Introduction to De Officiis

(Originally written January 18, 2007 in Book 8)

So, I escaped logic, surviving it with a "C". But, that was last semester. Now, it is J-Term and "Classical Rhetoric". I'm working on researching a topic for a paper on Roman rhetoric and have hit a brick wall. I liked my essay on episteme and doxa in Georgian rhetoric, but I'm tired of dealing with knowledge and epistemology. I am going to read Cicero's On Duties.

On Duties
Cicero
translated by M.T. Griffin and E.M. Atkins
Cambridge University Press: NY, NY. 2004.

Introduction

• Marcus Tullius Cicero was born in 106 B.C.
• He was a 'new man', the first of his family to hold public office.
• He was from Arpinum 
• Cicero and his brother, Quintus, were taught by L. Licinius Crassus
• He studied under the Stoic Diodotus and the head of the Academy, Philo of Larissa.
• He then traveled to Greece to study. There he encountered the philosophers Antiochus of Escalon and the Stoic polymath, Posidonius 
• Cicero adhered to Philo of Larissa's skeptical teaching: "rejecting the possibility of certain knowledge and asserting his right to adopt what position seemed most persuasive on any occasion" (x)
• His first public office was quaestor (financial officer) of Sicily.
• He rose to consul in 63 B.C. at the age of 43.
• The political shift to militarism took some of his power and he began to write
• "Cicero had once suggested to his brother that his consulship was the realization of Plato's dream of the philosopher ruler" (xi).
• Cicero sided with Pompey in the last days of the Republic, but was pardoned by Caesar.
• He was one of the first to attempt philosophy in Latin.

The Political Context of De Officiis

Written post-assassination of Caesar, Cicero attempts to justify tyrannicide. He believed Caesar wanted tyrannical power, was bent on revolutionary social policy, was economically irresponsible and was distrusting of his clemency.

He then turned on Antony, whom he believed ought to have been assassinated with Caesar.

Above all, he wanted to restore/uphold the Republic.

His chastising of Antony in the Philippic Orations led to his downfall.