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[16]
Accordingly, such duties appeal to all
men who have a natural disposition to virtue. And
when the two Decii or the two Scipios are mentioned
as “brave men” or Fabricius [or Aristides] is called
“the just,” it is not at all that the former are quoted
as perfect models of courage or the latter as a perfect
model of justice, as if we had in one of them the
ideal “wise man.” For no one of them was wise in
[p. 285]
the sense in which we wish to have “wise” understood; neither were Marcus Cato and Gaius Laelius
wise, though they were so considered and were surnamed “the wise.” Not even the famous Seven were
“wise.” But because of their constant observance
of “mean” duties they bore a certain semblance and
likeness to wise men.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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