Critical edition of Cicero's text, based on a study and collation of manuscripts which reflects an understanding of the whole manuscript tradition. In the OXFORD CLASSIC TEXTS series, this is the second in a series of editions of Cicero's philosophical works.

Cicero's De finibus, written in 45 B.C., consists of three separate dialogues, dealing respectively with the ethical systems of Epicureanism, Stoicism, and the "Old Academy" of Antiochus of Ascalon. An encyclopedic survey of this nature is of particular importance for its detailed account of Stoic ethics. This critical edition of the text, based on a fresh study and collation of the manuscripts, is the first to appear for many years and the first to reflect a clear understanding of the whole manuscript tradition. It will be the second in a series of editions of Cicero's philosophical works; the first volume, the De officiis, edited by Michael Winterbottom, appeared in 1994.

Finally we have from the pen of the late L.D. Reynolds... a critical edition to take its place on our shelves as a fully worthy companion beside Madvig's commentary... The chief of R.'s improvements is to the stemma... R.'s Fin. is the second volume in a projected complete edition for OCT of Cicero's philosophical corpus. One point shared with its series predecessor M. Winterbottom's De Officiis, is clarity of layout, whereby the needed information is set before the reader without the clutter of the dubiously relevant.