Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.2 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.2
But I should not compare this leisure of mine with that of Africanus, nor this solitude with his. For he, to find leisure from his splendid services to his country, used to take a vacation now and then and to retreat from the assemblies and the throngs of men into solitude, as into a haven of rest. But my leisure is forced upon me by want of public business, not prompted by any desire for repose. For now that the senate has been abolished and the courts have been closed, what is there, in keeping with my self-respect, that I can do either in the senatechamber or in the forum?
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.2, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.2
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 notesFree time feels very different when you choose it as a rest than when it is forced on you because your role has been taken away. Cicero is honest that his solitude is an unwanted lack of useful work, not a chosen retreat.
Older wording
- “forum”
- — Rome's public square, where courts and politics took place
Themes and situations
- Solitude and retreat
- Acceptance and fate
- Duty and roles
- Losing a job
- Loneliness
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