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[51]
In deciding cases of this kind Diogenes of Baby-1
lonia, a great and highly esteemed Stoic, consistently
holds one view; his pupil Antipater, a most profound
scholar, holds another. According to Antipater all
the facts should be disclosed, that the buyer may
[p. 321]
not be uninformed of any detail that the seller
knows; according to Diogenes the seller should
declare any defects in his wares, in so far as such a
course is prescribed by the common law of the land;
but for the rest, since he has goods to sell, he may
try to sell them to the best possible advantage,
provided he is guilty of no misrepresentation.
“I have imported my stock,” Diogenes's merchant will say; “I have offered it for sale; I sell
at a price no higher than my competitors—perhaps
even lower, when the market is overstocked. Who
is wronged?”
1 Diogenes vs. Antipater.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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