Chapter 2: On Duties Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 1, Cicero is in a period of great grief in his life. He has been divorced, lost his daughter and been exiled. While writing "On Duties," though, Cicero returns to political life, in large part to oppose the dictatorship of Caesar. The books of "On Duties" are a series of arguments against tyranny that continue to be influential to this day. Only Book II is reproduced in this selection of readings. It concerns civic virtue, or the proper character of statesmen. One of the aims of Book II is to develop a theory of civic virtue that will prevent statesmen from becoming tyrants and prevent the people from hating and rebelling against their rulers. This book represents Cicero's practical turn as it is immediately applicable to the present day crisis, the decay of the Roman republic...