How to Grieve: An Ancient Guide to the Lost Art of Consolation

264 Pages·2022·0.873 MB·English

by  Marcus Tullius Cicero, Michael Fontaine

HOW TO GRIEVE
ancient wisdom for modern readers
For a full list of titles in the series, go to https://press.princeton
.edu/series/ancient-wisdom-for-modern-readers.
How to Grieve: An Ancient Guide to the Lost Art of
Consolation inspired by Marcus Tullius Cicero
How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using
Our Time Wisely by Seneca
How to Say No: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Being
a Cynic by Diogenes and the Cynics
How to Tell a Story: An Ancient Guide for
Aspiring Writers by Aristotle
How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide for
Saving a Republic by Sallust
How to Be a Farmer: An Ancient Guide to
Life on the Land by Many Hands
How to Innovate: An Ancient Guide to Creative Thinking
by Aristotle
How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art
of Humor by Marcus Tullius Cicero
How to Keep an Open Mind: An Ancient Guide to
Thinking Like a Skeptic by Sextus Empiricus
How to Be Content: An Ancient Poet’s Guide for
an Age of Excess by Horace
How to Give: An Ancient Guide to Giving and Receiving
by Seneca
How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing
by Vincent Obsopoeus
How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to
Truly Terrible Leaders by Suetonius
How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to
Wise Leadership by Plutarch
How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers
and Nonbelievers by Marcus Tullius Cicero
How to Keep Your Cool: An Ancient Guide to Anger
Management by Seneca
HOW TO GRIEVE
An Ancient Guide to
the Lost Art of Consolation
Inspired by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Translated and introduced
by Michael Fontaine
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cicero, Marcus Tullius. | Fontaine, Michael, translator.
Title: How to grieve : an ancient guide to the lost art of consolation /
inspired by Marcus Tullius Cicero, translated and introduced by
Michael Fontaine.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2022. | Series: Ancient
wisdom for modern readers | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021059581 (print) | LCCN 2021059582 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780691220321 (acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780691220338 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Consolation. | Grief. | Bereavement. | Tullia, active 1st
century B.C. | Cicero, Marcus Tullius.
Classification: LCC BF637.C54 C6613 2022 (print) | LCC BF637.C54
(ebook) | DDC 152.4—dc23/eng/20220225
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059581
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059582
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Rob Tempio and Chloe Coy
Production Editorial: Sara Lerner
Text Design: Pamela L. Schnitter
Jacket: Heather Hansen
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Maria Whelan and Carmen Jimenez
Copyeditor: Karen Verde
Jacket Credit: Courtesy of Shhewitt / Wikimedia Commons
This book has been composed in Stempel Garamond
Printed on acid-f ree paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Ameri ca
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Ava and Jacob
quos summe diligo summeque diligendos merito
suo censeo

A lush once spied an amphora emptied out
on the ground, still gasping breaths of its aroma,
the dregs remembering the noble wine.
She snorted the fragrance up her nose and sighed:
“O lovely ghost! What goodness surely once
you had within, if this is what’s left over!”
— Phaedrus, Fable 3.1
Vellem igitur Ciceronem paulisper ab inferis
surgere.
I wish, therefore, Cicero would for a short time
rise from the dead.
— Lactantius, Divine Institutes 3.13
Quas natura negat, praebuit arte vias.
And for what nature denies, art has discovered
a way.
— Claudian, Preface to Proserpina

CONTENTS
Acknowl edgments xi
Introduction xiii
How to Grieve 1
Notes 233
Bibliography 239