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Two thinkers, side by side

Life

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.

Plato

c. 428 BCE – c. 348 BCE

ClassicalPlatonist

Born Athens

He saw a world behind the world. The Forms are real; what we see are shadows.

Connection

Plato studied in his Academy Cicero — Cicero studied at the Academy in Athens and considered himself an Academic skeptic. His dialogues owe their form to Plato.

Shared Ideas

The Republic

Shared Places

Athens Athens Athens

Ideas

Duty The Republic Natural Law

Justice Being Virtue Reason Logos Change The Republic The Virtuous City

Words

“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

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
— Plato

“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
— Plato

Key Moments

106 BCE

Born in Arpinum

c. 79 BCE

Studies in Athens and Rhodes

63 BCE

Consul of Rome

46 BCE

Philosophical Works in Retirement

c. 428 BCE

Born in Athens

c. 408 BCE

Meeting Socrates

399 BCE

Death of Socrates

c. 388 BCE

First Voyage to Syracuse

Works

Tusculan Disputations

On Duties

Apology

Crito

Euthyphro

Protagoras

Symposium

Meno

Phaedo

Gorgias

Republic

Phaedrus

Theaetetus