Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.64 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.64
Be that as it may, if both pretence and concealment constitute "criminal fraud," there are very few transactions into which "criminal fraud" does not enter; or, if he only is a good man who help all he can, and harms no one, it will certainly be no easy matter for us to find the good man as thus defined. To conclude, then, it is never expedient to do wrong, because wrong is always immoral; and it is always expedient to be good, because goodness is always moral.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.64, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.64
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 notesIf both pretence and concealment count as fraud, hardly any deal is entirely clean, and a truly good person, who helps all they can and harms no one, is hard to find. The conclusion is that doing wrong is never useful because it is always immoral, while being good is always useful because goodness is always right.
Older wording
- “expedient”
- — useful or advantageous
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Justice and fairness
- An ethical dilemma
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