M. TULLII CICERONIS LAELIUS DE AMICITIA EDITED, WITH ENGLISH NOTES BY JOHN K. LORD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LATIN, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1887 KD 21959 HARVARD By Exchange.. COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. INTRODUCTION. THE student of Cicero's works has but an imperfect apprehension of their merit and their meaning, who is not acquainted with the life and character of him who wrote them. They are not impersonal and abstract, but record Cicero's own experiences, studies, and reflections. This dialogue on friendship, though ostensibly representing the opinions of Scipio and Laelius, in reality outlines the relations and feelings of Cicero and Atticus. The following sketch of Cicero's life may prepare the way for that appreciation of the man and his work which a fuller study can not fail to give. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO was born at Arpinum, a small town in southeastern Latium, January 3, 106 B. C., in October of the reformed calendar, of a family belonging to the equestrian order. He soon exhausted the advantages of the provincial schools, and was sent to Rome to gain the best instruction which could there be had. The literary character of the training there given accorded perfectly with the bent of his mind, and, with a delight that maturer years only increased, he seized upon the study of literature, especially the Greek, for Latin literature was as yet enriched by the works of but few of those whose names subsequently rendered it so illustrious. Greek literature was closely connected with Greek philos |