two hours, we shall fight to preserve freedom.
Freedom.
America wants to give another country freedom.
That doesn't sound that bad, or does it. ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
1284:Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1285:a flutter of wings rippling the fabric of the night. “Balastair!” chirps a voice. At first he thinks it’s Cicero, but it’s not, not at all—Cicero is still in the air, still chirping and screeching in alarm. “Erasmus,” Balastair says with a small smile. “I’ve missed you. ~ Chuck Wendig, #NFDB
1286:If anyone cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of feeling at all. From the enduring wonder of the heavens flows all grace and power. If anyone thinks it is mindless then he himself must be out of his mind. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1287:This usually happens in the white-collar classes: These people take to worshipping pointlessness. Examples are Twin Peaks, Christo's artwork, and academic liberal politics. But a strange thing happens; these people view their ultra pointlessness as a way of being like God. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1288:this usually happens in the white-collar classes: These people take to worshipping pointlessness. Examples are Twin Peaks, Christo's artwork, and academic liberal politics. But a strange thing happens; these people view their ultra pointlessness as a way of being like God. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1289:Vicious habits are so great a stain to human nature, and so odious in themselves, that every person actuated by right reason would avoid them, though he were sure they would be always concealed both from God and man, and had no future punishment entailed upon them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1290:Cicero said: "Not to have a mania for buying, is to possess a revenue." Many are carried away by the habit of bargain-buying. "Here's something wonderfully cheap; let's buy it." "Have you any use for it?" "No, not at present; but it is sure to come in useful, some time. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
1291:Cicero said that gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. If that’s true, then my happiness does not cause me to be grateful for what I have. My gratitude for what I have causes me to be happy. Gratitude births the virtue of happiness. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee, #NFDB
1292:These (literary) studies are the food of youth, and consolation of age; they adorn prosperity, and are the comfort and refuge of adversity; they are pleasant at home, and are no incumbrance abroad; they accompany us at night, in our travels, and in our rural retreats. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1293:Cuando un pueblo está decidido a ser esclavo y se halla degradado, es una locura tratar de animar de nuevo en él el espíritu de orgullo y honor, de libertad y amor a las leyes, pues abraza con entusiasmo sus cadenas con tal que lo alimenten sin ningún esfuerzo por su parte. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1294:As I give thought to the matter, I find four causes for the apparent misery of old age; first it withdraws us from active accomplishments; second, it renders the body less powerful; third, it deprives us of almost all forms of enjoyment; fourth, it stands not far from death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1295:As I give thought to the matter, I find four causes for the apparent misery of old age; first, it withdraws us from active accomplishments; second, it renders the body less powerful; third, it deprives us of almost all forms of enjoyment; fourth, it stands not far from death. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1296:True law is right reason in agreement with nature;...it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions... It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1297:Fieri autem potest ut recte quis sentiat et id, quod sentit, polite eloqui non possit; sed mandare quemquam litteris cogitationes suas, qui eas nec disponere nec illustrare possit nec delectatione aliqua adlicere lectorem, hominis est intemperanter abutentis et otio et litteris. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1298:Vices which are punished by our legal code had not prevented Diogenes from being a philosopher and a teacher. Caesar and Cicero were profligates and at the same time great men. Cato in his old age married a young girl, and yet he was regarded as a great ascetic and a pillar of morality. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
1299:The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret -- that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1300:These studies are a spur to the young, a delight to the old: an ornament in prosperity, a consoling refuge in adversity; they are pleasure for us at home, and no burden abroad; they stay up with us at night, they accompany us when we travel, they are with us in our country visits. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1301:Cicero had lived through terrible times and his fundamental aim was to make sure that they never returned. He stood for the rule of law and the maintenance of a constitution in which all social groups could play a part, but where the Senate took the lead according to ancestral tradition. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1302:I am of opinion that there is nothing so beautiful but that there is something still more beautiful, of which this is the mere image and expression,--a something which can neither be perceived by the eyes, the ears, nor any of the senses; we comprehend it merely in the imagination. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1303:Since an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1304:For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1305:Caesar instantly convened an assembly to elect one of his friends, Caius Caninius Rebilus, to the vacant post for just half a day. This prompted a flood of jokes from Cicero: Caninius was such an extraordinarily vigilant consul that ‘he never once went to sleep in his whole term of office’; ‘in ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1306:We want them to have appropriate conversations. They need to live appropriate lives. We are guarding against all inappropriate ideas and thoughts that may arise inside their criminal minds. They are reborn here, they are like little fetuses, and we must raise these fetuses. Everything is gone. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1307:I have been....moved to wonder whether my job is a job or a racket, whether economists, and particularly economic theorists, may not be in the position that Cicero, citing Cato, ascribed to the augurs of Rome-that they should cover their faces or burst into laugher when they met on the street. ~ Frank Knight, #NFDB
1308:It is graceful in a man to think and to speak with propriety, to act with deliberation, and in every occurrence of life to find out and persevere in the truth. On the other hand, to be imposed upon, to mistake, to falter, and to be deceived, is as ungraceful as to rave or to be insane. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1309:On the subject of the nature of the gods, the first question is Do the gods exist or do the not? It is difficult you may say to deny that they exist. I would agree if we were arguing the matter in a public assembly, but in a private discussion of this kind, it is perfectly easy to do so. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1310:Retras la ţară după moartea fiicei sale Tulia, Cicero, copleşit de mâhnire, îşi adresa lui însuşi scrisori de consolare. Ce păcat că nu au fost găsite şi, mai mult decât atât, ce păcat că această terapie nu a devenit curentă! E drept că, de-ar fi fost adoptată, religiile dădeau de mult faliment. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
1311:Though liberty is established by law, we must be vigilant, for liberty to enslave us is always present under that very liberty. Our Constitution speaks of the "general welfare of the people." Under that phrase all sorts of excesses can be employed by lusting tyrants to make us bondsmen. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1312:Civilized people are taught by logic, barbarians, by necessity, communities by tradition; and the lesson inculcated even in wild beasts by nature itself. They learn that they have to defend their own bodies and persons lives from violence of any and every kind by all means within their power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1313:Nevertheless, the movement of intelligence over western and southern Europe was as rapid in Caesar’s day as at any time before the railway. In 54 B.C.. Caesar’s letter from Britain reached Cicero at Rome in twenty-nine days; in 1834 Sir Robert Peel, hurrying from Rome to London, required thirty days.20 ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
1314:The anarchist is dressed all in black. In the dark you can only see his eyes. It dates from the 1930's. Porky Pig is a little boy. The children told me that he has a nephew now, Cicero. Do you remember, during the war, when Porky worked in a defense plant? He and Bugs Bunny. That was a good one too. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
1315:AS a rule Crassus did not bear grudges. This was not because he had a good heart but because other people rarely engaged his emotions. He had little difficulty in dropping friends or making up quarrels as occasion served. Cicero, whose view of friendship was different, had a very low opinion of him. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1316:Das also ist keine Freundschaft, dass, wenn der eine die Wahrheit nicht hören will, der andere zum Lügen bereit ist.
Laelius de amicitia (Über die Freundschaft) 98
(Original lat.: "Nulla est igitur haec amicitia, cum alter verum audire non vult, alter ad mentiendum paratus est.") ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1317:Periodic expulsions of foreigners became a recurring feature of the later Republic, and Cicero deplored the practice, saying, “It may not be right… for one who is not a citizen to exercise the rights and privileges of citizenship,” but actually expelling non-Romans was “contrary to the laws of humanity. ~ Mike Duncan, #NFDB
1318:Whatever is done without ostentation, and without the people being witnesses of it, is, in my opinion, most praiseworthy: not that the public eye should be entirely avoided, for good actions desire to be placed in the light; but notwithstanding this, the greatest theater for virtue is conscience. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1319:There is no treasure the which may be compared unto a faithful friend; Gold some decayeth, and worldly wealth consumeth, and wasteth in the winde; But love once planted in a perfect and pure minde indureth weale and woe; The frownes of fortune, come they never so unkinde, cannot the same overthrowe. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1320:If I am mistaken in my opinion that the human soul is immortal, I willingly err; nor would I have this pleasant error extorted from me; and if, as some minute philosophers suppose, death should deprive me of my being, I need not fear the raillery of those pretended philosophers when they are no more. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1321:Lucius Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem in causis quaerere solebat 'cui bono' fuisset. The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, 'To whose benefit? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1322:"I believe that no characteristic is so distinctively human as the sense of indebtedness we feel, not necessarily for a favor received, but even for the slightest evidence of kindness; and there is nothing so boorish, savage, inhuman as to appear to be overwhelmed by a favor, let alone unworthy of it." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1323:It is easy to distinguish between the joking that reflects good breeding and that which is coarse-the one, if aired at an apposite moment of mental relaxation, is becoming in the most serious of men, whereas the other is unworthy of any free person, if the content is indecent or the expression obscene. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1324:SPQR is still plastered over the city of Rome, on everything from manhole covers to rubbish bins. It can be traced back to the lifetime of Cicero, making it one of the most enduring acronyms in history. It has predictably prompted parody. ‘Sono Pazzi Questi Romani’ is an Italian favourite: ‘These Romans are mad’. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1325:The text of his speech, including some of the heckling that apparently even an emperor had to endure, was inscribed on bronze and put on display in the province, in what is now the city of Lyon, where it still survives. Claudius, it seems, did not get the chance that Cicero had to make adjustments for publication. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1326:Such a Jesus has no need of a church. Worship is at best a hollow service and at worst an act of blasphemy if it is directed toward a dead teacher of morality. We have no church for Socrates. We sing no hymns to Cicero. We say no prayers to Aristotle. If Jesus is a mere human teacher, neither should we worship Him. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1327:Here we are signing autographs for people who essentially know know how to write their name and are functionally literate. But if you cease to teach cursive writing, how does one know how to, I don’t know, replicate the Declaration of Independence? Or the orations of Cicero? Is it just going to be on the internet? ~ Peter Weller, #NFDB
1328:All men have a feeling, that they would rather you told them a civil lie than give them a point blank refusal.... If you make a promise, the thing is still uncertain, depends on a future day, and concerns but few people; but if you refuse you alienate people to a certainty and at once, and many people too. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1329:Lucius Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem in causis quaerere solebat 'cui bono' fuisset.
The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, 'To whose benefit? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1330:I am a very big fan of the nation, actually. In Cicero's time, there was this idea that although we were members of the whole world of human beings, we also needed to connect our imaginations to a smaller unit. The smaller unit was something we knew we could live or die for, as Cicero died for the Roman republic. ~ Martha C Nussbaum, #NFDB
1331:I conclude, then, that the plea of having acted in the interests of a friend is not a valid excuse for a wrong action. . . . We may then lay down this rule of friendship--neither ask nor consent to do what is wrong. For the plea "for friendship's sake" is a discreditable one, and not to be admitted for a moment. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1332:As Cicero said about the merits of friendship—but he could just as well have been talking about close relationships in general—it “improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” I would prefer that those who care about me greet my panic with calm and my gloom with good cheer. ~ Paul Bloom, #NFDB
1333:The Spartan statesman Lycurgus, seven hundred years ago, is said to have observed: When falls on man the anger of the gods, First from his mind they banish understanding. Such was to be the fate of Caesar. I am sure Cicero was correct: he had gone mad. His success had made him vain, and his vanity had devoured his reason. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1334:For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1335:Il y a encore de certains devoirs à remplir envers même de qui nous avons reçu une injure; car la vengeance et la punition ont aussi leurs bornes. Je ne sais même si repentir de celui qui a fait l'injure ne suffirait pas et pour l'empêcher d'en faire une semblable à l'avenir et pour retenir les autres dans le devoir. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1336:I would not have Drool reading Cicero or crafting clever riddles, but under my tutelage he had become more than fair at tumbling and juggling, could belch a song, and was, at court, at least as entertaining as a trained bear, with slightly less proclivity for eating the guests. With guidance, he would make a proper fool. ~ Christopher Moore, #NFDB
1337:[...] nello stesso modo pensiamo che si debba cercare l'amicizia, spinti non dal guadagno, ma perché ogni suo frutto è proprio nello stesso amore. [...] Se l'interesse, infatti, cementasse le amicizie, questo, cambiando, le distruggerebbe. Ma poiché la natura non può cambiare, per questo le vere amicizie sono eterne. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1338:I have taken so kindly to idleness that I can't tear myself away from it. So either I amuse myself with books, of which I have a good stock at Antium, or I count the waves - the weather is unsuitable for mackerel fishing... And my sole form of political activity is to hate the rascals, and even that I do without anger. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1339:Just as apples when unripe are torn from trees, but when ripe and mellow drop down, so it is violence that takes life from young men, ripeness from old. This ripeness is so delightful to me that, as I approach nearer to death, I seem, as it were, to be sighting land, and to be coming to port at last after a long voyage. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1340:Come now: Do we really think that the gods are everywhere called by the same names by which they are addressed by us? But the gods have as many names as there are languages among humans. For it is not with the gods as with you: you are Velleius wherever you go, but Vulcan is not Vulcan in Italy and in Africa and in Spain. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1341:The reader, knowing nothing about the ‘dark continent,’ filled in the blanks. Pictured Stone in a tent, kerosene lamp held up by a Hottentot providing the only light, elephants stampeding outside while the good doctor recited Cicero and excised part of himself as blithely as if he were cutting for stone on the body of another. ~ Abraham Verghese, #NFDB
1342:For out of such an ungoverned populace one is usually chosen as a leader, someone bold and unscrupulous who curries favor with the people by giving them other men's property. To such a man the protection of public office is given, and continually renewed. He emerges as a tyrant over the very people who raised him to power. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1343:being asked by Criton how he would be buried, “I have taken a great deal of pains,” saith he, “my friends, to no purpose, for I have not convinced our Criton that I shall fly from hence, and leave no part of me behind. Notwithstanding, Criton, if you can overtake me, wheresoever you get hold of me, bury me as you please: but ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1344:Just what is the civil law? What neither influence can affect, nor power break, nor money corrupt: were it to be suppressed or even merely ignored or inadequately observed, no one would feel safe about anything, whether his own possessions, the inheritance he expects from his father, or the bequests he makes to his children. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1345:We rejoice in the joys of our friends as much as we do our own, and we are equally grieved at their sorrows. Wherefore the wise people will feel toward their friends as they do toward themselves, and whatever labor they would encounter with a view to their own pleasure, they will encounter also for the sake of their friends. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1346:Meanwhile, Milo had been in the Senate on that day until it was dismissed and then came home. He changed out of his formal clothes, waited for a little while his wife got herself ready--you all know how that goes-- and set out at the hour when Clodius, if he had been planning on coming back to Rome that day, would have returned. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1347:People don't know the value of what they have until it is gone: Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.... Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude. Don't wait till freedom is gone before you enjoy, value, support, protect and make the most of it! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1348:For if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only, what can be more desirable? And if it, on the other hand, destroys and absolutely puts an end to us, what can be preferable to having a deep sleep fall on us in the midst of the fatigues of life and, being thus overtaken, to sleep to eternity? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1349:If some lose their whole fortunes, they will drag many more down with them . . . believe me that the whole system of credit and finance which is carried on here at Rome in the Forum, is inextricably bound up with the revenues of the Asiatic province. If Those revenues are destroyed, our whole system of credit will come down with a crash. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1350:In a discussion of this kind our interest should be centered not on the weight of the authority but on the weight of the argument. Indeed the authority of those who set out to teach is often an impediment to those who wish to learn. They cease to use their own judgment and regard as gospel whatever is put forward by their chosen teacher. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1351:Cicero often asked me to perform small services for Milo during that campaign. For example, I went back through our files and prepared lists of our old supporters for him to canvass. I also set up meetings between him and Cicero’s clients in the various tribal headquarters. I even took him bags of money that Cicero had raised from wealthy donors. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1352:I used to stand in front of the mirror in my bedroom. I shared a bedroom - like a lot of people in my era, in my neighborhood - with my two brothers and an uncle. And I'd stand there in front of the mirror over the dresser and I would practice: meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views of Cicero, Bacon and Baba. ~ Joe Biden, #NFDB
1353:There exist there immense numbers of unknown beings, among whom swarm types of the strangest, from the porter of la Rapée to the knacker of Montfaucon. Fex urbis, exclaims Cicero; mob, adds Burke, indignantly; rabble, multitude, populace. These are words and quickly uttered. But so be it. What does it matter? What is it to me if they do go barefoot! ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1354:There is a primary law, eternal, invariable, engraved in the heads of all; it is Right Reason. Never does it speak in vain to the virtuous man, whether it ordains or prohibits. The wicked alone are untouched by its voice. It is easy to be understood and is not different in one country and in another; it is today what it will be tomorrow and for all time. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1355:We must stand up against old age and make up for its drawbacks by taking pains. We must fight it as we should an illness. We must look after our health, use moderate exercise, take just enough food and drink to recruit, but not to overload, our strength. Nor is it the body alone that must be supported, but the intellect and soul much more. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1356:This, therefore, is a law not found in books, but written on the fleshly tablets of the heart, which we have not learned from man, received or read, but which we have caught up from Nature herself, sucked in and imbibed; the knowledge of which we were not taught, but for which we were made; we received it not by education, but by intuition. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1357:A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1358:Speak as educated nature suggests to you, and you will do well, but let it be educated and not raw, rude, uncultivated nature. Demosthenes took unbounded pains with his voice, and Cicero, who was naturally weak, made a long journey into Greece to correct his manner of speaking. With far nobler themes, let us not be less ambitious to excel. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1359:There is in fact a true law namely right reason, which is in accordance with nature, applies to all men and is unchangeable and eternal. ... It will not lay down one rule at Rome and another at Athens, nor will it be one rule today and another tomorrow. But there will be one law eternal and unchangeable binding all times and upon all peoples. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1360:Cicero reflects exactly that when he sums up Servius Tullius’ political objectives in approving tones: ‘He divided the people in this way to ensure that voting power was under the control not of the rabble but of the wealthy, and he saw to it that the greatest number did not have the greatest power – a principle that we should always stand by in politics. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1361:Nothing is so unpredictable as a throw of the dice, and yet every man who plays often will at some time or other make a Venus-cast: now and then he indeed will make it twice and even thrice in succession. Are we going to be so feebleminded then as to aver that such a thing happened by the personal intervention of Venus rather than by pure luck? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1362:Friendship, on the other hand, serves a great host of different purposes all at the same time. In whatever direction you turn, it still remains yours. No barrier can shut it out. It can never be untimely; it can never be in the way. We need friendship all the time, just as much as we need the proverbial prime necessities of life, fire and water. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1363:In his early twenties Cicero wrote the first two volumes of a work on “invention”—that is to say, the technique of finding ideas and arguments for a speech; in it he noted that the most important thing was “that we do not recklessly and presumptuously assume something to be true.” This resolute uncertainty was to be a permanent feature of his thought. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1364:the cross. I remember that Cicero referred to it as ‘an abominable punishment’ that inflicted terrible suffering on the crucified person before he or she died. And yet, nowadays people wear it around their neck, hang it on their bedroom wall, and have come to identify it as a religious symbol, forgetting that they are looking at an instrument of torture. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1365:What is the harm in returning to the point whence you came? He will live badly who does not know how to die well. So we must first strip off the value we set on this thing and reckon the breath of life as something cheap. To quote Cicero, we hate gladiators
if they are keen to save their life by any means; we favour them if they openly show contempt for it. ~ Seneca,#NFDB
1366:Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer. ~ If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him. ~ Voltaire, Epitre à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs, CXI. See Œuvres Complètes de Voltaire, Volume I, p. 1076. Ed. Didot, 1827. Also in letter to Frederick, Prince Royal of Prussia ~ cf. Cicero, Dii immortales ad usum hominum fabricati pene videantur., #NFDB
1367:Some men make a womanish complaint that it is a great misfortune to die before our time. I would ask what time? Is it that of Nature? But she, indeed, has lent us life, as we do a sum of money, only no certain day is fixed for payment. What reason then to complain if she demands it at pleasure, since it was on this condition that you received it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1368:When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a memory of what is past, and such a capacity of penetrating into the future: when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and such a multitude of discoveries hence arising,--I believe and am firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within itself cannot be mortal. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1369:The aim of a ship's captain is a successful voyage; a doctor's, health; a general's, victory. So the aim of our ideal statesman is the citizens' happy life--that is, a life secure in wealth, rich in resources, abundant in renown, and honorable in its moral character. That is the task which I wish him to accomplish--the greatest and best that any man can have. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1370:Cicero is dead! Cicero is born! The laughter has filled me, filled me so very completely. I am the laughter. I am the jester. The soul that has served as my constant companion for so long has breached the veil of the Void finally and forever. It is now in me. It is me. The world has seen the last of Cicero the man. Behold Cicero, Fool of Hearts - laughter incarnate! ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1371:Let each contemplate himself, not shut up in narrow walls, not cabined in a corner of the earth, but a citizen of the whole world. From the height of the sublime meditations which the spectacle of Nature and the knowledge of it will procure for him, how well will he know himself how he will disdain, how base he will find all the futilities to which the vulgar attach so high a price. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1372:That person then, whoever it may be,” Cicero wrote in Tusculan Disputations, “whose mind is quiet through consistency and self-control, who finds contentment in himself, who neither breaks down in adversity nor crumbles in fright, nor burns with any thirsty need nor dissolves into wild and futile excitement, that person is the wise one we are seeking, and that person is happy. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
1373:think the Princess should read the New Testament both night and morning, and also certain selected portions of the Old Testament. She must become fully conversant with the gospels. She should, I believe also study Plutarch's Enchiridion, Seneca's Maxims, and of course Plato and Cicero.” He glanced at his friend. “I suggest that Sir Thomas More's Utopia would provide good reading. ~ Jean Plaidy, #NFDB
1374:The titles of his books are recorded as follows: The Twelve Caesars; Royal Biographies; Lives of Famous Whores; Roman Manners and Customs; The Roman Year; Roman Festivals; Roman Dress; Greek Games; Offices of State; Cicero’s Republic; The Physical Defects of Mankind; Methods of Reckoning Time; An Essay on Nature; Greek Objurgations; Grammatical Problems; Critical Signs Used in Books. ~ Suetonius, #NFDB
1375:Personally, I am always very nervous when I begin to speak. Every time I make a speech I feel I am submitting to judgment, not only about my ability but my character and honor. I am afraid of seeing either to promise more than I can perform, which suggests complete irresponsibility, or to perform less than I can, which suggests bad faith and indifference' (Cicero in Everitt, 58). ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1376:Gözümü dikip baktım suratına. Suratı sıska ve dingindi; gri gözleri de donuk ve sakin. Hiçbir heyecan izi seçilmiyordu. Tavrında en ufak bir tedirginlik, öfke, sinir ya da küstahlık olsa, ya da şöyle söyleyeyim, olağan bir insanî ifade olsa, hiç durmaz yaka paça kovardım ofisimden. Ama bu durumda bunu yapmak, Paris işi alçıdan Cicero büstümü kapı dışarı etmek gibi bir şey olacaktı. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
1377:Philosophy is not confined to philosophers, thank God. Everyone has a philosophy. As Cicero famously said, you have no choice between having a philosophy and not having one, only between having a good one and having a bad one. And not to admit that you have a philosophy at all is to have a bad one. For it is one that does not know itself. So how could it know anything else, especially us? ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
1378:Economics is a political argument. It is not – and can never be – a science; there are no objective truths in economics that can be established independently of political, and frequently moral, judgements. Therefore, when faced with an economic argument, you must ask the age-old question ‘Cui bono?’ (Who benefits?), first made famous by the Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
1379:For other forms of relaxation are not so universally suited to all ages, times, and places; but these studies [of literature] sustain youth and entertain old age, they enhance prosperity, and offer a refuge and solace in adversity, they delight us when we are at home without hindering us in the wider world, and are with us at night, when we travel and when we visit the countryside. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1380:Annoyed that although outlawed in Rome, astrology was nevertheless alive and well, Cicero noted that at Cannae in 216 B.C., Hannibal, leading about 50,000 Carthaginian and allied troops, crushed the much larger Roman army, slaughtering more than 60,000 of its 80,000 soldiers. “Did all the Romans who fell at Cannae have the same horoscope?” Cicero asked. “Yet all had one and the same end. ~ Leonard Mlodinow, #NFDB
1381:As praetor, Cicero was expected to take in promising pupils from good families to study law with him, and in May, after the Senate recess, a new young intern of sixteen joined his chambers. This was Marcus Caelius Rufus from Interamnia, the son of a wealthy banker and prominent election official of the Velina tribe. Cicero agreed, largely as a political favor, to supervise the boy’s training ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1382:And so we drifted towards calamity. At times, Cicero was shrewd enough to see it. “Can a constitution devised centuries ago to replace a monarchy, and based upon a citizens’ militia, possibly hope to run an empire whose scope is beyond anything ever dreamed of by its framers? Or must the existence of standing armies and the influx of inconceivable wealth inevitably destroy our democratic system? ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1383:Since it's clear then that what sets itself in motion is eternal, who could fail to attribute such a nature to the soul. Anything set in motion by external impetus is inanimate; what is animate moves by its own interior impulse. This is the nature and power of soul. And because it is the one thing out of all that sets itself in motion, then surely it was never born and will last forever. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1384:History has always fascinated me. As Cicero himself once wrote: ‘To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?’ I quickly forgot the cold and could have spent all day happily unwinding that roll, poring over the events of more than sixty years before. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1385:Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1386:The best stuff that Cicero wrote, in the first century in Rome, were the Philippics, a series of speeches that he delivered against Marc Antony, whom he thought was irreparably dismantling the Republic of Rome. Those speeches are powerful because they're not only really pointed but they're thrillingly beautiful - and that's precisely what made them dangerous: the fact that people wanted to read them. ~ John D Agata, #NFDB
1387:The vanity extended most of all to his library, arguably the real love of Cicero's life. It is difficult to name anything in which he took more pleasure, aside possibly evasion of the sumptuary laws. Cicero liked to believe himself wealthy. He prided himself on his books. He needed no further reason to dislike Cleopatra: intelligent women who had better libraries than he did offended him on three counts. ~ Stacy Schiff, #NFDB
1388:A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1389:If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn't prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1390:One of these was Philo of Larisa, head of the Academy in Athens, founded by Plato three hundred years before. He inspired Cicero with a passion for philosophy, and in particular for the theories of Skepticism, which asserted that knowledge of the nature of things is in the nature of things unattainable. Such ideas were well judged to appeal to a student of rhetoric who had learned to argue all sides of a case. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1391:You know what's amusing?
How people in this so-called American Liberty Movement constantly forward ideas as if nobody had ever thought of them before.
If any of these fucktards had ever read Pliny, Cicero, Plutarch or Suetonius, they would know that nearly all political ideas were old news by the time of the Emperor Caligula.
The American educational system is officially shit as far as I can tell. ~ Sienna McQuillen,#NFDB
1392:Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1393:These Reform Schools, or Schools for Practical Life, as they were known were, in their turn, passionately opposed by those who supported a classical education and declared that newts could only come to approach the lofty cultural level of human beings on the basis of Latin, and that there was no point in teaching them to speak if they weren't also taught to recite poetry and perform oratory with the eloquence of Cicero. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
1394:Would I fortify myself against the fear of death, it must be at the expense of Seneca: would I extract consolation for myself or my friend, I must borrow it from Cicero. I might have found it in myself, had I been trained to make use of my own reason. I do not like this relative and mendicant understanding; for though we could become learned by other men's learning, a man can never be wise but by his own wisdom. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
1395:He inferred that persons desiring to train this faculty (of memory) must select places and form mental images of the things they wish to remember and store those images in the places, so that the order of the places will preserve the order of the things, and the images of the things will denote the things themselves, and we shall employ the places and the images respectively as a wax writing-tablet and the letters written upon it. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1396:O vitae Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus.
translation (non-literal):
O philosophy, life’s guide! O searcher of virtues and expeller of vices! Just a single day lived well and according to your lessons is to be preferred to an eternity of errors.
— Cicero, As quoted in Ben Franklin’s Autobiography ~ Benjamin Franklin,#NFDB
1397:Our Catholic church here split into three pieces: (1) the American Catholic Church whose new Rome is Cicero, Illinois; (2) the Dutch schismatics who believe in relevance but not God; (3) the Roman Catholic remnant, a tiny scattered flock with no place to go. The American Catholic Church, which emphasizes property rights and the integrity of neighborhoods, retained the Latin mass and plays The Star-Spangled Banner at the elevation. ~ Walker Percy, #NFDB
1398:Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.' ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1399:In this statement, my Scipio, I build on your own admirable definition, that there can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot and indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name and mask of the people. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1400:As Kraynak notes, “the Founders believed that freedom was based on moral order, not moral relativism.” They drew their natural law principles from John Locke, Cicero, and others, as well as from the strong natural law tradition in Christian thought. Thus, for Kraynak, “Without natural law—meaning an objective moral law put into nature and human nature by the Creator—the ideal of republican liberty lacks an ultimate foundation.”13 The ~ Charles J Chaput, #NFDB
1401:Other relaxations are peculiar to certain times, places and stages of life, but the study of letters is the nourishment of our youth, and the joy of our old age. They throw an additional splendor on prosperity, and are the resource and consolation of adversity; they delight at home, and are no embarrassment abroad; in short, they are company to us at night, our fellow travelers on a journey, and attendants in our rural recesses. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1402:But if you should take the bond of goodwill out of the universe no house or city could stand, nor would even the tillage of the fields abide. If that statement is not clear, then you may understand how great is the power of friendship and of concord from a consideration of the results of enmity and disagreement. For what house is so strong, or what state so enduring that it cannot be utterly overthrown by animosities and division? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1403:That idea of the state as a ship and its ruler as the helmsman or captain is a very old one in European culture. It is frequently used by Cicero, and indeed our word ‘governor’ comes from the Latin for ‘helmsman’ – gubernator. Even more enticingly, the root of gubernator is the Greek kubernetes, which is also the origin of our word ‘cybernetics’; so the notions of ruling, steering and robotics all coincide in our language – and in this galleon. ~ Neil MacGregor, #NFDB
1404:The barbarians, who possessed no books, no secular knowledge, no education, except in the schools of the clergy, and who had scarcely acquired the rudiments of religious instruction, turned with childlike attachment to men whose minds were stored with the knowledge of Scripture, of Cicero, of St. Augustine; and in the scanty world of their ideas, the Church was felt to be something infinitely vaster, stronger, holier than their newly founded States. ~ Lord Acton, #NFDB
1405:He may steal," says Plato, "who knows how to do it." Oaths are frequent in the writings of Plato and Seneca. Anstippus taught that a wise man had a right to commit adultery. Aristotle vindicated the awful crimes of foeticide and infanticide. Even suicide was defended by Cicero and Seneca as the mark of a hero, and Demosthenes, Cato, Brutus and Cassius carried the means of self-destruction about them, that they might not fall alive into the hands of their enemies. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1406:In 1951, thousands of whites in Cicero, 20 minutes or so west of downtown Chicago, attacked an apartment building that housed a single black family, throwing bricks and firebombs through the windows and setting the apartment on fire. A Cook County grand jury declined to charge the rioters—and instead indicted the family’s NAACP attorney, the apartment’s white owner, and the owner’s attorney and rental agent, charging them with conspiring to lower property values. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1407:They were sitting in their nice apartments or dorm rooms reading the latest Haruki Murakami story while I was sitting in a shitty little ramshackle house reading a used copy of Erskine Caldwell's God's Little Acre. They weren't bad people. They all did volunteer work, voted Democrat and believed in the goodness of humanity. I voted Democrat, needed Habitat for Humanity to come to my house and knew from personal experience the shittiness of humanity because I was shitty myself. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1408: APORIA (APO'RIA) n.s.[ a figure in rhetorick, by which the speaker shews, that he doubts where to begin for the multitude of matter, or what to say in some strange and ambiguous thing; and doth, as it were, argue the case with himself. Thus Cicero says, Whether he took them from his fellows more impudently, gave them to a harlot more lasciviously, removed them from the Roman people more wickedly, or altered them more presumptuously, I cannot well declare.Smith’sRhetorick. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1409:How can life be worth living, to use the words of Ennius, which lacks that repose which is to be found in the mutual good-will of a friend? What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself? Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? On the other hand, misfortunes would be hard to bear if there were not some one to feel them even more acutely than yourself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1410:The being of God is so comfortable, so convenient, so necessary to the felicity of Mankind, that, (as Tully admirably says) Dii immortales ad usum hominum fabricati pene videantur, if God were not a necessary being of himself, he might almost seem to be made on purpose for the use and benefit of men. ~ Archbishop Tillotson, Works, Sermon 93, Volume I, (1712 edition), p. 696; this is the probable origin of Voltaire's phrase. ~ Cicero's phrase from De legibus in fact references "gods" in the plural, #NFDB
1411:...if Clinton's answers come off as well-intended lectures, Obama is offering soaring sermons and generational opportunity. In 1960, the articulate Adlai Stevenson compared his own oratory unfavorably with John F. Kennedy's. "Do you remember," Stevenson said, "that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, 'How well he spoke,' but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said, 'Let us march.' " At this hour, Obama is the Democrats' Demosthenes. ~ E J Dionne Jr, #NFDB
1412:Thou knowest how numerous this tribe is, how united and how powerful in the assemblies. I will plead in a low voice so that only the judges may hear, for instigators are not lacking to stir up the crowd against me, and against all the best citizens. To scorn, in the interest of the Republic, this multitude of Jews so often turbulent in the assemblies shows a singular strength of mind. The money is in the Treasury; they do not accuse us of theft; they seek to stir up hatreds. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1413:Of course, Cato did not fall into this category. But his inability to compromise made him as fatal to his cause, Cicero believed, as the moral dereliction of the others did. “As for our dear friend Cato,” he observed to Atticus while the land bill was being debated, “I have as warm a regard for him as you do. The fact remains that with all his patriotism, he can be a political liability. He speaks in the Senate as if he were living in Plato’s Republic instead of Romulus’s cesspool. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1414:By these pleasures it is permitted to relax the mind with play, in turmoils of the mind, or when our labors are light, or in great tension, or as a method of passing the time. A reliable witness is Cicero, when he says (De Oratore, 2): 'men who are accustomed to hard daily toil, when by reason of the weather they are kept from their work, betake themselves to playing with a ball, or with knucklebones or with dice, or they may also contrive for themselves some new game at their leisure.' ~ Gerolamo Cardano, #NFDB
1415:Of this last kind of comparisons is that quoted from the elder Cato, who, when asked what was the most profitable thing to be done on an estate, replied, “To feed cattle well.” “What second best?” “To feed cattle moderately well.” “What third best?” “To feed cattle, though but poorly.” “What fourth best?” “To plough the land.” And when he who had made these inquiries asked, “What is to be said of making profit by usury?” Cato replied, “What is to be said of making profit by murder? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1416:The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1417:There exists a law, not written down anywhere but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1418:. . . for until that God who rules all the region of the sky . . . has freed you from the fetters of your body, you cannot gain admission here. Men were created with the understanding that they were to look after that sphere called Earth, which you see in the middle of the temple. Minds have been given to them out of the eternal fires you call fixed stars and planets, those spherical solids which, quickened with divine minds, journey through their circuits and orbits with amazing speed. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1419:Si sancisca, dunque, come prima legge dell'amicizia, questa: chiediamo agli amici cose oneste, facciamo cose oneste a causa degli amici, non aspettiamo neppure di essere pregati; ci sia sempre prontezza e non ci sia, invece, esitazione; ma abbiamo il coraggio di dare liberamente il nostro consiglio. Abbia moltissimo peso, nell'amicizia, l'autorità degli amici che ci spingono al bene e questa usata per ammonire non solo apertamente, ma anche aspramente se sarà il caso, e si obbedisca ad essa. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1420:.All souls have within them something soft, cowardly, vile, nerveless, languishing, and if there were only that element in man, there would be nothing so ugly as the human being. But at the same time there is in him, very much to the purpose, this mistress, this absolute queen, Reason, who by the effort she has it in herself to make, becomes perfect and becomes the supreme virtue. One must, to be truly a human being, give it full authority over that other part of the soul whose duty it is to obey the reason. ~ Cicero, #NFDB
1421:The following passage is one of those cited by Copernicus himself in his preface to De Revolutionibus: "The Syracusan Hicetas, as Theophrastus asserts, holds the view that the heaven, sun, moon, stars, and in short all of the things on high are stationary, and that nothing in the world is in motion except the earth, which by revolving and twisting round its axis with extreme velocity produces all the same results as would be produced if the earth were stationary and the heaven in motion. . . ." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1422:Neglecting your health can prevent you from serving people, and too much attention to your body and its health can bring the same results. In order to find the middle way, you should take care of your body only to the extent that doing so helps you to serve others, and does not stop you from serving them. No illness can prevent a person from what he has to do. If you cannot work, then give your love to people. Illnesses of the mind are much more dangerous than illnesses of the body. —MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1423:At first I thought I would never recover from Cicero’s death. But time wipes out everything, even grief. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that grief is almost entirely a question of perspective. For the first few years I used to sigh and think, ‘Well, he would still be in his sixties now,’ and then a decade later, with surprise, ‘My goodness, he would be seventy-five,’ but nowadays I think, ‘Well, he would be long since dead in any case, so what does it matter how he died in comparison with how he lived? ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1424:Gaston Boissier, who wrote in the mid-nineteenth century what is still one of the most charming and witty books on Cicero, observed: He always belonged to the best party [i.e., the optimates] … only he made it a rule not to serve his party; he was contented with giving it his good wishes. But these good wishes were the warmest imaginable.… His reserve only began when it was necessary to act.… The more we think about it, the less we can imagine the reasons he could give [his friends] to justify his conduct. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1425:For while we are enclosed in these confinements of the body, we perform as a kind of duty the heavy task of necessity; for the soul from heaven has been cast down from its dwelling on high and sunk, as it were, into the earth, a place just the opposite to godlike nature and eternity. But I believe that the immortal gods have sown souls in human bodies so there might exist beings to guard the world and after contemplating the order of heaven, might imitate it by their moderation and steadfastness in life. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1426:Let us assume that entertainment is the sole end of reading; even so I think you would hold that no mental employment is so broadening to the sympathies or so enlightening to the understanding. Other pursuits belong not to all times, all ages, all conditions; but this gives stimulus to our youth and diversion to our old age; this adds a charm to success, and offers a haven of consolation to failure. Through the night-watches, on all our journeyings, and in our hours of ease, it is our unfailing companion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1427:The best Armour of Old Age is a well spent life preceding it; a Life employed in the Pursuit of useful Knowledge, in honourable Actions and the Practice of Virtue; in which he who labours to improve himself from his Youth, will in Age reap the happiest Fruits of them; not only because these never leave a Man, not even in the extremest Old Age; but because a Conscience bearing Witness that our Life was well-spent, together with the Remembrance of past good Actions, yields an unspeakable Comfort to the Soul ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1428:Many weeks of street fighting ensued. In his defense of Sestius against charges of violence in 56, Cicero described in graphic terms the effects of this gang warfare: “The Tiber was full of citizens’ corpses, the public sewers were choked with them and the blood that streamed from the Forum had to be mopped up with sponges.” To begin with, the cure was worse than the disease and public business once more came to a standstill. However, by the summer Clodius, while by no means defeated, was at least being contained. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1429:Cicero was the first who had any suspicions of his designs upon the government, and, as a good pilot is apprehensive of a storm when the sea is most smiling, saw the designing temper of the man through this disguise of good-humor and affability, and said, that in general, in all he did and undertook, he detected the ambition for absolute power, “but when I see his hair so carefully arranged, and observe him adjusting it with one finger, I cannot imagine it should enter into such a man’s thoughts to subvert the Roman state. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
1430:If 'The Wild One' were filmed today, Marlon Brando and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club would all have to wear helmets. I used to be afraid that when (Hells) Angels became movie stars and Cal the hero of the book, the bikerider would perish on the coffee tables of America. But now I think that this attention doesn't have the strength of reality of the people it aspires to know, and that as long as Harley-Davidsons are manufactured other bikeriders will appear, riding unknown and beautiful through Chicago, into the streets of Cicero. ~ Danny Lyon, #NFDB
1431:He inferred that persons desiring to train this faculty (of memory) must select places and form mental images of the things they wish to remember and store those images in the places, so that the order of the places will preserve the order of the things, and the images of the things will denote the things themselves, and we shall employ the places and the images respectively as a wax writing-tablet and the letters written upon it.[8] ~ Cicero, De oratore, II, lxxxvi, 351-4, English translation by E.W. Sutton and H. Rackham from Loeb Classics Edition, #NFDB
1432:O vitæ philosophia dux! O virtutis indagatrix, expultrixque vitiorum! Quid non modo nos, sed omnino vita hominum sine et esse potuisset? Tu urbes peperisti; tu dissipatos homines in societatum vitæ convocasti. O philosophy, life’s guide! O searcher-out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life. ~ Cicero, Tusc. Quæst, Book V. 2. 5. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 596-97., #NFDB
1433:Nothing in oratory is more important than to win for the orator the favour of his hearer, and to have the latter so affected as to be swayed by something resembling an impulse of the spirit impetu quodam animi or emotion perturbatione, rather than by judgment or deliberation. For men decide far more problems by hate, or love, or lust, or rage, or sorrow, or joy, or hope, or fear, or illusion, or some other inward emotion aliqua permotione mentis, than by reality or authority, or any legal standard, or judicial precedent or statute. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1434:Cicero gave an account of a party attended by a certain Quintus Gallius, a friend of Catilina, which evokes the raffish atmosphere of his circle. There are shouts and screams, screeching females, there is deafening music. I thought I could make out some people entering and others leaving, some of them staggering from the effects of the wine, some of them still yawning from yesterday’s boozing. Among them was Gallius, perfumed and wreathed with flowers; the floor was filthy, soiled with wine and covered with withered garlands and fish bones. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1435:Now in regard to trades and other means of livelihood, which ones are to be considered becoming to a gentleman and which ones are vulgar, we have been taught, in general, as follows. First, those means of livelihood are rejected as undesirable which incur people's ill-will, as those of tax-gatherers and usurers. Unbecoming to a gentleman, too, and vulgar are the means of livelihood of all hired workmen whom we pay for mere manual labour, not for artistic skill; for in their case the very wage they receive is a pledge of their slavery. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1436:The melancholy of the antique world seems to me more profound than that of the moderns, all of whom more or less imply that beyond the dark void lies immortality. But for the ancients that ‘black hole’ is infinity itself; their dreams loom and vanish against a background of immutable ebony. No crying out, no convulsions—nothing but the fixity of the pensive gaze.
With the gods gone, and Christ not yet come, there was a unique moment, from Cicero to Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone. Nowhere else do I find that particular grandeur. ~ Gustave Flaubert,#NFDB
1437:Though, even if there were no such great advantage to be reaped from it, and if it were only pleasure that is sought from these studies, still I imagine you would consider it a most reasonable and liberal employment of the mind: for other occupations are not suited to every time, nor to every age or place; but these studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1438:the partisans, on one side were the backers of Caesar, with his popular political programme and clear leanings towards one-man rule. Cicero assumed that this was where the sympathies and interests of the poor naturally lay. On the other side were a motley group of those who, for various reasons, did not like what Caesar was up to or the powers he seemed to be seeking. A few were probably as highly principled as they were unrealistic; as Cicero once said of Cato, ‘he talks as if he were in the Republic of Plato, when in fact he is in the crap of Romulus’. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1439:There is nothing so charming as the knowledge of literature; of that branch of literature, I mean, which enables us to discover the infinity of things, the immensity of Nature, the heavens, the earth, and the seas; this is that branch which has taught us religion, moderation, magnanimity, and that has rescued the soul from obscurity; to make her see all things above and below, first and last, and between both; it is this that furnishes us wherewith to live well and happily, and guides us to pass our lives without displeasure and without offence. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1440:Enjoy the blessing of strength while you have it and do not bewail it when it is gone, unless, forsooth, you believe that youth must lament the loss of infancy, or early manhood the passing of youth. Life's race-course is fixed; Nature has only a single path and that path is run but once, and to each stage of existence has been allotted its own appropriate quality; so that the weakness of childhood, the impetuosity of youth, the seriousness of middle life, the maturity of old age.. each bears some of Nature's fruit, which must be garnered in its own season. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1441:Bolt and bar the shutter,
For the foul winds blow:
Our minds are at their best this night,
And I seem to know
That everything outside us is
Mad as the mist and snow.
Horace there by Homer stands,
Plato stands below,
And here is Tully's open page.
How many years ago
Were you and I unlettered lads
Mad as the mist and snow?
You ask what makes me sigh, old friend,
What makes me shudder so?
I shudder and I sigh to think
That even Cicero
And many-minded Homer were
Mad as the mist and snow.
~ William Butler Yeats, Mad As The Mist And Snow
,#NFDB
1442:A conservative recognizes a hierarchy of concerns: I owe my children, my neighbors, and my co-religionists much more than I owe anyone in Iraq or anywhere else. Cicero, like so many figures in our classical past, held that “the union and fellowship of men will be best preserved if each receives from us the more kindness in proportion as he is more closely connected with us.” The Bible confirms the wisdom of the ancients, instructing us that “if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Tim. 5:8). ~ Thomas E Woods Jr, #NFDB
1443:joke by any standards, ancient or modern. But their argument with Tiberius was a fundamental one, which framed Roman political debate for the rest of the Republic. Cicero, looking back from the middle of the next century, could present 133 BCE as a decisive year precisely because it opened up a major fault line in Roman politics and society that was not closed again during his lifetime: ‘The death of Tiberius Gracchus,’ he wrote, ‘and even before that the whole rationale behind his tribunate, divided a united people into two distinct groups [partes].’ This is a rhetorical oversimplification. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1444:Read Demosthenes or Cicero, read Plato, Aristotle, or any other of that class: you will, I admit, feel wonderfully allured, pleased, moved, enchanted; but turn from them to the reading of the Sacred Volume, and whether you will or not, it will so affect you, so pierce your heart, so work its way into your very marrow, that, in comparison of the impression so produced, that of orators and philosophers will almost disappear; making it manifest that in the Sacred Volume there is a truth divine, a something which makes it immeasurably superior to all the gifts and graces attainable by man. Section ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
1445:A certain Spartan, whose name hasn’t even been passed down, despised death so greatly that when he was being led to execution after his condemnation by the ephors, he maintained a relaxed and joyous expression. To an enemy’s challenge – ‘Is this how you mock the laws of Lycurgus?’ – he answered, ‘On the contrary, I give great thanks to him, for he decreed a punishment that I can pay without taking out a loan or juggling debts.’101 O worthy man of Sparta! His spirit was so great that it seems he must have been an innocent man condemned to die. There have been many such in our own country. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1446:I might preach to you for ever," declared Charles Spurgeon, "I might borrow the eloquence of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but ye will not come unto Christ. I might beg of you on my knees, with tears in my eyes, and show you the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven, the sufficiency of Christ, and your own lost condition, but you would non of you come unto Christ of yourselves unless the Spirit that rested on Christ should draw you. It is true of all men in their natural condition that they will not come unto Christ" (Free Will a Slave [reprint ed.; Allentown, Penn: Sword and Trowel, 1973], pp. 17-18). ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1447:As will be seen from my book, I did not share at that time the conception of the two ancient Roman writers respecting the character and conduct of Catiline, and I am even now prone to believe that there must after all have been something great and consequential in a man whom Cicero, the assiduous counsel of the majority, did not find it expedient to engage until affairs had taken such a turn that there was no longer any danger involved in the attack. It should also be remembered that there are few individuals in history whose renown has been more completely in the hands of enemies than that of Catiline. ~ Henrik Ibsen, #NFDB
1448:apophthegmata) on a variety of topics.72 It’s easy to tell the difference between a proper joke and a vulgar one. The first is appropriate for the most serious kind of person in a light mood on the right occasion. The other, if it involves a disgraceful subject or obscene language, doesn’t suit even an easy-going fellow. There are limits to be observed in play and recreation as well. We don’t want to abandon all precaution and, carried away by our sense of enjoyment, end up disgracing ourselves. Examples of appropriate kinds of recreation include exercising on the Campus Martius,73 also hunting. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1449:Cicero turned his scorn on those who worked for a living: ‘The cash that comes from selling your labour is vulgar and unacceptable for a gentleman … for wages are effectively the bonds of slavery.’ It became a cliché of Roman moralising that a true gentleman was supported by the profits of his estates, not by wage labour, which was inherently dishonourable. Latin vocabulary itself captured the idea: the desired state of humanity was otium (not so much ‘leisure’, as it is usually translated, but the state of being in control of one’s own time); ‘business’ of any kind was its undesirable opposite, negotium (‘not otium’). ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1450:Se o que separa os homens da injustiça fosse somente o castigo e não a Natureza, os maus não sentiriam preocupação alguma, tão logo desaparecesse o temor dos suplícios.(...)Se os maus vacilam em invocar estes princípios, com que amor deverão cultivá-los os bons? Se o castigo, se o temor aos suplícios, e não a própria essência desonrosa dos actos, nos levam a considerar uma vida dedicada à injustiça e ao crime, então nada é injusto, e os maus seriam mais adequadamente chamados imprudentes. Se o que nos leva a ser honrados não é a própria honradez, mas sim a utilidade e o interesse, então não somos bons, somos espertos. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1451:The tender respect of Augustus for a free constitution which he had destroyed, can only be explained by an attentive consideration of the character of that subtle tyrant. A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly disposition, prompted him, at the age of nineteen, to assume the mask of hypocrisy, which he never afterwards laid aside. With the same hand, and probably with the same temper, he signed the proscription of Cicero, and the pardon of Cinna. His virtues, and even his vices, were artificial; and according to the various dictates of his interest, he was at first the enemy, and at last the father, of the Roman world. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
1452:Atticus came in for his share of criticism. If only he had loved Cicero enough he would have given him better advice; instead he had “looked on and done nothing.” Atticus very sensibly paid no attention to this unfair jibe and went on doing all he could to help, even offering to place his personal fortune, now much augmented by the death of an “extremely difficult” but extremely wealthy uncle, at Cicero’s disposal. This was a gesture of some significance for, with the confiscation of his property, Cicero’s financial affairs were in a very poor state. Cicero’s letters to Atticus are full of practical advice, complaints and queries. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1453:The gods attend to great matters; they neglect small ones," Cicero maintains. According to Aristotle, the gods are not concerned at all with the dispensation of good and bad fortune or external things. To the prophet, however, no subject is as worthy of consideration as the plight of man. Indeed, God Himself is described as reflecting over the plight of man rather than as contemplating eternal
ideas. His mind is preoccupied with man, with the concrete actualities of history rather than with the timeless issues of thought. In the prophet's message nothing that has bearing upon good and evil is small or trite in the eyes of God. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel,#NFDB
1454:Then bullets finally took down Monica and Michael. One went through Michael’s stomach and he fell to the ground screaming. Another bullet pierced Monica’s lung. She lay there trying to talk, trying to breath, but nothing. She knew that she was going to die. Michael looked at her and crawled toward her, his guts dragging in the sand, scraping on rocks as he crawled. He made it over to Monica, cradled her in his arms. Her body twitched in his arms. It took everything he had but he spooned her like they were just going to sleep for the night. He put his arm around her and said into her ear, “Let’s watch a movie on Netflix,” and they both died. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1455:A really cultured woman, like a really cultured man, is all the simpler and the less obtrusive for her knowledge; it has made her see herself and her opinions in something like just proportions; she does not make it a pedestal from which she flatters herself that she commands a complete view of men and things, but makes it a point of observation from which to form a right estimate of herself. She neither spouts poetry nor quotes Cicero on slight provocation; not because she thinks that a sacrifice must be made to the prejudices of men, but because that mode of exhibiting her memory and Latinity does not present itself to her as edifying or graceful ~ George Eliot, #NFDB
1456:Il sostegno su cui poggia quella fermezza e costanza che cerchiamo nell'amicizia è la fiducia. Niente è stabile di ciò che è infido. Inoltre conviene scegliere un amico sincero, gentile e affine, cioé che sia mosso dai nostri stessi sentimenti. Tutte cose che hanno attinenza con la fiducia. Non può essere fidata, infatti, un'indole ambigua e tortuosa né, di certo, può essere fidato o costante chi non è mosso dai medesimo sentimenti e non è affine per natura. [...] Prima di tutto che non vi sia niente di finto o simulato: è di un animo nobile, infatti, persino odiare apertamente piuttosto che celare il proprio pensiero dietro un falso aspetto. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1457:There is only one Ethics, as there is only one geometry. But the majority of men, it will be said, are ignorant of geometry. Yes, but as soon as they begin to apply themselves a little to that science, all are in agreement. Cultivators, workmen, artisans have not gone through courses in ethics; they have not read Cicero or Aristotle, but the moment they begin to think on the subject they become, without knowing it, the disciples of Cicero. The Indian dyer, the Tartar shepherd and the English sailor know what is just and what is injust. Confucius did not invent a system of ethics as one invents a system of physics. He had discovered it in the heart of all mankind. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1458:The Romans were too practical-minded to appreciate Euclid; the first of them to mention him is Cicero, in whose time there was probably no Latin translation; indeed there is no record of any Latin translation before Boethius (ca. A.D. 480). The Arabs were more appreciative: a copy was given to the caliph by the Byzantine emperor about A.D. 760, and a translation into Arabic was made under Harun al Rashid, about A.D. 800. The first still extant Latin translation was made from the Arabic by Adelard of Bath in A.D. 1120. From that time on, the study of geometry gradually revived in the West; but it was not until the late Renaissance that important advances were made. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1459:And then to my surprise in one of them I discovered the original manuscript of On Friendship. Puzzled, I unrolled it, thinking I must have brought it with me by mistake. But when I saw that Cicero had copied out at the top of the roll in his shaking hand a quotation from the text, on the importance of having friends, I realised it was a parting gift: If a man ascended into heaven and gazed upon the whole workings of the universe and the beauty of the stars, the marvellous sight would give him no joy if he had to keep it to himself. And yet, if only there had been someone to describe the spectacle to, it would have filled him with delight. Nature abhors solitude. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1460:In making the case for this special command, Cicero pointed to Pompey’s lightning success the previous year in clearing the Mediterranean of pirates, also thanks to sweeping powers voted by a popular assembly. Pirates in the ancient world were both an endemic menace and a usefully unspecific figure of fear, not far different from the modern ‘terrorist’ – including anything from the navy of a rogue state to small-time human traffickers. Pompey got rid of them within three months (suggesting they may have been an easier target than they were painted) and followed up his success with a resettlement policy, unusually enlightened for either the ancient or the modern world. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1461:We ought, then, to set up images of a kind that can adhere longest in the memory. And we shall do so if we establish likenesses as striking as possible; if we set up images that are not many or vague, but doing something; if we assign to them exceptional beauty or singular ugliness; if we dress some of them with crowns or purple cloaks, for example, so that the likeness may be more distinct to us; or if we somehow disfigure them, as by introducing one stained with blood or soiled with mud or smeared with red paint, so that its form is more striking, or by assigning certain comic effects to our images, for that, too, will ensure our remembering them more readily. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1462:More than two thousand years ago, the Roman orator, belletrist, thinker, Stoic, manipulator-politician, and (usually) virtuous gentleman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, presented the following story. One Diagoras, a nonbeliever in the gods, was shown painted tablets bearing the portraits of some worshippers who prayed, then survived a subsequent shipwreck. The implication was that praying protects you from drowning. Diagoras asked, "Where were the pictures of those who prayed, then drowned?"
The drowned worshippers, being dead, would have a lot of trouble advertising their experiences from the bottom of the sea. This can fool the casual observer into believing in miracles. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb,#NFDB
1463:You have truly gained the mastery of the very stronghold of philosophy, Mother. For without doubt only for lack of words you did not elaborate on this subject as did Tullius [Cicero], whose words will follow. For in the Hortensius, the book he wrote on the praise and defense of philosophy, he said: ‘But see, surely not the philosophers but all given to argument say that those who live just as they wish are happy.’ This is definitely false; for to want what is not appropriate is the worst of all miseries. It is not so miserable not to get what you want as to want to get what you ought not. Wickedness of will brings to everyone greater evil than good fortune brings good. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1464:You go on, I presume, with your latin Exercises: and I wish to hear of your beginning upon Sallust who is one of the most polished and perfect of the Roman Historians, every Period of whom, and I had almost said every Syllable and every Letter is worth Studying.
In Company with Sallust, Cicero, Tacitus and Livy, you will learn Wisdom and Virtue. You will see them represented, with all the Charms which Language and Imagination can exhibit, and Vice and Folly painted in all their Deformity and Horror.
You will ever remember that all the End of study is to make you a good Man and a useful Citizen.—This will ever be the Sum total of the Advice of your affectionate Father,
John Adams ~ John Adams,#NFDB
1465:He reaches for his pen. He yawns and puts it down and picks it up again. I shall be found dead at my desk, he thinks, like the poet Petrarch. The poet wrote many unsent letters: he wrote to Cicero, who died twelve hundred years before he was born. He wrote to Homer, who possibly never even existed; but I, I have enough to do with Lord Lisle, and the fish traps, and the Emperor's galleons tossing on the Middle Sea. Between one dip of the pen, Petrarch writes, 'between one dip of the pen and the next, the time passes: and I hurry, I drive myself, and I speed towards death. We are always dying - I while I write, you while you read, and others while they listen or block their ears; they are all dying. ~ Hilary Mantel, #NFDB
1466:Philo of Larisa, head of the Academy in Athens....inspired Cicero with a passion for philosophy, and in particular for the theories of Skepticism, which asserted that knowledge of the nature of things is in the nature of things unattainable. Such ideas were well judged to appeal to a student of rhetoric who had learned to argue all sides of a case. In his early twenties Cicero wrote the first two volumes of a work on 'inventin'--that is to say, the technique of finding ideas and arguments for a speech; in it he noted that the most important thing was 'that we do not recklessly and presumptuously assume something to be true.' This resolute uncertainty was to be a permanent feature of his thought. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1467:Goodness in other people naturally arouses our affection and friendship, not because it’s of some material advantage to us, but because it’s the mirror image of our own potential for virtue, and so loved for its own sake. For instance, the Roman statesman Laelius the Wise, renowned for his own exemplary friendship with Scipio Africanus the Younger, had studied Stoic philosophy under the scholarchs Diogenes of Babylon and Panaetius. In a dialogue entitled On Friendship, Cicero portrays him saying that ‘nothing else in the whole world is so completely in harmony with Nature’ as true friendship, a profound agreement in the feelings and values of two people, supported by mutual goodwill and affection. ~ Donald J Robertson, #NFDB
1468:Cæsar is said to have been admirably fitted by nature to make a great statesman and orator, and to have taken such pains to improve his genius this way, that without dispute he might challenge the second place. More he did not aim at, as choosing to be first rather amongst men of arms and power, and, therefore, never rose to that height of eloquence to which nature would have carried him, his attention being diverted to those expeditions and designs, which at length gained him the empire. And he himself, in his answer to Cicero’s panegyric on Cato, desires his reader not to compare the plain discourse of a soldier with the harangues of an orator who had not only fine parts, but had employed his life in this study. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
1469:I thought of kissing Astrid under the fire escape. I thought of Norm’s rusty microbus and of his father, Cicero, sitting on the busted-down sofa in his old trailer, rolling dope in Zig-Zag papers and telling me if I wanted to get my license first crack out of the basket, I’d better cut my fucking hair. I thought of playing teen dances at the Auburn RolloDrome, and how we never stopped when the inevitable fights broke out between the kids from Edward Little and Lisbon High, or those from Lewiston High and St. Dom’s; we just turned it up louder. I thought of how life had been before I realized I was a frog in a pot. I shouted: “One, two, you-know-what-to-do!” We kicked it in. Key of E. All that shit starts in E. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1470:Finally, the cognomen, a personal surname, was particular to its holder or his branch of the family. It often had a jokey or down-to-earth ring: so, for example, “Cicero” is Latin for “chickpea” and it was supposed that some ancestor had had a wart of that shape on the end of his nose. When Marcus was about to launch his career as an advocate and politician, friends advised him to change his name to something less ridiculous. “No,” he replied firmly, “I am going to make my cognomen more famous than those of men like Scaurus and Catulus.” These were two leading Romans of the day, and the point of the remark was that “Catulus” was the Latin for “whelp” or “puppy,” and “Scaurus” meant “with large or projecting ankles. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1471:But in what circumstances does our reason teach us that there is vice or virtue? How does this continual mystery work? Tell me, inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, Africans, Canadians and you, Plato, Cicero, Epictetus! You all feel equally that it is better to give away the superfluity of your bread, your rice or your manioc to the indigent than to kill him or tear out his eyes. It is evident to all on earth that an act of benevolence is better than an outrage, that gentleness is preferable to wrath. We have merely to use our Reason in order to discern the shades which distinguish right and wrong. Good and evil are often close neighbours and our passions confuse them. Who will enlighten us? We ourselves when we are calm. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1472:Tiber, Nile, And Thames
THE head and hands of murdered Cicero,
Above his seat high in the Forum hung,
Drew jeers and burning tears. When on the rung
Of a swift-mounted ladder, all aglow,
Fluvia, Mark Antony's shameless wife, with show
Of foot firm-poised and gleaming arm upflung,
Bade her sharp needle pierce that god-like tongue
Whose speech fed Rome even as the Tiber's flow.
And thou, Cleopatra's Needle, that hadst thrid
Great skirts of Time ere she and Antony hid
Dead hope!—hast thou too reached, surviving death,
A city of sweet speech scorned,—on whose chill stone
Keats withered, Coleridge pined, and Chatterton,
Breadless, with poison froze the God-fired breath?
~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti,#NFDB
1473:Quite unlike, for example, the British aristocracy, whose traditions put great store by the continuity of ownership of their country houses, the Roman elite were always buying, selling and moving. It is true that Cicero hung on to some family property in Arpinum, but he bought his Palatine house only in 62 BCE, from Crassus, who may have owned it as an investment opportunity rather than as a residence; and before that the house of Livius Drusus, where he was assassinated in 91 BCE, had stood on the site. Cicero’s estate at Tusculum had passed from Sulla to a deeply conservative senator, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, and finally to a rich ex-slave, known to us only as Vettius, in the twenty-five years before Cicero bought it in the early 60s BCE. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1474:...Ey yüksek bilgelik! Dostluğu yaşamdan kaldırmak isteyenler, güneşi dünyadan ayıranlara benzerler; ölmez tanrılar insanlara dostluktan daha iyi, daha tatlı bir şey vermedi...
...Ruhta eylem olmazsa, insanla hayvan arasında demiyorum, ama insanla ağaç kütüğü, kaya ya da bu gibi bir eşya arasında ne ayrım kalır? Çünkü kendisinin sert, hem de demir gibi sert olmasını isteyenlerin sözlerini dinlemeyen erdem, aslında bir çok işte olduğu gibi, özellikle dostlukta yumuşaktır ve işlenebilir; öyle ki, dostun mutlu günlerinde sanki genişler, kara günlerinde sıkışır. Bu yüzden dost için duyulacak kaygı, dostluğu yaşamdan kaldıracak denli büyük değildir. Aynı biçimde kimi sıkıntı ve üzüntüler doğurabilir diye erdemden vazgeçilecek de değildir. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1475:No one can really claim to know politics properly until he has stayed up all night writing a speech for delivery the following day. While the world sleeps, the orator paces by lamplight, wondering what madness ever brought him to this occupation in the first place. Arguments are prepared and discarded. The exhausted mind ceases to have any coherent grip upon the purpose of the enterprise, so that often--usually an hour or two after midnight--there comes a point where failing to turn up, feigning illness, and hiding at home seem the only realistic options. And then, somehow, just asa panic and humiliation beckon, the parts cohere, and there it is: a speech. A second-rate orator now retires gratefully to bed. A Cicero stays up and commits it to memory. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1476:This spirit of humanity breathes in Cicero and Virgil. Hence the veneration paid to the poet of the Aeneid by the fathers and throughout the middle ages. Augustine calls him the noblest of poets, and Dante, "the glory and light of other poets," and "his master," who guided him through the regions of hell and purgatory to the very gates of Paradise. It was believed that in his fourth Eclogue he had prophesied the advent of Christ. This interpretation is erroneous; but "there is in Virgil," says an accomplished scholar,84 "a vein of thought and sentiment more devout, more humane, more akin to the Christian than is to be found in any other ancient poet, whether Greek or Roman. He was a spirit prepared and waiting, though he knew it not, for some better thing to be revealed. ~ Philip Schaff, #NFDB
1477:Caesar’s civic reforms were promising, but how and when would he put the Republic back together again? Over years of war it had been turned upside down, the constitution trampled, appointments made on whim and against the law. Caesar took few steps toward restoring traditional rights and regulations. Meanwhile his powers expanded. He took charge of most elections and decided most court cases. He spent a great deal of time settling scores, rewarding supporters, auctioning off his opponents’ properties. The Senate appeared increasingly irrelevant. Some groused that they lived in a monarchy masquerading as a republic. There were three possibilities for the future, predicted an exasperated Cicero, “endless armed conflict, eventual revival after a peace, and complete annihilation. ~ Stacy Schiff, #NFDB
1478:Father and son had been on poor terms (even Cicero acknowledged this) and it was arranged for the young man to be accused of parricide. This was among the most serious offenses in the charge book and was one of the few crimes to attract the death penalty under Roman law. The method of execution was extremely unpleasant. An ancient legal authority described what took place: “According to the custom of our ancestors it was established that the parricide should be beaten with blood-red rods, sewn in a leather sack together with a dog [an animal despised by Greeks and Romans], a cock [like the parricide devoid of all feelings of affection], a viper [whose mother was supposed to die when it was born], and an ape [a caricature of a man], and the sack thrown into the depths of the sea or a river. ~ Anthony Everitt, #NFDB
1479:He who wishes to fulfill his mission must be a man of one idea, that is, of one great overmastering purpose, overshadowing all his aims, and guiding and controlling his entire life. —Bate. The shortest way to do anything is to do only one thing at a time. —Cecil. The power of concentration is one of the most valuable of intellectual attainments. —Horace Mann. The power of a man increases steadily by continuance in one direction. —Emerson. Careful attention to one thing often proves superior to genius and art. —Cicero. "It puffed like a locomotive," said a boy of the donkey engine; "it whistled like the steam-cars, but it didn't go anywhere." The world is full of donkey-engines, of people who can whistle and puff and pull, but they don't go anywhere, they have no definite aim, no controlling purpose. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
1480:How do you become a person?
Usually, instead of trying to get a job,
I listen to music on YouTube, instead of being
a person, I try to become the notes of songs,
the chord structure of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
covered by Amy Winehouse, I want to become that song, I learn
the song on guitar and strum it on my adobe porch thing,
trying to become non-human, sometimes I try to become
the taste of a Carl’s Jr. cheeseburger, I want to be
that delicious, that bad for you.
Sometimes I listen to Amitabha chants,
Navajo chants, even old
Kentucky Old Regular Baptists call out chants, I
want to be a pure feeling, that may lead to heaven,
but instead I am Noah Cicero, sometimes I scream, I
can’t be controlled, I can’t be tamed, because I
don’t know what to be— ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
1481:It has long been presumed that the diversity of constitutional forms makes for an optimal result. In reality, it creates a system of impediments that makes popular reform nearly impossible.
As with Polybius and Cicero, so with Aristotle, and so with the framers of the United States Constitution in 1787 . . .—all have been mindful of the leveling threats of democratic forces and the need for a constitutional “mix” that allows only limited participation by the demos, with a dominant role allotted to an elite executive power. . . . Diluting democratic power with a preponderantly undemocratic mix does not create an admirable “balance” and “stability.” In actual practice, the diversity of form more often has been a subterfuge, allowing an appearance of popular participation in order to lend legitimacy to oligarchic dominance. ~ Michael Parenti,#NFDB
1482:used to use drugs to help me in different situations – Adderall for work, Xanax for sleep, painkillers for pain, you know – but now it’s gotten to the point where I’ll just do anything and everything I can get my hands on at any given moment simply for the sake of getting fucked up and forgetting what a shitty life I live. I know some people would say that I don’t have it that bad but that’s just what some people would say I guess. People say retarded shit, you know? I didn’t start fucking with drugs like coke or molly or heroin until I started chilling with people who fucked with them and I liked them a little I guess, but I still think prescription shit is my favorite. Plus the high is consistent. I use Adderall, Xanax, marijuana, cigarettes and usually some type of painkiller – Promethazine-Codeine syrup and Percocet are my favorites – on a daily basis. ~ Noah Cicero, #NFDB
1483:Two distinctive traits especially identify beyond a doubt a strong and dominant character. One trait is contempt for external circumstances, when one is convinced that men ought to respect, to desire, and to pursue only what is moral and right, that men should be subject to nothing, not to another man, not to some disturbing passion, not to Fortune.
The second trait, when your character has the disposition I outlined just now, is to perform the kind of services that are significant and most beneficial; but they should also be services that are a severe challenge, that are filled with ordeals, and that endanger not only your life but also the many comforts that make life attractive.
Of these two traits, all the glory, magnificence, and the advantage, too, let us not forget, are in the second, while the drive and the discipline that make men great are in the former. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,#NFDB
1484:As for myself, I can only exhort you to look on Friendship as the most valuable of all human possessions, no other being equally suited to the moral nature of man, or so applicable to every state and circumstance, whether of prosperity or adversity, in which he can possibly be placed. But at the same time I lay it down as a fundamental axiom that "true Friendship can only subsist between those who are animated by the strictest principles of honour and virtue." When I say this, I would not be thought to adopt the sentiments of those speculative moralists who pretend that no man can justly be deemed virtuous who is not arrived at that state of absolute perfection which constitutes, according to their ideas, the character of genuine wisdom. This opinion may appear true, perhaps, in theory, but is altogether inapplicable to any useful purpose of society, as it supposes a degree of virtue to which no mortal was ever capable of rising. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1485:I have the better right to indulgence herein, because my devotion to letters strengthens my oratorical powers, and these, such as they are, have never failed my friends in their hour of peril. Yet insignificant though these powers may seem to be, I fully realize from what source I draw all that is highest in them. Had I not persuaded myself from my youth up, thanks to the moral lessons derived from a wide reading, that nothing is to be greatly sought after in this life save glory and honour, and that in their quest all bodily pains and all dangers of death or exile should be lightly accounted, I should never have borne for the safety of you all the burnt of many a bitter encounter, or bared my breast to the daily onsets of abandoned persons. All literature, all philosophy, all history, abounds with incentives to noble action, incentives which would be buried in black darkness were the light of the written word not flashed upon them. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1486:Things external to her may have their own weight and dimension: but within inside us she gives them such measures as she wills: death is terrifying to Cicero, desirable to Cato, indifferent to Socrates. Health, consciousness, authority, knowledge, beauty and their opposites doff their garments as they enter the soul and receive new vestments, coloured with qualities of her own choosing: brown or green; light or dark; bitter or sweet, deep or shallow, as it pleases each of the individual souls, who have not agreed together on the truth of their practices, rules or ideas. Each soul is Queen in her own state. So let us no longer seek excuses from the external qualities of anything, the responsibility lies within ourselves. Our good or our bad depends on us alone. So let us make our offertories and our vows to ourselves not to Fortune: she has no power over our behaviour, on the contrary our souls drag Fortune in their train and mould her to their own idea. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
1487:Lamentations about the tribulations of public life, followed by celebrations of the bucolic splendor of retirement to rural solitude, had become a familiar, even formulaic, posture within the leadership class of the revolutionary generation, especially within the Virginia dynasty. Everyone knew the classical models of latter-day seclusion represented by Cincinnatus and described by Cicero and Virgil. Declarations of principled withdrawal from the hurly-burly of politics to the natural rhythms of one’s fields or farms had become rhetorical rituals. If Washington’s retirement hymn featured the “vine and fig tree,” Jefferson’s idolized “my family, my farm, and my books.” The motif had become so commonplace that John Adams, an aspiring Cicero himself, claimed that the Virginians had worn out the entire Ciceronian syndrome: “It seems the Mode of becoming great is to retire,” he wrote Abigail in 1796. “It is marvellous how political Plants grow in the shade.” Washington ~ Joseph J Ellis, #NFDB
1488:Great individuals find a way to transform weakness into strength. It’s a rather amazing and even touching feat. They took what should have held them back—what in fact might be holding you back right this very second—and used it to move forward. As it turns out, this is one thing all great men and women of history have in common. Like oxygen to a fire, obstacles became fuel for the blaze that was their ambition. Nothing could stop them, they were (and continue to be) impossible to discourage or contain. Every impediment only served to make the inferno within them burn with greater ferocity. These were people who flipped their obstacles upside down. Who lived the words of Marcus Aurelius and followed a group which Cicero called the only “real philosophers”—the ancient Stoics—even if they’d never read them. They had the ability to see obstacles for what they were, the ingenuity to tackle them, and the will to endure a world mostly beyond their comprehension and control. ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
1489:People will love people
no matter what
terrible shit they do.
We forgive people, even when
they don’t ask for forgiveness.
When there is no
atonement,
no penance.
Why do we love people?
Why do we forgive evil?
Stupidity—
Shallowness—
the darkest motives.
We forgive
because we are attached,
we have known them a long time,
we have put them into the
category of family or friend.
We want to have sex with them.
Because they entertain us.
We even forgive child molesters
if they make good movies.
The unspeakable truth
is that we need written laws
that have mystic origins—
with weapons to keep
them upheld.
Because we are too
forgiving of our friends
and family. We take their side,
even when we know
they are wrong, and lying.
The world would collapse
into chaos without law
not because we are
savage beasts, but because
we are so forgiving. ~ Noah Cicero,#NFDB
1490:Well, good luck to you both. Rome will be the winner whoever is the victor'. Cicero began to move away but then checked himself, and a slight frown crossed his face. He returned to Catulus. 'One more thing, if I may? Who proposed this widening of the franchise?' 'Caesar' Although Latin is a language rich in subtlety and metaphor, I cannot command the words, either in that tongue or even in Greek, to describe Cicero's expression at that moment. 'Dear gods' he said in a tone of utter shock. 'Is it possible he means to stand himself?' 'Of course not. That would be ridiculous. He's far too young. He's thirty-six. He's not yet even been elected praetor' 'Yes, but even so, in my opinion, you would be well advised to reconvene your college as quickly as possible and go back to the existing method of selection.' 'That is impossible' 'Why?' 'The bill to change the franchise was laid before the people this morning' 'By whom?' 'Labienus' 'Ah!' Cicero clapped his hand to his forehead. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1491:the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD . . . for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. PSALM 22:27–28 NOVEMBER 4 It is said that the United States of America was formed by the convergence of two streams of history. One took its rise in the thinking of the philosophers of classical antiquity: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero. These men believed that the human mind must always be free. The other stream took its rise when Moses addressed a nation of slaves and told them that they were children of God, that other men should not put shackles on their wrists or lay whips to their backs. The confluence of these two great streams of thought formed a government predicated upon the greatness of the human mind and the sovereignty of the human soul. I have enormous faith in the continuity of these ideals in the American people. You cannot break a nation built upon such foundations, unless that nation becomes arrogant, forgets its great heritage, and, worse than all else, turns away from God. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
1492:All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD . . . for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. PSALM 22:27–28 NOVEMBER 4 It is said that the United States of America was formed by the convergence of two streams of history. One took its rise in the thinking of the philosophers of classical antiquity: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero. These men believed that the human mind must always be free. The other stream took its rise when Moses addressed a nation of slaves and told them that they were children of God, that other men should not put shackles on their wrists or lay whips to their backs. The confluence of these two great streams of thought formed a government predicated upon the greatness of the human mind and the sovereignty of the human soul. I have enormous faith in the continuity of these ideals in the American people. You cannot break a nation built upon such foundations, unless that nation becomes arrogant, forgets its great heritage, and, worse than all else, turns away from God. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
1493:It's both relaxing and invigorating to occasionally set aside the worries of life, seek the company of a friendly book and mingle with the great of the earth, counsel with the wise of all time, look into unlived days with prophets. Youth will delight in the heroic figures of Homer; or more modern, will thrill to the silent courage of Florence Nightingale on the battlefield...The power of Cicero's oratory may awaken new ambitions in the middle age, or the absurdity of Don Quixote riding mightily against a windmill may make your own pretentiousness seem ridiculous; if you think the world is against you, get the satisfaction of walking the streets of Athens with Diogenes, lantern in hand in broad daylight in search of an honest man...From the reading of 'good books' there comes a richness of life that can be obtained in no other way. It is not enough to read newspapers...But to become acquainted with real nobility as walks the pages of history and science and literature is to strengthen character and develop life in its finer meanings. ~ Gordon B Hinckley, #NFDB
1494:The Greatest Thing In North America
This is the greatest thing in North America:
Europe is the greatest thing in North America!
High in the sky, dark in the heart, and always there
Among the natural powers of sunlight and of air,
Changing, second by second, shifting and changing the
light,
Bring fresh rain to the stone of the library steps.
Under the famous names upon the pediment:
Thales, Aristotle,
Cicero, Augustine, Scotus, Galileo,
Joseph, Odysseus, Hamlet, Columbus and Spinoza,
Anna Karenina, Alyosha Karamazov, Sherlock Holmes.
And the last three also live upon the silver screen
Three blocks away, in moonlight's artificial day,
A double bill in the darkened palace whirled,
And the veritable glittering light of the turning world's
Burning mind and blazing imagination, showing, day by
day
And week after week the desires of the heart and mind
Of all the living souls yearning everywhere
From Canada to Panama, from Brooklyn to Paraguay,
From Cuba to Vancouver, every afternoon and every night.
~ Delmore Schwartz,#NFDB
1495:Una sola offesa si deve completamente eliminare per conservare nell'amicizia l'utilità e la fiducia: infatti gli amici spesso si devono ammonire e rimproverare e questo deve essere accettato amichevolmente quando viene fatto con affetto. Ma, non so come, è vero quello che dice il mio amico nell'"Andria": "L'adulazione genera amici, la verità odio". Dannosa è la verità, se da lei nasce l'odio che è il veleno dell'amicizia, ma l'adulazione è molto più dannosa perché, essendo indulgente con gli errori, lascia che l'amico precipiti in rovina; grandissima è la colpa di chi disprezza la verità ed è spinto all'inganno dall'adulazione. [...] Non c'è più da sperare salvezza per chi abbia le orecchie tanto chiuse alla verità da non poter sentire il vero da un amico. [...] Ed è assurdo proprio questo, che quelli che vengono rimproverati non provano quel dispiacere che dovrebbero provare, ma provano proprio quello che non dovrebbero; infatti non si dolgono di aver sbagliato, sopportano di malanimo di essere rimproverati mentre sarebbe stato necessario il contrario, cioé addolorarsi delle colpe e godere della correzione. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1496:The essential point was that Cicero for the first time laid out his political credo in black and white, and I can summarise it in a sentence: that politics is the most noble of all callings (“there is really no other occupation in which human virtue approaches more closely the august function of the gods”); that there is “no nobler motive for entering public life than the resolution not to be ruled by wicked men”; that no individual, or combination of individuals, should be allowed to become too powerful; that politics is a profession, not a pastime for dilettantes (nothing is worse than rule by “clever poets”); that a statesman should devote his life to studying “the science of politics, in order to acquire in advance all the knowledge that it may be necessary for him to use at some future time”; that authority in a state must always be divided; and that of the three known forms of government—monarchy, aristocracy and people—the best is a mixture of all three, for each one taken on its own can lead to disaster: kings can be capricious, aristocrats self-interested, and “an unbridled multitude enjoying unwonted power more terrifying than a conflagration or a raging sea. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1497:The round, unformed script on the fly-leaf said, Francis Crawford of Lymond. She stared at it; then put it down and picked up another. The writing in this one was older; the neat level hand she had seen once before, in Stamboul. This time it said only, The Master of Culter.
That dated it after the death of his father, when until the birth of Richard’s son Kevin, the heir’s rank and title were Lymond’s. And all the books were his, too. She scanned them: some works in English; others in Latin and Greek, French, Italian and Spanish.… Prose and verse. The classics, pressed together with folios on the sciences, theology, history; bawdy epistles and dramas; books on war and philosophy; the great legends. Sheets and volumes and manuscripts of unprinted music. Erasmus and St Augustine, Cicero, Terence and Ptolemy, Froissart and Barbour and Dunbar; Machiavelli and Rabelais, Bude and Bellenden, Aristotle and Copernicus, Duns Scotus and Seneca.
Gathered over the years; added to on infrequent visits; the evidence of one man’s eclectic taste. And if one studied it, the private labyrinth, book upon book, from which the child Francis Crawford had emerged, contained, formidable, decorative as his deliberate writing, as the Master of Culter. ~ Dorothy Dunnett,#NFDB
1498:What interested me in the Vita Activa was that the contrary notion of complete quietness in the Vita Contemplativa was so overwhelming that compared with this stillness all other differences between the various activities in the Vita Activa disappeared. Compared to this quiet, it was no longer important whether you labored and tilled the soil, or worked and produced use-objects, or acted together with others in certain enterprises. Even Marx, in whose work and thought the question of action played such a crucial role, “uses the expression ‘Praxis’ simply in the sense of ‘what man does’ as opposed to ‘what man thinks.’”6 I was, however, aware that one could look at this matter from an altogether different viewpoint, and to indicate my doubts I ended this study of active life with a curious sentence that Cicero ascribed to Cato, who used to say that “never is a man more active than when he does nothing, never is he less alone than when he is by himself’ (Numquam se plus agere quam nihil cum ageret, numquam minus solum esse quam cum solus esset).7 Assuming Cato was right, the questions are obvious: What are we “doing” when we do nothing but think? Where are we when we, normally always surrounded by our fellow-men, are together with no one but ourselves? ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
1499:Roosevelt's productivity resulted from how he chose to spend his time. He read frequently due to his belief that efficiency did not come from packing in scheduled activities down to every last minute of the day. Rather, it was through the regular feeding of his intellect. Even during the height of a presidential campaign, he packed in nearly four hours of reading a day. He enjoyed works of fiction, science, political philosophy, and history. One can imagine a nervous political aide bursting in his study, telling Roosevelt to put down his copy of Cicero because he was scheduled to begin the day's fourth speech in only two minutes. Researcher Robert Talbert notes that a second explanation for Roosevelt's productivity was his method of splitting up his schedule. His reading times were broken up into 45 minute-increments, divided between three half-hour time slots and three one-hour time slots. There is no way that Roosevelt could have known this, but such a segmented approach to reading is the best way for the brain to retain information. A 2008 study from the University of Illinois found that the brain's attentional resources drop after a long period of focusing on a single activity. Even brief diversions can significantly increase one's ability to focus on a task for a long period of time. ~ Michael Rank, #NFDB
1500:THE JOURNEY BACK from Regium to Rome was easier than our progress south had been, for by now it was early spring, and the mainland soft and welcoming. Not that we had much opportunity to admire the birds and flowers. Cicero worked every mile of the way, swaying and pitching in the back of his covered wagon, as he assembled the outline of his case against Verres. I would fetch documents from the baggage cart as he needed them and walk along at the rear of his carriage taking down his dictation, which was no easy feat. His plan, as I understood it, was to separate the mass of evidence into four sets of charges — corruption as a judge, extortion in collecting taxes and official revenues, the plundering of private and municipal property, and finally, illegal and tyrannical punishments. Witness statements and records were grouped accordingly, and even as he bounced along, he began drafting whole passages of his opening speech. (Just as he had trained his body to carry the weight of his ambition, so he had, by effort of will, cured himself of travel sickness, and over the years he was to do a vast amount of work while journeying up and down Italy.) In this manner, almost without his noticing where he was, we completed the trip in less than a fortnight and came at last to Rome on the Ides of March, ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
22 Christianity
10 Philosophy
4 Occultism
3 Poetry
3 Fiction
2 Psychology
2 Integral Yoga
1 Mysticism
1 Alchemy
15 Saint Augustine of Hippo
7 Plotinus
2 Plato
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 H P Lovecraft
2 Carl Jung
13 City of God
4 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
2 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
2 Lovecraft - Poems
1.09 - SKIRMISHES IN A WAY WITH THE AGE, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
the time of Cicero--who expresses his surprise at the fact--the men
and youths were by far superior in beauty to the women: but what hard
1.51 - Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
"When we call corn Ceres and wine Bacchus," says Cicero, "we use a
common figure of speech; but do you imagine that anybody is so
1f.lovecraft - Ibid, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Integral Yoga
celebrated work (whose pure Ciceronian style is as remarkable a case of
classic atavism as is the verse of Claudius Claudianus, who flourished
1f.lovecraft - Under the Pyramids, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Integral Yoga
hands of a clamorous Cicerone whonotwithstanding later
developmentswas assuredly a master at his trade. Not until afterward
1.pbs - Queen Mab - Part II., #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Where Cicero and Antoninus lived,
A cowled and hypocritical monk
1.wby - Mad As The Mist And Snow, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
That even Cicero
And many-minded Homer were
1.whitman - My Picture-Gallery, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Here, do you know this? this is Cicerone himself,
With finger rais'd he points to the prodigal pictures.
2.01 - On Books, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
The Roman could fight and legislate, he could keep the states together, but he made the Greek think for him. Of course, the Greek also could fight but not always so well. The Roman thinkers, Cicero, Seneca, Horace, all owe their philosophy to the Greeks.
That, again, is another illustration of what I was speaking of as the inrush of forces. Consider a small race like the Greeks living on a small projecting tongue of land: this race was able to build up a culture that has given everything essential to your modern European culture and that in a span of 200 to 300 years only!
3.02 - The Great Secret, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
I have varied the theme and I have varied the manner. Like a consummate scientist I juggled with my words, I knew how to change their constitution and transmute them as it were, make them carry a new sense, a new tone, a new value. I could comm and something of the Ciceronian swell, something of the Miltonic amplitude, something of the Racinian suavity; I was not incapable of the simplicity of Wordsworth at his best, nor was even the Shakespearean magic quite unknown to me. The sublimity of Valmiki and the nobility of Vyasa were not peaks too high for me to compass.
And yet I have not achieved. I am not satisfied. I am unhappy. For, after all, these are dreams that I have created, "dreams have I sown in the air". I feel I have not touched the true truth of things nor their soul beauty. I have scratched the mere surface, I have caressed the outer robe that Nature puts on herself; but her very body, her own self has escaped me. I have woven a gossamer around creation's limbs, however seemingly true, however apparently delightful. The means, the instrument itself which I once thought in its nature to be faultless and perfect in its capacity to penetrate and reveal and express and embody, I found in the end failing me. A great silence, a sheer dumbness, I thought at last to be nearer the heart of things.
3.05 - SAL, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[324] The Christ parallel runs through the late alchemical speculations that set in after Boehme, and it was made possible by the sal: sapientia equation. Already in antiquity salt denoted wit, good sense, good taste, etc., as well as spirit. Cicero, for instance, remarks: In wit [sale] and humour Caesar . . . surpassed them all.640 But it was the Vulgate that had the most decisive influence on the formation of alchemical concepts. In the Old Testament, even the salt of the covenant641 has a moral meaning. In the New Testament, the famous words Ye are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5 : 13) show that the disciples were regarded as personifications of higher insight and divine wisdom, just as, in their role of
(proclaimers of the message), they functioned as angels (
33.01 - The Initiation of Swadeshi, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The events of another day come to mind. Perhaps it was on the occasion of the first declaration of Boycott, on the 7th of August, 1905. The Town Hall of Calcutta was the venue of the meeting. What a huge crowd had gathered there and what an oceanic movement! I had been taken there by Atul Gupta, the friend, philosopher and guide of my student days; I had been his disciple in every respect, in my studies as in patriotic work. He made me sit by his side and gave me the necessary instructions. The entire audience at one time stood up in a body and shouted their unanimous approval of a resolution: "All, all," they cried. I too had to do the same. You will perhaps call it drama, but after all, the critical moments of life are nothing but drama. There was no hypocrisy about the thing, it was just a manner of expression. One thing deserves to be mentioned here: the voices I heard of the many orators of that epoch. The glory of those voices is now lost, thanks to the kindness of the mike. Surendranath Banerjee, Ambikacharan Majumdar, Sachindranath Bose and of course Bepinchandra Pal - what high-pitched voices they had and how graceful in movement! How was it possible to combine in a single voice such power and strength with so much sweetness! I had read about the orations of Demos thenes and Cicero, heard the eulogies of France's Mirabeau and Danton, of Burke and Gladstone of England. But it was truly an experience to have heard with one's own ears a human voice of their calibre. One cannot do without a mike today if one is to address an audience of a thousand. In those days ten thousand people could easily listen to those superhuman voices. But why need we go so far? You have all listened to the voice of our Sahana, a voice that held the heart of Rabindranath enthralled. Let me here tell you an amusing story in this connection, though it belongs to a much later date. There was a musical soireat the residence of one of Dilip's relatives; it was at his uncle's I believe. I too was among the invitees and there was a fairly big crowd. The performers of the evening were to be a virtuoso, one of the well-known ones though I forget the name, and our Sahana. A question arose: who would sing first, Sahana or the virtuoso? It was agreed to have Sahana first and the virtuoso to follow; after all, a master must have the last word! Sahana finished her songs and now it was the master's turn. But he dropped a bombshell! He said, "One cannot sing anything after that, it would fall flat!" He did sing, though, after a while. Those were the days indeed.
Now to resume the thread of my narrative. During the holidays I was back in my home town of Rungpore. Here there was evidence of the same movement, with identical features. We roamed the streets singing, that is, shouting hoarsely at the top of our voices we did the morning rounds with songs like
6.0 - Conscious, Unconscious, and Individuation, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
107 A reference to Cicero, De natura deorum (trans, by Rackham, p. 31):
"Parmenides . . . invents a purely fanciful something resembling a crown
--
or sensation." This ironic remark of Cicero's shows that he was the child of
another age, already very far from the primordial images.
Aeneid, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
the Republic on. Cicero, Pompey, and Mark Antony were among
its residents, vin, 473.
--
His conspiracy was thwarted by Cicero. Declared an outlaw, he
fled Rome and fell in battle with government troops in 62 B.C.
APPENDIX I - Curriculum of A. A., #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Occultism
The Dream of Scipio, by Cicero. ::: Excellent for its Vision and its Philosophy.
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras by Fabre d'Olivet. ::: An interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this Master.
BOOK II. - A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruption and vice, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
The opinion of the ancient Romans on this matter is attested by Cicero in his work De Republica, in which Scipio, one of the interlocutors, says, "The lewdness of comedy could never have been suffered by audiences, unless the customs of society had previously sanctioned the same lewdness." And[Pg 58] in the earlier days the Greeks preserved a certain reasonableness in their licence, and made it a law, that whatever comedy wished to say of any one, it must say it of him by name. And so in the same work of Cicero's, Scipio says, "Whom has it not aspersed? Nay, whom has it not worried? Whom has it spared? Allow that it may assail demagogues and factions, men injurious to the commonwealtha Cleon, a Cleophon, a Hyperbolus. That is tolerable, though it had been more seemly for the public censor to brand such men, than for a poet to lampoon them; but to blacken the fame of Pericles with scurrilous verse, after he had with the utmost dignity presided over their state alike in war and in peace, was as unworthy of a poet, as if our own Plautus or Nvius were to bring Publius and Cneius Scipio on the comic stage, or as if Ccilius were to caricature Cato." And then a little after he goes on: "Though our Twelve Tables attached the penalty of death only to a very few offences, yet among these few this was one: if any man should have sung a pasquinade, or have composed a satire calculated to bring infamy or disgrace on another person. Wisely decreed. For it is by the decisions of magistrates, and by a well-informed justice, that our lives ought to be judged, and not by the flighty fancies of poets; neither ought we to be exposed to hear calumnies, save where we have the liberty of replying, and defending ourselves before an adequate tribunal." This much I have judged it advisable to quote from the fourth book of Cicero's De Republica; and I have made the quotation word for word, with the exception of some words omitted, and some slightly transposed, for the sake of giving the sense more readily. And certainly the extract is pertinent to the matter I am endeavouring to explain. Cicero makes some further remarks, and concludes the passage by showing that the ancient Romans did not permit any living man to be either praised or blamed on the stage. But the Greeks, as I said, though not so moral, were more logical in allowing this licence which the Romans forbade: for they saw that their gods approved and enjoyed the scurrilous language of low comedy when directed not only against men, but even against themselves; and this, whether the infamous actions imputed to them were the fictions of[Pg 59] poets, or were their actual iniquities commemorated and acted in the theatres. And would that the spectators had judged them worthy only of laughter, and not of imitation! Manifestly it had been a stretch of pride to spare the good name of the leading men and the common citizens, when the very deities did not grudge that their own reputation should be blemished.
10. That the devils, in suffering either false or true crimes to be laid to their charge, meant to do men a mischief.
--
But Scipio, were he alive, would possibly reply: "How could we attach a penalty to that which the gods themselves have consecrated? For the theatrical entertainments in which such things are said, and acted, and performed, were introduced into Roman society by the gods, who ordered that they should be dedicated and exhibited in their honour." But was not this, then, the plainest proof that they were no true gods, nor in any respect worthy of receiving divine honours from the republic? Suppose they had required that in their honour the citizens of Rome should be held up to ridicule, every Roman would have resented the hateful proposal. How then, I would ask, can they be esteemed worthy of worship, when they propose that their own crimes be used as material for celebrating their praises? Does not this artifice expose them, and prove that they are detestable devils? Thus the Romans, though they were superstitious enough to serve as gods those who made no secret of their desire to be worshipped in licentious plays, yet had sufficient regard to their hereditary dignity and virtue, to prompt them to refuse to players any such rewards as the Greeks accorded them. On this point we have this testimony of Scipio, recorded in Cicero: "They [the Romans] considered comedy and all theatrical performances as disgraceful, and therefore not only debarred players from offices and honours open to ordinary citizens, but also decreed that their names should be branded by the censor, and erased from the roll of their tribe." An excellent decree, and another testimony to the sagacity of Rome; but I could wish their prudence had been more thoroughgoing and consistent. For when I hear that if any Roman citizen chose the stage as his profession, he not only closed to himself every laudable career, but even became an outcast from his own tribe, I cannot but exclaim: This is the true Roman spirit, this is worthy of a state jealous of its reputation. But then some one interrupts my rapture, by inquiring with what consistency players are[Pg 63] debarred from all honours, while plays are counted among the honours due to the gods? For a long while the virtue of Rome was uncontaminated by theatrical exhibitions;[99] and if they had been adopted for the sake of gratifying the taste of the citizens, they would have been introduced hand in hand with the relaxation of manners. But the fact is, that it was the gods who demanded that they should be exhibited to gratify them. With what justice, then, is the player excommunicated by whom God is worshipped? On what pretext can you at once adore him who exacts, and brand him who acts these plays? This, then, is the controversy in which the Greeks and Romans are engaged. The Greeks think they justly honour players, because they worship the gods who demand plays: the Romans, on the other hand, do not suffer an actor to disgrace by his name his own plebeian tribe, far less the senatorial order. And the whole of this discussion may be summed up in the following syllogism. The Greeks give us the major premiss: If such gods are to be worshipped, then certainly such men may be honoured. The Romans add the minor: But such men must by no means be honoured. The Christians draw the conclusion: Therefore such gods must by no means be worshipped.
14. That Plato, who excluded poets from a well-ordered city, was better than these gods who desire to be honoured by theatrical plays.
--
This philosopher, Plato, has been elevated by Labeo to the rank of a demigod, and set thus upon a level with such as Hercules and Romulus. Labeo ranks demigods higher than heroes, but both he counts among the deities. But I have no doubt that he thinks this man whom he reckons a demigod worthy of greater respect not only than the heroes, but also than the gods themselves. The laws of the Romans and the speculations of Plato have this resemblance, that the latter pronounces a wholesale condemnation of poetical fictions, while the former restrain the licence of satire, at least so far as men are the objects of it. Plato will not suffer poets even to dwell in his city: the laws of Rome prohibit actors from being enrolled as citizens; and if they had not feared to offend the gods who had asked the services of the players, they would in all likelihood have banished them altogether. It is obvious, therefore, that the Romans could not receive, nor reasonably expect to receive, laws for the regulation of their conduct from their gods, since the laws they themselves enacted far surpassed and put to shame the morality of the gods. The gods demand stage-plays in their own honour; the Romans exclude the players from all civic honours:[101] the former commanded that they should be celebrated by the scenic representation[Pg 65] of their own disgrace; the latter commanded that no poet should dare to blemish the reputation of any citizen. But that demigod Plato resisted the lust of such gods as these, and showed the Romans what their genius had left incomplete; for he absolutely excluded poets from his ideal state, whether they composed fictions with no regard to truth, or set the worst possible examples before wretched men under the guise of divine actions. We for our part, indeed, reckon Plato neither a god nor a demigod; we would not even compare him to any of God's holy angels, nor to the truth-speaking prophets, nor to any of the apostles or martyrs of Christ, nay, not to any faithful Christian man. The reason of this opinion of ours we will, God prospering us, render in its own place. Nevertheless, since they wish him to be considered a demigod, we think he certainly is more entitled to that rank, and is every way superior, if not to Hercules and Romulus (though no historian could ever narrate nor any poet sing of him that he had killed his brother, or committed any crime), yet certainly to Priapus, or a Cynocephalus,[102] or the Fever,[103]divinities whom the Romans have partly received from foreigners, and partly consecrated by home-grown rites. How, then, could gods such as these be expected to promulgate good and wholesome laws, either for the prevention of moral and social evils, or for their eradication where they had already sprung up?gods who used their influence even to sow and cherish profligacy, by appointing that deeds truly or falsely ascribed to them should be published to the people by means of theatrical exhibitions, and by thus gratuitously fanning the flame of human lust with the breath of a seemingly divine approbation. In vain does Cicero, speaking of poets, exclaim against this state of things in these words: "When the plaudits and acclamation of the people, who sit as infallible judges, are won by the poets, what darkness benights the mind, what fears invade, what passions inflame it!"[104]
[Pg 66]
--
21. Cicero's opinion of the Roman republic.
But if our adversaries do not care how foully and disgracefully the Roman republic be stained by corrupt practices, so long only as it holds together and continues in being, and if they therefore pooh-pooh the testimony of Sallust to its "utterly wicked and profligate" condition, what will they make of Cicero's statement, that even in his time it had become entirely extinct, and that there remained extant no Roman republic at all? He introduces Scipio (the Scipio who had destroyed Carthage) discussing the republic, at a time when already there were presentiments of its speedy ruin by that corruption which Sallust describes. In fact, at the time when the discussion took place, one of the Gracchi, who, according to Sallust, was the first great instigator of seditions, had already been put to death. His death, indeed, is mentioned in the same book. Now Scipio, in the end of the second book, says: "As, among the different sounds which proceed from lyres, flutes, and the human voice, there must be maintained a certain harmony which a cultivated ear cannot endure to hear disturbed or jarring, but which may be elicited in full and absolute concord by the modulation even of voices very unlike one another; so, where reason is allowed to modulate the diverse elements of the state, there is obtained a perfect concord from the upper, lower, and middle classes as from various sounds; and what musicians call harmony in singing, is concord in matters of state, which is the strictest bond and best security of any republic, and which by no ingenuity can be retained where justice has become extinct." Then, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that[Pg 75] the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavoured by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Llius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day[Pg 76] before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be. For it could not be the people's weal when a tyrant factiously lorded it over the state; neither would the people be any longer a people if it were unjust, since it would no longer answer the definition of a people"an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests."
When, therefore, the Roman republic was such as Sallust described it, it was not "utterly wicked and profligate," as he says, but had altogether ceased to exist, if we are to admit the reasoning of that debate maintained on the subject of the republic by its best representatives. Tully himself, too, speaking not in the person of Scipio or any one else, but uttering his own sentiments, uses the following language in the beginning of the fifth book, after quoting a line from the poet Ennius, in which he said, "Rome's severe morality and her citizens are her safeguard." "This verse," says Cicero, "seems to me to have all the sententious truthfulness of an oracle. For neither would the citizens have availed without the morality of the community, nor would the morality of the commons without outstanding men have availed either to establish or so long to maintain in vigour so grand a republic with so wide and just an empire. Accordingly, before our day, the hereditary usages formed our foremost men, and they on their part retained the usages and institutions of their fathers. But our age, receiving the republic as a chef-d'uvre of another age which has already begun to grow old, has not merely neglected to restore the colours of the original, but has not even been at the pains to preserve so much as the general outline and most outstanding features. For what survives of that primitive morality which the poet called Rome's safeguard? It is so obsolete and forgotten, that, far from practising it, one does not even know it. And of the citizens what shall I say? Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality."
[Pg 77]
This is the confession of Cicero, long indeed after the death of Africanus, whom he introduced as an interlocutor in his work De Republica, but still before the coming of Christ. Yet, if the disasters he bewails had been lamented after the Christian religion had been diffused, and had begun to prevail, is there a man of our adversaries who would not have thought that they were to be imputed to the Christians? Why, then, did their gods not take steps then to prevent the decay and extinction of that republic, over the loss of which Cicero, long before Christ had come in the flesh, sings so lugubrious a dirge? Its admirers have need to inquire whether, even in the days of primitive men and morals, true justice flourished in it; or was it not perhaps even then, to use the casual expression of Cicero, rather a coloured painting than the living reality? But, if God will, we shall consider this elsewhere. For I mean in its own place to show thataccording to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debateRome never was a republic, because true justice had never a place in it. But accepting the more feasible definitions of a republic, I grant there was a republic of a certain kind, and certainly much better administered by the more ancient Romans than by their modern representatives. But the fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ, if at least any choose to call this a republic; and indeed we cannot deny that it is the people's weal. But if perchance this name, which has become familiar in other connections, be considered alien to our common parlance, we may at all events say that in this city is true justice; the city of which Holy Scripture says, "Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God."
22. That the Roman gods never took any steps to prevent the republic from being ruined by immorality.
BOOK III. - The external calamities of Rome, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
And what was the end of the kings themselves? Of Romulus, a flattering legend tells us that he was assumed into heaven. But certain Roman historians relate that he was torn in pieces by the senate for his ferocity, and that a man, Julius Proculus, was suborned to give out that Romulus had appeared to him, and through him commanded the Roman people to worship him as a god; and that in this way the people, who were beginning to resent the action of the senate, were quieted and pacified. For an eclipse of the sun had also happened; and this was attri buted to the divine power of Romulus by the ignorant multitude, who did not know that it was brought about by the fixed laws of the sun's course: though this grief of the sun might rather have been considered proof that Romulus had been slain, and that the crime was indicated by this deprivation of the sun's light; as, in truth, was the case when the Lord was crucified through the[Pg 109] cruelty and impiety of the Jews. For it is sufficiently demonstrated that this latter obscuration of the sun did not occur by the natural laws of the heavenly bodies, because it was then the Jewish passover, which is held only at full moon, whereas natural eclipses of the sun happen only at the last quarter of the moon. Cicero, too, shows plainly enough that the apotheosis of Romulus was imaginary rather than real, when, even while he is praising him in one of Scipio's remarks in the De Republica, he says: "Such a reputation had he acquired, that when he suddenly disappeared during an eclipse of the sun, he was supposed to have been assumed into the number of the gods, which could be supposed of no mortal who had not the highest reputation for virtue."[142] By these words, "he suddenly disappeared," we are to understand that he was mysteriously made away with by the violence either of the tempest or of a murderous assault. For their other writers speak not only of an eclipse, but of a sudden storm also, which certainly either afforded opportunity for the crime, or itself made an end of Romulus. And of Tullus Hostilius, who was the third king of Rome, and who was himself destroyed by lightning, Cicero in the same book says, that "he was not supposed to have been deified by this death, possibly because the Romans were unwilling to vulgarize the promotion they were assured or persuaded of in the case of Romulus, lest they should bring it into contempt by gratuitously assigning it to all and sundry." In one of his invectives,[143] too, he says, in round terms, "The founder of this city, Romulus, we have raised to immortality and divinity by kindly celebrating his services;" implying that his deification was not real, but reputed, and called so by courtesy on account of his virtues. In the dialogue Hortensius, too, while speaking of the regular eclipses of the sun, he says that they "produce the same darkness as covered the death of Romulus, which happened during an eclipse of the sun." Here you see he does not at all shrink from speaking of his "death," for Cicero was more of a reasoner than an eulogist.
The other kings of Rome, too, with the exception of Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius, who died natural deaths, what[Pg 110] horrible ends they had! Tullus Hostilius, the conqueror and destroyer of Alba, was, as I said, himself and all his house consumed by lightning. Priscus Tarquinius was slain by his predecessor's sons. Servius Tullius was foully murdered by his son-in-law Tarquinius Superbus, who succeeded him on the throne. Nor did so flagrant a parricide committed against Rome's best king drive from their altars and shrines those gods who were said to have been moved by Paris' adultery to treat poor Troy in this style, and abandon it to the fire and sword of the Greeks. Nay, the very Tarquin who had murdered, was allowed to succeed his father-in-law. And this infamous parricide, during the reign he had secured by murder, was allowed to triumph in many victorious wars, and to build the Capitol from their spoils; the gods meanwhile not departing, but abiding, and abetting, and suffering their king Jupiter to preside and reign over them in that very splendid Capitol, the work of a parricide. For he did not build the Capitol in the days of his innocence, and then suffer banishment for subsequent crimes; but to that reign during which he built the Capitol, he won his way by unnatural crime. And when he was afterwards banished by the Romans, and forbidden the city, it was not for his own but his son's wickedness in the affair of Lucretia,a crime perpetrated not only without his cognizance, but in his absence. For at that time he was besieging Ardea, and fighting Rome's battles; and we cannot say what he would have done had he been aware of his son's crime. Notwithstanding, though his opinion was neither inquired into nor ascertained, the people stripped him of royalty; and when he returned to Rome with his army, it was admitted, but he was excluded, abandoned by his troops, and the gates shut in his face. And yet, after he had appealed to the neighbouring states, and tormented the Romans with calamitous but unsuccessful wars, and when he was deserted by the ally on whom he most depended, despairing of regaining the kingdom, he lived a retired and quiet life for fourteen years, as it is reported, in Tusculum, a Roman town; where he grew old in his wife's company, and at last terminated his days in a much more desirable fashion than his father-in-law, who had perished by the hand of his son-in-law; his own daughter[Pg 111] abetting, if report be true. And this Tarquin the Romans called, not the Cruel, nor the Infamous, but the Proud; their own pride perhaps resenting his tyrannical airs. So little did they make of his murdering their best king, his own father-in-law, that they elected him their own king. I wonder if it was not even more criminal in them to reward so bountifully so great a criminal. And yet there was no word of the gods abandoning the altars; unless, perhaps, some one will say in defence of the gods, that they remained at Rome for the purpose of punishing the Romans, rather than of aiding and profiting them, seducing them by empty victories, and wearing them out by severe wars. Such was the life of the Romans under the kings during the much-praised epoch of the state which extends to the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus in the 243d year, during which all those victories, which were bought with so much blood and such disasters, hardly pushed Rome's dominion twenty miles from the city; a territory which would by no means bear comparison with that of any petty Gtulian state.
--
At that time, indeed, so many wars were everywhere engaged in, that through scarcity of soldiers they enrolled for military service the proletarii, who received this name, because, being too poor to equip for military service, they had leisure to beget offspring.[148] Pyrrhus, king of Greece, and at that time of wide-spread renown, was invited by the Tarentines to enlist himself against Rome. It was to him that Apollo, when consulted regarding the issue of his enterprise, uttered with some pleasantry so ambiguous an oracle, that whichever alternative happened, the god himself should be counted divine. For he so worded the oracle,[149] that whether Pyrrhus was conquered by the Romans, or the Romans by Pyrrhus, the soothsaying god would securely await the issue. And then what frightful massacres of both armies ensued! Yet Pyrrhus remained conqueror, and would have been able now to proclaim Apollo a true diviner, as he understood the oracle, had not the Romans been the conquerors in the next engagement. And while such disastrous wars were being waged, a terrible disease broke out among the women. For the pregnant women died before delivery. And sculapius, I fancy, excused himself in this matter on the ground that he professed to be arch-physician, not midwife. Cattle, too, similarly perished;[Pg 117] so that it was believed that the whole race of animals was destined to become extinct. Then what shall I say of that memorable winter in which the weather was so incredibly severe, that in the Forum frightfully deep snow lay for forty days together, and the Tiber was frozen? Had such things happened in our time, what accusations we should have heard from our enemies! And that other great pestilence, which raged so long and carried off so many; what shall I say of it? Spite of all the drugs of sculapius, it only grew worse in its second year, till at last recourse was had to the Sibylline books,a kind of oracle which, as Cicero says in his De Divinatione, owes significance to its interpreters, who make doubtful conjectures as they can or as they wish. In this instance, the cause of the plague was said to be that so many temples had been used as private residences. And thus sculapius for the present escaped the charge of either ignominious negligence or want of skill. But why were so many allowed to occupy sacred tenements without interference, unless because supplication had long been addressed in vain to such a crowd of gods, and so by degrees the sacred places were deserted of worshippers, and being thus vacant, could without offence be put at least to some human uses? And the temples, which were at that time laboriously recognised and restored that the plague might be stayed, fell afterwards into disuse, and were again devoted to the same human uses. Had they not thus lapsed into obscurity, it could not have been pointed to as proof of Varro's great erudition, that in his work on sacred places he cites so many that were unknown. Meanwhile, the restoration of the temples procured no cure of the plague, but only a fine excuse for the gods.
18. The disasters suffered by the Romans in the Punic wars, which were not mitigated by the protection of the gods.
--
But when Marius, stained with the blood of his fellow-citizens, whom the rage of party had sacrificed, was in his turn vanquished and driven from the city, it had scarcely time to brea the freely, when, to use the words of Cicero, "Cinna and Marius together returned and took possession of it. Then, indeed, the foremost men in the state were put to death, its lights quenched. Sylla afterwards avenged this cruel victory;[Pg 129] but we need not say with what loss of life, and with what ruin to the republic."[152] For of this vengeance, which was more destructive than if the crimes which it punished had been committed with impunity, Lucan says: "The cure was excessive, and too closely resembled the disease. The guilty perished, but when none but the guilty survived: and then private hatred and anger, unbridled by law, were allowed free indulgence."[153] In that war between Marius and Sylla, besides those who fell in the field of battle, the city, too, was filled with corpses in its streets, squares, markets, theatres, and temples; so that it is not easy to reckon whether the victors slew more before or after victory, that they might be, or because they were, victors. As soon as Marius triumphed, and returned from exile, besides the butcheries everywhere perpetrated, the head of the consul Octavius was exposed on the rostrum; Csar and Fimbria were assassinated in their own houses; the two Crassi, father and son, were murdered in one another's sight; Bebius and Numitorius were disembowelled by being dragged with hooks; Catulus escaped the hands of his enemies by drinking poison; Merula, the flamen of Jupiter, cut his veins and made a libation of his own blood to his god. Moreover, every one whose salutation Marius did not answer by giving his hand, was at once cut down before his face.
28. Of the victory of Sylla, the avenger of the cruelties of Marius.
--
With what effrontery, then, with what assurance, with what impudence, with what folly, or rather insanity, do they refuse to impute these disasters to their own gods, and impute the present to our Christ! These bloody civil wars, more distressing, by the avowal of their own historians, than any foreign wars, and which were pronounced to be not merely calamitous, but absolutely ruinous to the republic, began long before the coming of Christ, and gave birth to one another; so that a concatenation of unjustifiable causes led from the wars of Marius and Sylla to those of Sertorius and Catiline, of whom the one was proscribed, the other brought up by Sylla; from this to the war of Lepidus and Catulus, of whom the one wished to rescind, the other to defend the acts of Sylla; from this to the war of[Pg 132] Pompey and Csar, of whom Pompey had been a partisan of Sylla, whose power he equalled or even surpassed, while Csar condemned Pompey's power because it was not his own, and yet exceeded it when Pompey was defeated and slain. From him the chain of civil wars extended to the second Csar, afterwards called Augustus, and in whose reign Christ was born. For even Augustus himself waged many civil wars; and in these wars many of the foremost men perished, among them that skilful manipulator of the republic, Cicero. Caius [Julius] Csar, when he had conquered Pompey, though he used his victory with clemency, and granted to men of the opposite faction both life and honours, was suspected of aiming at royalty, and was assassinated in the curia by a party of noble senators, who had conspired to defend the liberty of the republic. His power was then coveted by Antony, a man of very different character, polluted and debased by every kind of vice, who was strenuously resisted by Cicero on the same plea of defending the liberty of the republic. At this juncture that other Csar, the adopted son of Caius, and afterwards, as I said, known by the name of Augustus, had made his d but as a young man of remarkable genius. This youthful Csar was favoured by Cicero, in order that his influence might counteract that of Antony; for he hoped that Csar would overthrow and blast the power of Antony, and establish a free state,so blind and unaware of the future was he: for that very young man, whose advancement and influence he was fostering, allowed Cicero to be killed as the seal of an alliance with Antony, and subjected to his own rule the very liberty of the republic in defence of which he had made so many orations.
31. That it is effrontery to impute the present troubles to Christ and the prohibition of polytheistic worship, since even when the gods were worshipped such calamities befell the people.
Let those who have no gratitude to Christ for His great benefits, blame their own gods for these heavy disasters. For certainly when these occurred the altars of the gods were kept blazing, and there rose the mingled fragrance of "Saban incense and fresh garlands;"[154] the priests were clothed with honour, the shrines were maintained in splendour; sacrifices,[Pg 133] games, sacred ecstasies, were common in the temples; while the blood of the citizens was being so freely shed, not only in remote places, but among the very altars of the gods. Cicero did not choose to seek sanctuary in a temple, because Mucius had sought it there in vain. But they who most unpardonably calumniate this Christian era, are the very men who either themselves fled for asylum to the places specially dedicated to Christ, or were led there by the barbarians that they might be safe. In short, not to recapitulate the many instances I have cited, and not to add to their number others which it were tedious to enumerate, this one thing I am persuaded of, and this every impartial judgment will readily acknowledge, that if the human race had received Christianity before the Punic wars, and if the same desolating calamities which these wars brought upon Europe and Africa had followed the introduction of Christianity, there is no one of those who now accuse us who would not have attri buted them to our religion. How intolerable would their accusations have been, at least so far as the Romans are concerned, if the Christian religion had been received and diffused prior to the invasion of the Gauls, or to the ruinous floods and fires which desolated Rome, or to those most calamitous of all events, the civil wars! And those other disasters, which were of so strange a nature that they were reckoned prodigies, had they happened since the Christian era, to whom but to the Christians would they have imputed these as crimes? I do not speak of those things which were rather surprising than hurtful,oxen speaking, unborn infants articulating some words in their mothers' wombs, serpents flying, hens and women being changed into the other sex; and other similar prodigies which, whether true or false, are recorded not in their imaginative, but in their historical works, and which do not injure, but only astonish men. But when it rained earth, when it rained chalk, when it rained stonesnot hailstones, but real stonesthis certainly was calculated to do serious damage. We have read in their books that the fires of Etna, pouring down from the top of the mountain to the neighbouring shore, caused the sea to boil, so that rocks were burnt up, and the pitch of ships began to run,a phenomenon incredibly surprising, but at the same time no[Pg 134] less hurtful. By the same violent heat, they relate that on another occasion Sicily was filled with cinders, so that the houses of the city Catina were destroyed and buried under them,a calamity which moved the Romans to pity them, and remit their tri bute for that year. One may also read that Africa, which had by that time become a province of Rome, was visited by a prodigious multitude of locusts, which, after consuming the fruit and foliage of the trees, were driven into the sea in one vast and measureless cloud; so that when they were drowned and cast upon the shore the air was polluted, and so serious a pestilence produced that in the kingdom of Masinissa alone they say there perished 800,000 persons, besides a much greater number in the neighbouring districts. At Utica they assure us that, of 30,000 soldiers then garrisoning it, there survived only ten. Yet which of these disasters, suppose they happened now, would not be attri buted to the Christian religion by those who thus thoughtlessly accuse us, and whom we are compelled to answer? And yet to their own gods they attri bute none of these things, though they worship them for the sake of escaping lesser calamities of the same kind, and do not reflect that they who formerly worshipped them were not preserved from these serious disasters.
[Pg 135]
BOOK II. -- PART II. THE ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
Nor is there any need of proselytizing. As remarked by the wise Cicero, "Time destroys the
speculations of man, but it confirms the judgment of nature." Let us bide our time. Meanwhile, it is
BOOK IV. - That empire was given to Rome not by the gods, but by the One True God, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
"But," says Cicero, "Homer invented these things, and transferred things human to the gods: I would rather transfer things divine to us."[172] The poet, by ascribing such crimes to the gods, has justly displeased the grave man. Why, then, are the scenic plays, where these crimes are habitually spoken of, acted, exhibited, in honour of the gods, reckoned among things divine by the most learned men? Cicero should exclaim, not against the inventions of the poets, but against the customs of the ancients. Would not they have exclaimed in reply, What have we done? The gods themselves have loudly demanded that these plays should be exhibited in their honour, have fiercely exacted them, have menaced destruction unless this was performed, have avenged its neglect with great severity, and have manifested pleasure at the reparation of such neglect. Among their virtuous and wonderful deeds the following is related. It was announced in a dream to Titus Latinius, a Roman rustic, that he should go to the senate and tell them to recommence the games of Rome, because on the first day of their celebration a condemned criminal had been led to punishment in sight of the people, an incident so sad as to disturb the gods who were seeking amusement from the games. And when the peasant who had received this intimation was afraid on the following day to deliver it to the senate, it was renewed next night in a severer form: he lost his son, because of his neglect. On the third night he was warned that a yet graver punishment was impending, if he should still refuse obedience. When even thus he did not dare to obey, he fell into a virulent and horrible disease. But then, on the advice of his friends, he gave information to the magistrates, and was carried in a litter into the senate, and having, on declaring his dream, immediately recovered strength, went away on his own feet whole.[173] The senate, amazed at so great a miracle, decreed that the[Pg 166] games should be renewed at fourfold cost. What sensible man does not see that men, being put upon by malignant demons, from whose domination nothing save the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord sets free, have been compelled by force to exhibit to such gods as these, plays which, if well advised, they should condemn as shameful? Certain it is that in these plays the poetic crimes of the gods are celebrated, yet they are plays which were re-established by decree of the senate, under compulsion of the gods. In these plays the most shameless actors celebrated Jupiter as the corrupter of chastity, and thus gave him pleasure. If that was a fiction, he would have been moved to anger; but if he was delighted with the representation of his crimes, even although fabulous, then, when he happened to be worshipped, who but the devil could be served? Is it so that he could found, extend, and preserve the Roman empire, who was more vile than any Roman man whatever, to whom such things were displeasing? Could he give felicity who was so infelicitously worshipped, and who, unless he should be thus worshipped, was yet more infelicitously provoked to anger?
27. Concerning the three kinds of gods about which the pontiff Scvola has discoursed.
BOOK IX. - Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good and others evil, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Among the philosophers there are two opinions about these mental emotions, which the Greeks call , while some of our own writers, as Cicero, call them perturbations,[331] some[Pg 356] affections, and some, to render the Greek word more accurately, passions. Some say that even the wise man is subject to these perturbations, though moderated and controlled by reason, which imposes laws upon them, and so restrains them within necessary bounds. This is the opinion of the Platonists and Aristotelians; for Aristotle was Plato's disciple, and the founder of the Peripatetic school. But others, as the Stoics, are of opinion that the wise man is not subject to these perturbations. But Cicero, in his book De Finibus, shows that the Stoics are here at variance with the Platonists and Peripatetics rather in words than in reality; for the Stoics decline to apply the term "goods" to external and bodily advantages,[332] because they reckon that the only good is virtue, the art of living well, and this exists only in the mind. The other philosophers, again, use the simple and customary phraseology, and do not scruple to call these things goods, though in comparison of virtue, which guides our life, they are little and of small esteem. And thus it is obvious that, whether these outward things are called goods or advantages, they are held in the same estimation by both parties, and that in this matter the Stoics are pleasing themselves merely with a novel phraseology. It seems, then, to me that in this question, whether the wise man is subject to mental passions, or wholly free from them, the controversy is one of words rather than of things; for I think that, if the reality and not the mere sound of the words is considered, the Stoics hold precisely the same opinion as the Platonists and Peripatetics. For, omitting for brevity's sake other proofs which I might adduce in support of this opinion, I will state but one which I consider conclusive. Aulus Gellius, a man of extensive erudition, and gifted with an eloquent and graceful style, relates, in his work entitled Noctes Attic,[333] that he once made a voyage with an eminent Stoic philosopher; and he goes on to relate fully and with gusto what I shall barely state, that when the ship was tossed and in danger from a violent storm, the philosopher[Pg 357] grew pale with terror. This was noticed by those on board, who, though themselves threatened with death, were curious to see whether a philosopher would be agitated like other men. When the tempest had passed over, and as soon as their security gave them freedom to resume their talk, one of the passengers, a rich and luxurious Asiatic, begins to banter the philosopher, and rally him because he had even become pale with fear, while he himself had been unmoved by the impending destruction. But the philosopher availed himself of the reply of Aristippus the Socratic, who, on finding himself similarly bantered by a man of the same character, answered, "You had no cause for anxiety for the soul of a profligate debauchee, but I had reason to be alarmed for the soul of Aristippus." The rich man being thus disposed of, Aulus Gellius asked the philosopher, in the interests of science and not to annoy him, what was the reason of his fear? And he, willing to instruct a man so zealous in the pursuit of knowledge, at once took from his wallet a book of Epictetus the Stoic,[334] in which doctrines were advanced which precisely harmonized with those of Zeno and Chrysippus, the founders of the Stoical school. Aulus Gellius says that he read in this book that the Stoics maintain that there are certain impressions made on the soul by external objects which they call phantasi, and that it is not in the power of the soul to determine whether or when it shall be invaded by these. When these impressions are made by alarming and formidable objects, it must needs be that they move the soul even of the wise man, so that for a little he trembles with fear, or is depressed by sadness, these impressions anticipating the work of reason and self-control; but this does not imply that the mind accepts these evil impressions, or approves or consents to them. For this consent is, they think, in a man's power; there being this difference between the mind of the wise man and that of the fool, that the fool's mind yields to these passions and consents to them, while that of the wise man, though it cannot help being invaded by them, yet retains with unshaken firmness a true and steady persuasion of those things which it ought rationally to desire or avoid. This account of what[Pg 358] Aulus Gellius relates that he read in the book of Epictetus about the sentiments and doctrines of the Stoics I have given as well as I could, not, perhaps, with his choice language, but with greater brevity, and, I think, with greater clearness. And if this be true, then there is no difference, or next to none, between the opinion of the Stoics and that of the other philosophers regarding mental passions and perturbations, for both parties agree in maintaining that the mind and reason of the wise man are not subject to these. And perhaps what the Stoics mean by asserting this, is that the wisdom which characterizes the wise man is clouded by no error and sullied by no taint, but, with this reservation that his wisdom remains undisturbed, he is exposed to the impressions which the goods and ills of this life (or, as they prefer to call them, the advantages or disadvantages) make upon them. For we need not say that if that philosopher had thought nothing of those things which he thought he was forthwith to lose, life and bodily safety, he would not have been so terrified by his danger as to betray his fear by the pallor of his cheek. Nevertheless, he might suffer this mental disturbance, and yet maintain the fixed persuasion that life and bodily safety, which the violence of the tempest threatened to destroy, are not those good things which make their possessors good, as the possession of righteousness does. But in so far as they persist that we must call them not goods but advantages, they quarrel about words and neglect things. For what difference does it make whether goods or advantages be the better name, while the Stoic no less than the Peripatetic is alarmed at the prospect of losing them, and while, though they name them differently, they hold them in like esteem? Both parties assure us that, if urged to the commission of some immorality or crime by the threatened loss of these goods or advantages, they would prefer to lose such things as preserve bodily comfort and security rather than commit such things as violate righteousness. And thus the mind in which this resolution is well grounded suffers no perturbations to prevail with it in opposition to reason, even though they assail the weaker parts of the soul; and not only so, but it rules over them, and, while it refuses its consent and resists them, administers[Pg 359] a reign of virtue. Such a character is ascribed to neas by Virgil when he says,
"He stands immovable by tears, Nor tenderest words with pity hears."[335]
--
We need not at present give a careful and copious exposition of the doctrine of Scripture, the sum of Christian knowledge, regarding these passions. It subjects the mind itself to God, that He may rule and aid it, and the passions, again, to the mind, to moderate and bridle them, and turn them to righteous uses. In our ethics, we do not so much inquire whether a pious soul is angry, as why he is angry; not whether he is sad, but what is the cause of his sadness; not whether he fears, but what he fears. For I am not aware that any right thinking person would find fault with anger at a wrongdoer which seeks his amendment, or with sadness which intends relief to the suffering, or with fear lest one in danger be destroyed. The Stoics, indeed, are accustomed to condemn compassion.[336] But how much more honourable had it been in that Stoic we have been telling of, had he been disturbed by compassion prompting him to relieve a fellow-creature, than to be disturbed by the fear of shipwreck! Far better, and more humane, and more consonant with pious sentiments, are the words of Cicero in praise of Csar, when he says, "Among your virtues none is more admirable and agreeable than your compassion."[337] And what is compassion but a fellow-feeling for another's misery, which prompts us to help him if we can? And this emotion is obedient to reason, when compassion is shown without violating right, as when the poor are relieved, or the penitent forgiven. Cicero, who knew how to use language, did not hesitate to call this a virtue, which the Stoics are not ashamed to reckon among the vices, although, as the book of that eminent Stoic, Epictetus, quoting the opinions of Zeno and Chrysippus, the founders of the school, has taught us, they admit that passions of this kind invade the soul of the wise man, whom they would have to be free from all vice.[Pg 360] Whence it follows that these very passions are not judged by them to be vices, since they assail the wise man without forcing him to act against reason and virtue; and that, therefore, the opinion of the Peripatetics or Platonists and of the Stoics is one and the same. But, as Cicero says,[338] mere logomachy is the bane of these pitiful Greeks, who thirst for contention rather than for truth. However, it may justly be asked, whether our subjection to these affections, even while we follow virtue, is a part of the infirmity of this life? For the holy angels feel no anger while they punish those whom the eternal law of God consigns to punishment, no fellow-feeling with misery while they relieve the miserable, no fear while they aid those who are in danger; and yet ordinary language ascribes to them also these mental emotions, because, though they have none of our weakness, their acts resemble the actions to which these emotions move us; and thus even God Himself is said in Scripture to be angry, and yet without any perturbation. For this word is used of the effect of His vengeance, not of the disturbing mental affection.
6. Of the passions which, according to Apuleius, agitate the demons who are supposed by him to mediate between gods and men.
Book of Imaginary Beings (text), #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
Aristotles, preserved for us by Cicero in the first book of his
On the Nature of the Gods, we find the reason why men
BOOK VIII. - Some account of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and a refutation of the doctrine of Apuleius that the demons should be worshipped as mediators between gods and men, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
If, then, Plato defined the wise man as one who imitates, knows, loves this God, and who is rendered blessed through fellowship with Him in His own blessedness, why discuss with the other philosophers? It is evident that none come nearer to us than the Platonists. To them, therefore, let that fabulous theology give place which delights the minds of men with the crimes of the gods; and that civil theology also, in which impure demons, under the name of gods, have seduced the peoples of the earth given up to earthly pleasures, desiring to be honoured by the errors of men, and, by filling the minds of their worshippers with impure desires, exciting them to make the representation of their crimes one of the rites of their worship, whilst they themselves found in the spectators of these exhibitions a most pleasing spectacle,a theology in which, whatever was honourable in the temple, was defiled by its mixture with the obscenity of the theatre, and whatever was base in the theatre was vindicated by the abominations of the temples. To these philosophers also the interpretations of Varro must give place, in which he explains the sacred rites as having reference to heaven and earth, and to the seeds and operations of perishable things; for, in the first place, those rites have not the signification which he would have men believe is attached to them, and therefore truth does not follow him in his attempt so to interpret them; and even if they had this signification, still those things ought not to be worshipped by the rational soul as its god which are placed below it in the scale of nature, nor ought the soul to prefer to itself as gods things to which the true God has given it the preference. The same must be said of those writings pertaining to the sacred rites, which Numa Pompilius took care to conceal by causing them to be buried along with himself, and which,[Pg 313] when they were afterwards turned up by the plough, were burned by order of the senate. And, to treat Numa with all honour, let us mention as belonging to the same rank as these writings that which Alexander of Macedon wrote to his mother as communicated to him by Leo, an Egyptian high priest. In this letter not only Picus and Faunus, and neas and Romulus, or even Hercules and sculapius and Liber, born of Semele, and the twin sons of Tyndareus, or any other mortals who have been deified, but even the principal gods themselves,[294] to whom Cicero, in his Tusculan questions,[295] alludes without mentioning their names, Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Vulcan, Vesta, and many others whom Varro attempts to identify with the parts or the elements of the world, are shown to have been men. There is, as we have said, a similarity between this case and that of Numa; for, the priest being afraid because he had revealed a mystery, earnestly begged of Alexander to comm and his mother to burn the letter which conveyed these communications to her. Let these two theologies, then, the fabulous and the civil, give place to the Platonic philosophers, who have recognised the true God as the author of all things, the source of the light of truth, and the bountiful bestower of all blessedness. And not these only, but to these great acknowledgers of so great a God, those philosophers must yield who, having their mind enslaved to their body, supposed the principles of all things to be material; as Thales, who held that the first principle of all things was water; Anaximenes, that it was air; the Stoics, that it was fire; Epicurus, who affirmed that it consisted of atoms, that is to say, of minute corpuscules; and many others whom it is needless to enumerate, but who believed that bodies, simple or compound, animate or inanimate, but nevertheless bodies, were the cause and principle of all things. For some of themas, for instance, the Epicureansbelieved that living things could originate from things without life; others held that all things living or without life spring from a living principle, but that, nevertheless, all things, being material, spring from a material principle. For the Stoics thought that fire, that is, one of the four material elements of which this visible[Pg 314] world is composed, was both living and intelligent, the maker of the world and of all things contained in it,that it was in fact God. These and others like them have only been able to suppose that which their hearts enslaved to sense have vainly suggested to them. And yet they have within themselves something which they could not see: they represented to themselves inwardly things which they had seen without, even when they were not seeing them, but only thinking of them. But this representation in thought is no longer a body, but only the similitude of a body; and that faculty of the mind by which this similitude of a body is seen is neither a body nor the similitude of a body; and the faculty which judges whether the representation is beautiful or ugly is without doubt superior to the object judged of. This principle is the understanding of man, the rational soul; and it is certainly not a body, since that similitude of a body which it beholds and judges of is itself not a body. The soul is neither earth, nor water, nor air, nor fire, of which four bodies, called the four elements, we see that this world is composed. And if the soul is not a body, how should God, its Creator, be a body? Let all those philosophers, then, give place, as we have said, to the Platonists, and those also who have been ashamed to say that God is a body, but yet have thought that our souls are of the same nature as God. They have not been staggered by the great changeableness of the soul,an attri bute which it would be impious to ascribe to the divine nature,but they say it is the body which changes the soul, for in itself it is unchangeable. As well might they say, "Flesh is wounded by some body, for in itself it is invulnerable." In a word, that which is unchangeable can be changed by nothing, so that that which can be changed by the body cannot properly be said to be immutable.
6. Concerning the meaning of the Platonists in that part of philosophy called physical.
--
has reference to the fact that the fruits of one field are said to be transferred to another by these arts which this pestiferous and accursed doctrine teaches. Does not Cicero inform us that, among the laws of the Twelve Tables, that is, the most ancient laws of the Romans, there was a law written which appointed a punishment to be inflicted on him who should do this?[312] Lastly, was it before Christian judges that Apuleius himself was accused of magic arts?[313] Had he known these arts to be divine and pious, and congruous with the works of divine power, he ought not only to have confessed, but also to have professed them, rather blaming the laws by which these things were prohibited and pronounced worthy of condemnation, while they ought to have been held worthy of admiration and respect.[Pg 334] For by so doing, either he would have persuaded the judges to adopt his own opinion, or, if they had shown their partiality for unjust laws, and condemned him to death notwithstanding his praising and commending such things, the demons would have bestowed on his soul such rewards as he deserved, who, in order to proclaim and set forth their divine works, had not feared the loss of his human life. As our martyrs, when that religion was charged on them as a crime, by which they knew they were made safe and most glorious throughout eternity, did not choose, by denying it, to escape temporal punishments, but rather by confessing, professing, and proclaiming it, by enduring all things for it with fidelity and fortitude, and by dying for it with pious calmness, put to shame the law by which that religion was prohibited, and caused its revocation. But there is extant a most copious and eloquent oration of this Platonic philosopher, in which he defends himself against the charge of practising these arts, affirming that he is wholly a stranger to them, and only wishing to show his innocence by denying such things as cannot be innocently committed. But all the miracles of the magicians, who he thinks are justly deserving of condemnation, are performed according to the teaching and by the power of demons. Why, then, does he think that they ought to be honoured? For he asserts that they are necessary, in order to present our prayers to the gods, and yet their works are such as we must shun if we wish our prayers to reach the true God. Again, I ask, what kind of prayers of men does he suppose are presented to the good gods by the demons? If magical prayers, they will have none such; if lawful prayers, they will not receive them through such beings. But if a sinner who is penitent pour out prayers, especially if he has committed any crime of sorcery, does he receive pardon through the intercession of those demons by whose instigation and help he has fallen into the sin he mourns? or do the demons themselves, in order that they may merit pardon for the penitent, first become penitents because they have deceived them? This no one ever said concerning the demons; for had this been the case, they would never have dared to seek for themselves divine honours. For how should they do so who desired by penitence to obtain the grace of[Pg 335] pardon, seeing that such detestable pride could not exist along with a humility worthy of pardon?
20. Whether we are to believe that the good gods are more willing to have intercourse with demons than with men.
BOOK VI. - Of Varros threefold division of theology, and of the inability of the gods to contri bute anything to the happiness of the future life, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Who has investigated those things more carefully than Marcus Varro? Who has discovered them more learnedly? Who has considered them more attentively? Who has distinguished them more acutely? Who has written about them more diligently and more fully?who, though he is less pleasing in his eloquence, is nevertheless so full of instruction and wisdom, that in all the erudition which we call[Pg 233] secular, but they liberal, he will teach the student of things as much as Cicero delights the student of words. And even Tully himself renders him such testimony, as to say in his Academic books that he had held that disputation which is there carried on with Marcus Varro, "a man," he adds, "unquestionably the acutest of all men, and, without any doubt, the most learned."[230] He does not say the most eloquent or the most fluent, for in reality he was very deficient in this faculty, but he says, "of all men the most acute." And in those books,that is, the Academic,where he contends that all things are to be doubted, he adds of him, "without any doubt the most learned." In truth, he was so certain concerning this thing, that he laid aside that doubt which he is wont to have recourse to in all things, as if, when about to dispute in favour of the doubt of the Academics, he had, with respect to this one thing, forgotten that he was an Academic. But in the first book, when he extols the literary works of the same Varro, he says, "Us straying and wandering in our own city like strangers, thy books, as it were, brought home, that at length we might come to know of who we were and where we were. Thou hast opened up to us the age of the country, the distribution of seasons, the laws of sacred things, and of the priests; thou hast opened up to us domestic and public discipline; thou hast pointed out to us the proper places for religious ceremonies, and hast informed us concerning sacred places. Thou hast shown us the names, kinds, offices, causes of all divine and human things."[231]
This man, then, of so distinguished and excellent acquirements, and, as Terentian briefly says of him in a most elegant verse,
BOOK V. - Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
The following Homeric lines, which Cicero translates into Latin, also favour this opinion:
"Such are the minds of men, as is the light Which Father Jove himself doth pour Illustrious o'er the fruitful earth."[188]
Not that Cicero wishes that a poetical sentiment should have any weight in a question like this; for when he says that the Stoics, when asserting the power of fate, were in the habit of using these verses from Homer, he is not treating concerning the opinion of that poet, but concerning that of those philosophers, since by these verses, which they quote in connection with the controversy which they hold about fate, is most distinctly manifested what it is which they reckon fate, since they call by the name of Jupiter him whom they reckon the supreme god, from whom, they say, hangs the whole chain of fates.
[Pg 190]
9. Concerning the foreknowledge of God and the free will of man, in opposition to the definition of Cicero.
The manner in which Cicero addresses himself to the task of refuting the Stoics, shows that he did not think he could effect anything against them in argument unless he had first demolished divination.[189] And this he attempts to accomplish by denying that there is any knowledge of future things, and maintains with all his might that there is no such knowledge either in God or man, and that there is no prediction of events. Thus he both denies the foreknowledge of God, and attempts by vain arguments, and by opposing to himself certain oracles very easy to be refuted, to overthrow all prophecy, even such as is clearer than the light (though even these oracles are not refuted by him).
But, in refuting these conjectures of the mathematicians, his argument is triumphant, because truly these are such as destroy and refute themselves. Nevertheless, they are far more tolerable who assert the fatal influence of the stars than they who deny the foreknowledge of future events. For, to confess that God exists, and at the same time to deny that He has foreknowledge of future things, is the most manifest folly. This Cicero himself saw, and therefore attempted to assert the doctrine embodied in the words of Scripture, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."[190] That, however, he did not do in his own person, for he saw how odious and offensive such an opinion would be; and, therefore in his book on the nature of the gods,[191] he makes Cotta dispute concerning this against the Stoics, and preferred to give his own opinion in favour of Lucilius Balbus, to whom he assigned the defence of the Stoical position, rather than in favour of Cotta, who maintained that no divinity exists. However, in his book on divination, he in his own person most openly opposes the doctrine of the prescience of future things. But all this he seems to do in order that he may not grant the doctrine of fate, and by so doing destroy free will. For he thinks that, the knowledge of future things being once conceded, fate follows as so necessary a consequence that it cannot be denied.
But, let these perplexing debatings and disputations of the[Pg 191] philosophers go on as they may, we, in order that we may confess the most high and true God Himself, do confess His will, supreme power, and prescience. Neither let us be afraid lest, after all, we do not do by will that which we do by will, because He, whose foreknowledge is infallible, foreknew that we would do it. It was this which Cicero was afraid of, and therefore opposed foreknowledge. The Stoics also maintained that all things do not come to pass by necessity, although they contended that all things happen according to destiny. What is it, then, that Cicero feared in the prescience of future things? Doubtless it was this,that if all future things have been foreknown, they will happen in the order in which they have been foreknown; and if they come to pass in this order, there is a certain order of things foreknown by God; and if a certain order of things, then a certain order of causes, for nothing can happen which is not preceded by some efficient cause. But if there is a certain order of causes according to which everything happens which does happen, then by fate, says he, all things happen which do happen. But if this be so, then is there nothing in our own power, and there is no such thing as freedom of will; and if we grant that, says he, the whole economy of human life is subverted. In vain are laws enacted. In vain are reproaches, praises, chidings, exhortations had recourse to; and there is no justice whatever in the appointment of rewards for the good, and punishments for the wicked. And that consequences so disgraceful, and absurd, and pernicious to humanity may not follow, Cicero chooses to reject the foreknowledge of future things, and shuts up the religious mind to this alternative, to make choice between two things, either that something is in our own power, or that there is foreknowledge,both of which cannot be true; but if the one is affirmed, the other is thereby denied. He therefore, like a truly great and wise man, and one who consulted very much and very skilfully for the good of humanity, of those two chose the freedom of the will, to confirm which he denied the foreknowledge of future things; and thus, wishing to make men free, he makes them sacrilegious. But the religious mind chooses both, confesses both, and maintains both by the faith of piety. But how so? says Cicero; for the[Pg 192] knowledge of future things being granted, there follows a chain of consequences which ends in this, that there can be nothing depending on our own free wills. And further, if there is anything depending on our wills, we must go backwards by the same steps of reasoning till we arrive at the conclusion that there is no foreknowledge of future things. For we go backwards through all the steps in the following order:If there is free will, all things do not happen according to fate; if all things do not happen according to fate, there is not a certain order of causes; and if there is not a certain order of causes, neither is there a certain order of things foreknown by God,for things cannot come to pass except they are preceded by efficient causes,but, if there is no fixed and certain order of causes foreknown by God, all things cannot be said to happen according as He foreknew that they would happen. And further, if it is not true that all things happen just as they have been foreknown by Him, there is not, says he, in God any foreknowledge of future events.
Now, against the sacrilegious and impious darings of reason, we assert both that God knows all things before they come to pass, and that we do by our free will whatsoever we know and feel to be done by us only because we will it. But that all things come to pass by fate, we do not say; nay we affirm that nothing comes to pass by fate; for we demonstrate that the name of fate, as it is wont to be used by those who speak of fate, meaning thereby the position of the stars at the time of each one's conception or birth, is an unmeaning word, for astrology itself is a delusion. But an order of causes in which the highest efficiency is attri buted to the will of God, we neither deny nor do we designate it by the name of fate, unless, perhaps, we may understand fate to mean that which is spoken, deriving it from fari, to speak; for we cannot deny that it is written in the sacred Scriptures, "God hath spoken once; these two things have I heard, that power belongeth unto God. Also unto Thee, O God, belongeth mercy: for Thou wilt render unto every man according to his works."[192] Now the expression, "Once hath He spoken," is to be understood as meaning "immovably,[Pg 193]" that is, unchangeably hath He spoken, inasmuch as He knows unchangeably all things which shall be, and all things which He will do. We might, then, use the word fate in the sense it bears when derived from fari, to speak, had it not already come to be understood in another sense, into which I am unwilling that the hearts of men should unconsciously slide. But it does not follow that, though there is for God a certain order of all causes, there must therefore be nothing depending on the free exercise of our own wills, for our wills themselves are included in that order of causes which is certain to God, and is embraced by His foreknowledge, for human wills are also causes of human actions; and He who foreknew all the causes of things would certainly among those causes not have been ignorant of our wills. For even that very concession which Cicero himself makes is enough to refute him in this argument. For what does it help him to say that nothing takes place without a cause, but that every cause is not fatal, there being a fortuitous cause, a natural cause, and a voluntary cause? It is sufficient that he confesses that whatever happens must be preceded by a cause. For we say that those causes which are called fortuitous are not a mere name for the absence of causes, but are only latent, and we attri bute them either to the will of the true God, or to that of spirits of some kind or other. And as to natural causes, we by no means separate them from the will of Him who is the author and framer of all nature. But now as to voluntary causes. They are referable either to God, or to angels, or to men, or to animals of whatever description, if indeed those instinctive movements of animals devoid of reason, by which, in accordance with their own nature, they seek or shun various things, are to be called wills. And when I speak of the wills of angels, I mean either the wills of good angels, whom we call the angels of God, or of the wicked angels, whom we call the angels of the devil, or demons. Also by the wills of men I mean the wills either of the good or of the wicked. And from this we conclude that there are no efficient causes of all things which come to pass unless voluntary causes, that is, such as belong to that nature which is the spirit of life. For the air or wind is called spirit, but, inasmuch as it is a body, it is not[Pg 194] the spirit of life. The spirit of life, therefore, which quickens all things, and is the creator of every body, and of every created spirit, is God Himself, the uncreated spirit. In His supreme will resides the power which acts on the wills of all created spirits, helping the good, judging the evil, controlling all, granting power to some, not granting it to others. For, as He is the creator of all natures, so also is He the bestower of all powers, not of all wills; for wicked wills are not from Him, being contrary to nature, which is from Him. As to bodies, they are more subject to wills: some to our wills, by which I mean the wills of all living mortal creatures, but more to the wills of men than of beasts. But all of them are most of all subject to the will of God, to whom all wills also are subject, since they have no power except what He has bestowed upon them. The cause of things, therefore, which makes but is not made, is God; but all other causes both make and are made. Such are all created spirits, and especially the rational. Material causes, therefore, which may rather be said to be made than to make, are not to be reckoned among efficient causes, because they can only do what the wills of spirits do by them. How, then, does an order of causes which is certain to the foreknowledge of God necessitate that there should be nothing which is dependent on our wills, when our wills themselves have a very important place in the order of causes? Cicero, then, contends with those who call this order of causes fatal, or rather designate this order itself by the name of fate; to which we have an abhorrence, especially on account of the word, which men have become accustomed to understand as meaning what is not true. But, whereas he denies that the order of all causes is most certain, and perfectly clear to the prescience of God, we detest his opinion more than the Stoics do. For he either denies that God exists,which, indeed, in an assumed personage, he has laboured to do, in his book De Natura Deorum,or if he confesses that He exists, but denies that He is prescient of future things, what is that but just "the fool saying in his heart there is no God?" For one who is not prescient of all future things is not God. Wherefore our wills also have just so much power as God willed and foreknew that they should[Pg 195] have; and therefore whatever power they have, they have it within most certain limits; and whatever they are to do, they are most assuredly to do, for He whose foreknowledge is infallible foreknew that they would have the power to do it, and would do it. Wherefore, if I should choose to apply the name of fate to anything at all, I should rather say that fate belongs to the weaker of two parties, will to the stronger, who has the other in his power, than that the freedom of our will is excluded by that order of causes, which, by an unusual application of the word peculiar to themselves, the Stoics call Fate.
10. Whether our wills are ruled by necessity.
--
It is, therefore, doubtless far better to resist this desire than to yield to it, for the purer one is from this defilement, the liker is he to God; and, though this vice be not thoroughly eradicated from his heart,for it does not cease to tempt even the minds of those who are making good progress in virtue,at any rate, let the desire of glory be surpassed by the love of righteousness, so that, if there be seen anywhere "lying neglected things which are generally discredited," if they are good, if they are right, even the love of human praise may blush and yield to the love of truth. For so hostile is this vice to pious faith, if the love of glory be greater in the heart than the fear or love of God, that the Lord said, "How can ye believe, who look for glory from one another, and do not seek the glory which is from God alone?"[206] Also, concerning some who had believed on Him, but were afraid to confess Him openly, the evangelist says, "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God;"[207] which did not the holy apostles, who, when they proclaimed the name of Christ in those places where it was not only discredited, and therefore neglected,according as Cicero says, "Those things are always neglected which are generally discredited,"but was even held in the utmost detestation, holding to what they had heard from the Good Master, who was also the physician of minds, "If any one shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven, and before the angels of God,"[208] amidst maledictions and reproaches, and most grievous persecutions and cruel punishments,[Pg 206] were not deterred from the preaching of human salvation by the noise of human indignation. And when, as they did and spake divine things, and lived divine lives, conquering, as it were, hard hearts, and introducing into them the peace of righteousness, great glory followed them in the church of Christ, they did not rest in that as in the end of their virtue, but, referring that glory itself to the glory of God, by whose grace they were what they were, they sought to kindle, also by that same flame, the minds of those for whose good they consulted, to the love of Him, by whom they could be made to be what they themselves were. For their Master had taught them not to seek to be good for the sake of human glory, saying, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them, or otherwise ye shall not have a reward from your Father who is in heaven."[209] But again, lest, understanding this wrongly, they should, through fear of pleasing men, be less useful through concealing their goodness, showing for what end they ought to make it known, He says, "Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."[210] Not, observe, "that ye may be seen by them, that is, in order that their eyes may be directed upon you,"for of yourselves ye are nothing,but "that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven," by fixing their regards on whom they may become such as ye are. These the martyrs followed, who surpassed the Scvolas, and the Curtiuses, and the Deciuses, both in true virtue, because in true piety, and also in the greatness of their number. But since those Romans were in an earthly city, and had before them, as the end of all the offices undertaken in its behalf, its safety, and a kingdom, not in heaven, but in earth,not in the sphere of eternal life, but in the sphere of demise and succession, where the dead are succeeded by the dying,what else but glory should they love, by which they wished even after death to live in the mouths of their admirers?
15. Concerning the temporal reward which God granted to the virtues of the Romans.
BOOK XIII. - That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
But the philosophers against whom we are defending the city of God, that is, His Church, seem to themselves to have good cause to deride us, because we say that the separation of the soul from the body is to be held as part of man's punishment. For they suppose that the blessedness of the soul then only is complete, when it is quite denuded of the body, and returns to God a pure and simple, and, as it were, naked soul. On this point, if I should find nothing in their own literature to refute this opinion, I should be forced laboriously to demonstrate that it is not the body, but the corruptibility of the body, which is a burden to the soul. Hence that sentence of Scripture we quoted in a foregoing book, "For the corruptible body presseth down the soul."[593] The word corruptible is added to show that the soul is burdened, not by any body whatsoever, but by the body such as it has become in consequence of sin. And even though the word had not been added, we could understand nothing else. But when Plato most expressly declares that the gods who are made by the Supreme have immortal bodies, and when he introduces their Maker himself promising them as a great boon that they should abide in their bodies eternally, and never by any death be loosed from them, why do these adversaries of ours, for the sake of troubling the Christian faith, feign to be ignorant of what they quite well know, and even prefer to contradict themselves rather than lose an opportunity of contradicting us? Here are Plato's words, as Cicero[Pg 537] has translated them,[594] in which he introduces the Supreme addressing the gods He had made, and saying, "Ye who are sprung from a divine stock, consider of what works I am the parent and author. These (your bodies) are indestructible so long as I will it; although all that is composed can be destroyed. But it is wicked to dissolve what reason has compacted. But, seeing that ye have been born, ye cannot indeed be immortal and indestructible; yet ye shall by no means be destroyed, nor shall any fates consign you to death, and prove superior to my will, which is a stronger assurance of your perpetuity than those bodies to which ye were joined when ye were born." Plato, you see, says that the gods are both mortal by the connection of the body and soul, and yet are rendered immortal by the will and decree of their Maker. If, therefore, it is a punishment to the soul to be connected with any body whatever, why does God address them as if they were afraid of death, that is, of the separation of soul and body? Why does He seek to reassure them by promising them immortality, not in virtue of their nature, which is composite and not simple, but by virtue of His invincible will, whereby He can effect that neither things born die, nor things compounded be dissolved, but preserved eternally?
Whether this opinion of Plato's about the stars is true or not, is another question. For we cannot at once grant to him that these luminous bodies or globes, which by day and night shine on the earth with the light of their bodily substance, have also intellectual and blessed souls which animate each its own body, as he confidently affirms of the universe itself, as if it were one huge animal, in which all other animals were contained.[595] But this, as I said, is another question, which we[Pg 538] have not undertaken to discuss at present. This much only I deemed right to bring forward, in opposition to those who so pride themselves on being, or on being called Platonists, that they blush to be Christians, and who cannot brook to be called by a name which the common people also bear, lest they vulgarize the philosophers' coterie, which is proud in proportion to its exclusiveness. These men, seeking a weak point in the Christian doctrine, select for attack the eternity of the body, as if it were a contradiction to contend for the blessedness of the soul, and to wish it to be always resident in the body, bound, as it were, in a lamentable chain; and this although Plato, their own founder and master, affirms that it was granted by the Supreme as a boon to the gods He had made, that they should not die, that is, should not be separated from the bodies with which He had connected them.
--
[61] Diogenes especially, and his followers. See also Seneca, De Tranq. c. 14, and Epist. 92; and in Cicero's Tusc. Disp. i. 43, the answer of Theodorus, the Cyrenian philosopher, to Lysimachus, who threatened him with the cross: "Threaten that to your courtiers; it is of no consequence to Theodorus whether he rot in the earth or in the air."
[62] Lucan, Pharsalia, vii. 819, of those whom Csar forbade to be buried after the battle of Pharsalia.
--
[71] Augustine here uses the words of Cicero ("vigilando peremerunt"), who refers to Regulus, in Pisonem, c. 19. Aulus Gellius, quoting Tubero and Tuditanus (vi. 4), adds some further particulars regarding these tortures.
[72] As the Stoics generally would affirm.
--
[88] See Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 24.
[89] Prov. vi. 26.
--
[103] The Fever had, according to Vives, three altars in Rome. See Cicero, De Nat. Deor. iii. 25, and lian, Var. Hist. xii. 11.
[104] Cicero, De Republica, v. Compare the third Tusculan Qust. c. ii.
[105] In the year a.u. 299, three ambassadors were sent from Rome to Athens to copy Solon's laws, and acquire information about the institutions of Greece. On their return the Decemviri were appointed to draw up a code; and finally, after some tragic interruptions, the celebrated Twelve Tables were accepted as the fundamental statutes of Roman law (fons universi publici privatique juris). These were graven on brass, and hung up for public information. Livy, iii. 31-34.
--
[108] The same collocation of words is used by Cicero with reference to the well-known mode of renewing the appetite in use among the Romans.
[109] neid, ii. 351-2.
--
[111] Cicero, C. Verrem, vi. 8.
[112] Cicero, C. Catilinam, iii. 8.
[113] Alluding to the sanctuary given to all who fled to Rome in its early days.
--
[142] Cicero, De Rep. ii. 10.
[143] Contra Cat. iii. 2.
--
[152] Cicero, in Catilin. iii. sub. fin.
[153] Lucan, Pharsal. ii. 142-146.
--
[159] Nonius Marcell. borrows this anecdote from Cicero, De Repub. iii.
[160] It was extinguished by Crassus in its third year.
--
[165] Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 25.
[166] Virgil, Georg. ii. 325, 326.
--
[173] Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, De Divin. 26.
[174] Called by Cicero (De Oratore, i. 39) the most eloquent of lawyers, and the best skilled lawyer among eloquent men.
[175] Superflua non nocent.
--
[179] Superstition, from superstes. Against this etymology of Cicero, see Lact. Inst. Div. iv. 28.
[180] Balbus, from bal butiens, stammering, babbling.
[181] See Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i. 2.
[182] Plutarch's Numa, c. 8.
--
[185] This fact is not recorded in any of the extant works of Hippocrates or Cicero. Vives supposes it may have found place in Cicero's book, De Fato.
[186] i.e. the potter.
--
[231] Cicero, De Qust. Acad. i. 3.
[232] In his book De Metris, chapter on phalcian verses.
--
[246] Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii., distinguishes this Liber from Liber Bacchus, son of Jupiter and Semele.
[247] Januam.
--
[259] Cicero, Tusc. Qust. v. 13.
[260] An interesting account of the changes made in the Roman year by Numa is given in Plutarch's life of that king. Ovid also (Fasti, ii.) explains the derivation of February, telling us that it was the last month of the old year, and took its name from the lustrations performed then: "Februa Romani dixere piamina patres."
[261] Ennius, in Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 18.
[262] John x. 9.
--
[373] Augustine here remarks, in a clause that cannot be given in English, that the word religio is derived from religere.So Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 28.
[374] Matt. xxii. 37-40.
--
[558] Cicero has the same (de Amicitia, 16): "Quonam modo quisquam amicus esse poterit, cui se putabit inimicum esse posse?" He also quotes Scipio to the effect that no sentiment is more unfriendly to friendship than this, that we should love as if some day we were to hate.
[559] C. 30.
--
[594] A translation of part of the Timus, given in a little book of Cicero's, De Universo.
[595] Plato, in the Timus, represents the Demiurgus as constructing the kosmos or universe to be a complete representation of the idea of animal. He planted in its centre a soul, spreading outwards so as to pervade the whole body of the kosmos; and then he introduced into it those various species of animals which were contained in the idea of animal. Among these animals stand first the celestial, the gods embodied in the stars; and of these the oldest is the earth, set in the centre of all, close packed round the great axis which traverses the centre of the kosmos.See the Timus and Grote's Plato, iii. 250 et seq.
BOOK XIV. - Of the punishment and results of mans first sin, and of the propagation of man without lust, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
There is no need, therefore, that in our sins and vices we accuse the nature of the flesh to the injury of the Creator, for in its own kind and degree the flesh is good; but to desert the Creator good, and live according to the created good, is not good, whether a man choose to live according to the flesh, or according to the soul, or according to the whole human nature, which is composed of flesh and soul, and which is therefore spoken of either by the name flesh alone, or by the name soul alone. For he who extols the nature of the soul as the chief good, and condemns the nature of the flesh as if it were evil, assuredly is fleshly both in his love of the soul and hatred of the flesh; for these his feelings arise from human fancy, not from divine truth. The Platonists, indeed, are not so foolish as, with the Manichans, to detest our present bodies as an evil nature;[22] for they attri bute all the elements of which this visible and tangible world is compacted, with all their qualities, to God their Creator. Nevertheless, from the death-infected members and earthly construction of the body they believe the soul is so affected, that there are thus originated in it the diseases of desires, and fears, and joy, and sorrow, under which four perturbations, as Cicero[23] calls them, or passions, as most prefer to name them with the Greeks, is included the whole viciousness of human life. But if this be so, how is it that neas in Virgil, when he had heard from his father in Hades that[Pg 9] the souls should return to bodies, expresses surprise at this declaration, and exclaims:
"O father! and can thought conceive That happy souls this realm would leave, And seek the upper sky, With sluggish clay to reunite? This direful longing for the light, Whence comes it, say, and why?"[24]
--
The right will is, therefore, well-directed love, and the wrong will is ill-directed love. Love, then, yearning to have what is loved, is desire; and having and enjoying it, is joy; fleeing what is opposed to it, it is fear; and feeling what is opposed to it, when it has befallen it, it is sadness. Now these motions are evil if the love is evil; good if the love is good. What we assert let us prove from Scripture. The apostle "desires to depart, and to be with Christ."[30] And, "My soul desired to long for Thy judgments;"[31] or if it is more appropriate to say, "My soul longed to desire Thy judgments." And, "The desire of wisdom bringeth to a kingdom."[Pg 12][32] Yet there has always obtained the usage of understanding desire and concupiscence in a bad sense if the object be not defined. But joy is used in a good sense: "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous."[33] And, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart."[34] And, "Thou wilt fill me with joy with Thy countenance."[35] Fear is used in a good sense by the apostle when he says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."[36] And, "Be not high-minded, but fear."[37] And, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."[38] But with respect to sadness, which Cicero prefers to call sickness (gritudo), and Virgil pain (dolor) (as he says, "Dolent gaudentque"[39]), but which I prefer to call sorrow, because sickness and pain are more commonly used to express bodily suffering,with respect to this emotion, I say, the question whether it can be used in a good sense is more difficult.
8. Of the three perturbations, which the Stoics admitted in the soul of the wise man to the exclusion of grief or sadness, which the manly mind ought not to experience.
Those emotions which the Greeks call , and which Cicero calls constanti, the Stoics would restrict to three; and, instead of three "perturbations" in the soul of the wise man, they substituted severally, in place of desire, will; in place of joy, contentment; and for fear, caution; and as to sickness or pain, which we, to avoid ambiguity, preferred to call sorrow, they denied that it could exist in the mind of a wise man. Will, they say, seeks the good, for this the wise man does. Contentment has its object in good that is possessed, and this the wise man continually possesses. Caution avoids evil, and this the wise man ought to avoid. But sorrow arises from evil that has already happened; and as they suppose that no evil can happen to the wise man, there can be no representative of sorrow in his mind. According to them, therefore, none but the wise man wills, is contented, uses caution; and that the fool can do no more than desire, rejoice, fear, be sad. The former three affections[Pg 13] Cicero calls constanti, the last four perturbationes. Many, however, call these last passions; and, as I have said, the Greeks call the former , and the latter . And when I made a careful examination of Scripture to find whether this terminology was sanctioned by it, I came upon this saying of the prophet: "There is no contentment to the wicked, saith the Lord;"[40] as if the wicked might more properly rejoice than be contented regarding evils, for contentment is the property of the good and godly. I found also that verse in the Gospel: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them;"[41] which seems to imply that evil or shameful things may be the object of desire, but not of will. Indeed, some interpreters have added "good things" to make the expression more in conformity with customary usage, and have given this meaning, "Whatsoever good deeds that ye would that men should do unto you." For they thought that this would prevent any one from wishing other men to provide him with unseemly, not to say shameful, gratifications,luxurious banquets, for example,on the supposition that if he returned the like to them he would be fulfilling this precept. In the Greek Gospel, however, from which the Latin is translated, "good" does not occur, but only, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," and, as I believe, because "good" is already included in the word "would;" for He does not say "desire."
Yet though we may sometimes avail ourselves of these precise proprieties of language, we are not to be always bridled by them; and when we read those writers against whose authority it is unlawful to reclaim, we must accept the meanings above mentioned in passages where a right sense can be educed by no other interpretation, as in those instances we adduced partly from the prophet, partly from the Gospel. For who does not know that the wicked exult with joy? Yet "there is no contentment for the wicked, saith the Lord." And how so, unless because contentment, when the word is used in its proper and distinctive significance, means something different from joy? In like manner,[Pg 14] who would deny that it were wrong to enjoin upon men that whatever they desire others to do to them they should themselves do to others, lest they should mutually please one another by shameful and illicit pleasure? And yet the precept, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them," is very wholesome and just. And how is this, unless because the will is in this place used strictly, and signifies that will which cannot have evil for its object? But ordinary phraseology would not have allowed the saying, "Be unwilling to make any manner of lie,"[42] had there not been also an evil will, whose wickedness separates it from that which the angels celebrated, "Peace on earth, of good will to men."[43] For "good" is superfluous if there is no other kind of will but good will. And why should the apostle have mentioned it among the praises of charity as a great thing, that "it rejoices not in iniquity," unless because wickedness does so rejoice? For even with secular writers these words are used indifferently. For Cicero, that most fertile of orators, says, "I desire, conscript fathers, to be merciful."[44] And who would be so pedantic as to say that he should have said "I will" rather than "I desire," because the word is used in a good connection? Again, in Terence, the profligate youth, burning with wild lust, says, "I will nothing else than Philumena."[45] That this "will" was lust is sufficiently indicated by the answer of his old servant which is there introduced: "How much better were it to try and banish that love from your heart, than to speak so as uselessly to inflame your passion still more!" And that contentment was used by secular writers in a bad sense, that verse of Virgil testifies, in which he most succinctly comprehends these four perturbations,
"Hence they fear and desire, grieve and are content."[46]
--
And therefore that marriage, worthy of the happiness of Paradise, should have had desirable fruit without the shame of lust, had there been no sin. But how that could be, there is now no example to teach us. Nevertheless, it ought not to seem incredible that one member might serve the will without lust then, since so many serve it now. Do we now move our feet and hands when we will to do the things we would by means of these members? do we meet with no resistance in them, but perceive that they are ready servants of the will, both in our own case and in that of others, and especially of artisans employed in mechanical operations, by which the weakness and clumsiness of nature become, through industrious exercise, wonderfully dexterous? and shall we not believe that, like as all those members obediently serve the will, so also should the members have discharged the function of generation, though lust, the award of disobedience, had been awanting? Did not Cicero, in discussing the difference of governments in his De Republica, adopt a simile from human[Pg 40] nature, and say that we comm and our bodily members as children, they are so obedient; but that the vicious parts of the soul must be treated as slaves, and be coerced with a more stringent authority? And no doubt, in the order of nature, the soul is more excellent than the body; and yet the soul commands the body more easily than itself. Nevertheless this lust, of which we at present speak, is the more shameful on this account, because the soul is therein neither master of itself, so as not to lust at all, nor of the body, so as to keep the members under the control of the will; for if they were thus ruled, there should be no shame. But now the soul is ashamed that the body, which by nature is inferior and subject to it, should resist its authority. For in the resistance experienced by the soul in the other emotions there is less shame, because the resistance is from itself, and thus, when it is conquered by itself, itself is the conqueror, although the conquest is inordinate and vicious, because accomplished by those parts of the soul which ought to be subject to reason, yet, being accomplished by its own parts and energies, the conquest is, as I say, its own. For when the soul conquers itself to a due subordination, so that its unreasonable motions are controlled by reason, while it again is subject to God, this is a conquest virtuous and praiseworthy. Yet there is less shame when the soul is resisted by its own vicious parts than when its will and order are resisted by the body, which is distinct from and inferior to it, and dependent on it for life itself.
But so long as the will retains under its authority the other members, without which the members excited by lust to resist the will cannot accomplish what they seek, chastity is preserved, and the delight of sin foregone. And certainly, had not culpable disobedience been visited with penal disobedience, the marriage of Paradise should have been ignorant of this struggle and rebellion, this quarrel between will and lust, that the will may be satisfied and lust restrained, but those members, like all the rest, should have obeyed the will. The field of generation[119] should have been sown by the organ created for this purpose, as the earth is sown by the hand. And[Pg 41] whereas now, as we essay to investigate this subject more exactly, modesty hinders us, and compels us to ask pardon of chaste ears, there would have been no cause to do so, but we could have discoursed freely, and without fear of seeming obscene, upon all those points which occur to one who meditates on the subject. There would not have been even words which could be called obscene, but all that might be said of these members would have been as pure as what is said of the other parts of the body. Whoever, then, comes to the perusal of these pages with unchaste mind, let him blame his disposition, not his nature; let him brand the actings of his own impurity, not the words which necessity forces us to use, and for which every pure and pious reader or hearer will very readily pardon me, while I expose the folly of that scepticism which argues solely on the ground of its own experience, and has no faith in anything beyond. He who is not scandalized at the apostle's censure of the horrible wickedness of the women who "changed the natural use into that which is against nature,"[120] will read all this without being shocked, especially as we are not, like Paul, citing and censuring a damnable uncleanness, but are explaining, so far as we can, human generation, while with Paul we avoid all obscenity of language.
BOOK XIX. - A review of the philosophical opinions regarding the Supreme Good, and a comparison of these opinions with the Christian belief regarding happiness, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
They say that this happy life is also social, and loves the advantages of its friends as its own, and for their sake wishes for them what it desires for itself, whether these friends live in the same family, as a wife, children, domestics; or in the locality where one's home is, as the citizens of the same town; or in the world at large, as the nations bound in common human brotherhood; or in the universe itself, comprehended in the heavens and the earth, as those whom they call gods, and provide as friends for the wise man, and whom we more familiarly call angels. Moreover, they say that, regarding the supreme good and evil, there is no room for doubt, and that they therefore differ from the New Academy in this respect, and they are not concerned whether a philosopher pursues those ends which they think true in the Cynic dress and manner of life or in some other. And, lastly, in regard to the three modes of life, the contemplative, the active, and the composite, they declare in favour of the third. That these were the opinions and doctrines of the Old Academy, Varro asserts on the authority of Antiochus, Cicero's master and his own, though Cicero makes him out to have been more frequently in accordance with the Stoics than with the Old Academy. But of what importance is this to us, who ought to judge the matter on its own merits, rather than to understand accurately what different men have thought about it?
4. What the Christians believe regarding the supreme good and evil, in opposition to the philosophers, who have maintained that the supreme good is in themselves.
--
For what flood of eloquence can suffice to detail the miseries of this life? Cicero, in the Consolation on the death of his daughter, has spent all his ability in lamentation; but how inadequate was even his ability here? For when, where, how, in this life can these primary objects of nature be possessed so that they may not be assailed by unforeseen accidents? Is the body of the wise man exempt from any pain which may dispel pleasure, from any disquietude which may banish repose? The amputation or decay of the members of the body puts an end to its integrity, deformity blights its beauty, weakness its health, lassitude its vigour, sleepiness or sluggishness its activity, and which of these is it that may not assail the flesh of the wise man? Comely and fitting attitudes and movements of the body are numbered among the prime natural blessings; but what if some sickness makes the members tremble? what if a man suffers from curvature of the spine to such an extent that his hands reach the ground, and he goes upon all-fours like a quadruped? Does not this destroy all beauty and grace in the body, whether at rest or in motion? What shall I say of the fundamental blessings of the soul, sense and intellect, of which the one is given for the perception, and the other for the comprehension of truth?[Pg 303] But what kind of sense is it that remains when a man becomes deaf and blind? where are reason and intellect when disease makes a man delirious? We can scarcely, or not at all, refrain from tears, when we think of or see the actions and words of such frantic persons, and consider how different from and even opposed to their own sober judgment and ordinary conduct their present demeanour is. And what shall I say of those who suffer from demoniacal possession? Where is their own intelligence hidden and buried while the malignant spirit is using their body and soul according to his own will? And who is quite sure that no such thing can happen to the wise man in this life? Then, as to the perception of truth, what can we hope for even in this way while in the body, as we read in the true book of Wisdom, "The corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle presseth down the mind that museth upon many things?"[625] And eagerness, or desire of action, if this is the right meaning to put upon the Greek , is also reckoned among the primary advantages of nature; and yet is it not this which produces those pitiable movements of the insane, and those actions which we shudder to see, when sense is deceived and reason deranged?
In fine, virtue itself, which is not among the primary objects of nature, but succeeds to them as the result of learning, though it holds the highest place among human good things, what is its occupation save to wage perpetual war with vices,not those that are outside of us, but within; not other men's, but our own,a war which is waged especially by that virtue which the Greeks call , and we temperance,[626] and which bridles carnal lusts, and prevents them from winning the consent of the spirit to wicked deeds? For we must not fancy that there is no vice in us, when, as the apostle says, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit;"[627] for to this vice there is a contrary virtue, when, as the same writer says, "The spirit lusteth against the flesh." "For these two," he says, "are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do the things which you would." But what is it we wish to do when we seek to attain the supreme good, unless that the flesh should cease to lust against the spirit, and that there be no vice in us[Pg 304] against which the spirit may lust? And as we cannot attain to this in the present life, however ardently we desire it, let us by God's help accomplish at least this, to preserve the soul from succumbing and yielding to the flesh that lusts against it, and to refuse our consent to the perpetration of sin. Far be it from us, then, to fancy that while we are still engaged in this intestine war, we have already found the happiness which we seek to reach by victory. And who is there so wise that he has no conflict at all to maintain against his vices?
--
We give a much more unlimited approval to their idea that the life of the wise man must be social. For how could the city of God (concerning which we are already writing no less than the nineteenth book of this work) either take a beginning or be developed, or attain its proper destiny, if the life of the saints were not a social life? But who can enumerate all the great grievances with which human society abounds in[Pg 308] the misery of this mortal state? Who can weigh them? Hear how one of their comic writers makes one of his characters express the common feelings of all men in this matter: "I am married; this is one misery. Children are born to me; they are additional cares."[629] What shall I say of the miseries of love which Terence also recounts"slights, suspicions, quarrels, war to-day, peace to-morrow?"[630] Is not human life full of such things? Do they not often occur even in honourable friendships? On all hands we experience these slights, suspicions, quarrels, war, all of which are undoubted evils; while, on the other hand, peace is a doubtful good, because we do not know the heart of our friend, and though we did know it to-day, we should be as ignorant of what it might be to-morrow. Who ought to be, or who are more friendly than those who live in the same family? And yet who can rely even upon this friendship, seeing that secret treachery has often broken it up, and produced enmity as bitter as the amity was sweet, or seemed sweet by the most perfect dissimulation? It is on this account that the words of Cicero so move the heart of every one, and provoke a sigh: "There are no snares more dangerous than those which lurk under the guise of duty or the name of relationship. For the man who is your declared foe you can easily baffle by precaution; but this hidden, intestine, and domestic danger not merely exists, but overwhelms you before you can foresee and examine it."[631] It is also to this that allusion is made by the divine saying, "A man's foes are those of his own household,"[632]words which one cannot hear without pain; for though a man have sufficient fortitude to endure it with equanimity, and sufficient sagacity to baffle the malice of a pretended friend, yet if he himself is a good man, he cannot but be greatly pained at the discovery of the perfidy of wicked men, whether they have always been wicked and merely feigned goodness, or have fallen from a better to a malicious disposition. If, then, home, the natural refuge from the ills of life, is itself not safe, what shall we say of the city, which, as it is larger, is so much the more filled with lawsuits civil and criminal, and is never[Pg 309] free from the fear, if sometimes from the actual outbreak, of disturbing and bloody insurrections and civil wars?
6. Of the error of human judgments when the truth is hidden.
--
21. Whether there ever was a Roman republic answering to the definitions of Scipio in Cicero's dialogue.
This, then, is the place where I should fulfil the promise I[Pg 331] gave in the second book of this work,[656] and explain, as briefly and clearly as possible, that if we are to accept the definitions laid down by Scipio in Cicero's De Republica, there never was a Roman republic; for he briefly defines a republic as the weal of the people. And if this definition be true, there never was a Roman republic, for the people's weal was never attained among the Romans. For the people, according to his definition, is an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of right and by a community of interests. And what he means by a common acknowledgment of right he explains at large, showing that a republic cannot be administered without justice. Where, therefore, there is no true justice there can be no right. For that which is done by right is justly done, and what is unjustly done cannot be done by right. For the unjust inventions of men are neither to be considered nor spoken of as rights; for even they themselves say that right is that which flows from the fountain of justice, and deny the definition which is commonly given by those who misconceive the matter, that right is that which is useful to the stronger party. Thus, where there is not true justice there can be no assemblage of men associated by a common acknowledgment of right, and therefore there can be no people, as defined by Scipio or Cicero; and if no people, then no weal of the people, but only of some promiscuous multitude unworthy of the name of people. Consequently, if the republic is the weal of the people, and there is no people if it be not associated by a common acknowledgment of right, and if there is no right where there is no justice, then most certainly it follows that there is no republic where there is no justice. Further, justice is that virtue which gives every one his due. Where, then, is the justice of man, when he deserts the true God and yields himself to impure demons? Is this to give every one his due? Or is he who keeps back a piece of ground from the purchaser, and gives it to a man who has no right to it, unjust, while he who keeps back himself from the God who made him, and serves wicked spirits, is just?
This same book, De Republica, advocates the cause of justice[Pg 332] against injustice with great force and keenness. The pleading for injustice against justice was first heard, and it was asserted that without injustice a republic could neither increase nor even subsist, for it was laid down as an absolutely unassailable position that it is unjust for some men to rule and some to serve; and yet the imperial city to which the republic belongs cannot rule her provinces without having recourse to this injustice. It was replied in behalf of justice, that this ruling of the provinces is just, because servitude may be advantageous to the provincials, and is so when rightly administered,that is to say, when lawless men are prevented from doing harm. And further, as they became worse and worse so long as they were free, they will improve by subjection. To confirm this reasoning, there is added an eminent example drawn from nature: for "why," it is asked, "does God rule man, the soul the body, the reason the passions and other vicious parts of the soul?" This example leaves no doubt that, to some, servitude is useful; and, indeed, to serve God is useful to all. And it is when the soul serves God that it exercises a right control over the body; and in the soul itself the reason must be subject to God if it is to govern as it ought the passions and other vices. Hence, when a man does not serve God, what justice can we ascribe to him, since in this case his soul cannot exercise a just control over the body, nor his reason over his vices? And if there is no justice in such an individual, certainly there can be none in a community composed of such persons. Here, therefore, there is not that common acknowledgment of right which makes an assemblage of men a people whose affairs we call a republic. And why need I speak of the advantageousness, the common participation in which, according to the definition, makes a people? For although, if you choose to regard the matter attentively, you will see that there is nothing advantageous to those who live godlessly, as every one lives who does not serve God but demons, whose wickedness you may measure by their desire to receive the worship of men though they are most impure spirits, yet what I have said of the common acknowledgment of right is enough to demonstrate that, according to the above definition, there can be no people,[Pg 333] and therefore no republic, where there is no justice. For if they assert that in their republic the Romans did not serve unclean spirits, but good and holy gods, must we therefore again reply to this evasion, though already we have said enough, and more than enough, to expose it? He must be an uncommonly stupid, or a shamelessly contentious person, who has read through the foregoing books to this point, and can yet question whether the Romans served wicked and impure demons. But, not to speak of their character, it is written in the law of the true God, "He that sacrificeth unto any god save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed."[657] He, therefore, who uttered so menacing a commandment decreed that no worship should be given either to good or bad gods.
BOOK XVIII. - A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
While Romulus reigned, Thales the Milesian is said to have lived, being one of the seven sages, who succeeded the theological poets, of whom Orpheus was the most renowned, and were called , that is, sages. During that time the ten tribes, which on the division of the people were called Israel, were conquered by the Chaldeans and led captive into their lands, while the two tribes which were called Judah, and had the seat of their kingdom in Jerusalem, remained in the land of Judea. As Romulus, when dead, could nowhere be found, the Romans, as is everywhere notorious, placed him among the gods,a thing which by that time had already ceased to be done, and which was not done afterwards till the time of the Csars, and then not through error, but in flattery; so that Cicero ascribes great praises to Romulus, because he merited such honours not in rude and unlearned times, when men[Pg 245] were easily deceived, but in times already polished and learned, although the subtle and acute loquacity of the philosophers had not yet culminated. But although the later times did not deify dead men, still they did not cease to hold and worship as gods those deified of old; nay, by images, which the ancients never had, they even increased the allurements of vain and impious superstition, the unclean demons effecting this in their heart, and also deceiving them by lying oracles, so that even the fabulous crimes of the gods, which were not once imagined by a more polite age, were yet basely acted in the plays in honour of these same false deities. Numa reigned after Romulus; and although he had thought that Rome would be better defended the more gods there were, yet on his death he himself was not counted worthy of a place among them, as if it were supposed that he had so crowded heaven that a place could not be found for him there. They report that the Samian sibyl lived while he reigned at Rome, and when Manasseh began to reign over the Hebrews,an impious king, by whom the prophet Isaiah is said to have been slain.
25. What philosophers were famous when Tarquinius Priscus reigned over the Romans, and Zedekiah over the Hebrews, when Jerusalem was taken and the temple overthrown.
BOOK XXII. - Of the eternal happiness of the saints, the resurrection of the body, and the miracles of the early Church, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
But men who use their learning and intellectual ability to resist the force of that great authority which, in fulfilment of what was so long before predicted, has converted all races of men to faith and hope in its promises, seem to themselves to argue acutely against the resurrection of the body while they cite what Cicero mentions in the third book De Republica. For when he was asserting the apotheosis of Hercules and Romulus, he says: "Whose bodies were not taken up into heaven; for nature would not permit a body of earth to exist anywhere except upon earth." This, forsooth, is the profound reasoning of the wise men, whose thoughts God knows that they are vain. For if we were only souls, that is, spirits without any body, and if we dwelt in heaven and had no knowledge of earthly animals, and were told that we should be bound to earthly bodies by some wonderful bond of union, and should animate them, should we not much more vigorously[Pg 477] refuse to believe this, and maintain that nature would not permit an incorporeal substance to be held by a corporeal bond? And yet the earth is full of living spirits, to which terrestrial bodies are bound, and with which they are in a wonderful way implicated. If, then, the same God who has created such beings wills this also, what is to hinder the earthly body from being raised to a heavenly body, since a spirit, which is more excellent than all bodies, and consequently than even a heavenly body, has been tied to an earthly body? If so small an earthly particle has been able to hold in union with itself something better than a heavenly body, so as to receive sensation and life, will heaven disdain to receive, or at least to retain, this sentient and living particle, which derives its life and sensation from a substance more excellent than any heavenly body? If this does not happen now, it is because the time is not yet come which has been determined by Him who has already done a much more marvellous thing than that which these men refuse to believe. For why do we not more intensely wonder that incorporeal souls, which are of higher rank than heavenly bodies, are bound to earthly bodies, rather than that bodies, although earthly, are exalted to an abode which, though heavenly, is yet corporeal, except because we have been accustomed to see this, and indeed are this, while we are not as yet that other marvel, nor have as yet ever seen it? Certainly, if we consult sober reason, the more wonderful of the two divine works is found to be to attach somehow corporeal things to incorporeal, and not to connect earthly things with heavenly, which, though diverse, are yet both of them corporeal.
5. Of the resurrection of the flesh, which some refuse to believe, though the world at large believes it.
--
Let us here recite the passage in which Tully expresses his astonishment that the apotheosis of Romulus should have been credited. I shall insert his words as they stand: "It is most worthy of remark in Romulus, that other men who are said to have become gods lived in less educated ages, when there was a greater propensity to the fabulous, and when the uninstructed were easily persuaded to believe anything. But the age of Romulus was barely six hundred years ago, and already literature and science had dispelled the errors that attach to an uncultured age." And a little after he says of the same Romulus words to this effect: "From this we may perceive that Homer had flourished long before Romulus, and that there was now so much learning in individuals, and so generally diffused an enlightenment, that scarcely any room was left for fable. For antiquity admitted fables, and sometimes even very clumsy ones; but this age [of Romulus] was sufficiently enlightened to reject whatever had not the air of truth." Thus one of the most learned men, and certainly the most eloquent, M. Tullius Cicero, says that it is surprising that the divinity of Romulus was believed in, because the times were already so enlightened that they would not accept a fabulous fiction. But who believed that Romulus was a god except Rome, which was itself small and in its infancy? Then afterwards it was necessary that succeeding generations should preserve the tradition of their ancestors; that, drinking in this superstition with their mother's milk, the state might grow and come to such power that it might dictate this belief, as from a point of vantage, to all the nations over whom its sway extended. And these nations, though they might not believe that Romulus was a god, at least said so, that they might not give offence to their sovereign state by refusing to give its founder that title which was given him by Rome, which had adopted this belief, not by a love of error, but an error of love. But though Christ is the founder of the heavenly and eternal city, yet it did not believe Him to be God because it was founded by Him, but rather it[Pg 481] is founded by Him, in virtue of its belief. Rome, after it had been built and dedicated, worshipped its founder in a temple as a god; but this Jerusalem laid Christ, its God, as its foundation, that the building and dedication might proceed. The former city loved its founder, and therefore believed him to be a god; the latter believed Christ to be God, and therefore loved Him. There was an antecedent cause for the love of the former city, and for its believing that even a false dignity attached to the object of its love; so there was an antecedent cause for the belief of the latter, and for its loving the true dignity which a proper faith, not a rash surmise, ascribed to its object. For, not to mention the multitude of very striking miracles which proved that Christ is God, there were also divine prophecies heralding Him, prophecies most worthy of belief, which being already accomplished, we have not, like the fathers, to wait for their verification. Of Romulus, on the other hand, and of his building Rome and reigning in it, we read or hear the narrative of what did take place, not prediction which beforeh and said that such things should be. And so far as his reception among the gods is concerned, history only records that this was believed, and does not state it as a fact; for no miraculous signs testified to the truth of this. For as to that wolf which is said to have nursed the twin-brothers, and which is considered a great marvel, how does this prove him to have been divine? For even supposing that this nurse was a real wolf and not a mere courtezan, yet she nursed both brothers, and Remus is not reckoned a god. Besides, what was there to hinder any one from asserting that Romulus or Hercules, or any such man, was a god? Or who would rather choose to die than profess belief in his divinity? And did a single nation worship Romulus among its gods, unless it were forced through fear of the Roman name? But who can number the multitudes who have chosen death in the most cruel shapes rather than deny the divinity of Christ? And thus the dread of some slight indignation, which it was supposed, perhaps groundlessly, might exist in the minds of the Romans, constrained some states who were subject to Rome to worship Romulus as a god; whereas the dread, not of a slight mental shock, but of severe and various punishments,[Pg 482] and of death itself, the most formidable of all, could not prevent an immense multitude of martyrs throughout the world from not merely worshipping but also confessing Christ as God. The city of Christ, which, although as yet a stranger upon earth, had countless hosts of citizens, did not make war upon its godless persecutors for the sake of temporal security, but preferred to win eternal salvation by abstaining from war. They were bound, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, burned, torn in pieces, massacred, and yet they multiplied. It was not given to them to fight for their eternal salvation except by despising their temporal salvation for their Saviour's sake.
I am aware that Cicero, in the third book of his De Republica, if I mistake not, argues that a first-rate power will not engage in war except either for honour or for safety. What he has to say about the question of safety, and what he means by safety, he explains in another place, saying, "Private persons frequently evade, by a speedy death, destitution, exile, bonds, the scourge, and the other pains which even the most insensible feel. But to states, death, which seems to emancipate individuals from all punishments, is itself a punishment; for a state should be so constituted as to be eternal. And thus death is not natural to a republic as to a man, to whom death is not only necessary, but often even desirable. But when a state is destroyed, obliterated, annihilated, it is as if (to compare great things with small) this whole world perished and collapsed." Cicero said this because he, with the Platonists, believed that the world would not perish. It is therefore agreed that, according to Cicero, a state should engage in war for the safety which preserves the state permanently in existence, though its citizens change; as the foliage of an olive or laurel, or any tree of this kind, is perennial, the old leaves being replaced by fresh ones. For death, as he says, is no punishment to individuals, but rather delivers them from all other punishments, but it is a punishment to the state. And therefore it is reasonably asked whether the Saguntines did right when they chose that their whole state should perish rather than that they should break faith with the Roman republic; for this deed of theirs is applauded by the citizens of the earthly republic. But I do not see how they could[Pg 483] follow the advice of Cicero, who tells us that no war is to be undertaken save for safety or for honour; neither does he say which of these two is to be preferred, if a case should occur in which the one could not be preserved without the loss of the other. For manifestly, if the Saguntines chose safety, they must break faith; if they kept faith, they must reject safety; as also it fell out. But the safety of the city of God is such that it can be retained, or rather acquired, by faith and with faith; but if faith be abandoned, no one can attain it. It is this thought of a most stedfast and patient spirit that has made so many noble martyrs, while Romulus has not had, and could not have, so much as one to die for his divinity.
7. That the world's belief in Christ is the result of divine power, not of human persuasion.
But it is thoroughly ridiculous to make mention of the false divinity of Romulus as any way comparable to that of Christ. Nevertheless, if Romulus lived about six hundred years before Cicero, in an age which already was so enlightened that it rejected all impossibilities, how much more, in an age which certainly was more enlightened, being six hundred years later, the age of Cicero himself, and of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius, would the human mind have refused to listen to or believe in the resurrection of Christ's body and its ascension into heaven, and have scouted it as an impossibility, had not the divinity of the truth itself, or the truth of the divinity, and corroborating miraculous signs, proved that it could happen and had happened? Through virtue of these testimonies, and notwithstanding the opposition and terror of so many cruel persecutions, the resurrection and immortality of the flesh, first in Christ, and subsequently in all in the new world, was believed, was intrepidly proclaimed, and was sown over the whole world, to be fertilized richly with the blood of the martyrs. For the predictions of the prophets that had preceded the events were read, they were corroborated by powerful signs, and the truth was seen to be not contradictory to reason, but only different from customary ideas, so that at length the world embraced the faith it had furiously persecuted.
[Pg 484]
--
Far be it from us to fear that the omnipotence of the Creator cannot, for the resuscitation and reanimation of our bodies, recall all the portions which have been consumed by beasts or fire, or have been dissolved into dust or ashes, or have decomposed into water, or evaporated into the air. Far from us be the thought, that anything which escapes our observation in any most hidden recess of nature either evades the knowledge or transcends the power of the Creator of all things. Cicero, the great authority of our adversaries, wishing to define God as accurately as possible, says, "God is a mind free and independent, without materiality, perceiving and moving all things, and itself endowed with eternal movement."[1007] This he found in the systems of the greatest philosophers. Let me ask, then, in their own language, how anything can either lie hid from Him who perceives all things, or irrevocably escape Him who moves all things?
This leads me to reply to that question which seems the most difficult of all,To whom, in the resurrection, will belong the flesh of a dead man which has become the flesh of a living man? For if some one, famishing for want and pressed with hunger, use human flesh as food,an extremity not unknown, as both ancient history and the unhappy experience of our own days have taught us,can it be contended, with any show of reason, that all the flesh eaten has been evacuated, and that none of it has been assimilated to the substance of the eater, though the very emaciation which existed before, and has now disappeared, sufficiently indicates what large deficiencies have been filled up with this food? But I have already made some remarks which will suffice for the solution of this difficulty also. For all the flesh which hunger has consumed finds its way into the air by evaporation, whence, as we have said, God Almighty can recall it. That flesh, therefore, shall be restored to the man in whom it first became human flesh. For it must be looked upon as borrowed by the other person, and, like a pecuniary loan, must be returned to the lender. His own flesh, however, which he lost by famine, shall be restored to[Pg 516] him by Him who can recover even what has evaporated. And though it had been absolutely annihilated, so that no part of its substance remained in any secret spot of nature, the Almighty could restore it by such means as He saw fit. For this sentence, uttered by the Truth, "Not a hair of your head shall perish," forbids us to suppose that, though no hair of a man's head can perish, yet the large portions of his flesh eaten and consumed by the famishing can perish.
--
From this hell upon earth there is no escape, save through the grace of the Saviour Christ, our God and Lord. The very name Jesus shows this, for it means Saviour; and He saves[Pg 521] us especially from passing out of this life into a more wretched and eternal state, which is rather a death than a life. For in this life, though holy men and holy pursuits afford us great consolations, yet the blessings which men crave are not invariably bestowed upon them, lest religion should be cultivated for the sake of these temporal advantages, while it ought rather to be cultivated for the sake of that other life from which all evil is excluded. Therefore, also, does grace aid good men in the midst of present calamities, so that they are enabled to endure them with a constancy proportioned to their faith. The world's sages affirm that philosophy contri butes something to this,that philosophy which, according to Cicero, the gods have bestowed in its purity only on a few men. They have never given, he says, nor can ever give, a greater gift to men. So that even those against whom we are disputing have been compelled to acknowledge, in some fashion, that the grace of God is necessary for the acquisition, not, indeed, of any philosophy, but of the true philosophy. And if the true philosophythis sole support against the miseries of this lifehas been given by Heaven only to a few, it sufficiently appears from this that the human race has been condemned to pay this penalty of wretchedness. And as, according to their acknowledgment, no greater gift has been bestowed by God, so it must be believed that it could be given only by that God whom they themselves recognise as greater than all the gods they worship.
23. Of the miseries of this life which attach peculiarly to the toil of good men, irrespective of those which are common to the good and bad.
--
Some Christians, who have a liking for Plato on account of his magnificent style and the truths which he now and then uttered, say that he even held an opinion similar to our own regarding the resurrection of the dead. Cicero, however, alluding to this in his Republic, asserts that Plato meant it rather as a playful fancy than as a reality; for he introduces a man[1026] who had come to life again, and gave a narrative of his experience in corroboration of the doctrines of Plato. Labeo, too, says that two men died on one day, and met at a cross-road, and that, being afterwards ordered to return to their bodies, they agreed to be friends for life, and were so till they died again. But the resurrection which these writers instance resembles that of those persons whom we have ourselves known to rise again, and who came back indeed to this life, but not so as never to die again. Marcus Varro, however, in his work On the Origin of the Roman People, records something more remarkable; I think his own words should be given. "Certain astrologers," he says, "have written that men are destined to a new birth, which the Greeks call palingenesy. This will take place after four hundred and forty years have elapsed; and then the same soul and the same body, which were formerly united in the person, shall again be reunited." This Varro, indeed, or those nameless astrologers,for he does not give us the names[Pg 534] of the men whose statement he cites,have affirmed what is indeed not altogether true; for once the souls have returned to the bodies they wore, they shall never afterwards leave them. Yet what they say upsets and demolishes much of that idle talk of our adversaries about the impossibility of the resurrection. For those who have been or are of this opinion, have not thought it possible that bodies which have dissolved into air, or dust, or ashes, or water, or into the bodies of the beasts or even of the men that fed on them, should be restored again to that which they formerly were. And therefore, if Plato and Porphyry, or rather, if their disciples now living, agree with us that holy souls shall return to the body, as Plato says, and that, nevertheless, they shall not return to misery, as Porphyry maintains,if they accept the consequence of these two propositions which is taught by the Christian faith, that they shall receive bodies in which they may live eternally without suffering any misery,let them also adopt from Varro the opinion that they shall return to the same bodies as they were formerly in, and thus the whole question of the eternal resurrection of the body shall be resolved out of their own mouths.
29. Of the beatific vision.
BOOK XXI. - Of the eternal punishment of the wicked in hell, and of the various objections urged against it, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Some, however, of those against whom we are defending the city of God, think it unjust that any man be doomed to an eternal punishment for sins which, no matter how great they were, were perpetrated in a brief space of time; as if any law ever regulated the duration of the punishment by the duration of the offence punished! Cicero tells us that the laws recognise eight kinds of penalty,damages, imprisonment, scourging, reparation,[874] disgrace, exile, death, slavery. Is there any one of these which may be compressed into a brevity proportioned to the rapid commission of the offence, so that no longer time may be spent in its punishment than in its perpetration, unless, perhaps, reparation? For this requires that the offender suffer what he did, as that clause of the law says, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth."[875] For certainly it is possible for an offender to lose his eye by the severity of legal retaliation in as brief a time as he deprived another of his eye by the cruelty of his own lawlessness. But if scourging be a reasonable penalty for kissing another man's wife, is not the fault of an instant visited with long hours of atonement, and the momentary delight punished with lasting pain? What shall we say of imprisonment? Must the criminal be confined only for so long a time as he spent on the offence for which he is committed? or is not a penalty of many years' confinement imposed on the slave who has provoked his master with a word, or has struck him a blow that is quickly over? And as to damages, disgrace, exile, slavery, which are commonly inflicted so as to admit of no relaxation or pardon, do not these resemble eternal punishments in so far as this short life allows a resemblance? For they are not eternal only because the[Pg 437] life in which they are endured is not eternal; and yet the crimes which are punished with these most protracted sufferings are perpetrated in a very brief space of time. Nor is there any one who would suppose that the pains of punishment should occupy as short a time as the offence; or that murder, adultery, sacrilege, or any other crime, should be measured, not by the enormity of the injury or wickedness, but by the length of time spent in its perpetration. Then as to the award of death for any great crime, do the laws reckon the punishment to consist in the brief moment in which death is inflicted, or in this, that the offender is eternally banished from the society of the living? And just as the punishment of the first death cuts men off from this present mortal city, so does the punishment of the second death cut men off from that future immortal city. For as the laws of this present city do not provide for the executed criminal's return to it, so neither is he who is condemned to the second death recalled again to life everlasting. But if temporal sin is visited with eternal punishment, how, then, they say, is that true which your Christ says, "With the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again?"[876] and they do not observe that "the same measure" refers, not to an equal space of time, but to the retri bution of evil, or, in other words, to the law by which he who has done evil suffers evil. Besides, these words could be appropriately understood as referring to the matter of which our Lord was speaking when He used them, viz. judgments and condemnation. Thus, if he who unjustly judges and condemns is himself justly judged and condemned, he receives "with the same measure" though not the same thing as he gave. For judgment he gave, and judgment he receives, though the judgment he gave was unjust, the judgment he receives just.
12. Of the greatness of the first transgression, on account of which eternal punishment is due to all who are not within the pale of the Saviour's grace.
COSA - BOOK III, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
study, I fell upon a certain book of Cicero, whose speech almost all
admire, not so his heart. This book of his contains an exhortation
COSA - BOOK VIII, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
upon the reading of Cicero's Hortensius, I was stirred to an earnest
love of wisdom; and still I was deferring to reject mere earthly
ENNEAD 01.06 - Of Beauty., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01, #Plotinus, #Christianity
Page 41, line 11, Stoic definition, Cicero, Tusculans, iv. 13.
Page 44, line 30, Obscurity of Matter, Timaeus, p. 31, Cary 11; Philebus, p. 29, Cary 52.
ENNEAD 02.04a - Of Matter., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01, #Plotinus, #Christianity
(According to Aristotle's account of Democritus),293 neither could the atoms fulfil the part of matter because they are nothing (as before thought Cicero).294 Every body is divisible to infinity. (Against the system of the atoms) might further be alleged the continuity and humidity of bodies. Besides nothing can exist without intelligence and soul, which could not be composed of atoms. Nothing with a nature different from the atoms could produce anything with the atoms, because no demiurgic creator could produce something with a matter that lacked continuity. Many other objections against this system have and can be made; but further discussion is unnecessary.
MATTER IS NOTHING COMPOSITE, BUT BY NATURE SIMPLE AND ONE.
ENNEAD 02.09 - Against the Gnostics; or, That the Creator and the World are Not Evil., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02, #Plotinus, #Christianity
3 Cicero, Tusc. i. 16; Nat. Deor. i. 1; Maxim. Tyr. xvii. 5.
4 As wastage, see 6.4, 10; as Numenius might have said in 12, 22.
--
95 As was suggested by Herodotus, ii. 51, and Cicero, de Nat. Deor. iii. 22.
96 That is, Cybele, see v. 1.7.
--
105 As thought Cicero, Tusculans, i. 20; and Aristotle, de Anima, iii. 13.
106 See ii. 9.18.
--
204 Cicero, Orator 2; Seneca, Controversiae v. 36.
205 ii. 8.1.
ENNEAD 03.01 - Concerning Fate., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01, #Plotinus, #Christianity
This leads us to consider, more in detail, what sort of facts may be predicted according to the inspection of94 the positions occupied by the stars presiding over the birth of a man. They who, from the assertion that the stars indicate a man's future, draw the consequence that the stars produce them, are in error. In some person's horoscope which indicates birth from noble parents, on either maternal or paternal side, this nobility of birth cannot be attri buted to the stars, as this nobility subsisted already in the parents before the stars had taken the position according to which the horoscope is cast. Besides, astrologers pretend they can discover the parent's fortune from the birth of their children, and from the condition of the parents the disposition and fate of the unborn offspring. From a child's horoscope, they announce his brother's death; and from a woman's horoscope, the fortunes of her husband, and conversely. It is unreasonable to refer to the stars things which evidently are necessary consequences of parental conditions. We then reach a dilemma: the cause lies either in these antecedent conditions, or in the stars. The beauty and ugliness of children, when they resemble their parents, must evidently be derived from them, and not from the course of the stars. Moreover, it is probable that at any one moment are born a crowd of human and animal young; now, inasmuch as they are born under the same star, they all ought to have the same nature. How does it then happen that, in the same positions, stars produce men and other beings simultaneously (as Cicero asks105)?
HEREDITY MORE IMPORTANT THAN STAR-INFLUENCE; CONTINUATION.
ENNEAD 03.07 - Of Time and Eternity., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03, #Plotinus, #Christianity
56 See Cicero, de Finibus, ii. 2729.
57 See iii. 7.
--
292 Cicero, Academics, i. 11.
293 See ii. 4.10.
ENNEAD 04.02 - How the Soul Mediates Between Indivisible and Divisible Essence., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01, #Plotinus, #Christianity
48 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 9.
49 Ecl. Phys. 797, Cicero, de Nat. Deor. iii. 14.
50 See ii. 4, 1. 'ps echon.' of Dikearchus and Aristoxenus.
--
62 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 9.
63 See ii. 4, 1.
--
94 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 1216.
95 Such as Porphyry's "Philosophy derived from Oracles."
--
97 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 18, 37.
98 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 12, 18; de Divinat, i. 58.
99 Chrysippus, in Cicero, de Fato, 10.
100 Cicero, de Finibus, i. 6.
101 Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 25.
102 Stobeus, Ecl. Phys. i. 6, p. 178.
--
104 As thought the Stoics, Cicero, de Nat. Deor. ii. 11.
105 Cicero, de Divinatione, ii. 44.
106 As thought Plato, in the Phaedo, C81.
--
261 Cicero, Tusculans, i. 22.
262 See i. 4.9.
--
281 See Cicero, de Nat. Deor. i. 15.
282 Met. viii. 1.
--
358 Cicero, de Nat. Deor. ii. 3133.
359 See 4.7.6, 7.
360 Plutarch, de Plac. Phil. v. 21; Cicero, de Nat. Deor. ii. 11. The "predominating principle" had appeared in Plato's Timaeus, p. 41.
361 Of the Timaeus, p. 35.
ENNEAD 06.05 - The One and Identical Being is Everywhere Present In Its Entirety.345, #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04, #Plotinus, #Christianity
His last period was Stoic practise, for so zealously did he practise austerities that his death was, at1281 least, hastened thereby.446 It is unlikely that he would have followed Stoic precepts without some sympathy for, or acquaintance with their philosophical doctrines; and as we saw above, Porphyry acknowledges Plotinos's writings contain hidden Stoic pieces.447 Then, Plotinos spent the last period of his life in Rome, where ruled, in philosophical circles, the traditions of Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.
That these Stoic practices became fatal to him is significant when we remember that this occurred during the final absence of Porphyry, who may, during his presence, have exerted a friendly restraint on the zealous master. At any rate, it was during Porphyry's regime that the chief works of Plotinos were written, including a bitter diatribe against the Gnostics, who remained the chief protagonists of dualism and belief in positive evil. Prophyry's work, "De Abstinentia," proves clearly enough his Stoic sympathies.
--
2 Diog. Laert. x.; Cicero, de Fin. i. 14, 46.
3 Cicero, de Fin. 11, 26.
4 See Arist. Nic. Eth. vii. 13; Sextus Empiricus, Hypotyp. Pyrrhon, iii. 180; Stob. Ecl. ii. 7.
--
15 Cicero, Tusculans. ii. 7.
16 The animal; see i. 1.10.
--
54 As thought Cicero, de Nat. Deor. iii. 63. 64.
55 As thought Philo, de Prov. in Eus. Prep. Ev. viii. 14.
--
201 Cicero, de Divinatione, i. 39.
202 Julius Firmicus Maternus, Astrol. ii. 23.
--
208 Cicero, de Nat. Deorum, ii. 46.
209 See iv. 4.32.
210 According to the Stoics: Alex. Aphrod. de Mixtione, p. 141; Cicero, de Nat. Deorum, ii. 32.
211 See iii. 1.4, 710.
--
241 See Cicero, de Nat. Deor. ii. 34.
242 See iv. 4.39, 40.
Liber 111 - The Book of Wisdom - LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
Cicero, with many other Wise Men of Old Time.
Compare, o my Son, with this Doctrine that which was taught thee in the
Talks With Sri Aurobindo 1, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
could fight also but not always so well. Take the Roman thinkersLucretius, Cicero, Seneca, all owe their philosophy to the Greeks.
That, again, is an illustration of what I was saying about the inrush of
--
as Plato in his or Cicero or Tacitus in theirs or in French Literature Voltaire,
527
The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
and debasement; for Cicero 'the province of the ridiculous ... lies in
a certain baseness and deformity'; for Descartes laughter is a mani-
--
Both Cicero and Francis Bacon gave deformity a high place on their
lists of causes for laughter. The princes of the Renaissance collected
Theaetetus, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
The Theaetetus is one of the narrated dialogues of Plato, and is the only one which is supposed to have been written down. In a short introductory scene, Euclides and Terpsion are described as meeting before the door of Euclides' house in Megara. This may have been a spot familiar to Plato (for Megara was within a walk of Athens), but no importance can be attached to the accidental introduction of the founder of the Megarian philosophy. The real intention of the preface is to create an interest about the person of Theaetetus, who has just been carried up from the army at Corinth in a dying state. The expectation of his death recalls the promise of his youth, and especially the famous conversation which Socrates had with him when he was quite young, a few days before his own trial and death, as we are once more reminded at the end of the dialogue. Yet we may observe that Plato has himself forgotten this, when he represents Euclides as from time to time coming to Athens and correcting the copy from Socrates' own mouth. The narrative, having introduced Theaetetus, and having guaranteed the au thenticity of the dialogue (compare Symposium, Phaedo, Parmenides), is then dropped. No further use is made of the device. As Plato himself remarks, who in this as in some other minute points is imitated by Cicero (De Amicitia), the interlocutory words are omitted.
Theaetetus, the hero of the battle of Corinth and of the dialogue, is a disciple of Theodorus, the great geometrician, whose science is thus indicated to be the propaedeutic to philosophy. An interest has been already excited about him by his approaching death, and now he is introduced to us anew by the praises of his master Theodorus. He is a youthful Socrates, and exhibits the same contrast of the fair soul and the ungainly face and frame, the Silenus mask and the god within, which are described in the Symposium. The picture which Theodorus gives of his courage and patience and intelligence and modesty is verified in the course of the dialogue. His courage is shown by his behaviour in the battle, and his other qualities shine forth as the argument proceeds. Socrates takes an evident delight in 'the wise Theaetetus,' who has more in him than 'many bearded men'; he is quite inspired by his answers. At first the youth is lost in wonder, and is almost too modest to speak, but, encouraged by Socrates, he rises to the occasion, and grows full of interest and enthusiasm about the great question. Like a youth, he has not finally made up his mind, and is very ready to follow the lead of Socrates, and to enter into each successive phase of the discussion which turns up. His great dialectical talent is shown in his power of drawing distinctions, and of foreseeing the consequences of his own answers. The enquiry about the nature of knowledge is not new to him; long ago he has felt the 'pang of philosophy,' and has experienced the youthful intoxication which is depicted in the Philebus. But he has hitherto been unable to make the transition from mathematics to metaphysics. He can form a general conception of square and oblong numbers, but he is unable to attain a similar expression of knowledge in the abstract. Yet at length he begins to recognize that there are universal conceptions of being, likeness, sameness, number, which the mind contemplates in herself, and with the help of Socrates is conducted from a theory of sense to a theory of ideas.
The Dwellings of the Philosophers, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
(1) Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods, I, 10, p. 38.
(2) As mentioned, the baphomet sometimes exhibited the outer characteristic and appearance of ox skulls. Presented in this
the Eternal Wisdom, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
7) There is only one Ethics, as there is only one geometry. But the majority of men, it will be said, are ignorant of geometry. Yes, but as soon as they begin to apply themselves a little to that science, all are in agreement. Cultivators, workmen, artisans have not gone through courses in ethics; they have not read Cicero or Aristotle, but the moment they begin to think on the subject they become, without knowing it, the disciples of Cicero. The Indian dyer, the Tartar shepherd and the English sailor know what is just and what is injust. Confucius did not invent a system of ethics as one invents a system of physics. He had discovered it in the heart of all mankind. ~ Voltaire
8) The sage's rule of moral conduct has its principle in the hearts of all men. ~ Tseu-tse
9) There is a primary law, eternal, invariable, engraved in the heads of all; it is Right Reason. Never does it speak in vain to the virtuous man, whether it ordains or prohibits. The wicked alone are untouched by its voice. It is easy to be understood and is not different in one country and in another; it is today what it will be tomorrow and for all time. ~ Cicero
10) Language is different but man is the same everywhere. That is why spoken Reason is one, and through its translation we see it to be the same in Egypt, in Persia and in Greece. ~ Hermes
11) But in what circumstances does our reason teach us that there is vice or virtue? How does this continual mystery work? Tell me, inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, Africans, Canadians and you, Plato, Cicero, Epictetus! You all feel equally that it is better to give away the superfluity of your bread, your rice or your manioc to the indigent than to kill him or tear out his eyes. It is evident to all on earth that an act of benevolence is better than an outrage, that gentleness is preferable to wrath. We have merely to use our Reason in order to discern the shades which distinguish right and wrong. Good and evil are often close neighbours and our passions confuse them. Who will enlighten us? We ourselves when we are calm. ~ Voltaire
12) In order to live a happy life, man should understand what life is and what he can or cannot do. The best and wisest men in all nations have taught it to us from all times. All the doctrines of the sages meet in their foundation and it is this general sum of their doctrines, revealing the aim of human life and the conduct to be pursued, that constitutes real religion. ~ Tolstoi
--
26) Every man who returns into himself, will find there traces of the Divinity. ~ Cicero, "De Regibus. I. 22
27) Look into thy heart and thou shalt see there His image. ~ Farid-ud-din-attar, "Mantic-uttair," 13
--
7) Let each contemplate himself, not shut up in narrow walls, not cabined in a corner of the earth, but a citizen of the whole world. From the height of the sublime meditations which the spectacle of Nature and the knowledge of it will procure for him, how well will he know himself how he will disdain, how base he will find all the futilities to which the vulgar attach so high a price. ~ Cicero
8) When one says to a man, "Know thyself," it is not only to lower his pride, but to make him sensible of his own value. ~ id
--
18) But most men, I know not why, love better to deceive themselves and fight obstinately for an opinion which is to their taste than to seek without obduracy the truth ~ Cicero, "Academy" II. 13
19) We have no power against the truth, we have power only for the truth. ~ II Corinthains XIII. 8
--
8) Let not the talk of the vulgar make any impression on you. ~ Cicero
9) Nothing is so dangerous as the habit we have of referring to a common opinion. So long as one trusts other people without taking the trouble to judge for oneself, one lives by the faith of others, error is passed on from hand to hand and example destroys us. ~ Seneca
--
8) When we can draw from ourselves all our felicity, we find nothing vexatious to us in the order of Nature. ~ Cicero
9) True philosophy is beyond all the attacks of things. ~ Apollonius of Tyana
--
26) I have never counted as real possessions either treasures or palaces or the places which give us credit and put authority in our hands or the pleasures of which men are slaves. ~ Cicero
27) I strive to attain the happiness which does not pass away nor perish and which has not its source in riches or beauty nor depends upon them. ~ Foshu-hing-tsan-king
--
10) Let us impose upon our desires the yoke of submission to reason, let them be ever calm and never bring trouble into our souls; thence result wisdom, constancy, moderation. ~ Cicero
11) The man veritably free is he who, disburdened of fear and desire, is subjected only to his reason. ~ Fenelon
--
28).All souls have within them something soft, cowardly, vile, nerveless, languishing, and if there were only that element in man, there would be nothing so ugly as the human being. But at the same time there is in him, very much to the purpose, this mistress, this absolute queen, Reason, who by the effort she has it in herself to make, becomes perfect and becomes the supreme virtue. One must, to be truly a human being, give it full authority over that other part of the soul whose duty it is to obey the reason. ~ Cicero
29) Be master of thy soul, O seeker of eternal verities, if thou wouldst attain thy end. ~ Book of Golden Precepts
--
3)What is the true law? It is a right reason invariable, eternal, in conformity with Nature, -which is extended in all human being. ~ Cicero
4)Man's duty is to give the guidance of the soul to reason. ~ Hermes,
--
8) All you have to do then is to comm and yourselves. ~ Cicero,
9) Keep over your actions an absolute empire; be 10 not their slave, but their master. ~ Imitation of Christ
--
6) Let us respect men, and not only men of worth, but the public in general ~ Cicero
7) Show not respect in especial to those that are esteemed great and high in place, but treat with a like respect those that are judged to be small and at the bottom of the social ladder. ~ Tolstoy
The Theologians, #Labyrinths, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
another from Cicero's Academica priora, where the author scoffs at those
who imagine that, while he converses with Lucullus, other Luculluses and
Timaeus, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
The Timaeus of Plato, like the Protagoras and several portions of the Phaedrus and Republic, was translated by Cicero into Latin. About a fourth, comprehending with lacunae the first portion of the dialogue, is preserved in several MSS. These generally agree, and therefore may be supposed to be derived from a single original. The version is very faithful, and is a remarkable monument of Cicero's skill in managing the difficult and intractable Greek. In his treatise De Natura Deorum, he also refers to the Timaeus, which, speaking in the person of Velleius the Epicurean, he severely criticises.
The commentary of Proclus on the Timaeus is a wonderful monument of the silliness and prolixity of the Alexandrian Age. It extends to about thirty pages of the book, and is thirty times the length of the original. It is surprising that this voluminous work should have found a translator (Thomas Taylor, a kindred spirit, who was himself a Neo-Platonist, after the fashion, not of the fifth or sixteenth, but of the nineteenth century A.D.). The commentary is of little or no value, either in a philosophical or philological point of view. The writer is unable to explain particular passages in any precise manner, and he is equally incapable of grasping the whole. He does not take words in their simple meaning or sentences in their natural connexion. He is thinking, not of the context in Plato, but of the contemporary Pythagorean philosophers and their wordy strife. He finds nothing in the text which he does not bring to it. He is full of Porphyry, Iamblichus and Plotinus, of misapplied logic, of misunderstood grammar, and of the Orphic theology.
--- Overview of noun cicero
The noun cicero has 2 senses (no senses from tagged texts)
1. cicero ::: (a linear unit of the size of type slightly larger than an em)
2. Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully ::: (a Roman statesman and orator remembered for his mastery of Latin prose (106-43 BC))
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun cicero
2 senses of cicero
Sense 1
cicero
=> linear unit, linear measure
=> unit of measurement, unit
=> definite quantity
=> measure, quantity, amount
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully
INSTANCE OF=> orator, speechmaker, rhetorician, public speaker, speechifier
=> speaker, talker, utterer, verbalizer, verbaliser
=> articulator
=> communicator
=> person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
=> organism, being
=> living thing, animate thing
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> causal agent, cause, causal agency
=> physical entity
=> entity
INSTANCE OF=> statesman, solon, national leader
=> politician, politico, pol, political leader
=> leader
=> person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
=> organism, being
=> living thing, animate thing
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> causal agent, cause, causal agency
=> physical entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun cicero
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun cicero
2 senses of cicero
Sense 1
cicero
=> linear unit, linear measure
Sense 2
Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully
INSTANCE OF=> orator, speechmaker, rhetorician, public speaker, speechifier
INSTANCE OF=> statesman, solon, national leader
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun cicero
2 senses of cicero
Sense 1
cicero
-> linear unit, linear measure
=> long measure
=> astronomy unit
=> metric linear unit
=> nautical linear unit
=> inch, in
=> foot, ft
=> footer
=> yard, pace
=> yarder
=> perch, rod, pole
=> furlong
=> mile, statute mile, stat mi, land mile, international mile, mi
=> miler
=> half mile, 880 yards
=> quarter mile, 440 yards
=> league
=> ligne
=> nail
=> archine
=> kos, coss
=> vara
=> verst
=> cable, cable length, cable's length
=> chain
=> cubit
=> finger, fingerbreadth, finger's breadth, digit
=> fistmele
=> body length
=> handbreadth, handsbreadth
=> head
=> lea
=> li
=> link
=> mesh
=> mil
=> mile, mil, Swedish mile
=> mile, Roman mile
=> Roman pace
=> geometric pace
=> military pace
=> palm
=> span
=> survey mile
=> fathom, fthm
=> point
=> em, pica em, pica
=> en, nut
=> cicero
Sense 2
Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully
-> orator, speechmaker, rhetorician, public speaker, speechifier
=> eulogist, panegyrist
=> elocutionist
=> haranguer
=> spellbinder
=> tub-thumper
HAS INSTANCE=> Burke, Edmund Burke
HAS INSTANCE=> Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully
HAS INSTANCE=> Demosthenes
HAS INSTANCE=> Henry, Patrick Henry
HAS INSTANCE=> Isocrates
-> statesman, solon, national leader
=> elder statesman
=> Founding Father
=> stateswoman
HAS INSTANCE=> Acheson, Dean Acheson, Dean Gooderham Acheson
HAS INSTANCE=> Adenauer, Konrad Adenauer
HAS INSTANCE=> Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
HAS INSTANCE=> Alcibiades
HAS INSTANCE=> Arafat, Yasser Arafat
HAS INSTANCE=> Ataturk, Kemal Ataturk, Kemal Pasha, Mustafa Kemal
HAS INSTANCE=> Attlee, Clement Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee
HAS INSTANCE=> Augustus, Gaius Octavianus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Octavian
HAS INSTANCE=> Bacon, Francis Bacon, Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, 1st Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans
HAS INSTANCE=> Baldwin, Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley
HAS INSTANCE=> Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
HAS INSTANCE=> Baruch, Bernard Baruch, Bernard Mannes Baruch
HAS INSTANCE=> Begin, Menachem Begin
HAS INSTANCE=> Ben Gurion, David Ben Gurion, David Grun
HAS INSTANCE=> Bevin, Ernest Bevin
HAS INSTANCE=> Bismarck, von Bismarck, Otto von Bismarck, Prince Otto von Bismarck, Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Iron Chancellor
HAS INSTANCE=> Blair, Tony Blair, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
HAS INSTANCE=> Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
HAS INSTANCE=> Bolivar, Simon Bolivar, El Libertador
HAS INSTANCE=> Brandt, Willy Brandt
HAS INSTANCE=> Brezhnev, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
HAS INSTANCE=> Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus
HAS INSTANCE=> Burke, Edmund Burke
HAS INSTANCE=> Caesar, Julius Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar
HAS INSTANCE=> Cassius, Cassius Longinus, Gaius Cassius Longinus
HAS INSTANCE=> Chamberlain, Neville Chamberlain, Arthur Neville Chamberlain
HAS INSTANCE=> Chateaubriand, Francois Rene Chateaubriand, Vicomte de Chateaubriand
HAS INSTANCE=> Chesterfield, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope
HAS INSTANCE=> Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Chung-cheng
HAS INSTANCE=> Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill
HAS INSTANCE=> Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully
HAS INSTANCE=> Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
HAS INSTANCE=> Clemenceau, Georges Clemenceau, Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemenceau
HAS INSTANCE=> Clive, Robert Clive, Baron Clive, Baron Clive of Plassey
HAS INSTANCE=> Cosimo de Medici, Cosimo the Elder
HAS INSTANCE=> Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, Ironsides
HAS INSTANCE=> Davis, Jefferson Davis
HAS INSTANCE=> Dayan, Moshe Dayan
HAS INSTANCE=> de Gaulle, General de Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle, General Charles de Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle
HAS INSTANCE=> Demosthenes
HAS INSTANCE=> Deng Xiaoping, Teng Hsiao-ping, Teng Hsiaoping
HAS INSTANCE=> de Valera, Eamon de Valera
HAS INSTANCE=> Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli, First Earl of Beaconsfield
HAS INSTANCE=> Flaminius, Gaius Flaminius
HAS INSTANCE=> Fox, Charles James Fox
HAS INSTANCE=> Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Indira Nehru Gandhi, Mrs. Gandhi
HAS INSTANCE=> Gladstone, William Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone
HAS INSTANCE=> Gorbachev, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
HAS INSTANCE=> Grey, Charles Grey, Second Earl Grey
HAS INSTANCE=> Haldane, Richard Haldane, Richard Burdon Haldane, First Viscount Haldane of Cloan
HAS INSTANCE=> Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton
HAS INSTANCE=> Havel, Vaclav Havel
HAS INSTANCE=> Hindenburg, Paul von Hindenburg, Paul Ludwig von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg
HAS INSTANCE=> Ho Chi Minh, Nguyen Tat Thanh
HAS INSTANCE=> Jinnah, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
HAS INSTANCE=> Kalinin, Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin
HAS INSTANCE=> Kaunda, Kenneth Kaunda, Kenneth David Kaunda
HAS INSTANCE=> Kenyata, Jomo Kenyata
HAS INSTANCE=> Kerensky, Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerensky
HAS INSTANCE=> Khama, Sir Seretse Khama
HAS INSTANCE=> Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
HAS INSTANCE=> Konoe, Fumimaro Konoe, Prince Fumimaro Konoe, Konoye, Fumimaro Konoye, Prince Fumimaro Konoye
HAS INSTANCE=> Kruger, Oom Paul Kruger, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger
HAS INSTANCE=> Lorenzo de'Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent
HAS INSTANCE=> Machiavelli, Niccolo Machiavelli
HAS INSTANCE=> Major, John Major, John R. Major, John Roy Major
HAS INSTANCE=> Mandela, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
HAS INSTANCE=> Marshall, George Marshall, George Catlett Marshall
HAS INSTANCE=> Meir, Golda Meir
HAS INSTANCE=> Metternich, Klemens Metternich, Prince Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar von Metternich
HAS INSTANCE=> Mitterrand, Francois Mitterrand, Francois Maurice Marie Mitterrand
HAS INSTANCE=> Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov
HAS INSTANCE=> More, Thomas More, Sir Thomas More
HAS INSTANCE=> Morris, Gouverneur Morris
HAS INSTANCE=> Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak
HAS INSTANCE=> Nansen, Fridtjof Nansen
HAS INSTANCE=> Nasser, Gamal Abdel Nasser
HAS INSTANCE=> Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru
HAS INSTANCE=> North, Frederick North, Second Earl of Guilford
HAS INSTANCE=> Ortega, Daniel Ortega, Daniel Ortega Saavedra
HAS INSTANCE=> Paderewski, Ignace Paderewski, Ignace Jan Paderewski
HAS INSTANCE=> Pericles
HAS INSTANCE=> Pitt, William Pitt, First Earl of Chatham, Pitt the Elder
HAS INSTANCE=> Pitt, William Pitt, Second Earl of Chatham, Pitt the Younger
HAS INSTANCE=> Pompey, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great
HAS INSTANCE=> Powell, Colin Powell, Colin luther Powell
HAS INSTANCE=> Putin, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
HAS INSTANCE=> Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
HAS INSTANCE=> Richelieu, Duc de Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu
HAS INSTANCE=> Rockingham, Second Marquis of Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth
HAS INSTANCE=> Sadat, Anwar Sadat, Anwar el-Sadat
HAS INSTANCE=> Schmidt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt
HAS INSTANCE=> Seneca, Lucius Annaeus Seneca
HAS INSTANCE=> Smith, Ian Smith, Ian Douglas Smith
HAS INSTANCE=> Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts
HAS INSTANCE=> Suharto
HAS INSTANCE=> Sukarno, Achmad Sukarno
HAS INSTANCE=> Sully, Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune
HAS INSTANCE=> Sun Yat-sen, Sun Yixian
HAS INSTANCE=> Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
HAS INSTANCE=> Themistocles
HAS INSTANCE=> Tito, Marshal Tito, Josip Broz
HAS INSTANCE=> Vargas, Getulio Dornelles Vargas
HAS INSTANCE=> Verwoerd, Hendrik Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd
HAS INSTANCE=> Waldheim, Kurt Waldheim
HAS INSTANCE=> Walesa, Lech Walesa
HAS INSTANCE=> Walpole, Robert Walpole, Sir Robert Walpole, First Earl of Orford
HAS INSTANCE=> Warwick, Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville, Kingmaker
HAS INSTANCE=> Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann, Chaim Azriel Weizmann
HAS INSTANCE=> Wellington, Duke of Wellington, First Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Iron Duke
HAS INSTANCE=> Wykeham, William of Wykeham
--- Grep of noun cicero
cicero
cicerone
marcus tullius cicero
Wikipedia - 2020 Indian agriculture acts -- Acts of the Parliament of India
Wikipedia - Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology -- University in Kumarganj, Uttar Pradesh India
Wikipedia - After the Development of Agriculture -- Calendar era, according to which 2000 CE is 10000 A.D.A. (M-bM-^@M-^fter the development of agricultureM-bM-^@M-^])
Wikipedia - Agreement on Agriculture
Wikipedia - Agribusiness -- Agriculture-related industry
Wikipedia - Agricultural machinery -- Machinery used in farming or other agriculture
Wikipedia - Agricultural policy -- Laws relating to domestic agriculture and foreign-imported agricultural products
Wikipedia - Agricultural Research Service -- Research agency of the US Department of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators -- Studies in agriculture research and development
Wikipedia - Agricultural wastewater treatment -- Farm management agenda for controlling pollution from surface runoff in agriculture
Wikipedia - Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department -- Hong Kong government department
Wikipedia - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan -- Sector of the Japanese economy
Wikipedia - Agriculture in ancient Greece
Wikipedia - Agriculture in California -- Overview of agriculture in California
Wikipedia - Agriculture in China
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Georgia (country)
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Germany -- Aspect of German economy
Wikipedia - Agriculture in India -- Agriculture in India
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Indonesia -- Major industry in Indonesia
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Pakistan
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Poland
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Puerto Rico -- A primary sector of the economy of Puerto Rico
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Romania
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Scotland
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Singapore -- Description of agriculture in Singapore
Wikipedia - Agriculture in South Africa
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Svalbard -- Svalbard's agriculture
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Taiwan
Wikipedia - Agriculture in the Philippines
Wikipedia - Agriculture in the Soviet Union
Wikipedia - Agriculture in the United States -- Major industry in the United States
Wikipedia - Agriculture in Vietnam
Wikipedia - Agriculture -- Cultivation of plants and animals to provide useful products
Wikipedia - Agrochemical -- Any chemical used in agriculture
Wikipedia - Agroecology -- The study of ecological processes in agriculture
Wikipedia - Agway -- U.S. agriculture company
Wikipedia - AlterAg -- American agriculture company
Wikipedia - Ancient Egyptian agriculture
Wikipedia - Animal agriculture
Wikipedia - Animal-free agriculture
Wikipedia - Arab Agricultural Revolution -- Arab transformation of agriculture in Medieval Spain
Wikipedia - Arthur Young (agriculturist) -- English writer on agriculture (1741-1820)
Wikipedia - Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture -- Research institute in Bangladesh
Wikipedia - Biodiversity in agriculture -- Increasing biodiversity in agriculture
Wikipedia - Biodynamic Agriculture
Wikipedia - Biodynamic agriculture
Wikipedia - British Agricultural Revolution -- Mid-17th to 19th century revolution centred around agriculture
Wikipedia - Category:Agriculture ministers of Albania
Wikipedia - Catherine Woteki -- American agriculture official
Wikipedia - Cellular agriculture
Wikipedia - Central Philippine University - College of Agriculture, Resources and Environmental Sciences -- Agricultural school at Central Philippine University
Wikipedia - Ceres (mythology) -- Roman goddess of agriculture
Wikipedia - Challenger Tractor -- Rubber tracked agriculture tractor
Wikipedia - Chamber of Agriculture -- British agricultural organisation
Wikipedia - Charles F. Brannan -- American politician, Secretary of Agriculture 1948-1953
Wikipedia - Christianity and agriculture -- Christianity and agriculture
Wikipedia - Civic agriculture
Wikipedia - Climate change and agriculture -- Climate change's effects on agriculture
Wikipedia - Columella -- 1st century AD Roman writer on agriculture
Wikipedia - Commercial agriculture
Wikipedia - Committee on Environment and Agriculture -- Swedish parliamentary committee
Wikipedia - Community-supported agriculture
Wikipedia - Corporate farming -- Large-scale agriculture driven by big business
Wikipedia - Corteva -- American agriculture company
Wikipedia - Cowspiracy -- 2014 documentary film exploring the impact of animal agriculture on the environment.
Wikipedia - DeKalb Genetics Corporation -- Agriculture company purchased by Monsanto in 1998
Wikipedia - Demeter -- Greek goddess of the harvest, grains, and agriculture
Wikipedia - Dennys Lascelles Ltd -- Australian agriculture company
Wikipedia - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs -- Agriculture ministry of United Kingdom (British ministerial department)
Wikipedia - Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland) -- State government department in Queensland, Australia
Wikipedia - Department of Agriculture appointments by Donald Trump -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Isle of Man) -- Former department of the Isle of Man Government
Wikipedia - Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) -- Federal department of Niue
Wikipedia - Department of Agriculture (Philippines) -- Government department in the Philippines
Wikipedia - Dmitry Patrushev -- Russian politician; Minister of Agriculture (2018-present)
Wikipedia - Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia -- Ancient expansion of agriculture
Wikipedia - Draft:Narayanarao Bhogapurapu -- Indian researcher working on microwave remote sensing and agriculture applications
Wikipedia - Ecological agriculture
Wikipedia - Ecological sanitation -- An approach to sanitation provision which aims to safely reuse excreta in agriculture
Wikipedia - Economy of the Republic of Ireland -- Survey of knowledge, services and agriculture-led economy
Wikipedia - Ed Schafer -- 29th United States Secretary of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Energy efficiency in agriculture
Wikipedia - Extensive farming -- Agriculture systems that involve low inputs and outputs relative to land area
Wikipedia - FarmBot -- Open-source precision agriculture CNC farming project
Wikipedia - Farmer -- Person that works in agriculture
Wikipedia - Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Wikipedia - Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta -- University in Nigeria
Wikipedia - Flour Mills of Nigeria -- Nigerian agriculture company
Wikipedia - Food and Agriculture Organization
Wikipedia - Food Programme -- Plan to improve Soviet agriculture
Wikipedia - Food security in the Central Valley, California -- Widespread issue where most of the nation's agriculture is produced
Wikipedia - Freight Farms -- Agriculture tech company
Wikipedia - Genetically modified crops -- Plants used in agriculture
Wikipedia - Glossary of agriculture -- List of definitions of terms and concepts commonly used in agriculture
Wikipedia - Great Depression of British Agriculture -- Economic depression
Wikipedia - Helene Lapierre -- Research scientist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Wikipedia - History of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent -- Overview of the history of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent
Wikipedia - History of agriculture -- notable events in the history of how plants and animals were domesticated and how techniques of raising them for human uses was developed
Wikipedia - Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry Union -- Former West German trade union
Wikipedia - Horticulture -- Agriculture of plants
Wikipedia - Incan agriculture -- Agriculture by the Inca Empire
Wikipedia - Index of agriculture articles -- Wikipedia index
Wikipedia - Information and communications technology in agriculture -- Agricultural and rural development
Wikipedia - Intensive farming in Almeria -- Greenhouse agriculture in southern Spain.
Wikipedia - Intensive farming -- Type of agriculture using high inputs to try to get high outputs
Wikipedia - International University of Business Agriculture and Technology -- Private university in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wikipedia - Isaac Newton (agriculturalist) -- First United States Commissioner of Agriculture
Wikipedia - James Richardson & Sons -- Canadian agriculture corporation
Wikipedia - James Wilson (Secretary of Agriculture) -- Scottish-American politician
Wikipedia - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology -- Kenyan university
Wikipedia - Kharkiv Petro Vasylenko National Technical University of Agriculture -- Ukrainian university
Wikipedia - Li Jiayang -- Chinese agronomist, Vice Minister of Agriculture (born 1956)
Wikipedia - List of agriculture awards -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Agriculture Commissioners of North Dakota -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of agriculture ministries -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of documentary films about agriculture -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Federal Ministers of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (Germany) -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries (Denmark) -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Agriculture of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries (Uruguay) -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of North Dakota Commissioners of Agriculture and Labor -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of sustainable agriculture topics
Wikipedia - Lodging (agriculture) -- Agricultural term, bending over of the stems near ground level of crops
Wikipedia - Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture -- Business advocacy group in Pune, Maharashtra, India
Wikipedia - Mars (mythology) -- Roman god of war, and guardian of agriculture
Wikipedia - Martin Reaney -- Professor of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan
Wikipedia - Meat industry -- Modern industrialized livestock agriculture for production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat
Wikipedia - Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food -- Minister in the Cabinet of Canada
Wikipedia - Minister of Agriculture (New Zealand) -- New Zealand minister of the Crown
Wikipedia - Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (South Korea) -- Cabinet-level division of the government of South Korea
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture (Albania)
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Poland) -- Agriculture ministry of Poland
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture (Bangladesh) -- Government ministry of Bangladesh
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture (Kaduna State) -- Ministry of Kaduna State
Wikipedia - Ministry of Agriculture (Zambia) -- Government ministry in Zambia
Wikipedia - Molico -- Submerged aquatic vegetation collected for use in agriculture
Wikipedia - Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture -- Manga, anime and live-action television series
Wikipedia - National Agriculture and Food Research Organization -- Japanese agricultural and food research organization
Wikipedia - National Agriculture Training Academy -- Research institute in Bangladesh
Wikipedia - Neftali Soto -- Former Secretary of Agriculture of Puerto Rico
Wikipedia - New Holland Agriculture
Wikipedia - Nimbe Adedipe Library -- Academic library of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
Wikipedia - Normal crop acreage -- United States agriculture policy
Wikipedia - Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development -- Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development of the Northern Cape
Wikipedia - Organic farming -- Method of agriculture meant to be environmentally friendly
Wikipedia - Outline of agriculture
Wikipedia - Padfield v Minister of Agriculture -- 1968 UK constitutional law case
Wikipedia - Paludiculture -- Wet agriculture and forestry on peatlands
Wikipedia - Philippine House Committee on Agriculture and Food -- Standing committee of the House of Representatives of the Philippines
Wikipedia - Philippine Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform -- Standing committee of the Senate of the Philippines
Wikipedia - Pioneer Hi Bred International -- American producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture
Wikipedia - Portal:Agriculture
Wikipedia - Precision agriculture
Wikipedia - Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture -- Government of Puerto Rico
Wikipedia - Rajiv Khosla -- Indian-American scientist and professor of precision agriculture
Wikipedia - Regenerative agriculture -- Conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems
Wikipedia - Religion and agriculture
Wikipedia - Rhizophagus irregularis -- Species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus used as a soil inoculant in agriculture and horticulture
Wikipedia - Rick Pate -- Commissioner of Agriculture, Alabama
Wikipedia - Robert Mellors -- English expert in tropical agriculture
Wikipedia - Roman agriculture
Wikipedia - Royal Agricultural Society of England -- Society; promotes the scientific development of agriculture
Wikipedia - Rural Community Advancement Program -- Agriculture improvement program in the United States
Wikipedia - Rural Housing Service -- Governmental agency belonging to the United States Department of Agriculture
Row cover - In agriculture and gardening, row cover is any transparent or semi-transparent, flexible material, like fabric or plastic sheeting, used as a protective covering to shield plants, usually vegetables, primarily from the undesirable effects of cold and wind, and also from insect damage.[1] In addition to reducing the drying effect of wind, row cover can provide a limited amount of warming by the same effect that cold frames, greenhouses, and polytunnels produce, creating a microclimate for the plants.
Wikipedia - SAARC Agriculture Centre -- Research institute in Bangladesh
Wikipedia - Seleucid agriculture -- Topic in Seleucid economic history
Wikipedia - Shattering (agriculture) -- Dispersal of seeds upon ripening
Wikipedia - Shevi'it (tractate) -- Talmudic tractate about the Sabbatical year regarding agriculture and debts in the Land of Israel
Wikipedia - Shifting cultivation -- Method of agriculture
Wikipedia - Shishi-odoshi -- Japanese devices made to frighten animals which pose a threat to agriculture
Wikipedia - Simon Haley -- American agriculture professor and father of Alex Haley
Wikipedia - Simplot -- American agriculture company
Wikipedia - Sindh Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project -- Government agency in Sindh, Pakistan
Wikipedia - Soil compaction (agriculture)
Wikipedia - Sonny Perdue -- 81st Governor of Georgia; 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Stephen Vaden -- General Counsel of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture -- Agriculture and educational organization in New York
Wikipedia - Subsistence agriculture -- Farming which meets the basic needs of the farmer and family
Wikipedia - Sukunabikona -- Kami of hot springs (onsen), agriculture, healing, magic and sake
Wikipedia - Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network -- Sustainable agriculture Network launched in 2008 to provide a framework for collaboration on agriculture and climate change between the UK and China
Wikipedia - Sustainable agriculture
Wikipedia - Tennessee Department of Agriculture -- State agency in Tennessee
Wikipedia - The Nabataean Agriculture
Wikipedia - Theodore Sedgwick Gold -- 19th-century American farmer and Connecticut state secretary of agriculture
Wikipedia - Timeline of agriculture and food technology -- History of crop and animal domestication
Wikipedia - Tom Vilsack -- 40th Governor of Iowa; 30th United States Secretary of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Topping (agriculture)
Wikipedia - Ukanomitama -- Japanese deity of agriculture
Wikipedia - United States Department of Agriculture -- Department of United States government
Wikipedia - United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research -- Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
Wikipedia - United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit -- Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
Wikipedia - United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management -- Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
Wikipedia - United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations -- Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
Wikipedia - United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture -- congressional subcommittee
Wikipedia - United States House Committee on Agriculture -- Standing committee of the United States House of Representatives
Wikipedia - United States Secretary of Agriculture -- Head of the US Department of Agriculture
Wikipedia - United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry -- Standing committee of the United States Senate
Wikipedia - University of Agriculture, Dera Ismail Khan -- University in Khyber Pakhunkhwa, Pakistan
Wikipedia - University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment -- College of Agriculture, Food and Environment of University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, USA
Wikipedia - Urban agriculture -- The practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas
Wikipedia - USDA Rural Development -- Mission area within the United States Department of Agriculture
Wikipedia - U.S. Department of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Wikipedia:WikiProject Agriculture/Beekeeping task force -- Sub-project of WikiProject Agriculture
Wikipedia - Wikipedia:WikiProject Agriculture -- Wikimedia subject-area collaboration
Wikipedia - William Gates LeDuc -- Fourth United States Commissioner of Agriculture
Wikipedia - Winter sowing -- Agriculture planting strategy
Wikipedia - Women in agriculture in the United Kingdom -- History of British women in agriculture
Tom Vilsack ::: Born: December 13, 1950; Occupation: United States Secretary of Agriculture;
Ann Veneman ::: Born: June 29, 1949; Occupation: Former United States Secretary of Agriculture;
Dan Glickman ::: Born: November 24, 1944; Occupation: Former United States Secretary of Agriculture;
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1199194.New_Roots_for_Agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1371668.Dancing_at_the_Dawn_of_Agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20406730-general-view-of-the-agriculture-of-hertfordshire
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22501071-depolarizing-food-and-agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29385391-agriculture-urbaine
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39358875-religion-and-sustainable-agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77140.Chicken_Little_Tomato_Sauce_and_Agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/938477.Civic_Agriculture
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16197769.John_H__Walton__Agriculture
Goodreads author - U_S_Department_of_Agriculture_Forest_Service
https://greekmythology.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Agriculture_Deities
wiki.auroville - Food_Systems_and_Urban_Agriculture
wiki.auroville - Ritam_"Agriculture_in_Transition:_An_Auroville_view"
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CallToAgriculture
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Agriculture
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Category:Agriculture
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/File:Centres_of_origin_and_spread_of_agriculture.svg
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture
Saving Grace (2000) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 33min | Comedy, Crime | 1 September 2000 (USA) -- A small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband's suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind. Director: Nigel Cole
Saving Grace (2000) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 33min | Comedy, Crime | 1 September 2000 (USA) -- A small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband's suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind. Director: Nigel Cole Writers: Mark Crowdy (story), Craig Ferguson (screenplay) | 1 more credit Stars:
https://agriculture.fandom.com
https://agriculture.fandom.com/
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_Australia
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_Canada
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_Chile
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_Ireland
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_New_Zealand
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_Kingdom
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Barley_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Barley_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Blog:Recent_posts
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Corn_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Local_Sitemap
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Oats_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Olive_production_in_Chile
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Potato_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Rice_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Rice_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Rye_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Sample_articles
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Sorghum_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Soybeans_production_in_the_United_States
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Wheat_production_in_Spain
https://agriculture.fandom.com/wiki/Wheat_production_in_the_United_States
https://analytical.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://citiesxl.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://citiesxl.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_(Food_Industry)
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://ftb.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://ftb.fandom.com/wiki/Mystical_Agriculture
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture,_Business_and_Science_Of
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_Farming_and_Crops
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_Ranching_and_Animal_Husbandry
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_Soils_and_Soil_Management
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture_Tools,_Machinery,_and_Structures
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Field_(agriculture)
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Agriculture
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Federation_Department_of_Agriculture
https://norin.fandom.com/wiki/Tamo_Agriculture_School
https://photography.fandom.com/wiki/Somali_Youth_Agriculture_Association
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ministry_of_Agriculture
https://swfanon.fandom.com/wiki/J.K._Agriculture_Incorporated
https://township.fandom.com/wiki/Advanced_Agriculture_Event
https://water.fandom.com/wiki/Hydraulic_agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:"Agriculture_G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Media_from_Agriculture_&_Food_Security
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Media_from_Chemical_and_Biological_Technologies_in_Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Media_from_Precision_Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_tags/Country-specific_tags#Department_of_Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Featured_pictures/Places/Agriculture
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_Buildings_Traffic_Areas_and_Agriculture_without_any_Consumption_of_humus_rich_Soil_Land.ogv
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Instruction_pour_les_jardins_fruitiers_et_potagers_avec_un_trait%C3%A9_des_orangers,_et_des_r%C3%A9fl%C3%A9xions_sur_l%27agriculture_T._1_(IA_A039a462).pdf
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Diffloth_-_Agriculture_G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stoneledge_farms_CSA_(Community_Supported_Agriculture)_Local_Farming_Week_Seventeen_CLS_6128.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Category:"Agriculture_G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:"Agriculture_G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category_talk:"Agriculture_G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Category:"Agriculture+G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Category:"Agriculture+G
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Category:"Agriculture+G
2020 Indian agriculture acts
Acadmie d'Agriculture
Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
After the Development of Agriculture
Agreement on Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Agriculture and aquaculture in Hong Kong
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973
Agriculture and Development
Agriculture and Fisheries (constituency)
Agriculture and Fisheries Council
Agriculture and Food Act of 1981
Agriculture and Forestry University
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
Agriculture commissioner
Agriculture Development Bank
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department
Agriculture, Fisheries, Mining, Energy and Construction (constituency)
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan
Agriculture Hall
Agriculture in Albania
Agriculture in Algeria
Agriculture in ancient Greece
Agriculture in ancient Rome
Agriculture in ancient Tamil country
Agriculture in Angola
Agriculture in Argentina
Agriculture in Armenia
Agriculture in Australia
Agriculture in Austria
Agriculture in Azerbaijan
Agriculture in Bahrain
Agriculture in Bangladesh
Agriculture in Belarus
Agriculture in Benin
Agriculture in Bhutan
Agriculture in Bolivia
Agriculture in Brazil
Agriculture in Bulgaria
Agriculture in Cambodia
Agriculture in Canada
Agriculture in Central Asia
Agriculture in Chad
Agriculture in Chile
Agriculture in China
Agriculture in Chinese mythology
Agriculture in Colombia
Agriculture in Communist Czechoslovakia
Agriculture in Connecticut
Agriculture in Cuba
Agriculture in Cyprus
Agriculture in East Germany
Agriculture in England
Agriculture in Estonia
Agriculture in Ethiopia
Agriculture in Germany
Agriculture in Ghana
Agriculture in Greece
Agriculture in Guinea
Agriculture in Guyana
Agriculture in Haiti
Agriculture in Iceland
Agriculture in Idaho
Agriculture in India
Agriculture in Indonesia
Agriculture in Iran
Agriculture in Israel
Agriculture in Ivory Coast
Agriculture in Jordan
Agriculture in Kazakhstan
Agriculture in Kentucky
Agriculture in Kenya
Agriculture in Kyrgyzstan
Agriculture in Laos
Agriculture in Latvia
Agriculture in Lebanon
Agriculture in Liberia
Agriculture in Libya
Agriculture in Lithuania
Agriculture in London
Agriculture in Madagascar
Agriculture in Malawi
Agriculture in Malaysia
Agriculture in Mauritania
Agriculture in Mesoamerica
Agriculture in Mexico
Agriculture in Moldova
Agriculture in Mongolia
Agriculture in Morocco
Agriculture in Mozambique
Agriculture in Myanmar
Agriculture in Nepal
Agriculture in New York
Agriculture in New Zealand
Agriculture in Nicaragua
Agriculture in Niger
Agriculture in Nigeria
Agriculture in North Korea
Agriculture in Nova Scotia
Agriculture in Oman
Agriculture in Pakistan
Agriculture in Panama
Agriculture in Paraguay
Agriculture in Pennsylvania
Agriculture in Poland
Agriculture in Portugal
Agriculture in Qatar
Agriculture in Romania
Agriculture in Russia
Agriculture in Saskatchewan
Agriculture in Saudi Arabia
Agriculture in Scotland
Agriculture in Scotland in the Middle Ages
Agriculture in Senegal
Agriculture in Serbia
Agriculture in Seychelles
Agriculture in Sierra Leone
Agriculture in Somalia
Agriculture in South Africa
Agriculture in Spain
Agriculture in Sri Lanka
Agriculture in Sudan
Agriculture Insurance Company of India
Agriculture in Syria
Agriculture in Taiwan
Agriculture in Tajikistan
Agriculture in Thailand
Agriculture in The Bahamas
Agriculture in the Classroom
Agriculture in the Comoros
Agriculture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Agriculture in the Empire of Japan
Agriculture in the Middle Ages
Agriculture in the Philippines
Agriculture in the Russian Empire
Agriculture in the Soviet Union
Agriculture in the United Arab Emirates
Agriculture in the United Kingdom
Agriculture in Turkmenistan
Agriculture in Uganda
Agriculture in Upper Canada
Agriculture in Uruguay
Agriculture in Uzbekistan
Agriculture in Venezuela
Agriculture in Vietnam
Agriculture in Wales
Agriculture in Zimbabwe
Agriculture of Bihar
Agriculture on the prehistoric Great Plains
Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013
Agriculture Retention and Development Act
Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015
Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries
Ancient Egyptian agriculture
Andean agriculture
Animal-free agriculture
Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture
Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources
Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture
Association of Uganda Professional Women in Agriculture and Environment
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology
Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture
Berkshire College of Agriculture
Biodiversity in agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture
Biointensive agriculture
Biosaline agriculture
Board of Agriculture (17931822)
Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN)
Building-integrated agriculture
Cahiers Agricultures
California Agriculture
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture
Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Canadian Census of Agriculture
Canadian Federation of Agriculture
Canna Agriculture Group
Cedara College of Agriculture
Cellular Agriculture Society
Census of agriculture
Central Philippine University - College of Agriculture, Resources and Environmental Sciences
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
Chamber of Agriculture
Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology
Chaoda Modern Agriculture
China Green Agriculture
Christianity and agriculture
Civic agriculture
Climate change and agriculture
Climate-smart agriculture
College of Agriculture
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
College of Agriculture Business Management, Latur
College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise
College of Agriculture in Gonbad
College of Agriculture, Latur
Colorado Department of Agriculture
Columbia Agriculture Park
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Committee on Agriculture
Committee on Environment and Agriculture
Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment
Community-supported agriculture
Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture
Conservation agriculture
Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency
Controlled-environment agriculture
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Coulter (agriculture)
Council of Agriculture
CPA (agriculture)
Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture
Data mining in agriculture
Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland)
Department of Agriculture and Food
Department of Agriculture and Food (Western Australia)
Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries (New Brunswick)
Department of Agriculture (Australia, 197475)
Department of Agriculture (Australia, 201315)
Department of Agriculture (Australia, 201920)
Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare
Department of Agriculture Development & Farmers' Welfare (Kerala)
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Isle of Man)
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue)
Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
Department of Agriculture (New Brunswick)
Department of Agriculture (Philippines)
Department of Agriculture (Sri Lanka)
Department of Agriculture v. Moreno
Department of Agriculture (West Bengal)
Development-supported agriculture
Digital agriculture
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Directorate-General for Agriculture, Fisheries, Social Affairs and Health
Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture
Drainage system (agriculture)
Drapers Professor of Agriculture
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University
Earmark (agriculture)
Economics of English agriculture in the Middle Ages
Emergence of agriculture in the Philippines
Energy efficiency in agriculture
Enumamula Agriculture Market
Environmental impact of agriculture
EU Commissioner for Agriculture
European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture
Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013
Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Germany)
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
Feminization of agriculture
Field (agriculture)
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990
Food and Agriculture Act of 1965
Food and Agriculture Act of 1977
Food and agriculture in Nazi Germany
Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database
Food and Agriculture Policy Decision Analysis
Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Future Harvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture in Afghanistan
Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology
General Dutch Industrial Union of Agriculture
Georgia Department of Agriculture
Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village
Golden Jubilee Museum of Agriculture
Gramin Agriculture Markets
Groundwater contamination from animal agriculture
Gwebi College of Agriculture
History of agriculture
History of agriculture in China
History of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent
Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry
Holidays with Pay (Agriculture) Convention, 1952
Holistic management (agriculture)
Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry Union
Hydrology (agriculture)
Illinois Department of Agriculture
Index of agriculture articles
Information and communications technology in agriculture
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science
Institute of Agriculture Phases 2 and 3
Institutes of Agriculture of Bydgoszcz
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture
International Institute of Agriculture
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology
Invalidity Insurance (Agriculture) Convention, 1933 (shelved)
Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture
Islamic Azad University, Roudehen Branch Faculty of Agriculture
Italian Minister of Agriculture
James Wilson (Secretary of Agriculture)
Jnos Szab (Minister of Agriculture)
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Journal of Central European Agriculture
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Julius Nyerere University of Agriculture
Kansas Department of Agriculture
Kharkiv Petro Vasylenko National Technical University of Agriculture
Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries
KRAV (agriculture)
Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969
Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water & Marine Science
Learn from Dazhai in agriculture
List of Agriculture Commissioners of North Dakota
List of agriculture ministries
List of Federal Ministers of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (Germany)
List of Ministers for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries (Denmark)
List of Ministers of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries (Uruguay)
Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of So Paulo
Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Corporation
Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture
Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives
Maryland Department of Agriculture
Mechanised agriculture
Medal "For Work in Agriculture"
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture
Michael Schmidt (agriculture)
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951
Minister for Agriculture and Food (Western Australia)
Minister for Agriculture and Western New South Wales
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries (Denmark)
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries (Malaysia)
Minister of Agriculture and Food (Norway)
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (Finland)
Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (South Africa)
Minister of Agriculture (Hungary)
Minister of Agriculture (Manitoba)
Minister of Agriculture (Northern Ireland)
Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture (Saudi Arabia)
Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (South Korea)
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare
Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform
Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (Thailand)
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Jamaica)
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth (Oman)
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (Malaysia)
Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Norway)
Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Soviet Union)
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Finland)
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Laos)
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (New Zealand)
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Turkey)
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Myanmar)
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (Egypt)
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (Nepal)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Albania)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Colombia)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Israel)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Poland)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Vietnam)
Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (Uganda)
Ministry of Agriculture (Brazil)
Ministry of Agriculture (Croatia)
Ministry of Agriculture (Ethiopia)
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Quebec)
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Bulgaria)
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Ontario)
Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration (Kyrgyzstan)
Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (Serbia)
Ministry of Agriculture (France)
Ministry of Agriculture (Hungary)
Ministry of Agriculture (Indonesia)
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
Ministry of Agriculture Jihad
Ministry of Agriculture (Kenya)
Ministry of Agriculture (Liberia)
Ministry of Agriculture (Lithuania)
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
Ministry of Agriculture of Peru
Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China
Ministry of Agriculture (Portugal)
Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment (Moldova)
Ministry of Agriculture (Russia)
Ministry of Agriculture (Spain)
Ministry of Agriculture (Sri Lanka)
Ministry of Agriculture (Zambia)
Ministry of Agriculture (Zimbabwe)
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia
Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (Saudi Arabia)
Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (Iceland)
Ministry of Forestry and Mining and Ministry of Agriculture and Waterworks Building, Belgrade
Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
Missouri Department of Agriculture
MNS University of Agriculture
Mobile agriculture
Modern agriculture
Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture
Multifunctionality in agriculture
Muse qubcois de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation
Nanotechnology in agriculture
National Agriculture Awards
National Agriculture Imagery Program
National Agriculture Training Academy
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
Newcastle University Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts
New Holland Agriculture
New Jersey Department of Agriculture
New World Agriculture and Ecology Group
Nizamabad Agriculture Market
Normal yield (agriculture)
North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner
North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor
North Dakota Department of Agriculture
Norwegian Union of Forestry and Agriculture Workers
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology
Ohio Department of Agriculture
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry
Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture
Old-Age Insurance (Agriculture) Convention, 1933 (shelved)
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
Open Agriculture
Open Agriculture Initiative
Oregon Department of Agriculture
Otley College of Agriculture and Horticulture
Outline of agriculture
Outline of sustainable agriculture
Padfield v Minister of Agriculture
Plmi Jnsson (Minister of Agriculture)
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages
Payment limitations (agriculture)
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
Peri-urban agriculture
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development
Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University
Portal:Agriculture
Portal:Agriculture/Selected article
Precision agriculture
Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture
Quaker Agriculture missions to the Miami
Rainfed agriculture
Rare breed (agriculture)
Regenerative agriculture
Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Religion and agriculture
Remunerative Approach for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation
Renault Agriculture
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention
Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry
Royal University of Agriculture
SAARC Agriculture Centre
Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001
Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences
Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology
Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Mexico)
Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa
Sex and Agriculture: The Very Best of The Exponents
Sheaf (agriculture)
Siberian agriculture
Sickness Insurance (Agriculture) Convention, 1927
Simn Bolvar United World College of Agriculture
Sindh Agriculture University
Sindh Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project
Sintal Agriculture
Slovak University of Agriculture
Sokoine University of Agriculture
South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank Limited
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture
Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development
Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University
Sri Karan Narendra College of Agriculture
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
Subsistence agriculture
Survivors' Insurance (Agriculture) Convention, 1933 (shelved)
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Sustainable intensive agriculture
Swedish Board of Agriculture
Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture
Temple of Agriculture
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Texas Department of Agriculture
The Museum of Agriculture
The National Agriculture and Trade Show (Belize)
This Week in Louisiana Agriculture
Three Sisters (agriculture)
Timeline of agriculture and food technology
Tokyo University of Agriculture
Topping (agriculture)
UIUC College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
University of Agriculture, Peshawar
University of Agriculture (Tirana)
University of Arkansas Agriculture Building
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment
University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources
University of Sydney Institute of Agriculture
University of Tennessee Agriculture Farm Mound
University of the Philippines Los Baos College of Agriculture and Food Science
Urban agriculture
Urban agriculture in West Oakland
Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets
Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Vocational Agriculture Building
Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy
Warping in agriculture
Water Agriculture and Health in Tropical Area
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Women and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
Workmen's Compensation (Agriculture) Convention, 1921
World Federation of Agriculture and Food Workers
Yellow goods (construction and agriculture)
convenience portal:
recent: Section Maps - index table - favoritesSavitri --Savitri extended toc Savitri Section Map --1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
authors -- Crowley - Peterson - Borges - Wilber - Teresa -Aurobindo -Ramakrishna - Maharshi -Mother
places -- Garden - Inf. Art Gallery - Inf. Building - Inf. Library - Labyrinth - Library - School -Temple - Tower - Tower of MEM
powers -- Aspiration - Beauty - Concentration - Effort - Faith - Force - Grace - inspiration -Presence - Purity - Sincerity - surrender
difficulties -- cowardice - depres. - distract. - distress - dryness - evil - fear - forget - habits - impulse - incapacity - irritation - lost - mistakes - obscur. - problem - resist - sadness - self-deception - shame - sin - suffering
practices -- Lucid Dreaming - meditation - project - programming - Prayer - read Savitri - studysubjects -- CS - Cybernetics - Game Dev - Integral Theory - Integral Yoga - Kabbalah - Language - Philosophy - Poetry - Zen
6.01 books -- KC - ABA - Null -Savitri - SA O TAOC -SICP - The Gospel of SRK - TIC - The Library of Babel -TLD -TSOY - TTYODAS - TSZ - WOTM II
8 unsorted / add here -- Always - Everyday - Verbs