Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.5 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.5
Moreover, the subject of this inquiry is the common property of all philosophers; for who would presume to call himself a philosopher, if he did not inculcate any lessons of duty? But there are some schools that distort all notions of duty by the theories they propose touching the supreme good and the supreme evil. For he who posits the supreme good as having no connection with virtue and measures it not by a moral standard but by his own interests—if he should be consistent and not rather at times over-ruled by his better nature, he could value neither friendship nor justice nor generosity; and brave he surely cannot possibly be that counts pain the supreme evil, nor temperate he that holds pleasure to be the supreme good.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.5, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.5
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 notesDuty is every philosopher's business, but views that set the highest good outside virtue, such as pleasure or avoiding pain, undermine it. Someone who judges everything by self-interest cannot consistently value friendship, justice or generosity, and a person who fears pain above all cannot be brave or one who treasures pleasure temperate.
Older wording
- “supreme good”
- — the ultimate goal of life
- “inculcate”
- — teach by repeated instruction
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Duty and roles
- Pleasure and pain
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