Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.10 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.10
Although omission is a most serious defect in classification, two points have been overlooked in the foregoing: for we usually consider not only whether an action is morally right or morally wrong, but also, when a choice of two morally right courses is offered, which one is morally better; and likewise, when a choice of two expedients is offered, which one is more expedient. Thus the question which Panaetius thought threefold ought, we find, to be divided into five parts. First, therefore, we must discuss the moral—and that, under two sub-heads; secondly, in the same manner, the expedient; and finally, the cases where they must be weighed against each other.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.10, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.10
Cicero, On Duties (De Officiis), tr. Walter Miller (Loeb, 1913). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe author refines the earlier three-part scheme into five questions: weigh whether something is right or wrong, which of two right options is better, whether something is useful, which of two useful options is more so, and how to balance right against useful.
Older wording
- “expedient”
- — advantageous or practical
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Virtue and character
- A hard decision
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