Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.146 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.146
As, therefore, a musical ear detects even the slightest falsity of tone in a harp, so we, if we wish to be keen and careful observers of moral faults, shall often draw important conclusions from trifles. We observe others and from a glance of the eyes, from a contracting or relaxing of the brows, from an air of sadness, from an outburst of joy, from a laugh, from speech, from silence, from a raising or lowering of the voice, and the like, we shall easily judge which of our actions is proper, and which is out of accord with duty and Nature. And, in the same manner, it is not a bad plan to judge of the nature of our every action by studying others, that so we may ourselves avoid anything that is unbecoming in them. For it happens somehow or other that we detect another's failings more readily than we do our own; and so in the school-room those pupils learn most easily to do better whose faults the masters mimic for the sake of correcting them.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.146, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.146
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 notesTrain your eye for moral detail by reading small signals in others: a glance, a tone, a silence. Watch other people to learn what is fitting and what is not, since we see others' faults more readily than our own, which is why students improve when teachers mimic their mistakes.
Older wording
- “brows”
- — eyebrows
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Judgements and impressions
- Self-discipline and habit
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