Marcus Tullius Cicero, Laelius De Amicitia [On Friendship]

Paul Burton (Australian National University)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

Domains

Philosophy (any)

Dates

First circulation or publication -44

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Dialogue
Treatise

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Cicero’s

Laelius de Amicitia

, written in 44 BCE, is both a philosophical treatise, in dialogue form, and a practical handbook on friendship. It is set in the year 129, a few days after the death of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (consul I 147, consul II 134), the bosom companion of the main interlocutor of the dialogue, C. Laelius Sapiens (“the Wise”, also known as Laelius the Younger) (consul 140). The other speakers are the sons-in-law of Laelius, Q. Mucius Scaevola (consul 117) and C. Fannius (consul 122).

The text opens with an extraordinarily detailed and lengthy argument, addressed to Cicero’s best friend Atticus, on the source and transmission of the dialogue (§§1-5). Here Cicero asserts that Scaevola, his teacher, often used to talk “with accurate recollection”

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1398 words

Citation: Burton, Paul. "Laelius De Amicitia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 April 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34932, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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