Relationships
On the nature of relationships between people in society, the author creates a hierarchy stretching from the shared communal needs of the residents of the city to the interior of each home, ending with a metaphor that makes his reasoning clear:
“the home is the germ of the city, and, so to speak, the nursery of the state.”
Poster Metaphors
Not all of the metaphorical imagery found in the text is quite as plain and unambiguous. In fact, on more occasions than not, Cicero is fond of lofty pronouncements that almost call to attention to themselves. Were he writing today, it is likely some of his ideas would make it onto bumper stickers or posters:
“fear is but a poor guardian for permanent possession, and, on the other hand, good will is faithful so long as there can be need of its loyalty.”
Force or Fraud: Which be Worse?
On the issue of justice, Cicero is rather progressive in suggesting that slaves be called servants and paid for their labor. He is also a bit more liberal in his view of how injustice is meted out and which is the worse offense and frames his argument in animal metaphor:
“...while wrong may be done in two ways, either by force or by fraud, the latter seems to belong, as it were, to the fox, the former to the lion, and neither to be congenial with man. Yet of the two, fraud is the most detestable.”
Legal Chicanery
Also on the subject of injustice, Cicero’s progressivism extends to admitting that the nature of law and the judicial system is one which often results in a paradox. He terms this system of injustice chicanery, perhaps because his metaphorical language is a big confusing out of context:
“The extreme of right is the extreme of wrong.”
Beware Greeks (and Romans) Bearing Gifts
On the subject of the virtue of generosity, Cicero reveals that he is not wearing rose-colored glasses. Intuitively aware of the nature of man, he warns against always viewing benevolent gestures as necessarily an absolute good:
“many bestow benefits…without judgment or method, or roused to action by some sudden impulse of mind, as if by a blast of wind; and their kindnesses are not to be esteemed so great as those which are conferred with judgment, deliberately and continuously.
