CICERO'S THREE BOOKS OF OFFICES, OR MORAL DUTIES; ALSO HIS CATO MAJOR, AN ESSAY ON OLD AGE; LÆLIUS, AN Literally Translated, WITH NOTES, DESIGNED TO EXHIBIT A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE OPINIONS OF CICERO, AND THOSE OF MODERN MORALISTS AND ETHICAL PHILOSOPHERS. BY CYRUS R. EDMONDS. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. M.DCCC.LVI. THE present volume comprises the most popular moral treatises of Cicero. In preparing an edition adapted to the wants of the student, the editor has addressed himself to two principal objects. The first, to produce a close and faithful translation, avoiding on the one hand, the freedom of Melmoth's elegant paraphrase, and on the other, the crudeness and inaccuracy of the so called literal translation of Cockman; the second, to present the opinions of modern moralists, chiefly of our own country, in juxtapositior with those of Cicero, that the reader may be enabled to estimate the changes which have passed over the human mind in relation to these subjects, and perceive how far these changes have been occasioned by the promulgation of the Christian religion. A subsidiary design has been to show, by parallel passages, to what extent the writings of modern moralists have been tinctured with the thoughts of the Roman philosopher; and to point out particular instances in which their arguments and illustrations are identical. IN briefly sketching the subjects of the following treatises, we shall for the most part adopt the observations of Dunlop, in his "History of Roman Literature." The first, and most important treatise, is THE OFFICES, or three books of Moral Duties.' Of these the first two are supposed to be chiefly derived from a lost work of Panætius, a Greek philosopher, who resided at Rome in the second century before Christ. In the first book he treats of what is virtuous in itself, and shows in what manner our duties are founded in morality and virtue, in the right perception of truth, justice, fortitude, and decorum, which four qualities are referred to as the constituent parts of virtue, and the sources from which all our duties are derived. In the second book, the author enlarges on those duties which relate to utility, the improvement of life, and the means |