As a philosopher, if we may so stretch the term as to include him, Cicero avows himself an adherent of the New Academy and a disciple of Carneades. He had tried Epicureanism under Phaedrus and Zeno, Stoicism under Diodotus and Posidonius; but Philo of Larissa converted him to the New Academy.
Scepticism declared the attainment of absolute knowledge impossible. But there is the easily obtainable golden mean of the probable; and that appealed to the practical Roman. It appealed especially to Cicero; and the same indecision that had been his bane in political life naturally led him first to scepticism, then to eclecticism, where his choice is dictated by his bias for the practical and his scepticism itself disappears from view. And while Antiochus, the eclectic Academician of Athens, and Posidonius, the eclectic Stoic of Rhodes, seem to have had the strongest influence upon him, he draws at his own discretion from the founts of Stoics, Peripatetics, and Academicians alike; he has only contempt for the Epicureans, Cynics, and Cyrenaics. But the more he studied and lived, the more of a Stoic in ethics he became.
The cap-sheaf of Cicero's ethical studies is the treatise on the Moral Duties. It takes the form of a letter addressed to his son Marcus ([see Index]), at this time a youth of twenty-one, pursuing his university studies in the Peripatetic school of Cratippus in Athens, and sowing for what promised to be an abundant crop of wild oats. This situation gives force and definiteness to the practical tendencies of the father's ethical teachings. And yet, be it observed, that same father is not without censure for contributing to his son's extravagant and riotous living by giving him an allowance of nearly £870 a year.
Our Roman makes no pretensions to originality in philosophic thinking. He is a follower—an expositor—of the Greeks. As the basis of his discussion of the Moral Duties he takes the Stoic Panaetius of Rhodes ([see Index]), Περὶ Καθήκοντος, 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. He is usually superficial and not always clear. He translates and paraphrases Greek philosophy, weaving in illustrations from Roman history and suggestions of Roman mould in a form intended to make it, if not popular, at least comprehensible, to the Roman mind. How well he succeeded is evidenced by the comparative receptivity of Roman soil prepared by Stoic doctrine for the teachings of Christianity. Indeed, Anthony Trollope labels our author the "Pagan Christian." "You would fancy sometimes," says Petrarch, "it is not a Pagan philosopher but a Christian apostle who is speaking." No less an authority than Frederick the Great has called our book "the best work on morals that has been or can be written." Cicero himself looked upon it as his masterpiece.
It has its strength and its weakness—its sane common sense and noble patriotism, its self-conceit and partisan politics; it has the master's brilliant style, but it is full of repetitions and rhetorical flourishes, and it fails often in logical order and power; it rings true in its moral tone, but it shows in what haste and distraction it was composed; for it was not written as a contribution to close scientific thinking; it was written as a means of occupation and diversion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following works are quoted in the critical notes:—
| MSS. A = | codex Ambrosianus. Milan. 10th century. | ||
| B = | codex Bambergensis. Hamburg. 10th century. | ||
| H = | codex Herbipolitanus. Würzburg. 10th century. | ||
| L = | codex Harleianus. London. 9th century. | ||
| a b = | codices Bernenses. Bern. 10th century. | ||
| c = | codex Bernensis. Bern. 13th century. | ||
| p = | codex Palatinus. Rome. 12th century. | ||
| Editio Princeps: | The first edition of the de Officiiswas from the press of Sweynheim and Pannartzat the Monastery of Subiaco; possibly the editionpublished by Fust and Schöffer at Mainz isa little older. Both appeared in 1465. Thelatter was the first to print the Greek words inGreek type. The de Officiis is, therefore, thefirst classical book to be issued from a printingpress, with the possible exception of Lactantiusand Cicero's de Oratore which bear the moreexact date of October 30, 1465, and were likewiseissued from the Monastery press at Subiaco. | ||
| Baiter & Kayser: | M. Tullii Ciceronis opera quae supersuntomnia. Lipsiae, 1860-69. | ||
| Beier: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres ...cum commentariis editi a Carolo Beiero. Lipsiae, 1820. | ||
| Erasmus: | – | M. Tullii Ciceronis Officia, diligenterrestituta. Ejusdem de Amicitia etSenectute dialogi...: cum annotationibusErasmi et P. Melanchthonis. Parisiis, 1533. | |
| Melanchthon: | |||
| Ed.: | M. Tullii Ciceronis Scripta quae manseruntomnia recognovit C. F. W. Müller. Teubner:Lipsiae, 1879. This edition is the basis of thetext of the present volume. | ||
| Ernesti: | M. Tullii Ciceronis opera ex recensionenovissima. J. A. Ernesti; cum eiusdem notis,et clave Ciceroniana. Editio prima Americana.Bostoniae, 1815-16. | ||
| Facciolati: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres, deSenectute, de Amicitia, de Somnio Scipionis,et Paradoxa. Accedit Q. fratris commentariolumpetitionis. Ex recensione J. Facciolati. Venetiis, 1747. | ||
| Fleckeisen, Alf.: | Kritische Miscellen. Dresden, 1864. | ||
| Gernhard: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres.Rec. et scholiis Iac. Facciolati suisque animadversionibusinstruxit Aug. G. Gernhard. Lipsiae, 1811. | ||
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| Gruter: | |||
| Heine, Otto: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis ad MarcumFilium Libri tres. 6te Aufl. Berlin, 1885. | ||
| Heusinger: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres... recensuit adjectisque J. M. Heusingeri esuis annotationibus ... editurus erat J. F.Heusinger. (Edited by C. Heusinger.) Brunsvigae,1783. | ||
| Holden: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres, withIntroduction, Analysis and Commentary byHerbert Ashton Holden. 7th Edition. Cambridge,1891. To his full notes the translatoris indebted for many a word and phrase. | ||
| Klotz: | M. Tullii Ciceronis Scripta quae manseruntomnia. Recognovit Reinholdus Klotz. Lipsiae,1850-57, 1869-74. | ||
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| Lund: | De emendandis Ciceronis libris de Officiisobservationes criticae. Scripsit G. F. G. Lund.Kopenhagen, 1848. | ||
| Manutius: | M. Tullii Ciceronis Officiorum libri tres:Cato Maior, vel de Senectute: Laelius, vel deAmicitia: Paradoxa Stoicorum sex ... additaesunt ... variae lectiones. (Edited by P. Manuzio.)P. Manutius: Venetiis, 1541. | ||
| Müller, C. F. W.: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiislibri III. Für den Schulgebrauch erklärt.Leipzig, 1882. | ||
| Muretus: | M. Antoni Mureti Scholia in Cic. officia.Mureti opera ed. Ruhnken. Lugd. Bat., 1879. | ||
| Orelli: | – | M. Tullii Ciceronis opera quae supersuntomnia, ac deperditorum fragmenta ...Edidit J. C. Orellius (M. Tullii CiceronisScholiastae. C. M. Victorinus, Rufinus, C. JuliusVictor, Boethius, Favonius Eulogius, AsconiusPedianus, Scholia Bobiensia, Scholiasta Gronovianus,Ediderunt J. C. Orellius et J. G. Baiter.Turici, 1826-38). Ed. 2. Opus morte Orelliiinterruptum contin. J. G. Baiterus et C. Halmius, 1845-62. | |
| Baiter: | |||
| Halm: | |||
| Pearce: | M. Ciceronis de Officiis ad Marcum filiumlibri tres. Notis illustravit et ... emendavitZ. Pearce. Londini, 1745. | ||
| Stuerenburg: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri III.Recensuit R. Stuerenburg. Accedit Commentarius.Lipsiae, 1843. | ||
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| Victorius, P.: | M. Tullii Ciceronis opera, omniumquae hactenus excusa sunt castigatissima, nuncprimum in lucem edita. 4 tom. Venetiis,1532-34-36. | ||
| Zumpt: | M. Tullii Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres cumselectis J. M. et J. F. Heusingerorum suisquenotis. Scholarum in usum iterum edidit Car.Tim. Zumptius. Brunsvigae, 1849. | ||