The Iron Kingdom Database

Journal of Early Christian Studies Volume 19 / Number 1 / Spring 2011
(Editor) David Brakke & Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press

Number of quotes: 1

Book ID: 119 Page: 49/50

Section: 4B

The Officia of St. Ambrose’s De officiis

Jed W. Atkins

However, Ambrose’s extensive moral writings and treatises also provide much of value for those who are interested in the reception, application, and transformation of Greek and Roman philosophy in late antiquity, as Marcia Colish has demonstrated.{3} The most famous of these works by Ambrose is his treatise De officiis, which is modeled on Cicero’s homonymous work written four centuries earlier.{4}

Ambrose’s De officiis is deeply indebted to Cicero’s. At the outset of his work, he informs the reader that he is writing for his spiritual sons “in the same way that Cicero wrote to instruct his [natural] son” (Ambr. Off. 1.24).{5}

. . . .

So close are the parallels that some scholars have suggested that Ambrose is too indebted to his model to advance his own thought in any significant way beyond the intellectual horizons of Cicero. {7} One scholar, writing fifty years ago, even accused Ambrose of plagiarism.{8}

Quote ID: 2767

Time Periods: 04

End of quotes