Lucius Manlius Torquatus (praetor 49 BC)

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I have finished the five books De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, so as to give the Epicurean doctrine to Lucius Torquatus.

Cicero [20]

De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the ends of good and evil De Finibus) is a philosophical work by the Roman orator, politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. It consists of five books, in which Cicero explains the philosophical views of Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Platonism. Torquatus was a leading epicurean and was noted by Cicero for his knowledge of Greek literature and his breadth of learning. He was also a friend of Marcus Junius Brutus to whom the book was dedicated. (And who was shortly to be one of the assassins of Julius Caesar.) He was portrayed by Cicero in the first two books of De Finibus as a spokesman advocating Epicurean ethics. [21] [22]

In the first book he [Cicero] attacks the doctrines of the Epicurean school, and Torquatus defends them, alleging that they had been generally misunderstood; and in the second book Cicero enumerates the chief arguments with which the Stoics assailed them. [23] [24]

The work was written in 45, after Torquatus' death, but the debate is set in 50. [25]

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References

  1. Broughton, p. 134.
  2. Anthon & Smith, p. 903.
  3. Holland 2004, pp. 202–210.
  4. Anthon & Smith, p. 903; Holmes I, p. 445.
  5. Cassius Dio, 36.44.3.
  6. Sallust, 18.2.
  7. Holmes I, p. 445.
  8. Holmes I, p. 482.
  9. Cicero, Pro Sulla, 6.
  10. Suetonius, Julius 28. Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today
  11. Broughton, p. 256; Anthon & Smith, p. 903.
  12. Anthon & Smith, p. 903; Broughton, p. 276.
  13. Holmes III, p. 119–120; Anthon & Smith, p. 903.
  14. Broughton, p. 276.
  15. Julius Caesar, The Civil War, 3.31–69.
  16. Sheppard.
  17. Broughton, p. 289.
  18. Syme, p. 245.
  19. Broughton, p. 296; Anthon & Smith, p. 903.
  20. Yonge.
  21. Anthon & Smith, p. 903.
  22. Yonge.
  23. Yonge.
  24. Smith 2005, p. 1165.
  25. Yonge.

Sources

  • Anthon, Charles & Smith, William. (1850) A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography. London. OCLC   66925767
  • Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II (1952) New York: American Philological Association. OCLC   868514975
  • Holland, Tom (2004). Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic. London: Abacus. ISBN   978-0-349-11563-4.
  • Holmes, T. Rice, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, Vol. I (1923) Cambridge: The Clarendon Press. OCLC   2845034
  • Holmes, T. Rice, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, Vol. II (1923) Cambridge: The Clarendon Press. OCLC   163400823
  • Holmes, T. Rice, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, Vol. III (1923) Cambridge: The Clarendon Press. OCLC   889250448
  • Smith, William (2005). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library.
  • Sheppard, Simon, (2006) Pharsalus 48 B.C.: Caesar and Pompey – Clash of the Titans. Oxford; New York: Osprey. ISBN   978-1-84603-814-3
  • Syme, Ronald, (1958) "Imperator Caesar: A Study in Nomenclature", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, v7 n2 (19580401): 172–188. ISSN   0018-2311
  • Yonge, Charles Duke, (2016) "An Introduction to Treatise de Finibus"
Lucius Manlius Torquatus
SPQR (laurier).svg
Praetor
In office
January December 49 BC