[147]
Nor is it out of place in making a choice between1
duties involving a doubt, to consult men of learning
or practical wisdom and to ascertain what their views
are on any particular question of duty. For the
majority usually drift as the current of their own
natural inclinations carries them; and in deriving
counsel from one of these, we have to see not only
what our adviser says, but also what he thinks, and
what his reasons are for thinking as he does. For,
as painters and sculptors and even poets, too, wish
to have their works reviewed by the public, in order
that, if any point is generally criticized, it may be
improved; and as they try to discover both by themselves and with the help of others what is wrong in
their work; so through consulting the judgment of
others we find that there are many things to be done
and left undone, to be altered and improved.
1 (2) by the criticisms of the wise.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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