Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.6 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.6
Although these truths are so self-evident that the subject does not call for discussion, still I have discussed it in another connection. If, therefore, these schools should claim to be consistent, they could not say anything about duty; and no fixed, invariable, natural rules of duty can be posited except by those who say that moral goodness is worth seeking solely or chiefly for its own sake. Accordingly, the teaching of ethics is the peculiar right of the Stoics, the Academicians, and the Peripatetics; for the theories of Aristo, Pyrrho, and Erillus have been long since rejected; and yet they would have the right to discuss duty if they had left us any power of choosing between things, so that there might be a way of finding out what duty is. I shall, therefore, at this time and in this investigation follow chiefly the Stoics, not as a translator, but, as is my custom, I shall at my own option and discretion draw from those sources in such measure and in such manner as shall suit my purpose.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.6, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.6
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 notesFixed rules of duty only make sense if moral goodness is worth seeking for its own sake, so ethics belongs to a few schools. The author announces that he will follow the Stoics but borrow from them freely, as he sees fit, rather than translate them word for word.
Older wording
- “Academicians”
- — followers of Plato's later school
- “Peripatetics”
- — followers of Aristotle's school
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Virtue and character
- Learning and progress
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