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Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Aristotle

384 BCE – 322 BCE

ClassicalPeripatetic

Born Stagira

He classified the world. Logic, biology, ethics, politics; he gave each its language.

Cicero

106 BCE – 43 BCE

RomanEclectic

Born Arpinum

He translated Greek philosophy into Latin and into politics. Rome's greatest orator was also its most restless thinker.

Connection

Aristotle model for rhetoric and philosophy Cicero — Cicero admired Aristotle's style and drew on his rhetorical and ethical writings throughout his career.

Shared Places

Athens

Ideas

Virtue Reason Happiness Moderation Nature Logos Justice Being Change On Anger Ockham's Razor

Duty The Republic Natural Law

Words

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
— Aristotle

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
— Aristotle

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.”
— Cicero

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
— Cicero

Key Moments

384 BCE

Born in Stagira

c. 367 BCE

Joining the Academy

343 BCE

Tutor to Alexander

335 BCE

Founding of the Lyceum

106 BCE

Born in Arpinum

c. 79 BCE

Studies in Athens and Rhodes

63 BCE

Consul of Rome

46 BCE

Philosophical Works in Retirement

Works

Nicomachean Ethics

Metaphysics

Politics

Poetics

Tusculan Disputations

On Duties