The Fifth Tusculan Disputation is the finest of the five
books, its nearest rival being the First (already edited in this
series). The middle three books, represented in this edition by
the Second, are, as the author clearly intended, less elevated,
though still showing Cicero's flair for elegant and lively exposition,
and providing much valuable information about the teaching of
the main Hellenistic philosophical schools, especially the Stoics.
They argue that the perfect human life, or complete human well-being,
that of the 'wise man', is unaffected by physical and mental distress
or extremes of emotion. Against this background the Fifth puts
the positive, mainly Stoic, case that virtue, moral goodness,
is alone and of itself sufficient for complete well-being, providing
an impressive climax to the whole work.
A.E. Douglas was Professor of Latin at the University of Birmingham. Publications of editions of Cicero Brutus (1966), Tusculans Disputations I (1985) and various articles and reviews.
176pp. (1989) cl 432 5 £35 / $59.99, pb 433 3 £13.25 / $22 (cl out of print)
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Preface INTRODUCTION TUSCULANS II: PARALLEL LATIN TEXT AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION COMMENTARY SUMMARY OF TUSCULANS III & IV TUSCULANS V: LATIN TEXT AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION COMMENTARY Appendix |
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"Douglas has the sensitivity, enthusiasm and multifaceted
learning to illuminate every aspect of an author for whom he has
a not uncritical admiration and even advanced students can learn
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RELATED BOOKS
See under CICERO in this series.
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