中文导读
《图斯库卢姆论辩》作于公元前 45 年，共五卷，是西塞罗在女儿图丽娅（Tullia）去世后为排遣悲痛而写的哲学对话。对话设定在西塞罗位于图斯库卢姆（Tusculum）的别墅中，他以自己的口吻与一位匿名的对话者辩论五个哲学命题：死亡是否是一种恶？痛苦是否是最大的恶？悲伤是否可以缓解？情感扰乱是否可以控制？仅凭德性是否足以达到幸福？
卷一"论对死亡的恐惧"是全书中影响最深远的部分。西塞罗的论证策略是：如果灵魂是不朽的（如柏拉图所论证），那么死亡不是终结而是解脱；如果灵魂是有朽的，那么死亡就是无梦的睡眠，也没有什么可怕的。无论哪种情况，对死亡的恐惧都是非理性的。蒙田后来在《随笔集》中对这些论证做了长篇讨论。
卷五"论德性与幸福的关系"论证了一个更激进的命题：仅凭德性（virtus）就足以达到幸福（beatitas），外部条件——财富、权力、健康——都是无关紧要的。这是斯多葛哲学的核心教义，西塞罗在此做了最有力的拉丁语表述。
本选本收录卷一前 20 节。
Tusculanae Disputationes Book I, Sections 1-20 (selection)
When I consider the vicissitudes of fortune, and the uncertainty
of human affairs, I am sometimes inclined to think that the ancient
philosophers were right when they said that there is nothing
in this world that is truly ours—except the mind. For the body
is subject to disease and decay, wealth is fleeting and uncertain,
honour depends on the opinions of others, and even our friends
and our families are not always within our control. But the mind—
the rational soul, the faculty of thought and judgment—this alone
is truly our own. And therefore the first and most important question
of philosophy is: what is the nature of the soul?
Is the soul mortal or immortal? If it is immortal, then death
is not an evil, but a release from the prison of the body.
If it is mortal, then death is the end of all sensation,
and therefore cannot be an evil—for there is no one left
to experience the evil. In either case, death is not to be feared.
But the common opinion of mankind is that death is the greatest
of all evils. Why? Because they do not understand its nature.
They think that death is the extinction of the soul,
and that after death there is nothing. But this is not necessarily so.
Plato, in the Phaedo, gave several arguments for the immortality
of the soul: that the soul is simple and indivisible, and therefore
cannot be destroyed; that learning is really recollection,
which implies that the soul existed before birth; and that
every natural process has its opposite—birth and death,
waking and sleeping—and just as waking follows sleeping,
so must life follow death.
But even if we cannot accept Plato's arguments, we can still
demonstrate that death is not an evil. For what is evil?
Evil is that which causes pain or suffering. But death
is the end of all sensation; there is no pain, no suffering,
no consciousness. Therefore death cannot be an evil.
It is simply the absence of life, and the absence of life
is not an evil—just as the absence of light is not an evil
to a man who cannot see.
Consider: if a man is asleep and dreaming, is he suffering?
No, for he is not aware of his suffering. And death
is a deeper sleep than any dream—a sleep without end,
without dreams, without consciousness. Can such a state
be called evil? Surely not. It is simply nothing.
And nothing cannot be evil.
But some will say: "I do not fear death itself, but the process
of dying—the pain, the separation from my loved ones,
the loss of all that I have achieved." To this I answer:
the pain of dying is brief, and can be endured;
the separation from loved ones is temporary, if the soul is immortal;
and the loss of achievements—if they are truly valuable,
they will not be lost, for virtue is its own reward.
（卷一续：对伊壁鸠鲁死亡观的批评、灵魂不朽的进一步论证。）