Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.36 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.36
Thus it is the error of men who are not strictly upright to seize upon something that seems to be expedient and straightway to dissociate that from the question of moral right. To this error the assassin's dagger, the poisoned cup, the forged wills owe their origin; this gives rise to theft, embezzlement of public funds, exploitation and plundering of provincials and citizens; this engenders also the lust for excessive wealth, for despotic power, and finally for making oneself king even in the midst of a free people; and anything more atrocious or repulsive than such a passion cannot be conceived. For with a false perspective they see the material rewards but not the punishment—I do not mean the penalty of the law, which they often escape, but the heaviest penalty of all, their own demoralization.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.36, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.36
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 who separate what pays from what is right are the source of fraud, theft, embezzlement, exploitation and the hunger for wealth and power. They see the rewards but miss the heaviest punishment of all, their own moral decay, which no court can spare them.
Older wording
- “demoralization”
- — here, the corruption of one's own character
- “provincials”
- — people living in Rome's overseas provinces
- “despotic”
- — tyrannical
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Ambition and success
- Wealth and poverty
- Justice and fairness
- An ethical dilemma
- Money, status and wanting more
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.