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Cicero on arms yielding to the toga

44 BCE, written later. His own words.

Where and when

44 BCE, written laterRome and its world

2,069 years ago

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Cicero

His own words

In plain words, ours

When I ran the state, didn't weapons give way to civilian rule? The republic was never in more danger, and never more at peace.

Not to mention other instances, did not arms yield to the toga, when I was at the helm of state? For never was the republic in more serious peril, never was peace more profound.

Cicero, On Duties 1.77Translated by Walter Miller (1913)Read the full passage (Cicero, On Duties 1.77, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

44 BCE, the year Caesar was killed. Writing to his son Marcus, Cicero argues that arms are of little value without wise counsel at home, and holds up his own past service to the state as proof.

Checked claim by claim against: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate

The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.

Based on Wikipedia: Assassination of Julius Caesar

The assassination failed to achieve its immediate objective of restoring the Republic's institutions.

Instead, it precipitated Caesar's posthumous deification and was followed by the Liberators' civil war (43–42 BC) between his supporters and the conspirators, which became a stage in the collapse of the Republic.

Wikipedia, Assassination of Julius Caesar (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-29. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 59 BCE15 years earlier Cato dragged to prison, as Plutarch tells it Also about democracy and government
  2. 49 BCE5 years earlier Caesar puts the republic's dignity before life Also about democracy and government
  3. 46 BCE2 years earlier Cato kills himself rather than accept Caesar's pardon Same years
  4. 44 BCESame year Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate The event behind it
  5. 44 BCE, written laterThis momentCicero on arms yielding to the toga
  6. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on the fox and the lion More from Cicero
  7. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on what we owe our country More from Cicero
  8. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on Cato's choice to die More from Cicero
  9. 43 BCE1 year later Cicero is killed on Antony's orders Same years
  10. 42 BCE2 years later Antony and Octavian defeat Caesar's killers at Philippi Same years

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

For arms are of little value in the field unless there is wise counsel at home. So, too, Africanus, though a great man and a soldier of extraordinary ability, did no greater service to the state by destroying Numantia than was done at the same time by Publius Nasica, though not then clothed with official authority, by removing Tiberius Gracchus. This deed does not, to be sure, belong wholly to the domain of civil affairs; it partakes of the nature of war also, since it was effected by violence; but it was, for all that, executed as a political measure without the help of an army. The whole truth, however, is in this verse, against which, I am told, the malicious and envious are wont to rail: Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praises, ye laurels.

The quote: Not to mention other instances, did not arms yield to the toga, when I was at the helm of state? For never was the republic in more serious peril, never was peace more profound.

Thus, as the result of my counsels and my vigilance, their weapons slipped suddenly from the hands of the most desperate traitors—dropped to the ground of their own accord! What achievement in war, then, was ever so great? What triumph can be compared with that? For I may boast to you, my son Marcus; for to you belong the inheritance of that glory of mine and the duty of imitating my deeds.

Cicero, On Duties 1.76–78Translated by Walter Miller (1913)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
44 BCE, written later. On Duties was written in the autumn of 44 BCE, months after Caesar was killed.
Whose words
His own words.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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