Composed in haste shortly before Cicero's death, De Officiis has exercised enormous influence over the centuries. It is all the more surprising that Andrew R. Dyck's volume is the first detailed English commentary on the work written in this century.

It deals with the problems of the Latin text (taking account of Michael Winterbottom's new edition), it delineates the work's structure and sometimes elusive train of thought, clarifies the underlying Greek and Latin concepts, and provides starting points for approaching the philosophical and historical problems that De Officiis raises.

A work of major importance for classicists, philosophers, and ancient historians, this commentary will be an invaluable companion to all readers of Cicero's last philosophical work.