On Duties

Benjamin Patrick Newton's translation of Cicero’s On Duties is the most complete edition of a text that has been considered a source of moral authority throughout classical, medieval, and modern times. It features an introduction, outline, footnotes, interpretative essay, glossary, and indexes, making Cicero’s thought accessible.

Benjamin Patrick Newton is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Legal Studies Program at Tarleton State University.

Newton's translation is an exemplary accomplishment, scrupulously bringing Cicero's great work to life in English for perhaps the first time. It merits the translator's equivalent of summa cum laude: to an unprecedented degree, Newton's On Duties is Cicero's On Duties.

Benedetto Fontana, Baruch College and the Graduate Center of CUNY, author of Hegemony and Power: On the Relation between Gramsci and Machiavelli:

Benjamin Patrick Newton's translation of On Duties is fluent and clear, and Newton is careful to explain and to elucidate textual, interpretative, and philosophical issues presented by the text. Newton does a very good job in accomplishing his primary aim: namely, to give the reader a true and faithful rendering of the original in a modern style that is at once readable and contemporary. The translation ably captures the sense of Cicero's language as well as the meaning of his ideas and arguments. Newton's introduction situates Cicero's life and work within his historical context, relating his ideas to the past and to various contemporary schools of thought.

James H. Nichols, Claremont McKenna College:

This new translation of Cicero's De Officiis, which combines scrupulous faithfulness to the Latin text with smooth readability in English, is a welcome gift to students of manners, morals, ethics, and politics. Cicero's classic book, somewhat neglected over the last century or so, is due for a revival of interest; this translation, together with its helpful aids to interpretation, should contribute to that end.

Walter Nicgorski, University of Notre Dame:

This book is a gem in the renaissance of Cicero studies now occurring. A literal translation at times throws new light on long troublesome passages in Cicero. This is just what happens in reading Benjamin Patrick Newton's literal, lucid, and often elegant translation of Cicero’s most influential work. This book is enriched both with informational notes that make the text accessible to a first-time reader of Cicero and with an interpretative essay informed by recent scholarship and marked by the author’s notable insights.