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Cicero,
On Individual Talents and Appropriate Fit
(The following
paragraphs have been freely selected, revised and
adapted from Walter Miller’s translation of Cicero’s
De Officiis (On Duties), Book I. XXX-XXXIII,
by Richard Freis.)
We must realize also
that we are invested by Nature with two characters, as
it were: one of these is universal, arising from
the fact of our being all alike endowed with reason and
with that superiority which lifts us above the brute.
From this all the moral and [humanly] fitting are
derived, and upon it depends the rational method of
ascertaining our duty. The other character is the one
that is assigned to each one individually. In
the matter of physical endowment there are great
differences: some, we see, excel in speed for the race,
others in strength for wrestling….Diversities of
character are greater still….Everybody, however, must
resolutely hold fast to his own particular gifts,
insofar as they are particular only and not faults, in
order that appropriate fit…may the more easily be
secured. For we must so act as not to oppose
universal human nature, but, while safeguarding this,
to follow the bent of our own particular nature; and
even if other careers should be better and nobler, we
may still regulate our own pursuits by the standard of
our own nature. For it is of no avail to fight against
one’s nature or to pursue anything which you cannot
attain. From this fact the nature of that
appropriate fit defined above comes into still clearer
light, inasmuch as nothing has appropriate fit “with
Minerva [the goddess of wisdom] unwilling” as they say,
that is with one’s nature opposing and resisting.
Everyone, therefore,
should make a proper estimate of his own natural ability
and show himself a critical judge of his own merits and
defects. In
this respect we should not let actors [on the stage]
display more practical wisdom than we have. They
select, not the best plays, but the ones best suited to
their talents….We shall, therefore, work to the best
advantage in that role for which we are most fit. But
if at some time necessity shall thrust us into what will
not be to our talent, we must devote to it all care,
thought, and painstakingness, so that if we are unable
to do it with appropriate fit, at least we can do it
with the least inappropriateness; and we need not strive
to pursue goods that have not been vouchsafed to us so
much as to avoid faults.
There is one class of
people that is very rarely met with: it is composed of
those who are endowed with marked natural ability, or
exceptional advantages of education and culture, or
both, and who also have time to consider carefully what
career in life they prefer to follow; and in this
deliberation the decision must turn wholly upon each
individual’s natural bent.
If, therefore, anyone
has conformed his whole plan of life to the kind of
nature that is his (insofar as it is not faulty), let
him go on with it consistently---for that most of all
has appropriate fit---unless, perchance, he should
discover that he has made a mistake in choosing his life
work. If this should happen (and it can easily happen),
he must change his vocation and mode of life. If
circumstances favor such change, it will be effected
with greater ease and convenience. If not, it must be
made gradually, step by step, just as, when friendships
become no longer pleasing or desirable, it is more
proper (so wise men think) to undo the bond little by
little than to sever it at a stroke. And when we have
once changed our calling in life, we must take all
possible care to make it clear that we have done so with
good reason. |
