7 Damon et Pythias in Cicero, De Officiis 3.43-46
The De Officiis is Cicero’s masterwork, a book-length letter to his son about how to live a moral and just life by fulfilling your obligations. The De Officiis is arguably the most read and influential non-Christian work from antiquity. Over 700 manuscripts survive (second only to the Latin grammar by Priscian); it was the third book to be printed (after the Bible and Donatus’ Latin grammar). Well into the 18th century it was the one book that you could assume that every educated person had read.
For your bonus delectation, here is his elegant account of Damon and Pythias, and how friendship strains and defines moral behavior. Cicero’s Latin may be challenging now. But after you have read through this book, you will be equipped to read this seminal work of western ethics.
[43] Maximē autem perturbantur officia in amīcitiīs, quibus et nōn tribuere, quod rēctē possīs et tribuere quod nōn sit aequum, contrā officium est. Sed hūius generis tōtīus breve et nōn difficile praeceptum est. Quae enim videntur ūtilia, honōrēs, dīvitiae, voluptātēs, cētera generis ēiusdem, haec amīcitiae numquam antepōnenda sunt. At neque contrā rem pūblicam neque contrā iūs iūrandum ac fidem amīcī causā vir bonus faciet, nē sī iūdex quidem erit dē ipsō amīcō; pōnit enim persōnam amīcī, cum induit iūdicis. Tantum dabit amīcitiae, ut vēram amīcī causam esse mālit, ut ōrandae lītis tempus, quoad per lēgēs liceat, accommodet.
[44] Cum vērō iūrātō sententia dīcenda erit, meminerit deum sē adhibēre testem, id est, ut ego arbitror, mentem suam, quā nihil hominī dedit deus ipse dīvīnius. Itaque praeclārum ā māiōribus accēpimus mōrem rogandī iūdicis, sī eum tenērēmus, quae salvā fide facere possit. Haec rogātiō ad ea pertinet, quae paulō ante dīxī honestē amīcō ā iūdice posse concēdī. Nam sī omnia facienda sint, quae amīcī velint, nōn amīcitiae tālēs, sed coniūrātiōnēs putandae sint.
[45] Loquor autem dē commūnibus amīcitiīs; nam in sapientibus virīs perfectīsque nihil potest esse tāle. Dāmōnem et Phintiam Pȳthagorēōs ferunt hōc animō inter sē fuisse, ut, cum eōrum alterī Dionȳsius tyrannus diem necis dēstināvisset et is, quī mortī addictus esset, paucōs sibi diēs commendandōrum suōrum causā postulāvisset, vas factus est alter ēius sistendī, ut sī ille nōn revertisset, moriendum esset ipsī. Quī cum ad diem sē recēpisset, admīrātus eōrum fidem tyrannus petīvit, ut sē ad amīcitiam tertium adscrīberent.
[46] Cum igitur id, quod ūtile vidētur in amīcitiā, cum eō, quod honestum est, comparātur, iaceat ūtilitātis speciēs, valeat honestās. Cum autem in amīcitiā, quae honesta nōn sunt, postulābuntur, religiō et fidēs antepōnātur amīcitiae; sīc habēbitur is, quem exquirimus, dīlēctus officiī.
