Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.115 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.115
To the two above-mentioned characters is added a third, which some chance or some circumstance imposes, and a fourth also, which we assume by our own deliberate choice. Regal powers and military commands, nobility of birth and political office, wealth and influence, and their opposites depend upon chance and are, therefore, controlled by circumstances. But what rôle we ourselves may choose to sustain is decided by our own free choice. And so some turn to philosophy, others to the civil law, and still others to oratory, while in case of the virtues themselves one man prefers to excel in one, another in another.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.115, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.115
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 notesBesides your common human nature and your individual traits, life adds a role that chance imposes and a role you choose yourself. Rank, office, wealth and influence depend on circumstances, but which path you take, such as philosophy, law or public speaking, and which virtue you strive to excel in, is your free choice.
Older wording
- “oratory”
- — the art of public speaking
- “civil law”
- — the law governing private rights and disputes
Themes and situations
- What is in our control
- Duty and roles
- Virtue and character
- Learning and progress
- A hard decision
- Searching for meaning
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