Cicero
There is a natural law above all human laws, and a good person serves the community by fulfilling their duties with humanity.
Placement
Translated Greek philosophy into Latin concepts and thereby shaped European thought.
Key ideas
- Natural law
- Humanitas
- Doctrine of duties
Influence
Influenced by 5
Plato
influenced by
Cicero modelled On the Republic and On the Laws on Plato’s Republic and Laws, ending the first with the Dream of Scipio, and translated part of the Timaeus. Cicero, De re publica VI (Somnium Scipionis); De legibus; Timaeus (translation fragment); SEP “Cicero”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Plato › 428–348 BCE
Zeno of Citium
influenced by
Cicero set out Zeno’s Stoic ethics in De finibus III and, following Antiochus, argued in book IV that Zeno had changed words rather than doctrines (45 BCE). Cicero, De finibus III–IV; Academica I.35–42; SEP “Cicero”
Evidence: AI draft
Zeno of Citium › c. 334–262 BCE
Arcesilaus
influenced by
Cicero adopted the Academic method Arcesilaus had introduced – arguing against every view and withholding firm assent – and defended it in his Academica (45 BCE). Cicero, Academica I.43–46, II; SEP “Arcesilaus”; SEP “Cicero”
Evidence: AI draft
Arcesilaus › c. 316–241 BCE
Chrysippus
influenced by
Cicero set out and examined Chrysippus’ attempt to reconcile fate with human assent, including the analogy of the rolling cylinder, in De fato (44 BCE). Cicero, De fato 39–45; IEP “Chrysippus”
Evidence: AI draft
Chrysippus › c. 279–206 BCE
Carneades
influenced by
Cicero drew on Carneades, via Clitomachus, in Academica and On the Nature of the Gods, and used his division of views on the highest good (De finibus V). Cicero, Academica II; De natura deorum III; De finibus V.16–23; SEP “Carneades”
Evidence: AI draft
Carneades › c. 214–129 BCE
Influenced 6
Augustine
influenced
Augustine wrote that reading Cicero’s lost Hortensius at nineteen turned him to the love of wisdom and changed his prayers (Confessions III.4). Augustine, Confessions III.4.7–8; SEP “Augustine”
Evidence: AI draft
Augustine › 354–430
Héloïse
influenced
Héloïse drew on Cicero’s ideal of friendship loved for its own sake to argue that true love seeks no reward, neither marriage nor gain (first letter to Abelard). Héloïse, first letter to Abelard, in The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise, ed. D. Luscombe (2013); Cicero, De amicitia; C. J. Mews, The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard (1999)
Evidence: AI draft
Héloïse › c. 1100–1164
Marsilius of Padua
influenced
Cary Nederman argued that Marsilius’ account of human sociability and the origin of civil society owes much to Cicero, despite appeals to Aristotle (Defensor pacis I, 1324). Marsilius of Padua, Defensor pacis (1324), Discourse I; C. J. Nederman, ‘Nature, Sin and the Origins of Society: The Ciceronian Tradition in Medieval Political Thought’, Journal of the History of Ideas 49 (1988)
Evidence: AI draft
Marsilius of Padua › c. 1275–1342
Erasmus of Rotterdam
influenced ✓
Erasmus edited Cicero’s De officiis (1501) and admired his moral philosophy, but mocked slavish imitation of his Latin style in the Ciceronianus (1528). Erasmus (ed.), Cicero, De officiis (Paris, 1501); Ciceronianus (1528); SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Erasmus of Rotterdam › c. 1466–1536
Hugo Grotius
influenced
Grotius grounded natural law and human sociability in On the Law of War and Peace (1625) with Cicero’s De finibus, De legibus and De officiis. H. Grotius, De iure belli ac pacis (1625), Prolegomena; R. Tuck, The Rights of War and Peace (1999); SEP “Hugo Grotius”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Hugo Grotius › 1583–1645
David Hume
influenced
Hume told Hutcheson (1739) he meant to take his catalogue of virtues from Cicero’s Offices; his Dialogues concerning Natural Religion follow Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods. D. Hume to F. Hutcheson, 17 Sept. 1739, in Letters, ed. J. Y. T. Greig (1932); Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779); SEP “Hume on Religion”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
David Hume › 1711–1776
Criticism
Criticized by 1
Niccolò Machiavelli
criticised by
Machiavelli inverted Cicero’s De officiis: a prince must know how to use the beast as well as the man, both fox and lion (The Prince, 1513). N. Machiavelli, Il Principe (1513), chs. 15–18; Cicero, De officiis I.34, I.41; Q. Skinner, Machiavelli, 1981
Evidence: AI draft
Niccolò Machiavelli › 1469–1527
Criticizes 1
Epicurus
criticised
Cicero rejected Epicurus’ ethics in On Ends II (45 BCE): pleasure cannot be the highest good, as it leaves no room for virtue for its own sake. Cicero, De finibus bonorum et malorum I–II; De natura deorum I.57–124
Evidence: AI draft
Epicurus › 341–270 BCE
Works
- c. 51 BCEOn the Republic
A dialogue on the best constitution and the commonwealth as a partnership in justice; ends with Scipio’s dream.
- c. 45 BCEOn Ends (De finibus)
Epicureans, Stoics and Academics dispute the goal of life.
- c. 44 BCEOn Duties (De officiis)
Stoic theory of duty: the honorable and the useful coincide.
Position
Cicero’s great achievement was to bring Greek philosophy to Rome in Latin, creating much of its vocabulary – he coined words such as qualitas, “quality”. He followed the sceptical New Academy: he weighed Stoic, Epicurean and Academic positions against one another and accepted what seemed most probable. In ethics and politics he drew heavily on Stoicism – natural law, duty and the commonwealth as a partnership in justice. His works shaped Augustine, Renaissance humanism and Enlightenment republicanism, and for centuries they were the standard introduction to ancient thought.
Life & context
Marcus Tullius Cicero was Rome’s most celebrated orator, a lawyer and statesman who rose to the consulship in 63 BCE and suppressed the Catilinarian conspiracy. Sidelined under Caesar, he wrote most of his philosophical works in a few intense years around 45–44 BCE. After attacking Mark Antony in his Philippics, he was proscribed and killed in 43 BCE.
Further main works
- Tusculan Disputations (45 BCE)
- On the Nature of the Gods (45 BCE)
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