Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.87 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.87
As for property, it is a duty to make money, but only by honourable means; it is a duty also to save it and increase it by care and thrift. These principles Xenophon, a pupil of Socrates, has set forth most happily in his book entitled "Oeconomicus." When I was about your present age, I translated it from the Greek into Latin. But this whole subject of acquiring money, investing money (I wish I could include also spending money),is more profitably discussed by certain worthy gentlemen on "Change" than could be done by any philosophers of any school. For all that, we must take cognizance of them; for they come fitly under the head of expediency, and that is the subject of the present book.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.87, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.87
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 notesEarning money is a duty, but only by honourable means, and it is also a duty to save and grow it with care and thrift. Cicero admits that business advice is better left to those who work in trade than to philosophers.
Older wording
- “Oeconomicus”
- — Xenophon's book on managing a household and estate
- “expediency”
- — what is useful or advantageous
Themes and situations
- Wealth and poverty
- Duty and roles
- Self-discipline and habit
- An ethical dilemma
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