person
Thyestes
also: Thyestes, Thyestem
The brother of Atreus, who seduced Atreus's wife and stole the golden-fleeced lamb, and was avenged by the Thyestean banquet. Cotta cites the Atreus-Thyestes story to show that even monstrous crimes are products of reason.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §1.106 In Ennius, Thyestes curses
From Ennius's tragedy Thyestes: Thyestes curses his brother Atreus, wishing him shipwreck and an unburied corpse mangled on the rocks. Cicero quotes it to show the futility of cursing a dead enemy who can feel nothing.
- Tusculan Disputations §3.26 Will you, Thyestes, condemn yourself
Thyestes, of the cursed house of Pelops, who unwittingly ate his own children served by his brother Atreus and lived in self-loathing exile. The quoted lines are from a Latin tragedy (Ennius's or Accius's Thyestes).
- Tusculan Disputations §4.77 Hear Thyestes
Thyestes, tricked by his brother Atreus into eating the flesh of his own sons. Cicero quotes the tragic line to show the limitless violence to which anger drives.