On Duties
by Cicero · De Officiis
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 44 BCE
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- Latin
- Length
- Medium · 180 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendOn Duties, translated by M. T. Griffin and E. M. AtkinsCambridge University Press, 1991Accurate, with an introduction on the Roman political context and a glossary of Latin terms.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
Cicero's last philosophical work, written in the autumn of 44 BCE after Caesar's assassination and addressed to his son Marcus, then a student in Athens. Drawing on the Stoic Panaetius, Book I treats what is honourable, dividing virtue into wisdom, justice, greatness of spirit and decorum; Book II treats what is useful, including how to win goodwill and give generously; Book III argues that the honourable and the useful never really conflict, with cases such as the grain merchant at Rhodes and Regulus keeping his oath to Carthage. The programs that list Cicero's Works generally centre on this text with the orations and dialogues on friendship and old age.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns On Duties are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
