Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.3 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.3
I would that the government had stood fast in the position it had begun to assume and had not fallen into the hands of men who desired not so much to reform as to abolish the constitution. For then, in the first place, I should now be devoting my energies more to public speaking than to writing, as I used to do when the republic stood; and in the second place, I should be committing to written form not these present essays but my public speeches, as I often formerly did. But when the republic, to which all my care and thought and effort used to be devoted, was no more, then, of course, my voice was silenced in the forum and in the senate.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.3, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.3
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 notesLooking back, the author wishes the republic had survived and been reformed rather than abolished, since he would then still be giving speeches instead of writing essays. When the state he had served for so long collapsed, his public voice was silenced.
Older wording
- “forum”
- — the public square where Roman politics and trials were conducted
- “senate”
- — the Roman governing council
Themes and situations
- Adversity and hardship
- Acceptance and fate
- Ambition and success
- A career setback
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