Abstract

Montaigne never got to think that Cicero was a teacher of thought and life. First, Montaigne held a very negative position with respect to Cicero. Later than 1588, he arrived at one more balanced position. According Montaigne Cicero belongs to one world that separate the culture from the life, which represents the field where the truth of a being is pronounced and the ethical values are made concretely. Montaigne did not want to admit that Cicero also rejected the separation of word, thought and action. When after 1588 Cicero is used by Montaigne extensively, the Cicero’s appointments are interpreted in a very personal way. For Montaigne, Cicero was simultaneously an egocentric and a republican orator, while the author of the Essais preferred an aristocratic ethics and praised the authoritarian regimes.