Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.24 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.24
Then, too, loftiness and greatness of spirit, and courtesy, justice, and generosity are much more in harmony with Nature than are selfish pleasure, riches, and life itself; but it requires a great and lofty spirit to despise these latter and count them as naught, when one weighs them over against the common weal. [But for anyone to rob his neighbour for his own profit is more contrary to Nature than death, pain, and the like.]
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.24, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.24
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 notesGenerosity, courtesy and justice fit human nature better than selfish pleasure, wealth or even staying alive, but it takes real greatness of spirit to treat those things as nothing when the common good is at stake.
Older wording
- “common weal”
- — the common good or public welfare
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Community and our duty to others
- Wealth and poverty
- Money, status and wanting more
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