In eighteenth-century America, in an age prior to the technological wonders of mass media communications, the art of letter writing was considered to be one of the most prominent and distinguishing characteristics of an educated gentleman. At that time, the letter was often the only means of communicating personal opinions on private matters or on  the burning public issues of the day. The content of most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century letters is, expectedly, quite serious and the style of these letters is much more formal than that of today's casual epistolary style. The usual model for the student of letter writing in early America was the Roman politician, orator, lawyer and prolific letter writer, Cicero, whose "epistles" were studied as early as the fifth year of instruction in the grammar school. Quite frequently, that instruction was continued throughout the sixth year of school.¹

        Close imitation of Ciceronian style was observed throughout the formal education of the young student in early America and even ambitious youngsters, such as Benjamin Franklin, who did not have the benefit of an extensive formal education,  recognized the merits of modeling their own writing style on that of Cicero, albeit through the intermediary of Joseph Addison, an early eighteenth-century English essayist.²  In addition to acquiring a formal and socially acceptable writing style, the student who carefully imitated Cicero's letters also gained from them a working knowledge of first century B.C. Roman history, as well as many valuable lessons and examples of patriotism, civic courage and fortitude, and several straightforward discussions by many of Rome's leading citizens of the moral principles requisite for those holding public office.³

        Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), popularly referred to as "Tully" in early America, was a man of diverse talents and energies. Besides holding a variety of political offices in Rome, he was also a lawyer, civic official, both in Rome and foreign provinces, an eloquent orator, and a moral and political philosopher. One of his philosophical works, the De Officiis, a moralistic discussion of politics describing the duties and obligations of those who govern and the governed, was a special favorite of Latin Grammar school masters in early America. It was also a work that was frequently restudied in the colonial college, and often read in moments of leisure long after the days of formal education had ended.

        Selection "I" is from the diminutive (3" x 4"), but lengthy volume (745 pages), M. TulliiCiceronis Epistolarum ad Familiares Libri Sedecim. It was a schoolboy text, published in 1716, anonymously authored, and printed in Europe. Selection "II" is from an anonymously authored 1722 schoolboy edition of M. Tulli Ciceronis Libri Tres DE OFFICIIS, addito Catone Majore, Laelio, Paradoxis et Somnio Scipionis, published in London.

        M. T. Cicero S. D. L. Lucceio Q. Filio:

        Coram me tecum eadem haec agere saepe conantem deterruit pudor quidam paene
        subrusticus; quae nunc expromam absens audacius; epistula enim non erubescit.
        Ardeo cupiditate incredibili, neque, ut ego arbitror, reprehendenda, nomen ut
        nostrum scriptis illustretur, et celebretur tuis; quod etsi mihi saepe ostendis te esse
        facturum; tamen ignoscas velim huic festinationi meae. Genus enim scriptorum             5
        tuorum etsi erat semper a me vehementer exspectatum; tamen vicit opinionem meam,
        meque ita vel cepit, vel incendit ut cuperem quam celerrime res nostras monumentis
        commendari tuis; non enim me solum commemoratio posteritatis ad spem quandam
        immortalitatis rapit, sed etiam illa cupiditas, ut vel auctoritate testimonii tui, vel
        indicio benevolentiae, vel suavitate ingenii vivi perfruamur. Neque tamen, haec cum      10
        scribebam, eram nescius, quantis oneribus premerere susceptarum rerum, et iam
        institutarum, sed, quia videbam, Italici belli, et civilis historiam iam pene a te esse
        perfectam, dixeras autem mihi, te reliquas res ordiri; deesse mihi nolui, quin te
        admonerem, ut cogitares, coniunctene malles cum ceteris rebus nostra contexere, an,
        ut multi Graeci fecerunt, Callisthenes Troicum bellum, Timaeus Pyrrhi, Polybius             15
        Numantinum, qui omnes a perpetuis suis historiis ea, quae dixi, bella separaverunt,
        tu quoque item civilem conjurationem ab hostilibus, externisque bellis sejungeres;
        equidem ad nostram laudem non multum video interesse; sed ad properationem
        meam quiddam interest, non te exspectare, dum ad locum venias, ac statim causam
        illam totam et tempus arripere. Et simul, si uno in argumento, unaque in persona             20
        mens tua tota versabitur; cerno jam animo, quanto omnia uberiora, atque ornatiora
        futura sint. Neque tamen ignoro, quam impudenter faciam, qui primum tibi tantum
        oneris imponam, (potest enim mihi denegare occupatio tua) deinde etiam ut ornes
        me, postulem. Quid si illa tibi non tantopere videntur ornanda? sed tamen, qui semel
        verecundiae fines transierit, eum bene et naviter oportet esse impudentem; itaque te        25
        plane etiam atque etiam rogo, ut et ornes ea vehementius etiam, quam fortasse sentis;
        et in eo leges historiae negligas; gratiamque illam, de qua suavissime quodam in
        prooemio scripsisti, a qua te affici non magis potuisse demonstras, quam Herculem
        Xenophontium illum a Voluptate, ea si me tibi vehementius commendabit, ne
        aspernere; amorique nostro plusculum etiam, quam concedit veritas, largiare. Quod          30
        si te adducemus, ut hoc suscipias; erit, ut mihi persuadeo, materies digna facultate et
        copia tua; a principio enim conjurationis usque ad reditum nostrum videtur mihi
        modicum quoddam corpus confici posse. In quo et illa poteris uti civilium
        commutationum scientia, vel in explicandis causis rerum novarum, vel in remediis
        incommodorum, cum et reprehendes ea, quae vituperanda duces; et, quae placebunt,        35
        exponendis rationibus comprobabis; et, si liberius, ut consuesti, agendum putabis,
        multorum in nos perfidiam, insidias, proditionem notabis. Multam etiam casus nostri
        tibi varietatem in scribendo suppeditabunt, plenam cujusdam voluptatis, quae
        vehementer animos hominum in legendo scripto tenere possit. Nihil est enim aptius
        ad delectationem lectoris, quam temporum varietates, fortunaeque vicissitudines;              40
        quae etsi nobis optabiles in experiendo non fuerunt, in legendo tamen erunt jucundae.
        Habet enim praeteriti doloris secura recordatio delectationem; ceteris vero, nulla
        perfunctis propria molestia, casus alienos sine ullo dolore intuentibus, etiam ipsa
        misericordia est jucunda. Quem enim nostrum ille moriens apud Mantineam
        Epaminondas non cum quadam miseratione delectat? qui tum denique sibi avelli                45
        iubet spiculum, posteaquam ei percunctanti dictum est, clipeum esse salvum; ut
        etiam in vulneris dolore, aequo animo cum laude moreretur. Cujus studium in
        legendo non erectum Themistoclis fuga, redituque retinetur? etenim ordo ipse
        annalium mediocriter nos retinet quasi enumeratione fastorum; at viri saepe
        excellentis ancipites, variique casus habent admirationem, laetitiam, molestiam,                  50
        spem, timorem; si vero exitu notabili concluduntur, expletur animus jucundissima
        lectionis voluptate. Quo mihi acciderit optatius, si in hac sententia fueris, ut a
        continentibus tuis scriptis, in quibus perpetuam rerum gestarum historiam
        complecteris, secernas hanc quasi fabulam rerum eventorumque nostrorum. Habet
        enim varios actus, multasque actiones et consiliorum et temporum. Ac non vereor,             55
        ne assentiuncula quadam aucupari tuam gratiam videar, cum hoc demonstrem, me a
        te potissimum ornari, celebrarique velle. Neque enim tu is es, qui, quid sis, nescias,
        et qui non eos magis, qui te non admirentur, invidos, quam eos, qui laudent,
        assentatores arbitrere. Neque autem ego sum ita demens, ut me sempiternae gloriae
        per eum commendari velim, qui non ipse quoque in me commendando propriam                  60
        ingeni gloriam consequatur. Neque enim Alexander ille gratiae causa ab Apelle
        potissimum pingi, et a Lysippo fingi volebat, sed quod illorum artem cum ipsis, tum
        etiam sibi gloriae fore putabat. Atque illi artifices, corporis simulacra ignotis nota
        faciebant; quae vel si nulla sint, nihilo sint tamen obscuriores clari viri. Nec minus
        est Spartiates Agesilaus ille perhibendus, qui neque pictam neque fictam imaginem              65
        suam passus est esse, quam qui in eo genere laborarunt. Unus enim Xenophontis
        libellus in eo rege laudando facile omnes imagines omnium, statuesque superavit.
        Atque hoc praestantius mihi fuerit et ad laetitiam animi, et ad memoriae dignitatem,
        si in tua scripta pervenero, quam si in ceterorum, quod non ingenium mihi solum
        suppeditatum fuerit tuum, sicut Timoleonti a Timaeo, aut Herodoto Themistocli, sed            70
        etiam auctoritas clarissimi, et spectatissimi viri, et in rei publicae maximis,
        gravissimisque causis cogniti, atque in primis probati; ut mihi non solum
        praeconium, quod, cum in Sigeum venisset, Alexander ab Homero Achilli tributum
        esse dixit, sed etiam grave testimonium impertitum clari hominis magnique videatur.
        Placet enim Hector ille mihi Naevianus, qui non tantum laudari se laetar, sed addit               75
        etiam, a laudato viro. Quod si a te non impetro, hoc est, si qua te res impedierit
        (neque fas esse arbitror, quidquam me rogantem abs te non impetrare) cogar fortasse
        facere, quod nonnulli saepe reprehenderunt: scribam ipse de me, multorum tamen
        exemplo, et clarorum virorum. Sed, quod te non fugit, haec sunt in hoc genere vitia:
        et verecundius ipsi de sese scribant, necesse est, si quid est laudanm, et praetereant,            80
        si quid reprehendendum est. Accedit etiam, ut minor sit fides, minor auctoritas,
        multi denique reprehendant, et dicant verecundiores esse praecones ludorum
        gymnicorum, qui, cum ceteris coronas imposuerint victoribus, eorumque nomina
        magna voce pronunciarint, cum ipsi ante ludorum missionem corona donentur, alium
        praeconem adhibeant, ne sua voce ipsi se victores esse praedicent. Haec nos vitare             85
        cupimus, et, si recipis causam nostram, vitabimus; idque ut facias, rogamus. Ac, ne
        forte mirere, cur, cum mihi saepe ostenderis te accuratissime nostrorum temporum
        consilia, atque eventus litteris mandaturum, a te id nunc tantopere, et tam multis
        verbis petamus; illa nos cupiditas incendit, de qua initio scripsi, festinationis, quod
        alacres animo sumus, ut et ceteri, viventibus nobis, ex libris tuis nos cognoscant, et                90
         nosmet ipsi vivi gloriola nostra perfruamur. His de rebus quid acturus sis, si tibi non
        est molestum, rescribas mihi velim. Si enim suscipis causam; conficiam
        commentarios rerum omnium. Si autem differs me in tempus aliud, coram tecum
        loquar, tu interea non cessabis, et ea, quae habes instituta, perpolies, nosque diliges.
        Vale.
 

II. From Cicero's De Officiis Bk.1.33-34:

                    33: Illud autem maxime rarum genus est eorum, qui aut excellentis ingenii
        magnitudine, aut praeclara eruditione, atque doctrina, aut utraque re ornati, spatium
        etiam deliberandi habuerunt, quem potissimum vitae cursum sequi vellent. In qua
        deliberatione ad suam cujusque naturam consilium est omne revocandum. Nam cum
        in omnibus, quae aguntur, ex eo modo, quo quisque natus est, ut supra dictum est,                   5
        quid deceat, exquirimus: tum in tota vita constituenda multo est ei rei cura major
        adhibenda, ut constare in vitae perpetuitate possimus nobismet ipsis, nec in ullo
        officio claudicare. Ad hanc autem rationem quoniam maximam vim natura habet,
        fortuna proximam: utriusque omnino ratio habenda est in deligendo genere vitae: sed
        naturae magis; multo enim et firmior est, et constantior: ut fortuna non numquam                  10
        tanquam ipsa mortalis cum immortali natura pugnare videatur. Qui igitur ad naturae
        suae non vitiosae genus consilium vivendi omne contulerit, is constantiam teneat: id
        enim maxime decet, nisi forte se intellexerit errasse in deligendo genere vitae. Quod
        si accident (potest autem accidere), facienda morum institutorumque mutatio est.
        Eam igitur mutationem, si tempora adiuvabunt, facilius, commodiusque faciemus:                   15
        sin minus, sensim erit pedetemptimque facienda, ut amicitias, quae minus delectent,
        et minus probentur, magis decere, censent sapientes, sensim dissuere, quam repente
        praecidere. Commutato autem genere vitae, omni ratione curandum est, ut id bono
        consilio fecisse videamur. Sed quoniam paulo ante dictum est, imitandos esse
        majores: primum illud exceptum sit, ne vitia sint imitanda: deinde, si natura non                       20
        feret, ut quaedam imitari possit, ut superioris Africani filius, qui hunc Paulo natum
        adoptavit, propter infirmitatem valetudinis non tam potuit patris similis esse, quam
        ille fuerat sui. Si igitur non poterit sive causas defensitare, sive populum contionibus
        tenere, sive bella gerere: illa tamen praestare debebit, quae erunt in ipsius potestate,
        justitiam, fidem, liberalitatem, modestiam, temperantiam: quo minus ab eo id, quo                    25
        desit, requiratur. Optima autem haereditas a patribus traditur liberis, omnique
        patrimonio praestantior, gloria virtutis rerumque gestarum: cui dedecori esse nefas, et
        implum iudicandum est.

        34. Et quoniam officia non eadem disparibus aetatibus tribuuntur, aliaque sunt
        juvenum, alia seniorun; aliquid etiam de hac distinctione dicendum est. Est igitur                      30
        adulescentis, majores natu vereri, exque his deligere optimos, et probatissimos,
        quorum consilio, atque auctoritate nitatur. Ineuntis enim aetatis inscitia, senum
        constituenda, et regenda prudentia est. Maxime autem haec aetas a libidinibus
        arcenda est, exercendaque in labore, patientiaque et animi, et corporis, ut eorum et in
        bellicis, et in civilibus officiis vigeat industria. Atque etiam cum relaxare animos, et                  35
        dare se jucundidati volent, caveant intemperantiam, meminerint verecundiae: quod
        erit facilius, si ejusmodi quidem rebus majores natu interesse velint. Senibus autem
        labores corporis minuendi, exercitationes animi etiam augendae videntur; danda vero
        opera, ut amicos, et juventutem, et maxime rempublicam consilio, et prudentia
        quamplurimum adjuvent. Nihil autem magis cavendum est senectuti, quam ne                          40
        languori se desidiaeque dedat. Luxuria vero cum omni aetati turpis, tum senectuti
        foedissima est. Sin autem etiam libidinum intemperantia accesserit, duplex malum
        est, quod et ipsa senectus concipit dedecus, et facit adulescentium impudentiorem
        intemperantiam. Ac ne illud quidern alienum est, de magistratuum, de privatorum, de
        civium, de peregrinorum officiis dicere. Est igitur proprium munus magistratus,                         45
        intelligere, se gerere personam civitatis, debereque ejus dignitatem, et decus
        sustinere, servare leges, jura describere, ea fidei suae commissa meminisse.
        Privatum autem oportet aequo, et pari cum civibus jure vivere, neque submissum et
        abjectum, neque se efferentem: tum in republica ea velle, quae tranquilla, et honesta
        sint. Talem enim et sentire bonum civem, et dicere solemus. Peregrini autem et                        50
        incolae officium est, nihil praeter suum negotium agere, nihil de alio anquirere,
        minimeque in aliena esse republica curiosum. Ita fere officia reperientur, cum
        quaeretur, quid deceat, et quid aptum sit personis, temporibus, aetatibus. Nihil est
        autem, quod tam deceat, quam in omni re gerenda, consilioque capiendo servare
        constantiam.

        Selection I: At the time of the writing of this letter (April or May 56 B.C.), Lucius Lucceius had almost finished composing a history of the Social and Civil Wars. Prior to that time, he had prosecuted Catiline in 64 B.C. for murders which the latter had committed during the Sullan proscriptions. He had also stood, unsuccessfully, for the consulship with Caesar in 60 B.C. His own experience in public life rendered him quite competent to write a history of Cicero's consulship, which he had previously promised to do.

L.4 modern texts make a full stop after tuis and begin a new sentence with quod.

L.10 perfruamur, "that I enjoy while living" + the ablatives, auctoritate, indicio,
                                and suavitate.

L.11 premerere = premereris.

L.13f dixeras autem mihi, translate "and moreover because you had said to me."

L.14f. with nostra understand facta. Callisthenes authored a history of Greece
                            from 387 to 357 B.C.; Timaeus wrote of the Greeks in Sicily in the early
                            third century B.C.; Polybius, the great Greek historian, was captured by
                            Scipio Aemilianus in 133 B.C. Under Aemilianus' patronage Polybius
                            wrote a history of Greece which ended with the fall of Corinth and
                            Carthage in 146 B.C. It also contained a brilliant description of Rome's
                            government during the Republic.

L.17 hostilibus, a public, but native, enemy.

L.20 understand te as subject accusative of arripere.

L.24 the antecedent of qui is eum (l. 25).

L.28 affici, modern texts read flecti.

L.29f Herculem Xenophontium--for the allegory of Prodicus, see
                            Xenophon's Memorabilia 2.1.21-34 and Cicero's de officiis 1.32,
                            which passage is translated as follows in Thomas Cockman's 1739
                            translation of TULLYS Three Books of OFFICES in ENGLISH: "Prodicus
                            indeed (as I find it in Xenophon) tells us this Story concerning Hercules,
                            "That when he was a Youth, (which is the proper Season allotted by
                            Nature for chusing a Way of Life) he withdrew himself into a solitary
                            Place, and there having found out a couple of Ways, the one of Pleasure,
                            and the other of Virtue, he sat musing, and considered a while with
                            himself, which of these two ways he had best to follow. Such a Thing
                            as this might happen to Hercules a Son of Juppiter; but it is not for us
                            to expect the same, who each of us take whom we please for our
                            Patterns, and suffer ourselves to be drawn any whither, according
                            as they lead us" (p. 108).

L.29 ea, modern texts read eam, the direct object of aspernere.

L.30 largiare = largiaris, second person, present singular subjunctive.

L.39 scripto, modern texts read te scriptore, "with you as the writer."

L.43 perfunctis, modifies ceteris.

L.45 Epaminondas died in 362 B.C. at Mantinea after gaining
                            resounding victory over the Lacedaemonians. The antecedent of
                            qui is Epaminondas.

L.48 if redituque is a correct reading, then Cicero has committed a
                             historical error since Themistocles never returned from exile.

L.49 quasi introduces a conditional clause of comparison, plus the
                            understood a subjunctive such as retineamur.
L.56 assentiuncula, ablative of means.

L.57f Translate: "For neither are you such a person who does not know   his own talents
                            and who does not think that those who do not admire you are more jealous
                            than those flatterers who praise you."
L.62 understand se as subject accusative of pingi and fingi.

L.62 quod = "because;" Apelles was a famous painter and Lysippus, a famous sculptor of
                            the fourth century B.C.
L.63 gloriae, dative of purpose.

L.64 with nulla, understand simulacra.

L.65f. Agesilaus, king of Sparta in the early fourth century B.C. Xenophon, the historian,
                            who wrote an encomium for him ca. 360 B.C.
L.69 with in ceterorum, understand scriptis.

L70f with Timoleonti, understand suppeditatum fuerit. Timoleon wa a Corinthian general
                            who fought courageously against the tyrant Dionysius II, in Syracuse in the
                            mid-fourth century B.C. Themistocles is often referred to as the "father of
                            the Athenian  navy" which he built in the early fifth century B.C. in Athens'
                            wars against the Persians.
L.74 impertitum + the dative (mihi).
L75 Naevius, a Latin poet of the early third century B.C.
L.79 quod te non fugit, translate: "as you are well aware."
L.83f cum + imposuerint and pronunciarint is a "cum" circumstantial clause.
L. 87 mirere = mireris.

        Selection II: Cicero's de officiis was written in 45-44 B.C. This philosophical/ethical essay consists of three
books which Cicero dedicated to his son, Marcus, a twenty-one year old university student in Athens. The work, as
a whole, recommends a life of self-discipline and moralistic behaviour to young men who intend to enter public life.
Book 1, among numerous other themes, treats at length honestum; Book 2 discusses utile and Book 3 suggests
what course of action should be followed when the honestum and the utile are in apparent conflict.

L.1 Illud . . . eorum, translate: "there is one class of people that is especially rare."

L.4 ad suam cujusque naturam, translate: "to each man's natural disposition."

L.5 ex eo modo quo quisque natus est translate: "according to his native
                            individual character."

L.6 tum, with cum in L.4; "not only…but also." ei rei = in vita constituenda.

L.8 ad hanc . . . rationem, translate: "with respect to this choice (i.e., of
                            selecting a career)."

L.9 utriusque = natura and fortuna.

L.10 ut fortuna . . ., translate: "so that although never herself a mortal,
                            fortune seems to be so in her fight with immortal Nature."

L.12 take non with vitiosae.

L.14 morum, usually interpreted as "mode of life" here.

L.16f construe as follows: ut sapientes censent magis decere sensim
                            dissuere quam repente praecidere amicitias quae minus delectent.

L.19 sed quoniam paulo, translate: "but as one who said a moment ago."

L21 superioris Africani filius, the son of the elder Scipio Africanus,
                            who adopted Scipio Africanus the Younger, son of Aemilianus Paulus.

L.22f quam ille fuerat sui, translate: "as he (Scipio the Elder) was like
                            his father (Publius Scipio)."

L.25f quo minus ab eo id, quod desit, requiratur, translate: "whereby
                            that which is lacking may be less.

L.27 dedecori, dative of respect.

L.31 read majores natu vereri, est. igitur (officium) adulescentis.

L.33 prudentia is an ablative.

L.34 eorum refers to the adulescentes of L.31.

L.37 si . . . velint, translate: "if they are willing to have their elders participate
                            in matters even of this nature."

L.41 se refers to senectuti; cum . . . tum, "not only. . but also".

L.44f ac ne illud . . . dicere, translate: "and it would not be out of place to
                            make mention of."

L.46 se gerere personam civitatis, translate: "that he represents the state."
                            Understand se as subject accusative of debere and sustinere, servare,
                            etc., complementary infinitives of debere.
L.48 understand privatum as subject accusative of velle.

L.53 temporibus, in the sense of "circumstances."

        On August 20^th, 1821, John Adams wrote a letter to Jefferson in which he supports the recommendation that an academy be established for the training of naval officers. In this letter he also laments the death of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from the state of New York: "Floyd is gone! You and Jay and Carrol are all who remain. We shall all be asterised very soon. Sic transit Gloriola (is there such a latin Word?) mundi."⁴ Jefferson in his response to Adams comments on the general status of liberty in the world and recommends that the academy for training military officers at West Point also be used for the instruction of naval officers. He too acknowledges the passing away of William Floyd and then answers Adams' inquiry about the existence of the word "gloriola": "Your doubt of the legitimacy of the word gloriola is resolved by Cicero, who in his letter to Lucceius expresses a wish ut nos metipsi vivi gloriola nostra perfruamur."⁵ Jefferson's total familiarity with the text of Cicero's Ad Familiares 5.12 (Selection I) can be traced to his school years, but, long after his formal education ceased, he also reread all Cicero's letters in 1819.⁶ At this late period in his life, Jefferson was examining these letters for an explanation of the political motivations of Cicero and Caesar, or at least that was the reason which he gave to John Adams in a letter of 10 December 1819:

^{2. In his Autobiography, Franklin describes the pains to which he went to develop his writing skills: "About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator (written by Joseph Addison). It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent and wished if possible to imitate it. With that view, I took some of the papers, and making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then without looking at the book, tried to complete the papers again by expressing each hinted sentiment at length and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should occur to me. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual search for words of the same import but of different length to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it . . . By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and corrected them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that in certain particulars of small import I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think that I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer of which I was extremely ambitious."  See L. Jesse Lemisch Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings (New York: New American Library,
1961)}, ^{pp. 28-29. The parentheses are mine. James Madison, at age seventy, also praised the benefits which he derived from imitating the style of Addison and Swift, and, in turn, recommended a similar practice to youngsters of his own day -- see Louis C. Schaedler, "James Madison, Literary Craftsman, " William and mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 3 (1946),
pp.515-516.}
3. See Louis Cohn-Haft, "The Founding Fathers and Antiquity: A Selective Passion" in The Survival of Antiquity: Smith College Studies in History, Vol. XLVIII in Honor of Phyllis Williams Lehman, (Northampton, MA.; 1980), pp. 137-151, for social, political and historical lessons learned from the study of Antiquity by 18^th century Americans.

^{4. Lester J. Cappon, ed., The Adams-Jefferson Letters 2 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), pp. 573-574.}
5. L. Cappon, The Adams-Jefferson Letters 2, pp. 574-576, 12 September 1821

^{6. Shortly after his graduation from the College of New Jersey (Princeton), James Madison also made reference to Cicero's letter to Lucceius when he wrote to his college friend, William Bradford: "For my own part I confess I have not the face to perform ceremony in person and I equally detest it on paper though as Tully says It cannot blush." See William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal, eds., The Papers of James Madison 1 (Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1962), pp. 83-85. Madison's letter is dated to 28 April 1773.}
7. See Saul K. Padover, A Jefferson Profile: As Revealed in His Letters (New York: The John Day Company, 1956), pp. 309-11.

^{8. Padover, A Jefferson Profile, pp. 315-16, 19 January 1821. Some idea of the close attention paid to Cicero's letters in the eighteenth-century can be gained from J. Markland's Remarks on the Epistles of Cicero to Brutus and of Brutus to Cicero, London, 1745, in which the language, sentence arrangement, and rhythm of Cicero's epistles are subjected to close scrutiny for nearly four hundred pages.}

^{9. For the inclusion of the De Officiis in the curriculum of the Latin grammar school, see Introduction; for the inclusion of the De Officiis in the curriculum of the early American college, see the Introduction to Part II.  For the continuation of the persuasive force of Cicero's de officiis on Americans contemplating entrance into political life as late as the first quarter of the 19th century, see R. A. McNeal (ed.), Nicholas Biddle in Greece: The Journals and Letters of 1806, (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993), pp.6-8.}

^{10. See L. H. Butterfield, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams 3 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1962), p. 240. Of even greater importance is Adams' entry for the following day since it reveals Adams' sober reflection upon the duties and rights of every human being. Undoubtedly, much of his introspection was enkindled by the previous day's reading: "One great Advantage of the Christian Religion is that it brings the great Principle of the Law of Nature and Nations, Love your Neighbor as yourself, and do to others as you would that others should do to you, to the Knowledge, Belief and Veneration of the the whole People. Children, Servants, Women and Men are all Professors in the science of public as well as private Morality. No other Institution for Education, no kind of political Discipline, could diffuse this kind of necessary Information, so universally among all Ranks and Descriptions of Citizens. The Duties and Rights of The Man and the Citizen are thus taught, from early Infancy to every Creature. The Sanctions of a future Life are thus added to the Observance of civil and political as well as domestic and private Duties. Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, are thus taught to be the means and Conditions of future as well as present Happiness," pp. 240-241.}