Laelius de Amicitia
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''Laelius de Amicitia'' (or simply ''De Amicitia'') is a treatise on friendship ('' amicitia'') by the Roman statesman and author
Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
, written in 44 BC.


Background

The work is written as a
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...
between prominent figures of the Middle
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
and is set after the death of the younger Scipio Africanus (otherwise known as
Scipio Aemilianus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185–129 BC), known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a Roman general and statesman noted for his military exploits in the Third Punic War against Carthage and during the ...
, Scipio Africanus Minor or Scipio the Younger) in 129 BC. The interlocutors of the dialogue chosen by Cicero are Gaius Laelius, a close friend of the late statesman, and Laelius's two sons-in-law,
Gaius Fannius Gaius Fannius (fl. 2nd century BC) was a Roman republican politician who was elected consul in 122 BC, and was one of the principal opponents of Gaius Gracchus. He was a member of the Scipionic Circle. Career Gaius Fannius was the son of Marcus F ...
, and Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Cicero in his youth knew Scaevola, and states that Scaevola described to him the substance of the conversation on Friendship which he and Fannius had held with Laelius a few days after the death of Scipio. ''De Amicitia'' is addressed to Atticus, who, as Cicero tells him in his dedication, could not fail to discover his own portrait in the study of a perfect friend.


Summary

In the dialogue Fannius, the historian, and Mucius Scaevola, the
Augur An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying ...
, both sons-in-law of Laelius, pay him a visit immediately after the sudden and suspicious death of Scipio Africanus. The loss which Laelius had thus sustained leads to a eulogy on the virtues of the departed hero, and to a discussion on the nature of their friendship. Many of the sentiments which Laelius utters are declared by Scaevola to have originally flowed from Scipio, with whom the nature and laws of friendship formed a favourite topic of discourse.
But I must at the very beginning lay down this principle—friendship can only exist between good men. …We mean then by the "good" those whose actions and lives leave no question as to their honour, purity, equity, and liberality; who are free from greed, lust, and violence; and who have the courage of their convictions.Marcus Tullius Cicero. ''Treatise on Friendship and Old Age'', (E.S. Shuckburgh, tr.), 1903
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See also

* ''
Esse quam videri ''Esse quam videri'' is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem." It and variants have been used as a motto by a number of different groups. The form ''Esse, non Videri'' ("to act, not to seem to be") is the Wallenberg family motto. ...
''


Notes


References

*


External links


Laelius de Amicitia
(Latin text at Forum Romanum)

at
LacusCurtius LacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in July 2021 it had "3707 webpages, 765 photos, 772 drawings & engravings, 120 plans, 139 maps." T ...
(English translation by W. A. Falconer, with introduction)
Treatises on Friendship and Old Age
at
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...
(English translation by E. S. Shuckburgh, with introduction), in one file with the de Senectute.
Horace MS 1b Laelius de Amicitia at OPenn
* Martin Biastoch: Ciceros Laelius de amicitia. Klett, Stuttgart 2012, Philosophical works by Cicero Books about friendship Treatises 44 BC {{AncientRome-work-stub