DE OFFICIIS - M. TVLLI CICERONIS

Liber Primus

[54] Nam cum sit hoc natura commune animantium, ut habeant libidinem procreandi,

For since the reproductive instinct is by Nature's gift the common possession of all living creatures,

prima societas in ipso coniugio est, proxima in liberis, deinde una domus, communia omnia;

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.

id autem est principium urbis et quasi seminarium rei publicae.

And this is the foundation of civil government, the nursery, as it were, of the state.

Sequuntur fratrum coniunctiones, post consobrinorum sobrinorumque,

Then follow the bonds between brothers and sisters, and next those of first and then of second cousins;

qui cum una domo iam capi non possint,

and when they can no longer be sheltered under one roof,

in alias domos tamquam in colonias exeunt.

they go out into other homes, as into colonies.

Sequuntur conubia et affinitates ex quibus etiam plures propinqui;

Then follow between these in turn, marriages and connections by marriage, and from these again a new stock of relations;

quae propagatio et suboles origo est rerum publicarum.

and from this propagation and after-growth states have their beginnings.

Sanguinis autem coniunctio et benivolentia devincit homines [et] caritate.

The bonds of common blood hold men fast through good-will and affection.

Source: Marcus Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. Translated by Walter Miller. Loeb Edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913. http://www.stoics.com