
On Duties (De Officiis)
44 BC · 423 pages
Cicero tells his son what a decent person owes everyone: keep your word, harm nobody, and stop believing a shameful act can pay. Real Roman cases of profit against honesty carry the argument.
★ 7.4

Cicero tells his son what a decent person owes everyone: keep your word, harm nobody, and stop believing a shameful act can pay. Real Roman cases of profit against honesty carry the argument.

Cicero gives the argument to Laelius, a statesman grieving his dead friend: real friendship binds only good men, is wanted for nothing beyond itself, and makes fortune brighter and hardship lighter.