TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have not been corrected, punctuation has been silently corrected. A list of other corrections to the text can be found at the end of the document. In the book the Latin text is printed on the left page, and the English translation on the right. Here, the text is split by sections starting with a roman numeral, and the Latin text is followed by its English translation. The section numbers that appeared in the margin are placed between *asterisks*. Sidenotes are placed between #hashtags# and are placed either above the paragraph they refer to or inline. Numbers printed in superscript are preceded by a ^. [Illustration: M. TULLIUS CICERO. _FROM THE JAMES LOEB COLLECTION._] CICERO DE OFFICIIS WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY WALTER MILLER LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. MCMXIII CONTENTS Introduction _Page_ ix Bibliography xiii Book I 1 Book II 167 Book III 269 Index 405 INTRODUCTION In the _de Officiis_ we have, save for the latter Philippics, the great orator's last contribution to literature. The last, sad, troubled years of his busy life could not be given to his profession; and he turned his never-resting thoughts to the second love of his student days and made Greek philosophy a possibility for Roman readers. The senate had been abolished; the courts had been closed. His occupation was gone; but Cicero could not surrender himself to idleness. In those days of distraction (46-43 B.C.) he produced for publication almost as much as in all his years of active life. The liberators had been able to remove the tyrant, but they could not restore the republic. Cicero's own life was in danger from the fury of mad Antony and he left Rome about the end of March, 44 B.C. He dared not even stop permanently in any one of his various country estates, but, wretched, wandered from one of his villas to another nearly all the summer and autumn through. He would not suffer himself to become a prey to his overwhelming sorrow at the death of the republic and the final crushing of the hopes that had risen with Caesar's downfall, but worked at the highest tension on his philosophical studies.