The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius
Philosophy
The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by Cicero
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Ethics -- Early works to 1800; Happiness -- Early works to 1800
XVII. Now these things which we have spoken of as preferred, are preferred
some for their own sake, some because they effect something else, and some
for both reasons. Some are preferred for their own sake, such as some
particular appearance or expression of countenance, some particular kind
of gait, or motion, in which there are some things which may well be
preferred, and some which may be rejected. Others are said to be preferred
because they produce something, as money; and others for a combination of
both reasons, as soundness of the senses, or good health. But respecting
good reputation, (for what they call εὐδοξία is more properly called, in
this place, good reputation than glory,) Chrysippus and Diogenes denied
its whole utility, and used to say that one ought not even to put forth a
finger for the sake of it, with whom I entirely and heartily agree. But
those who came after them, being unable to withstand the arguments of
Carneades, said that this good reputation, as I call it, was preferred for
its own sake, and ought to be chosen for its own sake, and that it was
natural for a man of good family, who had been properly brought up, to
wish to be praised by his parents, his relations, and by good men in
general, and that too for the sake of the praise itself, and not of any
advantage which might ensue from it. And they say, too, that as we wish to
provide for our children, even for such as may be posthumous children, for
their own sake, so we ought also to show a regard for posthumous fame
after our death, for its own sake, without any thought of gain or
advantage.
But as we assert that what is honourable is the only good, still it is
consistent with this assertion to discharge one’s duty, though we do not
class duty among either the goods or the evils. For there is in these
things some likelihood, and that of such a nature that reasons can be
alleged for there being such; and therefore of such a nature, that
probable reasons may be adduced for adopting such a line of conduct. From
which it follows that duty is a sort of neutral thing, which is not to be
classed either among the goods or among the opposites of goods. And since,
in those things which are neither ranked among the virtues nor among the
vices, there is still something which may be of use; that is not to be
destroyed. For there is a certain action of that sort, and that too of
such a character that reason requires one to do and perform it. But that
which is done in obedience to reason we call duty; duty, then, is a thing
of that sort, that it must not be ranked either among the goods or among
the opposites of goods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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