Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.106 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.106
From this we see that sensual pleasure is quite unworthy of the dignity of man and that we ought to despise it and cast it from us; but if someone should be found who sets some value upon sensual gratification, he must keep strictly within the limits of moderate indulgence. One's physical comforts and wants, therefore, should be ordered according to the demands of health and strength, not according to the calls of pleasure. And if we will only bear in mind the superiority and dignity of our nature, we shall realize how wrong it is to abandon ourselves to excess and to live in luxury and voluptuousness, and how right it is to live in thrift, selfdenial, simplicity, and sobriety.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.106, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.106
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 notesChasing physical pleasure is beneath human dignity, so if you do enjoy it, stay moderate and tie your comforts to what health and strength need rather than to cravings. Remembering that your nature is higher than appetite makes excess and luxury look wrong and thrift, self-denial, simplicity and sobriety look right.
Older wording
- “voluptuousness”
- — devotion to luxury and sensual pleasure
- “sobriety”
- — moderation and seriousness
Themes and situations
- Simplicity and frugality
- Pleasure and pain
- Self-discipline and habit
- Wealth and poverty
- Virtue and character
- Money, status and wanting more
- Breaking a bad habit
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