Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.127 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.127
Man's modesty has followed this careful contrivance of Nature's; all right-minded people keep out of sight what Nature has hidden and take pains to respond to Nature's demands as privately as possible; and in the case of those parts of the body which only serve Nature's needs, neither the parts nor the functions are called by their real names. To perform these functions—if only it be done in private—is nothing immoral; but to speak of them is indecent. And so neither public performance of those acts nor vulgar mention of them is free from indecency.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.127, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.127
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 notesNatural bodily functions are nothing shameful, but decency means keeping them private and not talking about them crudely. The point is a sense of modesty and discretion about what is not for public display.
Older wording
- “indecent”
- — offensive to ordinary standards of decency
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Self-discipline and habit
- Speech and silence
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