on the good life · cicero

Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator who died in 43 BC, wrote these works in his last years as the Republic collapsed around him. On Duties argues that the honourable and the useful never truly conflict; On Friendship grounds friendship in virtue; and the Dream of Scipio looks down on Rome from the heavens to put earthly glory in its place.

Cicero, On the Good Life, translated by Michael Grant (Penguin Books, 1971). Read in Freshman Spring at Torrey Honors: On Duties; Laelius: On Friendship; and The Dream of Scipio.