How to Be an Honorable Man: Cicero's Blueprint For Living An Honorable Life

What is an honorable man, and why should you care? And to start things off, you know, the first rule of logic is to always define your terms.

You can't talk about how should I become an honorable man if I don't know what an honorable man is.

So we're gonna kick the, kick it off with just that.

Cicero's claim is simply this, gonna jump right to the definition.

Um, Cicero says that a man is honorable to the degree in which he faithfully fulfills his duties.

A man is honorable to the degree in which he faithful- faithfully fulfills his duties, and he is dishonorable to the degree in which he neglects those duties, right? So this is kind of a, a, a fulfillment of duty theory of honor that I think is a very powerful one.

Uh, and his whole book, the De Officiis, is kind of built on this whole principle.

All right? This is exactly what he says.

This is a quote from the book.

Um, "In the faithful discharge of duty consists all the moral goodness of life." Do, in doing your duties, c- that, that's consist of all the moral goodness in life.

In the neglect of duty, moral disgrace.

Let, let's read that sentence again.

"In the faithful discharge of duty consist all the moral goodness of life.

In the neglect of duty, moral disgrace." Fulfill your duties, become worthy of honor.

Neglect your duties, and you'll become morally disgraced.

Powerful, simple.

But the idea here, of course, is that character is forged in the fulfillment of duty.

By faithfully fulfilling these obligations that belong to our lives, we become what the Romans called honesti, H-O-N-E-S-T-I.

M- men, people worthy of honor.

You become worthy of honor.

And this con- to use another term that Cicero likes to use, this condition of moral excellence is honestas, H-O-N-E-S-T-A-S. Ho- honestas is not just popularity.

It's not that you're being admired.

It's honor deserved.

You have a certain moral condition about you whereby you deserve honor.

You're in a state of honestas, being worthy of honor, whether or not anybody realizes it or recognizes it.

What is an honorable man, and why should you care? And to start things off, you know, the first rule of logic is to always define your terms.

You can't talk about how should I become an honorable man if I don't know what an honorable man is.

So we're gonna kick the, kick it off with just that.

Cicero's claim is simply this, gonna jump right to the definition.

Um, Cicero says that a man is honorable to the degree in which he faithfully fulfills his duties.

A man is honorable to the degree in which he faithful- faithfully fulfills his duties, and he is dishonorable to the degree in which he neglects those duties, right? So this is kind of a, a, a fulfillment of duty theory of honor that I think is a very powerful one.

Uh, and his whole book, the De Officiis, is kind of built on this whole principle.

All right? This is exactly what he says.

This is a quote from the book.

Um, "In the faithful discharge of duty consists all the moral goodness of life." Do, in doing your duties, c- that, that's consist of all the moral goodness in life.

In the neglect of duty, moral disgrace.

Let, let's read that sentence again.

"In the faithful discharge of duty consist all the moral goodness of life.

In the neglect of duty, moral disgrace." Fulfill your duties, become worthy of honor.

Neglect your duties, and you'll become morally disgraced.

Powerful, simple.

But the idea here, of course, is that character is forged in the fulfillment of duty.

By faithfully fulfilling these obligations that belong to our lives, we become what the Romans called honesti, H-O-N-E-S-T-I.

M- men, people worthy of honor.

You become worthy of honor.

And this con- to use another term that Cicero likes to use, this condition of moral excellence is honestas, H-O-N-E-S-T-A-S. Ho- honestas is not just popularity.

It's not that you're being admired.

It's honor deserved.

You have a certain moral condition about you whereby you deserve honor.

You're in a state of honestas, being worthy of honor, whether or not anybody realizes it or recognizes it.