Cicero, Marcus Tullius, author.

De officiis / Cicero ; with an English translation by Walter Miller.

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1913
©1913

xviii, 423 pages ; 17 cm

The Loeb classical library ; 30
Cicero in twenty-eight volumes ; 21

"In the de Officiis we have, save for the latter Philippics, the great orator's last contribution to literature. The last, sad, troubled years of his busy life could not be given to his profession; and he turned his never-resting thoughts to the second love of his student days and made Greek philosophy a possibility for Roman readers. The senate had been abolished; the courts had been closed. His occupation was gone; but Cicero could not surrender himself to idleness. In those days of distraction (46-43 B.C.) he produced for publication almost as much as in all his years of active life... The Romans were not philosophical. In 161 B.C. the senate passed a decree excluding all philosophers and teachers of rhetoric from the city. They had no taste for philosophical speculation, in which the Greeks were the world's masters. And Cicero was thoroughly Roman... To him the goal of philosophy was not primarily to know but to do. Its end was to point out the course of conduct that would lead to success and happiness. The only side of philosophy, therefore, that could make much appeal to the Roman mind was ethics; pure science could have little meaning for the practical Roman; metaphysics might supplement ethics and religion, without which true happiness was felt to be impossible... The treatise on Moral Duties has the very practical purpose of giving a practical discussion of the basic principles of Moral Duty and practical rules for personal conduct... As [Cicero's] basis of his discussion of the Moral Duties he takes the Stoic Panaetius of Rhodes... drawing also from many other sources, but following him more or less closely in Books I and II; Book III is more independent and much inferior..."--from the Introduction.

0674990331
9780674990333

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De officiis.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius Ethics.
Ethics, Ancient.
Morale ancienne.

Miller, Walter, 1864-1949, translator.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Works. English & Latin. 1913 ; 21.
Loeb classical library ; 30.

Localisation: Bibliothèque main y 229240
Cote: PA6308.D5 M5 1913
Statut: Disponible