[2]
You will, therefore, learn from the foremost of1
present-day philosophers, and you will go on learning
as long as you wish; and your wish ought to continue
as long as you are not dissatisfied with the progress
you are making. For all that, if you will read my
philosophical books, you will be helped; my philosophy
is not very different from that of the Peripatetics (for
both they and I claim to be followers of Socrates and
Plato). As to the conclusions you may reach, I leave
that to your own judgment (for I would put no hindrance in your way), but by reading my philosophical
[p. 5]
writings you will be sure to render your mastery of
the Latin language more complete. But I would by
no means have you think that this is said boastfully.
For there are many to whom I yield precedence in
knowledge of philosophy; but if I lay claim to the
orator's peculiar ability to speak with propriety,
clearness, elegance, I think my claim is in a measure
justified, for I have spent my life in that profession.
1 Greek Philosophy and Cicero's own.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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