Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.159 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.159
The following question should, perhaps, be asked: whether this social instinct, which is the deepest feeling in our nature, is always to have precedence over temperance and moderation also. I think not. For there are some acts either so repulsive or so wicked, that a wise man would not commit them, even to save his country. Posidonius has made a large collection of them; but some of them are so shocking, so indecent, that it seems immoral even to mention them. The wise man, therefore, will not think of doing any such thing for the sake of his country; no more will his country consent to have it done for her. But the problem is the more easily disposed of because the occasion cannot arise when it could be to the state's interest to have the wise man do any of those things.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.159, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.159
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 notesLoyalty to your community does not justify anything. Some acts are so repulsive or wicked that a wise person would refuse them even to save his country, and in reality the true interest of the state never requires them.
Older wording
- “temperance”
- — self-restraint and moderation
- “social instinct”
- — the natural drive to live and work together
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Justice and fairness
- Duty and roles
- Community and our duty to others
- An ethical dilemma
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