Le De Officiis de Cicéron : un manuel de vertu pratique?

Abstract

This communication focuses on Cicero’s conception of “honestum” and on his application in his political reflexions and action. In his treatise On Duties, he attempts to discover the “honestum” of morality. Cicero, therefore, tried to use philosophy to bring about his political goals. After an attempt to define the concept of “honestum”, we will try to analyze Cicero’s political and ethical “mètis” (Epistula 381) in order to establish the morally appropriate choice in the context of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey.