Marcus Tullius Cicero

Treatises on Friendship and Old Age Marcus Tullius Cicero

A new edition of two of the most important and enduringly influential philosophical treatises by Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Friendship and On Old Age (De Amicitia & De Senectute). On Friendship is written as a dialogue between Gaius Laelius (a prominent figure in middle Roman republican history) and his two sons-in-law Gaius Fannius and Quintus Mucius Scaevola, set after the death of Scipio Aemilianus in 129 BC. 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. On Friendship, together with On Old Age, continues to be one of the most widely read works of Roman philosophy.