On Obligations, composed by Cicero in late 144 BC following the assassination of Julius Caesar, recommends ideals of conduct to the young Roman who aspires to a political career. It explores the apparent tensions between honorable conduct and expediency in public life. The principles of honorable behavior are based on the Stoic virtues of wisdom, justice, magnanimity, and propriety. The analysis of expediency explores the right and the wrong ways of attaining political leadership, and Cicero's conclusion is that the intrinsically useful is always identical with the honorable. This treatise has played a seminal role in the formation of ethical values in western Christendom. It was adopted by the fourth-century Christian humanists, notably Ambrose, and became transmuted into the moral code of the high Middle Ages. Thereafter, in the Renaissance from the time of Petrarch, and in the age of Enlightenment that followed, it was given central prominence in discussion of the government of states. On Obligations is of perennial concern in the establishment of basic principles of political and social life.

Reproduction of the original: The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Benjamin Patrick Newton's translation of Cicero’s On Duties is the most complete edition of a text that has been considered a source of moral authority throughout classical, medieval, and modern times. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a preeminent Roman statesman, orator, and philosopher who introduced philosophy into Rome, and through Rome, into Christendom and the modern world. On Duties was championed by important thinkers including Thomas Aquinas, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, and it was one of the earliest books printed on the Gutenberg press.The true significance of On Duties lies in its examination of several fundamental problems of political philosophy, the most important being the possible conflict between the honorable and the useful. The honorable encompasses the virtues of human beings, which include justice and concern for the common good. The useful refers to the needs of living beings, which includes certain necessities and concern for private good. Only by understanding the possible conflict between these two sides of human nature, Cicero declares, may we understand our duties to our community and to ourselves. This new edition of On Duties aims to provide readers who cannot read Latin but wish to study the book with a literal yet elegant translation. It features an introduction, outline, footnotes, interpretative essay, glossary, and indexes, making Cicero’s thought accessible to a general audience.

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Collecting the most incisive and influential writings of one of Rome's finest orators, Cicero's Selected Works is translated with an introduction by Michael Grant in Penguin Classics. Lawyer, philosopher, statesman and defender of Rome's Republic, Cicero was a master of eloquence, and his pure literary and oratorical style and strict sense of morality have been a powerful influence on European literature and thought for over two thousand years in matters of politics, philosophy, and faith. This selection demonstrates the diversity of his writings, and includes letters to friends and statesmen on Roman life and politics; the vitriolic Second Philippic Against Antony; and his two most famous philosophical treatises, On Duties and On Old Age - a celebration of his own declining years. Written at a time of brutal political and social change, Cicero's lucid ethical writings formed the foundation of the Western liberal tradition in political and moral thought that continues to this day. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.