contemplative and political magnanimity 73-84 Comparison between civic and martial magnanimity 85-91 Civic magnanimity 93-151 PROPRIETY 93-99 Definition of propriety 100-106 What is proper according to human nature 107-114 According to individual characteristics 115-116 According to chance and circumstance 117-121 According to one's individual judgement 122-123 What is proper according to age 124-125 What is proper according to political status 126-132 What is a proper physical and mental bearing 132-137 What is proper in speech 138-140 What is a proper use of property 141 Summary 142-151 Orderliness 152-161 CONFLICT AND COMPARISON BETWEEN THE VIRTUES 152 The possible conflict between the virtues 153-160 The conflict between wisdom and justice 157 The conflict between justice and magnanimity 159 The conflict between justice and propriety 161 Conclusion Book Two The second book enlarges on those duties which relate to private advantage and the improvement of life. The book focuses on political advancement, and the means employed for the attainment of wealth and power. The honorable means of gaining popularity include generosity, courtesy, and eloquence. Book Three The third book discusses the choice to be made when there is an apparent conflict between virtue and expediency. True virtue can never be put in competition with private advantage. Thus nothing should be accounted useful or profitable if not strictly virtuous, and there ought to be no separation of the principles of virtue and expediency. Cicero proposes some rules for cases of doubt, where seeming utility comes into competition with virtue. He examines in what situations one may seek private gain with honour. He takes his examples from Roman history, such as the case of Marcus Atilius Regulus who was released by the Carthaginians to negotiate a peace, advised the Roman Senate to reject the proposals, and fulfilled his oath by returning to Carthage. Themes De Officiis has been characterized as an attempt to define ideals of public behavior. It criticizes the recently overthrown dictator Julius Caesar in several places, and his dictatorship as a whole. Cicero claims that the absence of political rights corrupts moral virtues. Cicero also speaks of a natural law that is said to govern both humans and gods alike. Legacy The work's legacy is profound. Although not a Christian work, St. Ambrose in 390 declared it legitimate for the Church to use (along with everything else Cicero, and the equally popular Roman philosopher Seneca, had written). It became a moral authority