Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>I have thus, as briefly and lucidly as I could, given in my\r\nown words the opinions which Varro expresses in his book.\r\nBut how he refutes all the rest of these sects, and chooses one,\r\nthe Old Academy, instituted by Plato, and continuing to\r\nPolemo, the fourth teacher of that school of philosophy which\r\nheld that their system was certain; and how on this ground\r\nhe distinguishes it from the New Academy,<a id=\"FNanchor_622_622\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_622_622\">[622]</a> which began with\r\nPolemo's successor Arcesilaus, and held that all things are uncertain;\r\nand how he seeks to establish that the Old Academy\r\nwas as free from error as from doubt,—all this, I say, were too\r\nlong to enter upon in detail, and yet I must not altogether\r\npass it by in silence. Varro then rejects, as a first step, all\r\nthose differences which have multiplied the number of sects;\r\nand the ground on which he does so is that they are not differences\r\nabout the supreme good. He maintains that in\r\nphilosophy a sect is created only by its having an opinion of\r\nits own different from other schools on the point of the ends-in-chief.\r\nFor man has no other reason for philosophizing\r\nthan that he may be happy; but that which makes him happy\r\nis itself the supreme good. In other words, the supreme good\r\nis the reason of philosophizing; and therefore that cannot be\r\ncalled a sect of philosophy which pursues no way of its own\r\ntowards the supreme good. Thus, when it is asked whether a\r\nwise man will adopt the social life, and desire and be interested\r\nin the supreme good of his friend as in his own, or\r\nwill, on the contrary, do all that he does merely for his own\r\nsake, there is no question here about the supreme good, but\r\nonly about the propriety of associating or not associating a\r\nfriend in its participation: whether the wise man will do this<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_297\">[Pg 297]</a></span>\r\nnot for his own sake, but for the sake of his friend in whose\r\ngood he delights as in his own. So, too, when it is asked\r\nwhether all things about which philosophy is concerned are\r\nto be considered uncertain, as by the New Academy, or certain,\r\nas the other philosophers maintain, the question here is\r\nnot what end should be pursued, but whether or not we are to\r\nbelieve in the substantial existence of that end; or, to put it\r\nmore plainly, whether he who pursues the supreme good must\r\nmaintain that it is a true good, or only that it appears to him\r\nto be true, though possibly it may be delusive,—both pursuing\r\none and the same good. The distinction, too, which is founded\r\non the dress and manners of the Cynics, does not touch the\r\nquestion of the chief good, but only the question whether he\r\nwho pursues that good which seems to himself true should\r\nlive as do the Cynics. There were, in fact, men who, though\r\nthey pursued different things as the supreme good, some\r\nchoosing pleasure, others virtue, yet adopted that mode of life\r\nwhich gave the Cynics their name. Thus, whatever it is\r\nwhich distinguishes the Cynics from other philosophers, this\r\nhas no bearing on the choice and pursuit of that good which\r\nconstitutes happiness. For if it had any such bearing, then\r\nthe same habits of life would necessitate the pursuit of the\r\nsame chief good, and diverse habits would necessitate the pursuit\r\nof different ends.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-489"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2f2efc83539605b7d6bf32af5632df93c3c8f843e82f0c2474af58e96865d2d6","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_622_622","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_622_622","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_622_622\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_622_622\"><span class=\"label\">[622]</span></a> Frequently called the Middle Academy; the New beginning with Carneades.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_622_622","text_sha256":"e035ad48fffbdf0b539388742910f15267becfc5d0cab0809e3b7d3c08d70e55","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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