[12]
The same classification may likewise be made of
the things that are injurious and hurtful. But, as
people think that the gods bring us no harm, they
decide (leaving the gods out of the question) that
men are most hurtful to men.
As for mutual helpfulness, those very things1
which we have called inanimate are for the most
part themselves produced by man's labours; we
should not have them without the application of
manual labour and skill nor could we enjoy them
without the intervention of man. And so with many
other things: for without man's industry there could
have been no provisions for health, no navigation,
no agriculture, no ingathering or storing of the
[p. 181]
fruits of the field or other kinds of produce.
1 Necessity of man's helpfulness to man.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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