M. But as the perturbations of the mind make life miserable, and tranquility renders it happy; and as these perturbations are of two sorts, grief and fear, proceeding from imagined evils, and as immoderate joy and lust arise from a mistake about what is good, and as all these feelings are in opposition to reason and counsel; when you see a man at ease, quite free and disengaged from such troublesome commotions, which are so much at variance with one another, can you hesitate to pronounce such a one a happy man?
Now, the wise man is always in such a disposition; therefore the wise man is always happy.
Besides, every good is pleasant; whatever is pleasant may be boasted and talked of; whatever may be boasted of is glorious; but whatever is glorious is certainly laudable, and whatever is laudable doubtless, also, honorable: whatever, then, is good is honorable (but the things which they reckon as goods they themselves do not call honorable); therefore what is honorable alone is good.
Hence it follows that a happy life is comprised in honesty alone.
Such things, then, are not to be called or considered goods, when a man may enjoy an abundance of them, and yet be most miserable. Is there any doubt but that a man who enjoys the best health, and who has strength and beauty, and his senses flourishing in their utmost quickness and perfection—suppose him likewise, if you please, nimble and active, nay, give him riches, honors, authority, power, glory—now, I say, should this person, who is in possession of all these, be unjust, intemperate, timid, stupid, or an idiot—could you hesitate to call such a one miserable?
What, then, are those goods in the possession of which you may be very miserable? Let us see if a happy life is not made up of parts of the same nature, as a heap implies a quantity of grain of the same kind. And if this be once admitted, happiness must be compounded of different good things, which alone are honorable; if there is any mixture of things of another sort with these, nothing honorable can proceed from such a composition: now, take away honesty, and how can you imagine anything happy?
For whatever is good is desirable on that account; whatever is desirable must certainly be approved of; whatever you approve of must be looked on as acceptable and welcome. You must consequently impute dignity to this; and if so, it must necessarily be laudable: therefore, everything that is laudable is good.
Hence it follows that what is honorable is the only good. And should we not look upon it in this light, there will be a great many things which we must call good.
Now, the wise man is always in such a disposition; therefore the wise man is always happy.
Besides, every good is pleasant; whatever is pleasant may be boasted and talked of; whatever may be boasted of is glorious; but whatever is glorious is certainly laudable, and whatever is laudable doubtless, also, honorable: whatever, then, is good is honorable (but the things which they reckon as goods they themselves do not call honorable); therefore what is honorable alone is good.
Hence it follows that a happy life is comprised in honesty alone.
Such things, then, are not to be called or considered goods, when a man may enjoy an abundance of them, and yet be most miserable. Is there any doubt but that a man who enjoys the best health, and who has strength and beauty, and his senses flourishing in their utmost quickness and perfection—suppose him likewise, if you please, nimble and active, nay, give him riches, honors, authority, power, glory—now, I say, should this person, who is in possession of all these, be unjust, intemperate, timid, stupid, or an idiot—could you hesitate to call such a one miserable?
What, then, are those goods in the possession of which you may be very miserable? Let us see if a happy life is not made up of parts of the same nature, as a heap implies a quantity of grain of the same kind. And if this be once admitted, happiness must be compounded of different good things, which alone are honorable; if there is any mixture of things of another sort with these, nothing honorable can proceed from such a composition: now, take away honesty, and how can you imagine anything happy?
For whatever is good is desirable on that account; whatever is desirable must certainly be approved of; whatever you approve of must be looked on as acceptable and welcome. You must consequently impute dignity to this; and if so, it must necessarily be laudable: therefore, everything that is laudable is good.
Hence it follows that what is honorable is the only good. And should we not look upon it in this light, there will be a great many things which we must call good.
—from Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.15
The Auditor was struggling to make the connection between a virtuous life and a happy life, so any solution will have to clarify these terms, explaining how, at the very least, the one leads us into the other, or that the two are actually one and the same. Having now read so much modern philosophy, it is easy for me to get caught up in the same false dichotomy, believing I must either be a stuffy moralist or a carefree hedonist, with no room for anything in between. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Far beyond any superficial feelings of “having fun”, happiness is what we seek for its own sake, and never as a means to something else. Our joys will increase as our very nature is perfected, not by the accumulation of luxuries. Our torments will decrease as we shed our anxieties, not by drowning in diversions. Rather than splintering happiness into tiny pieces, we are called to bind it with a simplicity of purpose—find the one behind the many.
Cicero returns to the Stoic classification of our disordered passions, that we might recognize how a confusion in our judgments is the source of our miseries. We suffer from grief and fear when we have a false understanding of harm, either present or future, and we suffer from gratification and lust when we have a false understanding of benefit, either present or future.
In contrast, balanced emotions, like caution, joy, and wish, will proceed from a peace of mind, the recognition that the good and the evil are not in the things, but in our estimation and use of those things. Because he knows the true source of his blessings, the wise man is also a good man, and because he does not permit fortune to intrude upon his serenity, the good man is also a happy man.
If there is a genuine good in it, there will also be a lasting satisfaction in it. If there is a lasting satisfaction in it, then it will also be worthy. If it is worthy, then it will also be deserving of respect. Once again, while not everything we may choose to acclaim is virtuous, it is certain that everything virtuous is praiseworthy, and it is in this sense of merit that the honorable life is also the happy life.
I fondly remember my Pipa telling me why a man had nothing but his word, such that I now realize how the carpenter was speaking like the best of the philosophers. If I can maintain my integrity, the commitment to a properly formed conscience, those circumstances I was so sure would destroy me have now become occasions to grow in excellence. The achievement need not be grand in the eyes of the world to suffice for the dignity of the soul.
Without prudence, what use are my talents? Without fortitude, where is the point to power? Without temperance, what becomes of a healthy body? Without justice, how can I attend to my friends? A man could well become clever, rich, vital, and eminent, but without the guidance of the virtues he will never be happy. The best solution is to look past the fragments of fortune on the outside to the purity of the conviction on the inside.
Yes, there is good reason why the Romans were so fond of placing the goddess Virtus and the god Honos together. Their temples in the city were connected, such that it is said one had to pass through the former before entering into the latter.
The Auditor was struggling to make the connection between a virtuous life and a happy life, so any solution will have to clarify these terms, explaining how, at the very least, the one leads us into the other, or that the two are actually one and the same. Having now read so much modern philosophy, it is easy for me to get caught up in the same false dichotomy, believing I must either be a stuffy moralist or a carefree hedonist, with no room for anything in between. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Far beyond any superficial feelings of “having fun”, happiness is what we seek for its own sake, and never as a means to something else. Our joys will increase as our very nature is perfected, not by the accumulation of luxuries. Our torments will decrease as we shed our anxieties, not by drowning in diversions. Rather than splintering happiness into tiny pieces, we are called to bind it with a simplicity of purpose—find the one behind the many.
Cicero returns to the Stoic classification of our disordered passions, that we might recognize how a confusion in our judgments is the source of our miseries. We suffer from grief and fear when we have a false understanding of harm, either present or future, and we suffer from gratification and lust when we have a false understanding of benefit, either present or future.
In contrast, balanced emotions, like caution, joy, and wish, will proceed from a peace of mind, the recognition that the good and the evil are not in the things, but in our estimation and use of those things. Because he knows the true source of his blessings, the wise man is also a good man, and because he does not permit fortune to intrude upon his serenity, the good man is also a happy man.
If there is a genuine good in it, there will also be a lasting satisfaction in it. If there is a lasting satisfaction in it, then it will also be worthy. If it is worthy, then it will also be deserving of respect. Once again, while not everything we may choose to acclaim is virtuous, it is certain that everything virtuous is praiseworthy, and it is in this sense of merit that the honorable life is also the happy life.
I fondly remember my Pipa telling me why a man had nothing but his word, such that I now realize how the carpenter was speaking like the best of the philosophers. If I can maintain my integrity, the commitment to a properly formed conscience, those circumstances I was so sure would destroy me have now become occasions to grow in excellence. The achievement need not be grand in the eyes of the world to suffice for the dignity of the soul.
Without prudence, what use are my talents? Without fortitude, where is the point to power? Without temperance, what becomes of a healthy body? Without justice, how can I attend to my friends? A man could well become clever, rich, vital, and eminent, but without the guidance of the virtues he will never be happy. The best solution is to look past the fragments of fortune on the outside to the purity of the conviction on the inside.
Yes, there is good reason why the Romans were so fond of placing the goddess Virtus and the god Honos together. Their temples in the city were connected, such that it is said one had to pass through the former before entering into the latter.
—Reflection written in 2/1999
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