spite of his self-importance, the vacillation of his political conduct
in desperate crises, and the whining despondency of his times of
adversity, stands out as at bottom a patriotic Roman of substantial
honesty, who gave his life to check the inevitable fall of the
commonwealth to which he was devoted. The evils which were
undermining the Republic bear so many striking resemblances to
those which threaten the civic and national life of America to-day
that the interest of the period is by no means merely historical.

As a philosopher, Cicero's most important function was to make
his countrymen familiar with the main schools of Greek thought.
Much of this writing is thus of secondary interest to us in
comparison with his originals, but in the fields of religious theory
and of the application of philosophy to life he made important
first-hand contributions. From these works have been selected the
two treatises, on Old Age and on Friendship, which have proved of
most permanent and widespread interest to posterity, and which
give a clear impression of the way in which a high-minded Roman
thought about some of the main problems' of human life.

On Friendship
by Marcus Tullius Cicero translated by E. S. Shuckburgh

THE augur Quintus Mucius Scaevola used to recount a number of
stories about his father-in-law Galus Laelius, accurately
remembered and charmingly told; and whenever he talked about
him always gave him the title of "the wise" without any hesitation.
I had been introduced by my father to Scaevola as soon as I had
assumed the _toga virilis_, and I took advantage of the
introduction never to quit the venerable man's side as long as I was