[11]
Of the things, then, that are essential to the sustenance 1 of human life, some are inanimate (gold and
silver, for example, the fruits of the earth, and so
forth), and some are animate and have their own
peculiar instincts and appetites. Of these again
some are rational, others irrational. Horses, oxen,
and the other cattle, [bees,] whose labour contributes
more or less to the service and subsistence of man,
are not endowed with reason; of rational beings two
divisions are made—gods and men. Worship and
purity of character will win the favour of the gods;
and next to the gods, and a close second to them,
men can be most helpful to men.
1 Classification of expedients.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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