Cui bono
Cui bono? (/kwiː
Usage
The phrase is a double dative construction. It can also be rendered as cui prodest? ("whom does it profit?") and ad cuius bonum? ("for whose good?").
Background
L. Cassius ille, quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat, identidem in causis quaerere solebat, cui bono fuisset?[1] |
The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, to whose benefit it be? |
—Cicero: Pro Roscio Amerino, §§ 84, 86 |
Another example of Cicero using Cui bono is in his defence of Roscius Amerino, in the Pro Roscio Amerino, once again invoking Cassius as the source: "Let that maxim of Cassius apply."[2]
American sociologist Peter Blau has used the concept of cui bono to differentiate organizations by whom has primarily benefited: owners; members; specific others; or the general society.[3]
See also
General:
References
- ↑ Karl Felix Halm (1861), John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor, ed., Cicero's Second Philippic, p. 87
- ↑ Cicero, Pro Roscius Amerino 32.3.
- ↑ Blau, Peter (1962). Formal Organizations.