Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.35 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.35
But I am afraid someone may wonder why I am now separating the virtues—as if it were possible for anyone to be just who is not at the same time wise; for it is agreed upon among all philosophers, and I myself have often argued, that he who has one virtue has them all. The explanation of my apparent inconsistency is that the precision of speech we employ, when abstract truth is critically investigated in philosophic discussion, is one thing; and that employed, when we are adapting our language entirely to popular thinking, is another. And therefore I am speaking here in the popular sense, when I call some men brave, others good, and still others wise; for in dealing with popular conceptions we must employ familiar words in their common acceptation; and this was the practice of Panaetius likewise. But let us return to the subject.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.35, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.35
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 notesA technical aside: philosophers hold that anyone with one virtue has them all, but here the author uses everyday language and speaks of people as brave, good or wise separately, because ordinary speech calls for ordinary meanings.
Older wording
- “acceptation”
- — the accepted meaning of a word
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Speech and silence
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