Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.54 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.54
Suppose again that an honest man is offering a house for sale on account of certain undesirable features of which he himself is aware but which nobody else knows; suppose it is unsanitary, but has the reputation of being healthful; suppose it is not generally known that vermin are to be found in all the bedrooms; suppose, finally, that it is built of unsound timber and likely to collapse, but that no one knows about it except the owner; if the vendor does not tell the purchaser these facts but sells him the house for far more than he could reasonably have expected to get for it, I ask whether his transaction is unjust or dishonourable.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.54, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.54
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 notesPoses a second case: a home-seller knows the house is unhealthy, infested and structurally unsound, says nothing, and sells it at a high price. Is staying silent about hidden defects unjust or dishonourable?
Older wording
- “vendor”
- — the seller
- “vermin”
- — pests such as rats and insects
Themes and situations
- Justice and fairness
- Wealth and poverty
- Speech and silence
- An ethical dilemma
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