Cicero (on the Stoics) · 106–43 BCE
On Duties 3.7 — Cicero (on the Stoics)
Translation by Walter Miller (1913)
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.7
Panaetius, then, has given us what is unquestionably the most thorough discussion of moral duties that we have, and I have followed him in the main—but with slight modifications. He classifies under three general heads the ethical problems which people are accustomed to consider and weigh: first, the question whether the matter in hand is morally right or morally wrong; second, whether it is expedient or inexpedient; third, how a decision ought to be reached, in case that which has the appearance of being morally right clashes with that which seems to be expedient. He has treated the first two heads at length in three books; but, while he has stated that he meant to discuss the third head in its proper turn, he has never fulfilled his promise.
Cite this passage
Cicero (on the Stoics), On Duties 3.7, tr. Walter Miller (1913)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-duties/3.7
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 notesBackground on how Panaetius organised the study of duty into three questions: is it right, is it advantageous, and what to do when the two seem to clash. He never wrote up the third.
Older wording
- “expedient”
- — useful or advantageous
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Virtue and character
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