Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.66 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.66
The soul that is altogether courageous and great is marked above all by two characteristics: one of these is indifference to outward circumstances; for such a person cherishes the conviction that nothing but moral goodness and propriety deserves to be either admired or wished for or striven after, and that he ought not to be subject to any man or any passion or any accident of fortune. The second characteristic is that, when the soul is disciplined in the way above mentioned, one should do deeds not only great and in the highest degree useful, but extremely arduous and laborious and fraught with danger both to life and to many things that make life worth living.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.66, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.66
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 notesA great-souled person is marked by two traits: indifference to outward circumstances, because only moral goodness is worth admiring or pursuing, so no person, passion or twist of fortune can rule them; and a willingness to do great, useful but hard and dangerous deeds once so trained.
Older wording
- “propriety”
- — appropriate, fitting behaviour
- “fraught”
- — full of
Themes and situations
- Courage
- What is in our control
- Virtue and character
- Freedom
- Ambition and success
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