DE OFFICIIS LIBRI TRES. FROM THE TEXT OF ZUMPT, CAREFULLY REVISED. WITH NOTES BY THE REV. GEORGE B. WHEELER, A.M., T.C.D., EDITOR OF WETTENHALL'S GREEK GRAMMAR," &C., AND CHAPLAIN IN THE CIVIL SERVICE. LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG. 1863. 294. g. 14. PREFACE. THE three books De Officiis belong to the exoteric works of Cicero on the philosophy of morals. Although the illustrations are chiefly derived from Roman history, the foundation of the work is confessedly of Greek origin. In the first two books Cicero follows the treatise περὶ καθηκοντός of Panætius; but these books contain many hints derived from other Greek writers. The third book is founded on a treatise by Hecato the Stoic concerning the same subject. It is virtually a short essay on casuistry. The three books are addressed to his son Marcus, who at the time of their composition was residing at Athens, under the instruction of Cratippus, the Peripatetic. The work was written in the latter end of August, B.C. 44. In preparing this edition for the press, I have endeavoured to give all that was necessary for the elucidation of the text in the most concise form possible. The text is that of Zumpt, and many of the notes are translated and abbreviated from the larger edition of that critic. I have incorporated also many short observations from the Heusingers. The books De Officiis were carefully and widely studied during the middle ages; and an edition of the work by Fust and Schöffer (Mayence, 1465) is amongst the earliest specimens of typography. No classical work is more generally adopted in our educational institutions in the present day than the De Officiis; and I know of none which has claims to displace it. In my experience, I have found that the best Latin writers among my pupils were those who had most carefully perused this most careful and elaborate composition. GEORGE B. WHEELER, A.M., June 1st, 1863. DE OFFICIIS AD MARCUM FILIUM. LIBER PRIMUS. ARGUMENTUM. CUM Cicero, Reipublicæ libertate sublata, se ad philosophiæ studium retulisset, multosque illustres ejus locos Latinis literis illustrasset, suscepit ad filium, Athenis studiis literarum operam dantem, de officiis scribere, non modo, ut hic quoque locus, qui latissime patet, Latinis literis illustraretur, sed etiam, quod esset ætati Ciceronis filii et auctoritati parentis aptissimus. Quanquam autem hæc quæstio communis est omnium philosophorum ; tamen his pene propria est, qui summum bonum honestate metiuntur, nempe Academicorum, Peripateticorum, et Stoicorum, qui in constituendo summo bono verbis magis, quam re, discrepabant. Secutus ergo Cicero est in hac quæstione potissimum Stoicos, et ex eorum fontibus, judicio arbitratuque suo, quantum, quoque modo visum est, hausit. Tradita officii et definitione et divisione, quinque facit genera deliberationis in consilio capiundo; primum, honestumne factu sit an turpe, quod in deliberationem cadit; alterum, conducatne an noceat; reliqua vero, nbi cum honesto pugnat id quod videtur utile, et cum aliud alio honestius aut utilius videtur, utrum alteri sit præponendum. In tres igitur partes totam disputationem distribuit, quarum prima est de honesto, altera de utili; sed dupliciter utraque; et tertia de comparatione eorum. Primum formam quamdam honesti exhibet a natura humana ductam, ejusque quatuor partes facit, sapientiam, justitiam, temperantiam, et fortitudinem seu magnitudinem animi, ex quibus singulis certa quædam officia nascuntur, cap. 4. Ac de his quatuor partibus fuse disputat, et quomodo ab iis officia ducuntur, ostendit, cap. 5. 42. Huic disputationi subjicit de comparatione honesti, de duobus honestis utrum honestius, cap. 43, &c.-ERNESTUS. De his libris Plinius in præfatione: Quæ volumina ejus ediscenda, non modo in manibus habenda nósti. Incepit eos scribere mortuo Cæsare, cum solus consul esset Antonius, Epist. 13. lib. xv. ad Attic. Sed absolvit Hirtio et Pansa coss. paulo ante mortem suam, ut cognoscitur e libro xvi. earumdem epistolarum.-MURETUS. B |