Philosophy Of The Republic and Empire

Question 1

Cicero quotes Panaetius

Answer 1

Is a thing morally right, or wrong?

Is it advantageous or disadvantageous?

This clause he dismisses as being not valid or not meant to be answered I.e., the clash between 1 and 2.

Question 2

Definition of ‘a good man’.

Answer 2

A person who helps everybody he can and, unless wrongfully provoked, harms none.

Question 3

Cicero’s four cardinal virtues.

Answer 3

Wisdom

Justice

Fortitude

Temperance

Question 4

Horatius

Answer 4

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:

“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.

And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.”[4]

Question 5

Trimalchio’s Feast

Answer 5

Trimalchio - a smart and avaricious freed slave who becomes an excessively rich businessman.

Famous for his dinner parties / banquets, that fed and entertained their guests to excess with obscure, expensive and odd dishes, and acts that promoted Trimalchio’s ego and narcissistic and avaricious way of life.

His name is used to signify excess and his acts are an early indicator of the decline in the empire’s culture and morals during Nero’s reign.

It’s taken from Petronius’ (the senior courtier of culture and style at Nero’s court) fictional novel Satyricon, circa first half of the first century AD. Petronius died by assassination at the hands of envious enemies 66 AD.