Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.4 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.4
And since my mind could not be wholly idle, I thought, as I had been well-read along these lines of thought from my early youth, that the most honourable way for me to forget my sorrows would be by turning to philosophy. As a young man, I had devoted a great deal of time to philosophy as a discipline; but after I began to fill the high offices of state and devoted myself heart and soul to the public service, there was only so much time for philosophical studies as was left over from the claims of my friends and of the state; all of this was spent in reading; I had no leisure for writing.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.4, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.4
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 notesWith public life closed to him and a mind that could not stay idle, the author decided that the most honourable way to ease his sorrow was to return to philosophy. He had studied it in youth but, during his years in office, could only read it in the gaps left by duty.
Older wording
- “leisure”
- — free time
Themes and situations
- Grief and mourning
- Learning and progress
- Adversity and hardship
- Resilience and endurance
- A career setback
- Searching for meaning
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