Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
On Duties: A Guide To Conduct, Obligations, And Decision-Making Paperback – June 23, 2016
Purchase options and add-ons
This is the most complete, readable, and explanatory edition of Cicero's "On Duties" available in English.
“On Duties” represents the pinnacle of Western moral philosophy. Not only is it an unmatched practical guide to conduct, but it also serves as a profoundly ennobling vision of man.
Acknowledged as a supreme moral authority for many centuries, it was the second book (after the Gutenberg Bible) to be printed following the invention of the printing press.
This new English translation by Quintus Curtius was specifically designed with the needs of the modern reader in mind. It reproduces the majesty and elegance of the original, while at the same time containing features found in no other edition.
Lucid, precise, and accessible, this complete and unabridged edition contains the following special features:
1. An innovative topical organizational scheme that permits easy location of subjects and terms
2. Detailed textual notes for unfamiliar terms and historical references
3. Detailed commentaries and synopses on the text
4. Complete subject and name index
5. Additional explanatory essays
Quintus Curtius is an attorney, writer, and former Marine officer. He can be found at www.qcurtius.com.
- Print length236 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJune 23, 2016
- Dimensions6 x 0.54 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101534802258
- ISBN-13978-1534802254
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
Review
About the Author
His innovative and groundbreaking translations include Cicero's "On Duties" and "Stoic Paradoxes," and most recently Sallust's "The Conspiracy of Catiline and War of Jugurtha."
Curtius has also written extensively on moral philosophy, ethics, and historical subjects. His penetrating essay collections explore questions of character, leadership, and adversity that have never been more relevant to the modern era. These books include "Thirty-Seven," "Pantheon," and "Pathways." Using examples from history, personal experience, literature, and philosophy, these unique books have been described as "inexplicably inspiring."
He can be found at qcurtius.com.
Product details
- Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (June 23, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 236 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1534802258
- ISBN-13 : 978-1534802254
- Item Weight : 11.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.54 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #773,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,727 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Quintus Curtius is the pen name of writer and translator George J. Thomas. After graduating from MIT in 1990, he served as an active duty officer in the US Marine Corps for a number of years. After leaving active service, he enrolled in law school and began practicing law in 1998. He lives in Overland Park, Kansas.
His innovative and groundbreaking translations include Cicero's "On the Nature of the Gods," "Tusculan Disputations," "On Moral Ends," "On Duties," "Stoic Paradoxes," Sallust's "The Conspiracy of Catiline and War of Jugurtha," and Cornelius Nepos's "Lives of the Great Commanders."
Curtius has also written extensively on moral philosophy, ethics, and historical subjects. His essay collections explore questions of character, leadership, and adversity. These books include "Thirty-Seven," "Digest," "Pantheon," and "Pathways." Using examples from history, personal experience, literature, and philosophy, these unique books have been described as "inexplicably inspiring."
He can be found at www.qcurtius.com.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
As to the crimes of this book, we have firstly the idea that moral goodness can be properly ascertained. There are no relativistic morals, for these belong to the intemperates that find pain to be the greatest evil. Moral goodness, it is asserted, can be found by the examination of truth, the protection and development of the society of man, a powerful and invincible spirit, and by modest and temperate order and methodology in debate and events. Clearly, Cicero was a criminal of the highest order in his time: daring to assert that truth can be found and is not relative.
The first book(this is structured in three parts) also brings up one of the most important parts of a high trust society: bargaining and acting in good faith. The world has long admired craftiness and deception, and it does indeed have its place. However, that place should be kept to things such as games, war, and proper espionage. The elevation of deception has been hurting our ability to bargain and deal with each other fairly. Vox Day, for instance, has come to a point of refusing to do taped interviews unless he knows and trusts the interviewer, as the media has repeatedly altered the appearance of his words via cherry picking phrases out of context.
Toward the end of the first book, Cicero also covers appropriate conversation. Piracy, fraud, and adultery are declared immoral, but not discussion thereof. The application to the creation of progeny, on the other hand is the reverse. Of course, this is beyond the pale for the SocJus crowd: they will crow about the crimes of their opponents, hide their own, and talk about sex and the destruction of children all day.
The second book covers the concept of advantageousness, and what it truly is. The cultivation of a reputation for Justice is discussed, and found that cowardice and corruptibility are the opposites, and one without these is tested by fire.
A quick note: Justice is a separate concept form due process at this time, and the economic system is a patron one that is beyond our experience. Land ownership has vastly different qualities, as does citizenship.
Public spending is addressed, and what is the best way of it. Spending on infrastructure over direct monies to the poor are advocated for, as they will make generations wealthier. Charity is commended for sever calamity, and only for those that wish to improve their condition.
Cicero suggests rapid apologies for those one may have accidentally hurt. In the case of actual damage, I would agree, but in this day of perpetual lies and rage, I would largely advocate for Vox Day's rule of never apologizing. Cicero lived in a time when even deceptive men were more honest, and honesty was both respected and revered. Now, lying is seen as acceptable by large masses.
Cicero dealt with advocates for an agrarian "reform" of confiscation and redistribution of land. Cicero found the talk of equal redistribution of land to be a dangerous curse designed to undermine the foundations of the state. Would that Cicero had been more read during FDR's time.
Book three covers the apparent conflict between the two concepts of the earlier books. I say apparent because Cicero gives a fairly decent argument for them not actually being in conflict. Most of this has to do with a larger perspective, that what gives advantage may not appear so in the short term, and what appears to bring disadvantage may in the long term bring the opposite.
Some things which do create conflicts now did not exist then, and these relate mostly to internal matters, rather than dealing with other states. Employment has changed in it's nature greatly, as has the nature of sales and product information. I make these observations not to discount Cicero, but to ensure that a different society is taken into account.
I know some are wondering why I chose to read, never mind review this text. It is difficult, make no mistake; and that is with the excellent translating skills of Quintus Curtius. I cannot imagine finding a better translation, though I'm certain there are imprecisions here and there. One reason is it remains an excellent book on public action. The second is that it may help some to explain the popularity of Donald Trump with the masses. He is not bribable, he rewards good work and is generous to those he feels have done service to society. The safety and continuation of his country are what he is campaigning on, and these themes are all covered within, enough to make me wonder if Mr. Trump has read a translation of Cicero.
As a work that promotes the causes of Injustice, by the advocacy of right actions, this is a masterpiece. 9/10 Fell Deeds
When you play Social Justice, the world loses.
As for Cicero's work itself, I found it insightful. I found myself agreeing with what he wrote so long ago and was surprised that he echoed so many of my own beliefs. Often we hold beliefs that we are not really aware of, but after studying On Duties we are forced to reflect upon why we have them. I guess I did not expect so much deep thinking from a book written over two thousand years ago. We think that people in the past were stupid because they didn't have advanced technology, but biological evolution does not happen rapidly, and we have to realize that people in the past had the same intelligence we have and their only disadvantage was their lack of access to information. I suppose Cicero must have had enough wealth that he could study whatever books were available at the time. His work shows that he had a sharp mind and was well educated.
One thing I found especially revealing was that Cicero was writing in pre-Christian times, yet no one would doubt that he felt there was a very firm moral code to be followed. Although there are mentions of gods/god, it is the Roman pagan gods he refers to, and these play a secondary role and are not the cause or judge of what is right and wrong. Can there be morality without god? Apparently so, as Cicero expounds the Natural Law theory in his work. In contemporary times, some would have you believe that without Christianity, the world would descend into amoralism and anarchy. They would say that without the Ten Commandments, our society would have no sense of right and wrong. Yet, history proves this view incorrect. Moreover, a present-day author worth studying if you are interested in a scientific/biological view of ethics is Frans de Waal, who also makes a natural law argument, but from more modern biological research.
I will not say that I agree 100% with everything Cicero has written. He sometimes leaps to conclusions that seem unsupported by the arguments. It may be that I misunderstood what he wrote, because it is not always easy to follow. The translation is good, and I blame Cicero for his sometimes hard to follow reasoning, not the translation. I haven't read any other translations of On Duties, but this one seems good to me. The footnotes help a lot to put the arguments in their historical context. You will also be relieved to find that it is a modern translation rather than "Ye Olde English" as some expired copyright works might be. However, you will likely have to keep a dictionary nearby if words like "expediency" are unfamiliar to you. This is not a translation to baby talk for a vapid audience. I am guessing the choice of words are based on their Latin roots.
If you like this work, I suggest also reading Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" which is my favorite book. It is worth seeking out the Martin Hammond translation as the free ones online have the "Ye Olde English" problem I mention above. I compared them all and the Hammond translation of the Meditations is the best, in my opinion. These important historical works deserve a high quality translation and it is worth spending the money if you are going to spend the time to study the book. You will not gain much benefit if you don't understand everything that is written.