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They say that a due action is that which when done has a reasonable justification, such as consistency in life. Such a consistency extends both to plants and animals for due actions can be seen even in them.[1] The chosen appellation (i.e "due action") is, according to certain people, allowable.[2] A due action is an activity that is appropriate to the conditions according to nature. For of activities which are done according to impulse, some are due actions, others contrary to due action, and others neither due actions nor contrary to due action. Now due actions are those that should be rationally performed, such as honoring one's parents, friends and country, and sharing life with friends. Actions contrary to what is due are those that reason does not choose, such as the following: neglecting one's parents, mistreating one's friends, disregarding one's country, and things similar to these. Actions neither due nor contrary to what is due are those which reason neither chooses nor forbids to perform. For example, picking up a small piece of wood, holding a brush or a scraper, and things similar to these. Some due actions, as the following, do not depend upon circumstances: taking care of one's purity[3] and one's organs of sense and similar things. Due actions depending upon circumstances are mutilating oneself and dispersing one's possessions. Something similar occurs in the case of the things which are contrary to due action.
Polybius: 'they dare beyond what is necessary and behave against what is due.'[4]
Furthermore, of due actions, some are always due and others not always. Asking a question, inquiring, walking, and the like are always due actions.[5] The same argument can also be applied to the things which are contrary to due action. And there is also a certain due action among the intermediate actions, such as children obeying their attendants.

Καθῆκον: ὅτι καθῆκόν φασιν εἶναι, ὃ προαχθὲν εὔλογόν τε ἴσχει ἀπολογισμόν, οἷον τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐν ζωῇ: ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ φυτὰ καὶ ζῷα διατείνει: ὁρᾶσθαι γὰρ κἀπὶ τούτων καθήκοντα. κατά τινας εἴκειν τῆς προσονομασίας εἰλημμένης. ἐνέργημα δ' αὐτὸ εἶναι ταῖς κατὰ φύσιν κατασκευαῖς οἰκεῖον: τῶν γὰρ καθ' ὁρμὴν ἐνεργουμένων τὰ μὲν καθήκοντα εἶναι, τὰ δὲ παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον. καθήκοντα μὲν οὖν εἶναι ὅσα λόγῳ πρέπει ποιεῖν: ὡς ἔχει γονεῖς τιμᾶν, ἀδελφούς, πατρίδα, συμπεριφέρεσθαι φίλοις: παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον, ὅσα μὴ αἱρεῖ λόγος, ὡς ἔχει τὰ τοιαῦτα: γονέων ἀμελεῖν, ἀδελφῶν ἀφροντιστεῖν, φίλοις μὴ συνδιατίθεσθαι, πατρίδος ὑπερορᾶν καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια. οὔτε καθήκοντα οὔτε παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον, ὅσα οὔτε αἱρεῖ λόγος πράττειν οὔτε ἀπαγορεύει: οἷον κάρφος ἀνελέσθαι, γραφεῖον κρατεῖν, στλεγγίδα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις. καὶ τὰ μὲν εἶναι καθήκοντα ἄνευ περιστάσεως, ὡς τάδε: ἁγνείας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ αἰσθητηρίων καὶ τὰ ὅμοια: κατὰ περίστασιν δὲ τὸ πηροῦν ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν κτῆσιν διαρριπτεῖν. ἀνὰ λόγον δὲ καὶ τῶν παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον. Πολύβιος: τολμῶσι πέρα τοῦ δέοντος καὶ ποιοῦσι παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον. ἔτι τῶν καθηκόντων τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ καθήκει, τὰ δὲ οὐκ ἀεί. καὶ ἀεὶ μὲν καθήκει τὸ ἐρωτᾶν καὶ πυνθάνεσθαι καὶ περιπατεῖν καὶ τὰ ὅμοια. ὁ δ' αὐτὸς λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μέσοις τι καθῆκον, ὡς τὸ πείθεσθαι τοὺς παῖδας τοῖς παιδαγωγοῖς.

See also kappa 75. Apart from the brief extract from from Polybius (note 4 below), this entry draws on Diogenes Laertius 7.107-110.
[1] These first lines are taken literally from Diog.Laert. 7.107, who reports the Stoic theory of "due action". As noted by Engberg-Pedersen ([1990] 127), when including the due actions within the activities in accordance with impulse and maintaining that such actions are also present in plants Diogenes Laertius makes a mistake. For due actions (kathekonta) in plants are not understood in terms of "activities in accordance with impulse". For the other testimonies reporting the issue of "due action" in Stoic philosophy, see, Stobaeus, Extracts, 2.85, 13ff. (ed. Wachsmuth) and Cicero, Fin., 3.33-34.
[2] The version of Diog.Laert. 7.108 is quite different here and the interpretation of the passage is controversial. For two different and valuable English translations of Diogenes' text, see Long and Sedley (1987) vol. 1, 360 and Inwood and Gerson (1997) 196.
[3] The Greek word is hagneia, "purity/chastity/observance of religious duties". In Diogenes Laertius' version (7.109) the text says hygieia, "health", which seems to be much closer to the general sense of the passage.
[4] Fr.53 B-W.
[5] The suitable example for "actions which are always due" is "living according to virtue" (Diogenes Laertius 7.109). An action which is always due is the same thing as a "perfect due action" (Stobaeus, Extracts, 2.85, 19-20, ed. Wachsmuth) or a "correct action" (katorthoma), the action peculiarly belonging to the wise person -- the only one who, according to the Stoics, is capable of living virtuously.

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