[54]
For since the reproductive instinct is by Nature's gift the common possession of all living creatures, the first bond of union
is that between husband and wife; the next, that
between parents and children; then we find one
home, with everything in common. And this is the
foundation of civil government, the nursery, as it
were, of the state. Then follow the bonds between
brothers and sisters, and next those of first and then
of second cousins; and when they can no longer be
sheltered under one roof, they go out into other
[p. 59]
homes, as into colonies. Then follow between these,
in turn, marriages and connections by marriage, and
from these again a new stock of relations; and from
this propagation and after-growth states have their
beginnings. The bonds of common blood hold men
fast through good-will and affection;
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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