Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.46 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.46
Now, the men we live with are not perfect and ideally wise, but men who do very well, if there be found in them but the semblance of virtue. I therefore think that this is to be taken for granted, that no one should be entirely neglected who shows any trace of virtue; but the more a man is endowed with these finer virtues—temperance, self-control, and that very justice about which so much has already been said—the more he deserves to be favoured. I do not mention fortitude, for a courageous spirit in a man who has not attained perfection and ideal wisdom is generally too impetuous; it is those other virtues that seem more particularly to mark the good man. So much in regard to the character of the object of our beneficence.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.46, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.46
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 notesThe people around us are not perfect or ideally wise, and doing quite well means showing a hint of virtue. So nobody who shows some goodness should be written off, though those with more self-control and fairness deserve more of our favour, while courage in imperfect people tends to be rash.
Older wording
- “semblance”
- — outward appearance, trace
- “impetuous”
- — rash and impulsive
Themes and situations
- Friendship
- Virtue and character
- Kindness and forgiveness
- Community and our duty to others
- Trouble with a friend
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