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Laelius de Amicitia
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It has been suggested that On Old Age be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
Laelius de Amicitia (whose English version has been translated as Treatises on Friendship and Old Age) is a work by the Roman statesman and author Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Cicero writes about his own experience with friendship in a way that anyone can relate to throughout time. After the death of a good friend, Cicero ponders the meaning of this friendship, how he could bear the loss, and explicates his grounds for bereavement. He enumerates what qualities make for good friends, explains what characteristics expose a bad friend, and provides examples from his personal life. He writes this philosophy in the style of early Greek philosophers to get to the bottom of the concept of friendship, while presenting his case straightforwardly and in a way that that resonates in each of us through human understanding.
The work is written as a dialogue between prominent figures of the Middle Roman republic and is set after the death of the younger Scipio Africanus (otherwise known as Scipio Aemilianus, Scipio Africanus Minor, or Scipio the Younger) in 129 BC. The interlocutors of the dialogue chosen by Cicero are Gaius Laelius a close friend of the late statesman, and Laelius's two sons-in-law, Gaius Fannius, and Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Interestingly, Scaevola himself was mentor and teacher to Cicero, who probably heard his teacher's reminiscences about these conversations first-hand.
The complete text of Treatises on Friendship and Old Age is available from Project Gutenberg.