Cicero’s Three Books of Duties

By Cicero

Published ca. 1600

Reference #0674

Published in 1600 by Thomas Este, “Marcvs Tullius Cicero, his three Bookes of Dvties to Marcvs his Sonne” was translated by Nicholas Grimald into Early Modern English as part of the late Renaissance. At the tail-end of Elizabethan England, Este’s translation represents the flourishing market for literature, philosophy, and poetry going into the 18th century. This work also identifies the maturation and expansion of the English language as a literary vernacular over French or Latin.

Roman orator, statesman, and man of letters. After carefully preparing himself for a career in law, Cicero made his oratorical debut under the dictatorship of Sulla, his first public success occurring in 80 B.C. Cicero was not only Rome’s greatest orator; he was perhaps its most articulate philosopher. Through his philosophical treatises, he helped to make Latin a strong, yet surprisingly flexible, vehicle for logical speculation.

Works By Cicero