Treatises on Friendship and Old Age

by Marcus Tullius Cicero




Translated by E S Shuckburgh




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, the greatest of Roman orators and
the chief master of Latin prose style, was born at Arpinum, Jan.
3,106 B.C. His father, who was a man of property and belonged
to the class of the "Knights," moved to Rome when Cicero was a
child; and the future statesman received an elaborate education in
rhetoric, law, and philosophy, studying and practising under some
of the most noted teachers of the time. He began his career as an
advocate at the age of twenty-five, and almost immediately came
to be recognized not only as a man of brilliant talents but also as a
courageous upholder of justice in the face of grave political
danger. After two years of practice he left Rome to travel in
Greece and Asia, taking all the opportunities that offered to study
his art under distinguished masters. He returned to Rome greatly
improved in health and in professional skill, and in 76 B. C. was
elected to the office of quaestor. He was assigned to the province
of Lilybarum in Sicily, and the vigor and justice of his