Chapter 3: Laelius: On Friendship Summary and Analysis

Cicero's essay Laelius: On Friendship was written after the assassination of Caesar, after Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony) had taken dictatorial control. Cicero left the country but Atticus reproached him. Cicero heard of a meeting of the Roman Senate and turns around to return to Rome. The previous months were miserable for Cicero and he spent it writing Laelius: On Friendship.

This piece is a dialogue. Cicero claims that it is a transcription that he heard from Quintus Mucius Scaevola, one of his teachers, who in turn heard it firsthand. Laelius, the main character of the dialogue, was born one-hundred and forty years before Cicero wrote. He was friend with a man named Scipio Africanus who had died a few years before the dialogue took place. Laelius: On Friendship concerns Laelius' meditation on his legendary friendship...