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Cicero on the fox and the lion

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

Wrong is done by force or by trickery. Both are beastly: trickery seems the fox's way, force the lion's. Both are beneath us, but trickery is worse.

While wrong may be done, then, in either of two ways, that is, by force or by fraud, both are bestial: fraud seems to belong to the cunning fox, force to the lion; both are wholly unworthy of man, but fraud is the more contemptible.

Cicero, On Duties 1.41Translated by Walter Miller (1913)Read the full passage (Cicero, On Duties 1.41, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Cicero wrote this in 44 BCE, the year senators killed Caesar. Here he is finishing his discussion of justice, right after examples of fair dealing with enemies in war and with slaves.

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. c. 360–348 BCEabout 310 years earlier Plato's Athenian Stranger on law over rulers Also about justice and law
  2. 46 BCE2 years earlier Cato kills himself rather than accept Caesar's pardon Same years
  3. 44 BCESame year Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate The event behind it
  4. 44 BCE, written laterThis momentCicero on the fox and the lion
  5. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on arms yielding to the toga More from Cicero
  6. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on what we owe our country More from Cicero
  7. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on Cato's choice to die More from Cicero
  8. 43 BCE1 year later Cicero is killed on Antony's orders Same years
  9. 42 BCE2 years later Antony and Octavian defeat Caesar's killers at Philippi Same years
  10. c. 54–56 CEabout 98 years later Nero on signing a death sentence, per Suetonius Also about justice and law

Just before and after

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

Show the passageHide the passage

In the matter of a promise one must always consider the meaning and not the mere words. Our forefathers have given us another striking example of justice toward an enemy: when a deserter from Pyrrhus promised the Senate to administer poison to the king and thus work his death, the Senate and Gaius Fabricius delivered the deserter up to Pyrrhus. Thus they stamped with their disapproval the treacherous murder even of an enemy who was at once powerful, unprovoked, aggressive, and successful. With this I will close my discussion of the duties connected with war. But let us remember that we must have regard for justice even towards the humblest. Now the humblest station and the poorest fortune are those of slaves; and they give us no bad rule who bid us treat our slaves as we should our employees: they must be required to work; they must be given their dues.

The quote: While wrong may be done, then, in either of two ways, that is, by force or by fraud, both are bestial: fraud seems to belong to the cunning fox, force to the lion; both are wholly unworthy of man, but fraud is the more contemptible.

But of all forms of injustice, none is more flagrant than that of the hypocrite who, at the very moment when he is most false, makes it his business to appear virtuous. This must conclude our discussion of justice. Next in order, as outlined above, let us speak of kindness and generosity.

Cicero, On Duties 1.40–42Translated 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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