On the record44 BC
I believe you should not; for you would be acting against the state, which ought to be the dearest thing in the world to you.
Said by
Cicero
Source
gutenberg.orgCicero: “I believe you should not; for you would be acting against the state, which ought to be the dearest thing in the world to…”
Editor's note · Context
In his philosophical work on duties, Cicero asserts that one's obligation to the state supersedes personal trusts when the state is threatened.
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44 BC
Besides, he will not expose anyone to hatred or disrepute by groundless charges, but he will surely cleave to justice and honour so closely that he will submit to any loss, however heavy, rather than be untrue to them, and will face death…
44 BC
And it is a great man's duty in troublous times to single out the guilty for punishment, to spare the many, and in every turn of fortune to hold to a true and honourable course.
44 BC
So, then, it is truth that is, as it were, the stuff with which this virtue has to deal and on which it employs itself.
44 BC
What a sorry state of servitude for a virtue--to be pandering to sensual pleasure!
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