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De Officiis (On Duties or On Obligations) is an essay by Marcus Tullius Cicero divided into three books, where Cicero explains his view on the best way to live. An essay is usually a short piece of writing It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman

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Origin

It was written in the year 44 BC, Cicero's last year alive, when he was 62 years old. Year 44 BC was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. Cicero was at this time still active in politics, trying to stop revolutionary forces from taking control of the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a Republican form of government a period which began with the overthrow of the This did nonetheless happen the following year, when Cicero himself was killed trying to escape.

The essay was written in the form of a letter to his son with the same name, who studied philosophy in Athens, though judging from its form, it is likely that Cicero wrote to a larger audience. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's The essay was written toward the end of his life, likely in September and November of 44 BC, and published posthumously. Year 44 BC was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar.

De Officiis has been described as an attempt to turn common men into good citizens. It criticizes the recently overthrown dictator Julius Caesar in several places, and his dictatorship as a whole.

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Cicero was influenced heavily by the Greek philosophers, especially of the Stoic movement. Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC The essay discusses what is honor and what is expedient, and what to do when they conflict. Honor or Honour (see spelling differences) (the latter directly from the Latin word honos honoris) is the evaluation of a person's Cicero believed they are one in the same, and that they only appear to be in conflict.

Cicero claims that the absence of political rights corrupts moral values. Cicero also speaks of a natural law that is said to govern both humans and gods alike; this has been compared to the writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Natural law or the law of nature ( Latin: lex naturalis) is a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by Nature and that See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr ( March 8, 1841 &ndash March 6, 1935) was an American Jurist who served on the Supreme

Cicero urged his son Marcus to follow nature and wisdom, as well as politics, and warns against pleasure and indolence. Cicero's essay relies heavily on anecdotes, much more than his other works, and is written in a more leisurely and less formal style than his other writings, perhaps because he under the circumstances was forced to write it hastily. For other uses see Anecdota. For a comparison of anecdote with other kinds of stories see Myth legend fairy tale and fable. Like the satires of Juvenal, Cicero's De Officiis refers frequently to current events of his time. Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human The

Legacy

The legacy of this work is huge. Even though it was a pagan work, St. Ambrose in 390 declared it legitimate for the Church to use (along with everything else Cicero, and the equally popular pagan philosopher Seneca, had written). Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world Saint Ambrose (c 338 &ndash 4 April 397) was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c It subsequently became the moral authority during the Middle Ages. Of the Church Fathers, Saint Augustine, St. Jerome and even more so St. Thomas Aquinas, are known to have read it. The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος To illustrate its importance, 700 handwritten copies of it still exist in the libraries around the world; these copies would have been produced before the invention of printing in the mid-15th century. Only the Latin grammarian Priscian boasts more, with 900. Following the invention of the printing press, De Officiis was the second book to be printed -- second only to the Gutenberg Bible. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible or the Mazarin Bible) is a printed version of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that

In the 16th century, Erasmus developed a pocket version of it, since he thought it so important that one should always be able to keep it at hand. T. W. Baldwin said that "in Shakespeare's day De Officiis was the pinnacle of moral philosophy". Sir Thomas Elyot, in his popular Governour (1531), lists three essential texts for bringing up young gentlemen: Plato's Works, Aristotle's Ethics, and De Officiis. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled "Nichomachean" or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on Virtue and Moral character which

In the 18th century, Voltaire said of De Officiis "No one will ever write anything more wise". The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French And Frederick the Great thought so highly of the book that he asked the scholar Christian Garve to do a new translation of it, even though there had been already two German translations since 1756. Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the Garve went ahead with the project anyhow, and added 880 pages of commentary.

It continues to be one of the most popular of Cicero's works because of its style, and because of the information it gives about Roman political life under the Republic.

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Resources and further reading

External links

The Latin Library is a website that collects Public domain Latin texts
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