n to read prophecies. It is a } AEtat. 63.
{ continuation of a former work.[b] }

De Fato. { The part only of a book on Destiny.[b] } B.C. 44.
{ } AEtat. 63.

The Topica. { A so-called translation from Aristotle. It is } B.C. 44.
{ addressed to Trebatius.[a] } AEtat. 63.

De { A treatise on Old Age, addressed to Atticus, } B.C. 44.
Senectute. { and called Cato Major.[c] } AEtat. 63.

De { A treatise on Friendship, addressed also to } B.C. 44.
Amicitia. { Atticus, and called Laelius.[c] } AEtat. 63.

{ To his son. Treating of the Moral Duties of }
De { Life. Containing three books-- } B.C. 44.
Officiis. { I. On Honesty } AEtat. 63.
{ II. On Expediency }
{ III. Comparing Honesty and Expediency. }

It is to be observed from this list that for thirty years of his life
Cicero was silent in regard to literature--for those thirty years in
which the best fruits of a man's exertion are expected from him.
Indeed, we may say that for the first fifty-two years of his life he
wrote nothing but letters and speeches. Of the two treatises with which
the list is headed, the first, in all probability, did not come from his
pen, and the second is no more than a lad's translation from a Greek
author. As to the work of translation, it must be understood that the
Greek and Latin languages did not stand in reference to each other as
they do now to modern readers. We translate in order that the pearls
hidden under a foreign language may be conveyed to those who do not read
it, and admit, when we are so concerned, that none can truly drink the
fresh water from a fountain so handled. The Romans, in translating from
the Greek, thinking nothing of literary excellence, felt that they were
bringing Greek thought into a form of language in which it could be thus
made useful. There was no value for the words, but only for the thing to
be found in it. Thence it has come that no acknowledgment is made. We
moderns confess that we are translating, and hardly assume for ourselves
a third-rate literary place. When, on the other hand, we find the
unexpressed thought floating about the world, we take it, and we make