Cicero's Tusculan Disputations

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In Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, Cicero states how virtue is sufficient for happiness; this idea is especially present in book five of Tusculan Disputations. This belief that virtue is necessary for happiness aligns with the Stoics view on happiness, and the two arguments about the qualifications and self-control needed to live a happy life. These qualifications and self-control are only attainable through virtue, deducing that without virtue, a happy life is not possible.
According to Cicero in Tusculan Disputations, only a wise man can live a happy life, because he has virtuous. A wise man must have three qualifications to live a happy life. The first being the gift of a sharpened life, because according to Tusculan Disputations “virtue is not easily connected with dull minds,” (Cicero). Thus, someone must be enlightened enough to seek to investigate all the wonders of the earth, virtue would not bestow on a man who is weak of mind and …show more content…
The Stoic view that one must endure pain, or transcend pain to gain pleasure lines up with the belief that is held today. For instance, the saying “no pain no gain,” states exactly what Cicero and Stoics believe. Furthermore, there is the belief that nothing good comes easy, so if you want something good you must be willing to endure pain and turmoil for a while to come out on the other side.
Cicero’s two arguments about the wise man and the need for total self-control to gain happiness explains why both are an outcome of virtue, and why without virtue no one can truly live a happy life. Living a simple life through virtues is thus a happy life because with the total self-control and virtues such as justice and prudence, a wise man will find the joy in the meager of things, while being able to live a happy life no matter the torment or turmoil that may befall on

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