Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

2301

Cicero, On Duties, 3.25

Itemque magis est secundum naturam pro omnibus gentibus, si fieri possit, conservandis aut iuvandis maximos labores molestiasque suscipere imitantem Herculem illum, quem hominum fama beneficiorum memor in concilio caelestium collocavit, quam vivere in solitudine non modo sine ullis molestiis, sed etiam in maximis voluptatibus abundantem omnibus copiis, ut excellas etiam pulchritudine et viribus. Quocirca optimo quisque et splendidissimo ingenio longe illam vitam huic anteponit. Ex quo efficitur hominem naturae oboedientem homini nocere non posse. In like manner it is more in accord with Nature to emulate the great Hercules and undergo the greatest toil and trouble for the sake of aiding or saving the world, if possible, than to live in seclusion, not only free from all care, but revelling in pleasures and abounding in wealth, while excelling others also in beauty and strength. Thus Hercules denied himself and underwent toil and tribulation for the world, and, out of gratitude for his services, popular belief has given him a place in the council of the gods. The better and more noble, therefore, the character with which a man is endowed, the more does he prefer the life of service to the life of pleasure. Whence it follows that man, if he is obedient to Nature, cannot do harm to his fellow-man. <

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

14 results
1. Ennius, Varia, 24, 23 (3rd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
2. Cicero, De Finibus, 2.118 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 2.118.  Not to bring forward further arguments (for they are countless in number), any sound commendation of Virtue must needs keep Pleasure at arm's length. Do not expect me further to argue the point; look within, study your own consciousness. Then after full and careful introspection, ask yourself the question, would you prefer to pass your whole life in that state of calm which you spoke of so often, amidst the enjoyment of unceasing pleasures, free from all pain, and even (an addition which your school is fond of postulating but which is really impossible) free from all fear of pain, or to be a benefactor of the entire human race, and to bring succour and safety to the distressed, even at the cost of enduring the dolours of a Hercules? Dolours — that was indeed the sad and gloomy name which our ancestors bestowed, even in the case of a god, upon labours which were not to be evaded.
3. Cicero, On The Ends of Good And Evil, 2.118 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 2.118. Ac ne plura complectar—sunt enim innumerabilia—, bene laudata virtus voluptatis aditus intercludat necesse est. quod iam a me expectare noli. tute introspice in mentem tuam ipse eamque omni cogitatione pertractans percontare ipse te perpetuisne malis voluptatibus perfruens in ea, quam saepe usurpabas, tranquillitate degere omnem aetatem sine dolore, adsumpto etiam illo, quod vos quidem adiungere soletis, sed fieri non potest, sine doloris metu, an, cum de omnibus gentibus optime mererere, mererere cod. Paris. Madvigii merere cum opem indigentibus salutemque ferres, vel Herculis perpeti aerumnas. sic enim maiores nostri labores non fugiendos fugiendos RNV figiendos A fingendo BE tristissimo tamen verbo aerumnas etiam in deo nominaverunt. 2.118.  Not to bring forward further arguments (for they are countless in number), any sound commendation of Virtue must needs keep Pleasure at arm's length. Do not expect me further to argue the point; look within, study your own consciousness. Then after full and careful introspection, ask yourself the question, would you prefer to pass your whole life in that state of calm which you spoke of so often, amidst the enjoyment of unceasing pleasures, free from all pain, and even (an addition which your school is fond of postulating but which is really impossible) free from all fear of pain, or to be a benefactor of the entire human race, and to bring succour and safety to the distressed, even at the cost of enduring the dolours of a Hercules? Dolours — that was indeed the sad and gloomy name which our ancestors bestowed, even in the case of a god, upon labours which were not to be evaded.
4. Cicero, On Laws, 2.19 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
5. Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, 2.62 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 2.62. Those gods therefore who were the authors of various benefits owned their deification to the value of the benefits which they bestowed, and indeed the names that I just now enumerated express the various powers of the gods that bear them. "Human experience moreover and general custom have made it a practice to confer the deification of renown and gratitude upon of distinguished benefactors. This is the origin of Hercules, of Castor and Pollux, of Aesculapius, and also of Liber (I mean Liber the son of Semele, not the Liber whom our ancestors solemnly and devoutly consecrated with Ceres and Libera, the import of which joint consecration may be gathered from the mysteries; but Liber and Libera were so named as Ceres' offspring, that being the meaning of our Latin word liberi — a use which has survived in the case of Libera but not of Liber) — and this is also the origin of Romulus, who is believed to be the same as Quirinus. And these benefactors were duly deemed divine, as being both supremely good and immortal, because their souls survived and enjoyed eternal life.
6. Cicero, Republic, None (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 6.17. Quam cum magis intuerer, Quaeso, inquit Africanus, quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris? Novem tibi orbibus vel potius globis conexa sunt omnia, quorum unus est caelestis, extumus, qui reliquos omnes complectitur, summus ipse deus arcens et continens ceteros; in quo sunt infixi illi, qui volvuntur, stellarum cursus sempiterni; cui subiecti sunt septem, qui versantur retro contrario motu atque caelum; ex quibus unum globum possidet illa, quam in terris Saturniam nomit. Deinde est hominum generi prosperus et salutaris ille fulgor, qui dicitur Iovis; tum rutilus horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis; deinde subter mediam fere regionem sol obtinet, dux et princeps et moderator luminum reliquorum, mens mundi et temperatio, tanta magnitudine, ut cuncta sua luce lustret et compleat. Hunc ut comites consequuntur Veneris alter, alter Mercurii cursus, in infimoque orbe luna radiis solis accensa convertitur. Infra autem iam nihil est nisi mortale et caducum praeter animos munere deorum hominum generi datos, supra lunam sunt aeterna omnia. Nam ea, quae est media et nona, tellus, neque movetur et infima est, et in eam feruntur omnia nutu suo pondera.
7. Cicero, Pro Sestio, 143 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
8. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 1.27-1.28, 1.32 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 1.27. idque idquae G 1 RV 1 cum multis aliis rebus, tum e pontificio iure et e caerimoniis caer. V cer. GKR sepulcrorum intellegi licet, quas maxumis ingeniis praediti nec tanta cura coluissent nec violatas tam inexpiabili inexpiabile X -i in r. V 1? s religione sanxissent, nisi haereret in eorum mentibus mortem non interitum esse omnia tollentem atque delentem, sed quandam quasi migrationem commutationemque vitae, quae in claris viris et feminis dux in caelum soleret esse, in ceteris humi retineretur et permaneret tamen. 1.28. ex hoc et nostrorum opinione Romulus in caelo cum diis agit aevum ann. 115, ut famae adsentiens dixit Ennius, et apud Graecos indeque perlapsus ad nos et usque ad Oceanum Hercules et ante retin. add. V c et perm.... 20 hercules fere omnia in r. V 1 tantus et tam praesens habetur deus; hinc Liber Semela natus eademque famae celebritate Tyndaridae fratres, qui non modo adiutores in proeliis victoriae populi Romani, sed etiam nuntii fuisse perhibentur. quid? Ino ino sed o in r. V 1 Cadmi inhoc admi G 1 filia nonne nonne ex nomine K 2 LEGKOE |ea R LEGKOQEA GKV ( Q in r. ) *leukoqe/a nominata a Graecis Matuta mutata K 1 V 1 (ut v.) Nonii L 1 habetur a nostris? Quid?...nostris Non. 66, 13 quid? totum prope caelum, ne pluris persequar, persequar pluris K nonne humano genere completum est? 1.32. illud illũ K 1 num dubitas, quin specimen naturae capi deceat ex optima quaque natura? quae est melior igitur in hominum genere natura quam eorum, qui se natos ad homines iuvandos tutandos conservandos arbitrantur? abiit ad deos Hercules: numquam abisset, nisi, cum inter homines esset, eam sibi viam viam s. v. add. K 2 munivisset. vetera iam ista et religione omnium consecrata: quid in hac re p. tot tantosque viros ob rem p. ob rem p. b r in r. V 1 ob re p. K ob rē p. ( er. ublică) G interfectos cogitasse arbitramur? isdemne ut finibus nomen suum quibus vita terminaretur? nemo umquam sine magna spe inmortalitatis se pro patria offerret ad mortem.
9. Horace, Odes, 3.3.9-3.3.36, 4.8.29-4.8.34 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
10. Horace, Letters, 2.1.5-2.1.17 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
11. Epictetus, Discourses, 2.44-2.45 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
12. Lucan, Pharsalia, 10.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
13. Seneca The Younger, De Beneficiis, 1.13.2-1.13.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
14. Silius Italicus, Punica, 13.632-13.633, 13.637-13.647, 13.767-13.768, 13.770-13.774, 15.71-15.83, 17.647-17.652 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
action,and agency	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
action,and cognition	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
action,and cult	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
action,intentional	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
action,theory of (ciceronian)	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
aesculapius	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
agency,and action	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
agency,and communication	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
agents,and belief	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
alcmene	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
apotheosis	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
bacchus	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
belief,and agents	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
belief,nonreflective	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
belief,reflective	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
caesar c. julius	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
camillus	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
castor	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
cato m. porcius uticensis (the younger)	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
choice / decision / αἵρεσις	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
cicero	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
cognition,about action	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
cult,action	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
deontology	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
desire / tendency / adpetitio	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
dioscuri	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
evil	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
freedom / libertas	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
friendship / amicitia	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
happiness / εὐδαιμονία	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
heroes	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
intention	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
jupiter	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
justice / iustitia	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 29
leda	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
liber (god of wine)	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
liber (son of semele)	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
perception,and action	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
pollux	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299; Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
pomponia,mother of scipio africanus	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
punic wars,second	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
religion,roman	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
romulus	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,and achilles	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,apotheosis of	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,as son of jupiter	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,imitatio of alexander the great by	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,katabasis of	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,meeting with homer	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
scipio africanus,meeting with virtus and voluptas	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
sibyl	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
silius italicus,and ennius	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
silius italicus,and homer	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
silius italicus,and lucretius	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
silius italicus,and virgil	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
silius italicus,nekyia in	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
soul'	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
stoics	Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 113
tullia	Wynne (2019), Horace and the Gift Economy of Patronage, 149
underworld	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299
zeus,ammon	Augoustakis (2014), Flavian Poetry and its Greek Past, 299; Verhagen (2022), Security and Credit in Roman Law: The Historical Evolution of Pignus and Hypotheca, 299