When compiling a summary of Cicero's On Duties, one must not to leave out what was happening to the man that wrote it at the time of publication. Cicero was living in Rome, and there was much political turmoil after the emperor, Julius Caesar, was killed. Cicero, being a member of a higher class, was expected to join politics, but refused to and instead became a philosophical writer.
On Duties is written as a letter in three parts, focusing on the way that humans should interact with one another in a reasonable manner. It is written this way because Cicero was writing it to his son, who was living in Athens. Cicero mainly focuses on the differences between doing things that are honorable and doing things that are beneficial to oneself, greatly different actions in any situations.
Cicero first explains what honor is: a combination of wisdom, justice, spirit, and moderation. To be honorable, you must make actions that consider all of these premises in the best manner possible. He explains that it is easy to fall into the trap of doing what is easiest for oneself, but it is not what is best.
Next, Cicero explains that actions create even more of a problem when deciding between usefulness and honor is some cases. If you make the wrong initial action, it will become harder to make an honorable action because it could give up some of your honor. In this part of the book, Cicero cites works of history and philosophy, something that not all writers were expected to do at the time.
