Yesterday, we might have been a bit unfair to our friend M. Tully Cicero
People seem into Seneca. Quick survey: who's the more loathsome ancient know-it-all, Seneca or Cicero? And Why?
— sententiae antiquae (@sentantiq) July 25, 2014
At least one person objected to the question:
@sentantiq "Loathsome" know-it-all? Neither punked out when it came to it. Tully, the slipperier, but, eh, life is sweet, ha ha.
— deadgod (@equiprimordial) July 25, 2014
To be fair, one respondent had some antipathy for the consul-extraordinaire:
@sentantiq Cicero. "O fortunatam natam me consule Romam"
— didaclopez (@didaclopez) July 25, 2014
To make some amends, here are some of our Cicero quotes:
Epist. ad Fam. 6.6.6
“I would prefer the most unfair peace to the justest war”
iniquissimam pacem iustissimo bello anteferrem
Philippics 12.5
“All men make mistakes; but it is fools who persist in them”
cuiusvis hominis est errare; nullius nisi insipientis perseverare in errore
On Old Age, 24
“No one is so old that he thinks he could not live another year”
nemo enim est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere
In Verrem, 1.1.4
“There is nothing so sacred that it cannot be sullied, nor anything so protected that it cannot be overcome by money”.
nihil esse tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.
Tusculan Disputations, 2.47
“Reason is the mistress and queen of all things”
domina omnium et regina ratio
De Oratore, 3.7
“O, how misleading is the hope of men”
O fallacem hominum spem
So, who’d you rather share a drink with, Cicero or Seneca?