Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.18 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.18
Those, on the other hand, who measure everything by a standard of profits and personal advantage and refuse to have these outweighed by considerations of moral rectitude are accustomed, in considering any question, to weigh the morally right against what they think the expedient; good men are not. And so I believe that when Panaetius stated that people were accustomed to hesitate to do such weighing, he meant precisely what he said—merely that "such was their custom," not that such was their duty. And he gave it no approval; for it is most immoral to think more highly of the apparently expedient than of the morally right, or even to set these over against each other and to hesitate to choose between them. What, then, is it that may sometimes give room for a doubt and seem to call for consideration? It is, I believe, when a question arises as to the character of an action under consideration.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.18, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.18
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 notesOnly people who put profit and personal gain first treat doing right as something to be weighed against what pays; a good person does not hesitate over such a choice. Real doubt arises only when it is unclear what kind of action is in front of you.
Older wording
- “expedient”
- — useful or advantageous
- “moral rectitude”
- — morally correct conduct
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Justice and fairness
- Duty and roles
- An ethical dilemma
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