Cicero: Laelius de amicitia

Cicero's last dialogue, De amicitia, is a work of stylistic brilliance containing the fullest examination of the values and problems of friendship to survive from the Greco-Roman world.How do we make (and lose) friends? If a conflict arises between personal affection and ethical behavior, how do we decide what is right?What kinds of people make the most suitable friends?Written in 44 BCE, De amicitia provides both a striking analysis of the conflicts between personal and civic loyalty and a strong statement about the close links between friendship, wisdom, and virtue.In the first full commentary on De amicitia in more than a century, Katharina Volk and James Zetzel provide an illuminating guide to the dialogue, explaining language and style, philosophy, and historical context.An appendix contains a text with commentary of Cicero's famous correspondence with Matius about political and personal loyalty after the assassination of Caesar.