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In this chapter, Cicero’s purpose in writing De Officiis is examined in the light of two puzzling features of the work: the restrictions he places on his subject, given that ‘duties’ are introduced in the broadest terms, and his choice of Panaetius' work as his guiding authority, given that the discussion of a topic of particular interest to Cicero—the apparent conflict between the honourable and the expedient—was missing. The political character of De Officiis is clear, as is its didactic spirit and its concern for the young ambitious to enter public life. In codifying the code of conduct of the Roman governing class, under pressure of fear for the survival of the res publica, Cicero may have thought particularly of the numerous new senators admitted by Caesar and Antony. He might have decided to teach them how to conduct themselves at the top level of Roman society.

This chapter begins with a discussion of Ciceros's letters following the assassination of Caesar. It then discusses his philosophical projects, which include De Natura Deorum, De Divinatione, and De Fato. Cicero's works on practical ethics, De Amicitia (On Friendship) and De Officiis (On Duties), and correspondence with Matius are considered.

This chapter examines the transformation in Cicero’s philosophical project following the change in his political circumstances after the death of Julius Caesar. It begins with a reading of the preface to book two of De Divinatione, Cicero’s first public reflection on the state of the project at the time of Caesar’s death. It then considers the treatises that followed, arguing for a gradually evolving new direction, along with the trajectory in Cicero’s choices of dedicatees that sheds further light into the evolution of his thinking about the place of philosophy in his overall plans. It concludes with a reading of the prefaces to the three books of the De Officiis. Whereas De Oratore and De Re Publica are dedicated to Quintus, De Officiis is dedicated to Marcus the Younger.

This chapter examines the intersection between the Major Declamations and Roman thinking on reciprocal obligations presented in Cicero’s De Officiis and Seneca’s De Beneficiis. The impoverished father of “The Ransomed Invalid” (DM 5) and the aggrieved husband of “The Blind Woman’s Hands” (DM 6) both argue that pietas has a more significant role in creating obligation among family members than mere biological relatedness. The scenarios of “The Gladiator” (DM 9) and “The Pledged Friends” (DM 16) force individuals to prioritize their obligations to friendship over kinship. The figure of the uicarius (substitute), who willingly offers his life in order to save his friend, demonstrates that the friendship cannot have been pursued simply for instrumental benefit. “The Corpse Eaters” (DM 12) and “The Poor Man’s Bees” (DM 13) examine the obligations of the individual to the community. Each of these narratives offers an alternative perspective on the characteristic anxieties of Roman friendship discourse, in which self-interested, greedy excess always threatens to compromise the felicitous exchange of benefactions.