[17]
Since, therefore, there can be no doubt on this1
point, that man is the source of both the greatest
help and the greatest harm to man, I set it down as
the peculiar function of virtue to win the hearts of
men and to attach them to one's own service. And
so those benefits that human life derives from inanimate objects and from the employment and use of
animals are ascribed to the industrial arts; the
co-operation of men, on the other hand, prompt and
ready for the advancement of our interests, is secured
through wisdom and virtue [in men of superior
ability].
1 Co-operation and the virtues.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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