Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.52 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.52
"What say you?" comes Antipater's argument on the other side; "it is your duty to consider the interests of your fellow-men and to serve society; you were brought into the world under these conditions and have these inborn principles which you are in duty bound to obey and follow, that your interest shall be the interest of the community and conversely that the interest of the community shall be your interest as well; will you, in view of all these facts, conceal from your fellow-men what relief in plenteous supplies is close at hand for them?" "It is one thing to conceal," Diogenes will perhaps reply; "not to reveal is quite a different thing. At this present moment I am not concealing from you, even if I am not revealing to you, the nature of the gods or the highest good; and to know these secrets would be of more advantage to you than to know that the price of wheat was down. But I am under no obligation to tell you everything that it may be to your interest to be told."
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.52, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.52
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 notesOne side argues that people are born to serve the community, so hiding from others a relief that is close at hand is wrong. The other replies that not revealing something is different from concealing it, since no one is obliged to tell others everything that might benefit them.
Older wording
- “plenteous”
- — plentiful
- “in duty bound”
- — obliged
Themes and situations
- Justice and fairness
- Community and our duty to others
- Speech and silence
- An ethical dilemma
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.