Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.13 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.13
Above all, the search after truth and its eager pursuit are peculiar to man. And so, when we have leisure from the demands of business cares, we are eager to see, to hear, to learn something new, and we esteem a desire to know the secrets or wonders of creation as indispensable to a happy life. Thus we come to understand that what is true, simple, and genuine appeals most strongly to a man's nature. To this passion for discovering truth there is added a hungering, as it were, for independence, so that a mind well-moulded by Nature is unwilling to be subject to anybody save one who gives rules of conduct or is a teacher of truth or who, for the general good, rules according to justice and law. From this attitude come greatness of soul and a sense of superiority to worldly conditions.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.13, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.13
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 notesHumans uniquely long to understand the truth, and when business pressure lifts we want to see, hear and learn new things. A well-formed mind also craves independence, accepting only the authority of a just ruler or a truthful teacher, and from that comes largeness of spirit and a sense of rising above worldly circumstances.
Older wording
- “greatness of soul”
- — a high-minded, noble spirit
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Freedom
- Nature and the cosmos
- Virtue and character
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