Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.128 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.128
But we should give no heed to the Cynics (or to some Stoics who are practically Cynics) who censure and ridicule us for holding that the mere mention of some actions that are not immoral is shameful, while other things that are immoral we call by their real names. Robbery, fraud, and adultery, for example, are immoral in deed, but it is not indecent to name them. To beget children in wedlock is in deed morally right; to speak of it is indecent. And they assail modesty with a great many other arguments to the same purport. But as for us, let us follow Nature and shun everything that is offensive to our eyes or our ears. So, in standing or walking, in sitting or reclining, in our expression, our eyes, or the movements of our hands, let us preserve what we have called "propriety."
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.128, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.128
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 notesModesty in speech and bearing is worth keeping even when radical thinkers mock it. Some wrongdoing can be named without offence while some perfectly proper acts are better left unmentioned, so the guide is to avoid whatever offends eyes and ears and to keep a fitting posture and expression.
Older wording
- “Cynics”
- — ancient philosophers who rejected social conventions
- “adultery”
- — a married person having sex outside the marriage
Themes and situations
- Self-discipline and habit
- Virtue and character
- Speech and silence
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