{"id":16044,"date":"2016-02-04T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T18:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=16044"},"modified":"2016-02-06T17:19:48","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T22:19:48","slug":"de-officiis-cicero-on-political-obligations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/de-officiis-cicero-on-political-obligations\/","title":{"rendered":"De Officiis: Cicero on Political Obligations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Cicero:<\/a><\/p>\n

No phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cicero wrote that in 44 BCE in his last work in his last year of life<\/strong>: De Officiis<\/em>, or in English: On Obligations<\/em>. The translation from\u00a0Book 1.4 above comes from the Perseus Project<\/a>\u00a0(the 1913 Miller\/Loeb translation). In the 2000 edition\u00a0(Oxford University Press, reprinted 2008, and recently added to my library), translator\u00a0P.G. Walsh renders\u00a0that piece thus:<\/p>\n

There is no aspect of life public or private, civic or domestic, which can be without its obligation, whether in our individual concerns or in our relations with our neighbour. Honourable behaviour lies entirely in the performance of such obligations, and likewise base conduct lies in neglecting them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The main theme of Marcus Tullius Cicero’s book is stated here, at the beginning: we are all bound by obligations to one another, and if we are honourable people, then we must act on, and never forget, those obligations. Of course, he has a lot more to say, but that’s the gist of it.<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old Cicero watched as Rome was taken over by the followers of the recently assassinated Julius Caesar (whom he criticized). He watched how the republic was subverted to the rule of the autocrats and tyrants (whom he also openly criticized). The result of his speaking out was his being named an enemy of the state. Marc Anthony ordered Cicero’s execution<\/a>\u00a0and had his severed head and hands displayed in the forum. Such is the way tyrants deal with dissent.<\/p>\n

Cicero’s\u00a0world and life have parallels in today’s politics: his words still have meaning and relevamce today. One need only look at today’s\u00a0Republican candidates’ struggle for supremacy, or locally to see what has happened to our own council, to understand those parallels.*<\/span><\/p>\n

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Quite unlike most other Roman and Greek works, De Officiis<\/a> was embraced by the church and became a central part of the moral development of Western philosophy during the Middle Ages. It remained so important that it was the second book printed by Gutenberg, in 1465, right after his famous bible. It was standard reading material in English schools through the 19th century. You can read a copy, translated in 1913, here.<\/a>\u00a0Sadly, it has been a back-burner text pretty much since.<\/p>\n

We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends, have a share in us. (Latin: non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici) (I, 22)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cicero warned that (Book 1.5), when people measure or manage results by their own interests rather than a broader moral standard,\u00a0they value\u00a0“neither friendship nor justice nor generosity.” He believed in two guiding principles (1.31): “first, that no harm be done to anyone; second, that the common interests be conserved.”<\/p>\n

In Book 1.15, Cicero\u00a0suggests that “all that is honourable” stems from four\u00a0sources (similar to Plato’s four virtues):<\/p>\n