The Dictator
“I am sure history will judge it as of minor importance in the scale of things; Cicero judged it minor even at the time.We reached Athens in the spring and stayed for ten days with Aristus, the principal professor of the Academy, who was at that time the greatest living exponent of the philosophy of Epicurus. Like Atticus, who was also a devoted Epicurean, Aristus took a practical, material view of what makes for a happy life: a healthy diet, moderate exercise, pleasant surroundings, congenial company and the avoidance of stressful situations. Cicero, whose god was Plato and whose life was full of stress, disputed this. He believed that Epicureanism amounted to a kind of antiphilosophy: “You say happiness depends on bodily well-being. But continual physical well-being is beyond our control. If a man is suffering an agonising illness, say, or if he is being tortured, then in your philosophy he cannot be happy.”“Perhaps he cannot be supremely happy,” conceded Aristus, “but happiness will... still be there in some form.”“No, no, he cannot be happy at all,”MoreLess
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