Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.19 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.19
I shall presently discuss the means by which we can gain the ability to win and hold the affections of our fellow-men; but I must say a few words by way of preface. Who fails to comprehend the enormous, two-fold power of Fortune for weal and for woe? When we enjoy her favouring breeze, we are wafted over to the wished-for haven; when she blows against us, we are dashed to destruction. Fortune herself, then, does send those other less usual calamities, arising, first, from inanimate Nature—hurricanes, storms, shipwrecks, catastrophes, conflagrations; second, from wild beasts—kicks, bites, and attacks. But these, as I have said, are comparatively rare.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.19, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.19
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 notesLuck can carry you to your goal like a favourable wind or wreck you when it turns. Some disasters come from nature itself, such as storms, fires and animal attacks, but these are comparatively rare.
Older wording
- “weal and for woe”
- — for good and for ill
- “conflagrations”
- — huge destructive fires
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Adversity and hardship
- Nature and the cosmos
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