Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 2.37 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.37
On the other hand, those are regarded with admiration who are thought to excel others in ability and to be free from all dishonour and also from those vices which others do not easily resist. For sensual pleasure, a most seductive mistress, turns the hearts of the greater part of humanity away from virtue; and when the fiery trial of affliction draws near, most people are terrified beyond measure. Life and death, wealth and want affect all men most powerfully. But when men, with a spirit great and exalted, can look down upon such outward circumstances, whether prosperous or adverse, and when some noble and virtuous purpose, presented to their minds, converts them wholly to itself and carries them away in its pursuit, who then could fail to admire in them the splendour and beauty of virtue?
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 2.37, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/2.37
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 notesPeople admire those who rise above what masters most of us: seductive pleasure, terror of hardship, and the pull of life, death, wealth and want. Someone gripped by a noble purpose, who can look down on good and bad circumstances alike, shows the true beauty of virtue.
Older wording
- “affliction”
- — suffering or serious trouble
- “adverse”
- — unfavourable, working against you
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Pleasure and pain
- Courage
- Adversity and hardship
- Desire and craving
- Breaking a bad habit
- Money, status and wanting more
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