[89]
To this class of comparisons belongs that
[p. 267]
famous saying of old Cato's: when he was asked
what was the most profitable feature of an estate, he
replied: “Raising cattle successfully.” What next
to that? “Raising cattle with fair success.” And
next? “Raising cattle with but slight success.”
And fourth? “Raising crops.” And when his
questioner said, “How about money-lending?” Cato
replied: “How about murder?”
From this as well as from many other incidents we
ought to realize that expediencies have often to be
weighed against one another and that it is proper
for us to add this fourth division in the discussion of
moral duty.
Let us now pass on to the remaining problems.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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