# Brutus — Tusculan Disputations character guide

> Brutus in Tusculan Disputations by Cicero.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Brutus, L. Brutus, O Brutus

**First appearance:** 0001-tusculan-disputations

## Snapshot

The friend and senator to whom Cicero addresses the whole work, a man whose own convictions about liberty will soon cost him everything.

## Who they are

Brutus is the named recipient of the Tusculan Disputations, the intimate whose advice drew Cicero back to philosophy after his withdrawal from the courts and the senate, and whose seriousness as a student of Greek thought makes him a worthy audience for the argument. The tension he embodies is between the contemplative life Cicero is recommending and the political life Brutus cannot abandon. His presence frames the entire book as a conversation between friends about how to face death, which gives the philosophical content its warmth and its urgency.

## In the story

### [Tusculan Disputations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/chapters/tusculan-disputations)

Addressee of the work; Cicero dedicates the Tusculan Disputations to him and credits him with encouraging his return to philosophical studies.

### [Book I: On the Contempt of Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/chapters/book-i-on-the-contempt-of-death)

Cicero's dedicatee and advisor; his encouragement prompts Cicero to return to philosophy.

### [Book III: On Grief of Mind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/chapters/book-iii-on-grief-of-mind)

Addressee of the book, to whom Cicero dedicates this disputation on grief.

### [Book V: Whether Virtue Alone Be Sufficient for a Happy Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/chapters/book-v-whether-virtue-alone-be-sufficient-for-a-happy-life)

Addressee of the book; his favorite subject—virtue sufficient for happiness—is the central theme.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/characters/brutus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tusculan_disputations_se/characters