Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.37 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.37
Away, then, with questioners of this sort (for their whole tribe is wicked and ungodly), who stop to consider whether to pursue the course which they see is morally right or to stain their hands with what they know is crime. For there is guilt in their very deliberation, even though they never reach the performance of the deed itself. Those actions, therefore, should not be considered at all, the mere consideration of which is itself morally wrong. Furthermore, in any such consideration we must banish any vain hope and thought that our action may be covered up and kept secret. For if we have only made some real progress in the study of philosophy, we ought to be quite convinced that, even though we may escape the eyes of gods and men, we must still do nothing that savours of greed or of injustice, of lust or of intemperance.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.37, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.37
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 notesMerely entertaining the question of whether to do something you already know is wrong taints you, and the hope of keeping it secret must not enter the calculation. A person who has made real progress in philosophy refrains from greed, injustice, lust and excess even if neither gods nor people would ever find out.
Older wording
- “savours of”
- — has a taste or trace of
- “intemperance”
- — lack of self-restraint
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Justice and fairness
- Self-discipline and habit
- An ethical dilemma
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