M. Tullius Cicero, De Amicitia, William Armistead Falconer (Translator), 12

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[12] Therefore, his life really was such that nothing could be added to it either by good fortune or by fame; and, besides, the suddenness of his death took away the consciousness of dying. It is hard to speak of the nature of his death; you both know what people suspect¹; yet I may say with truth that, of the many very joyous days which he saw in the course of his life—days thronged to the utmost with admiring crowds—the most brilliant was the day before he departed this life, when, after the adjournment of the Senate, he was escorted home toward evening by the Conscript Fathers, the Roman populace, and the Latin allies, so that from so lofty a station of human grandeur he seems to have passed to the gods on high rather than to the shades below.

De Amicitia. M. Tullius Cicero. William Armistead Falconer (Translator). Cambridge. 1923.

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Current edition Perseus

Laelius on Friendship (English) (Cicero. De Senectute, De Amicitia, De Divinatione. Falconer, William Armistead, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1923 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Laelius De Amicitia Perseus (Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De senectute; De amicitia; De divinatione. Falconer, W. A., editor. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1923.) — 12 focus

[12] quam ob rem vita quidem talis fuit vel fortuna vel gloria, ut nihil posset accedere; moriendi autem sensum celeritas abstulit. quo de genere mortis difficile dictu est; quid homines suspicentur videtis: hoc vere tamen licet dicere, P. Scipioni ex multis diebus, quos in vita celeberrimos laetissimosque viderit, illum diem clarissimum fuisse, cum senatu dimisso domum reductus ad vesperum est a patribus conscriptis, populo Romano, sociis et Latinis, pridie quam excessit e vita, ut ex tam alto dignitatis gradu ad superos videatur deos potius quam ad inferos pervenisse.

Notes on the current edition

Laelius on Friendship

1. After a violent scene in the Senate, where he opposed Carbo in the execution of the agrarian law, Scipio was escorted home in the evening by admiring crowds. The next morning he was found dead in bed. Cf. Appian, Bell. Civ. i. 20; Vell. Pat. ii. 4. In other works ( De or. ii. 170; Fam. ix. 21. 3; Qu. Fr. ii. 3. 3) Cicero takes the view that Carbo murdered him; Cf. also Cic. De fat. 18; Livy, Epit. 59; Plut. C. Grac. 10.

M. Tullius Cicero De Amicitia 12

William Armistead Falconer (Translator)

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