The Testimony of Cicero 61
second type of desires is not difficult, either to acquire or to do without.
The third type he thought should be utterly rejected, since they are
clearly vain and not only unnecessary but also unnatural. 94. At this
point the Epicureans make a number of arguments and make excuses
one by one for the pleasures of the types which they do not condemn,
but which they
obscene pleasures, which they spend quite a bit of time talking about,
are easy, common, and readily available; and that if nature does require
them they must be evaluated not with reference to family background,
social station, or rank, but only with respect to beauty, age, and figure;
and it is not at all difficult to refrain from them, if that is required by
poor health, duty, or concern for one's reputation; and in general, that
this type of pleasure is to be chosen, if it does not do any harm, but that
it never actually benefits anyone. 95. The upshot of his entire discussion
of pleasure is this. He holds that pleasure itself should always be wished
for and pursued for its own sake because it is pleasure, and that by the
same reasoning pain should always be avoided, just because it is pain;
and so the wise man will employ a principle of compensation, and will
avoid pleasure if it will produce a greater pain and will endure pain if it
produces a greater pleasure; and that all pleasing feelings are to be referred
to the mind, although they are actually judged by bodily senses. 96. As
a result the body is pleased for only so long as it perceives a present
pleasure, while the mind perceives a present pleasure just as much as
the body does, but also foresees a pleasure which is coming in the future
and does not let a past pleasure slip from its grasp. So the wise man will
always have a continuous and interconnected [set of] pleasures, since the
expectation of hoped-for pleasures is linked to the memory of pleasures
already perceived.
On Goals 1.65-70 [1-26]
- There remains a topic which is especially important for our present
debate, that is friendship. You [the critics] claim that if pleasure is the
greatest good there will be no friendship at all. Epicurus indeed says this
on the topic:^26 that of all the things which wisdom has contrived which
contribute to a blessed life none is more important, more fruitful, or more
pleasing than friendship. And he proved this not just in his discourse, but
much more clearly by his life and deeds and character. The fictitious
tales told by the ancients make it clear how important it is; but in all
those stories, so many and so varied and drawn from the most remote - Principal Doctrine XXVII.