Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.53 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.53
Then, too, there are a great many degrees of closeness or remoteness in human society. To proceed beyond the universal bond of our common humanity, there is the closer one of belonging to the same people, tribe, and tongue, by which men are very closely bound together; it is a still closer relation to be citizens of the same city-state; for fellow-citizens have much in common—forum, temples, colonnades, streets, statutes laws. Courts, rights of suffrage, to say nothing of social and friendly circles and diverse business relations with many. But a sill closer social union exists between kindred. Starting with that infinite bond of union of the human race in general, the conception is now confined to a small and narrow circle.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.53, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.53
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 notesHuman ties come in widening and narrowing circles, from all humanity, to the same people and language, to the same city, down to relatives, and the closer the circle, the more we share. The text has a few typographical slips.
Older wording
- “kindred”
- — relatives by blood
- “suffrage”
- — the right to vote
Themes and situations
- Community and our duty to others
- Family and love
- Friendship
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