Off. 1.10.1Sed incidunt saepe tempora, cum ea, quae maximē videntur digna esse iūstō homine eōque, quem virum bonum dīcimus, commūtantur fīuntque contrāria, ut reddere dēpositum, facere prōmissum quaeque pertinent ad vēritātem et ad fidem, ea migrāre interdum et nōn servāre fit iūstum.But occasions often arise when those things which seem most worthy of a just man and of the one we call a good man are changed and become their opposites, so that to return a deposit, to fulfil a promise, and whatever pertains to truth and good faith, it sometimes becomes just to depart from these and not to observe them. Off. 1.10.1Referrī enim decet ad ea, quae posuī prīncipiō, fundāmenta iūstitiae, prīmum ut nē cui noceātur, deinde ut commūnī ūtilitātī serviātur.For it is fitting to refer back to those foundations of justice which I laid down at the beginning: first that no harm be done to anyone, then that the common good be served. Off. 1.10.1Ea cum tempore commūtantur, commūtātur officium et nōn semper est idem.When these change with circumstances, duty changes and is not always the same. Off. 1.10.32Potest enim accidere prōmissum aliquod et conventum, ut id efficī sit inūtile vel eī, cui prōmissum sit, vel eī, quī prōmīserit.For it can happen that some promise and agreement is such that fulfilling it would be disadvantageous either to the one to whom the promise was made or to the one who made it.
Off. 1.10.32Nam sī, ut in fābulīs est, Neptūnus, quod Thēseō prōmīserat, nōn fēcisset, Thēseus Hippolytō fīliō nōn esset orbātus;For if, as the story goes, Neptune had not done what he had promised Theseus, Theseus would not have been bereaved of his son Hippolytus; Off. 1.10.32ex tribus enim optātīs, ut scrībitur, hoc erat tertium, quod dē Hippolytī interitū īrātus optāvit;for of three wishes, as it is written, this was the third, which in anger he wished concerning the death of Hippolytus; Off. 1.10.32quō impetrātō in maximōs lūctūs incidit.and when it was granted he fell into the deepest grief. Off. 1.10.32Nec prōmissa igitur servanda sunt ea, quae sint iīs, quibus prōmīserīs, inūtilia, nec, sī plūs tibi ea noceant quam illī prōsint, cui prōmīserīs, contrā officium est maius antepōnī minōrī;Promises, then, should not be kept which are disadvantageous to those to whom you have made them, nor, if they harm you more than they benefit the one to whom you have made them, is it contrary to duty for the greater to be preferred to the lesser; Off. 1.10.32ut, sī cōnstituerīs cuipiam tē advocātum in rem praesentem esse ventūrum atque interim graviter aegrōtāre fīlius coeperit, nōn sit contrā officium nōn facere, quod dīxerīs, magisque ille, cui prōmissum sit, ab officiō discēdat, sī sē dēstitūtum querātur.for example, if you have arranged to come to someone in person as his advocate, and meanwhile your son has fallen gravely ill, it would not be contrary to duty not to do what you said, and the one to whom the promise was made would rather be departing from duty if he complained that he had been let down.
Off. 1.10.32Iam illīs prōmissīs standum nōn esse quis nōn videt, quae coāctus quis metū, quae dēceptus dolō prōmīserit?Again, who does not see that those promises need not be kept which a man has made under compulsion through fear, or deceived by fraud? Off. 1.10.32quae quidem plēraque iūre praetōriō līberantur, nōn nūlla lēgibus.Most of these, indeed, are annulled by praetorian law, some by statutes. Off. 1.10.33Exsistunt etiam saepe iniūriae calumniā quādam et nimis callidā, sed malitiōsā iūris interpretātiōne.Wrongs also often arise through a kind of chicanery and an over-clever but malicious interpretation of the law. Off. 1.10.33Ex quō illud "Summum iūs summa iniūria" factum est iam trītum sermōne prōverbium.Hence that saying 'The height of law is the height of injustice' has now become a proverb well worn in common speech. Off. 1.10.33Quō in genere etiam in rē pūblicā multa peccantur, ut ille, quī, cum trīgintā diērum essent cum hoste indūtiae factae, noctū populābātur agrōs, quod diērum essent pactae, nōn noctium indūtiae.In this kind many wrongs are committed even in public affairs, as by that man who, when a thirty days' truce had been made with the enemy, ravaged their fields by night, because the truce had been agreed for days, not nights.
Off. 1.10.33Nē noster quidem probandus, sī vērum est Q. Fabium Labeōnem seu quem alium (nihil enim habeō praeter audītum) arbitrum Nōlānīs et Neāpolītānīs dē fīnibus ā senātū datum, cum ad locum vēnisset, cum utrīsque sēparātim locūtum, nē cupidē quid agerent, nē appetenter, atque ut regredī quam prōgredī māllent.Not even our own countryman is to be approved, if it is true that Quintus Fabius Labeo, or someone else (for I have nothing but hearsay), when appointed by the senate as arbitrator between the people of Nola and of Naples about their boundaries, on coming to the spot spoke with each party separately, urging them not to act greedily or graspingly, and to prefer to step back rather than forward. Off. 1.10.33Id cum utrīque fēcissent, aliquantum agrī in mediō relictum est.When both had done so, a fair stretch of land was left in the middle. Off. 1.10.33Itaque illōrum fīnīs sīc, ut ipsī dīxerant, termināvit;So he fixed their boundaries just as they themselves had stated; Off. 1.10.33in mediō relictum quod erat, populō Rōmānō adiūdicāvit.what was left in the middle he awarded to the Roman people. Off. 1.10.33Dēcipere hoc quidem est, nōn iūdicāre.This is indeed cheating, not judging.
Off. 1.10.33Quōcircā in omnī est rē fugienda tālis sollertia.Therefore such cleverness must be shunned in every matter.