Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.9 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.9
The consideration necessary to determine conduct is, therefore, as Panaetius thinks, a threefold one: first, people question whether the contemplated act is morally right or morally wrong; and in such deliberation their minds are often led to widely divergent conclusions. And then they examine and consider the question whether the action contemplated is or is not conducive to comfort and happiness in life, to the command of means and wealth, to influence, and to power, by which they may be able to help themselves and their friends; this whole matter turns upon a question of expediency. The third type of question arises when that which seems to be expedient seems to conflict with that which is morally right; for when expediency seems to be pulling one way, while moral right seems to be calling back in the opposite direction, the result is that the mind is distracted in its inquiry and brings to it the irresolution that is born of deliberation.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.9, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.9
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 notesWhen deciding what to do, people really ask three questions: is it morally right, is it advantageous, and what if the right thing and the advantageous thing pull in opposite directions. The third is the hardest, because the mind becomes torn and stalls in indecision.
Older wording
- “expediency”
- — what is advantageous or convenient
- “irresolution”
- — indecision
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Justice and fairness
- Virtue and character
- An ethical dilemma
- A hard decision
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