Editing De Officiis (section)

== Legacy ==
The legacy of ''De Officiis'' is profound. Although not a [[Christianity|Christian]] work, in 390 [[St. Ambrose]] declared it legitimate for the [[Christianity|Church]] to use (along with everything else Cicero, and the equally popular Roman philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], had written). It became a [[moral authority]] during the [[Middle Ages]]. Of the [[Church Fathers]], [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], [[St. Jerome]] and even more so [[St. Thomas Aquinas]], are known to have been familiar with it.<ref>Hannis Taylor, ''Cicero: A Sketch of His Life and Works'', A.C. McClurg & Co. 1916, p. 9</ref> Illustrating its importance, some 700 handwritten copies remain extant in libraries around the world dating back to before the [[movable type|invention of the printing press]]. Though this does not surpass the Latin grammarian [[Priscian|Priscian's]] 900 extant handwritten copies, it places ''De Officiis'' far above many classical works. Following the invention of the [[printing press]], ''De Officiis'' was the third book to be printed—third only to the [[Gutenberg Bible]] and [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus's]] ''Ars Minor'', which was the first printed book.{{efn|"The first printed book was not Gutenberg's famed forty-two-line Bible but rather Donatus's ''Ars Mino'', which Gutenberg, correctly sizing up the market, hoped to sell in class sets to schools."<ref>[[Jürgen Leonhardt]], ''Latin: A World Language'' (Belknap Press 2013) p. 99.</ref>}}

[[Petrarch]], the father of humanism and a leader in the revival of Classical learning, championed Cicero. Several of his works build upon the precepts of ''De Officiis''.<ref name=WalshIntro/> Prince [[Peter, Duke of Coimbra]], member of the Order of the Garter, translated the treatise to Portuguese in 1437, signal of the wide spread of the work in medieval courts.<ref>Manuel Cadafaz de Matos, "[https://www.uc.pt/fluc/eclassicos/publicacoes/ficheiros/humanitas46/16_Cadafaz_Matos.pdf A PRESENÇA DE CÍCERO NA OBRA DE PENSADORES PORTUGUESES NOS SÉCULOS XV E XVI (1436-1543)]", ''Humanitas'' 46 (1994)</ref> The Catholic humanist [[Erasmus]] published his own edition in Paris in 1501. His enthusiasm for this moral treatise is expressed in many works.<ref name=WalshIntro/><ref>Erasmus' Epistolae 152</ref> The German humanist [[Philip Melanchthon]] established ''De Officiis'' in Lutheran humanist schools.<ref name=WalshIntro/>

[[File:Thys Boke Is Myne.jpg|thumb|[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]'s childhood copy of ''De Officiis'', bearing the inscription "Thys boke is myne" in his hand, from the collection of the [[Folger Shakespeare Library]]]]
T. W. Baldwin said that "in Shakespeare's day ''De Officiis'' was the pinnacle of moral philosophy".<ref>T. W. Baldwin, "William Shakspere's Small Latine & lesse Greeke", Vol. 2, University of Illinois Press, 1944, p. 590, [http://durer.press.illinois.edu/baldwin/vol.2/html/index.html Available online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303013212/http://durer.press.illinois.edu/baldwin/vol.2/html/index.html |date=2012-03-03 }}</ref> [[Thomas Elyot|Sir Thomas Elyot]], in his popular ''[[The Book of the Governor|Governour]]'' (1531), lists three essential texts for bringing up young gentlemen: [[Plato]]'s works, [[Nicomachean Ethics|Aristotle's ''Ethics'']], and ''De Officiis''.<ref>Sir Thomas Elyot, ''The Boke named the Governour'', Vol. 1, Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co. 1883 pp. 91–94</ref>

In the 17th century it was a standard text at English schools ([[Westminster School|Westminster]] and Eton) and universities (Cambridge and Oxford). It was extensively discussed by [[Hugo Grotius]] and [[Samuel von Pufendorf]].<ref name=Marschall1994/> Grotius drew heavily on ''De Officiis'' in his major work, ''[[De jure belli ac pacis|On the Law of War and Peace]]''.<ref name=WalshIntro>Cicero; Walsh: "On Obligations" pp. xliii–xliv</ref> It influenced [[Robert Sanderson (theologian)|Robert Sanderson]] and [[John Locke]].<ref name=Marschall1994>[[John Marshall (historian)|John Marshall]], "John Locke: Resistance, Religion, and Responsibility", Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 162, 164, 299</ref>

In the 18th century, [[Voltaire]] said of ''De Officiis'' "No one will ever write anything more wise".<ref>Voltaire, ''Cicero'', Philosophical Dictionary Part 2 Orig. Published 1764</ref> [[Frederick the Great]] thought so highly of the book that he asked the scholar [[Christian Garve]] to do a new translation of it, even though there had been already two German translations since 1756. Garve's project resulted in 880 additional pages of commentary.

In 1885, the city of [[Perugia]] was shaken by the theft of an [[illuminated manuscript]] of ''De Officiis'' from the city's [[Biblioteca Augusta|Library Augusta]]. The chief librarian [[Adamo Rossi]], a well-known scholar, was originally suspected but exonerated after a lengthy administrative and judicial investigation. The culprit in the theft was never found. Suspicion fell on a janitor who a few years later became well-to-do enough to build for himself a fine house. The former janitor's house was nicknamed "Villa Cicero" by residents of Perugia.

The 2002 [[George Mason Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., includes ''De Officiis'' as an element of the statue of a seated Mason.

''De Officiis'' continues to be one of the most popular of Cicero's works because of its style, and because of its depiction of Roman political life under the Republic.