Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 1.17 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.17
Before the three remaining virtues, on the other hand, is set the task of providing and maintaining those things on which the practical business of life depends, so that the relations of man to man in human society may be conserved, and that largeness and nobility of soul may be revealed not only in increasing one's resources and acquiring advantages for one's self and one's family but far more in rising superior to these very things. But orderly behaviour and consistency of demeanour and self-control and the like have their sphere in that department of things in which a certain amount of physical exertion, and not mental activity merely, is required. For if we bring a certain amount of propriety and order into the transactions of daily life, we shall be conserving moral rectitude and moral dignity.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 1.17, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/1.17
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 notesThe other three virtues deal with the practical business of life: keeping human society together, showing largeness of soul by rising above wealth and personal gain, and bringing order and self-control to daily conduct. Order in ordinary actions preserves dignity and moral uprightness.
Older wording
- “moral rectitude”
- — being morally upright
- “propriety”
- — appropriate, fitting behaviour
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Community and our duty to others
- Self-discipline and habit
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