Cicero: Selected Letters (Penguin Classics)
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 0140444580
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The greatest orator in Roman history, Marcus Tullius Cicero remained one of the republic's chief supporters throughout his life, guided by profound political beliefs that illuminated his correspondence with both close friends and powerful aristocrats. A chronicle of a crumbling civilization during the era when the republic disintegrated and was replaced by despotism, his Letters portray a world dominated by characters who have since acquired almost mythic status - including Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Antony. Whether describing the vagaries of war, the collapse of Roman society, his beloved republic, or his own personal domestic dramas, all compellingly reflect the complex personality of an honourable and selfless man whose refusal to compromise ultimately cost him his life.
envoy. LEGION: Roman army unit with full complement of 6,000 men divided into ten cohorts. Each legion was officered by six Military Tribunes. Each cohort had six Centurions, the highest in rank being called primi pili (Chief Centurion). The ensign of a Legion was an eagle, and each cohort had its standard (signum). LEX CORNELIA (de provinciis): Law of Sulla regulating provincial administration. LEX CURIATA: See above, CURIATE LAW. LEX JULIA (de provinciis): Consular law of Caesar’s on
Perhaps more probably Hortensius’ nephew Messalla Rufus, Consul in 53. 128. This is aimed especially at Hortensius (cf. the foregoing letter to Quintus). How much warrant Cicero had for such accusations is uncertain. 129. P. Clodius’ brother Appius. 130. Ironical. Favonius’ official rank was humble, ex-Quaestor or at most ex-Tribune. 131. After demolishing Cicero’s house on the Palatine Clodius had consecrated part of the site to the goddess Liberty. To allow Cicero to rebuild, this
about it. He is not scared of what happened to me, for he is never going to follow anybody’s envious and treacherous advice or put his trust in a sluggish nobility. My heart is high, higher even than in my palmy days, but my purse is low. None the less, with the help of my friends and against his opposition, I am repaying my brother’s generosity, so far as my resources allow, so as not to be left entirely penniless. With you away I don’t know what line to take as to my position in general. So
have seen the athletes! Pompey himself admits that they were a waste of time and midday oil!190 That leaves the hunts, two every day for five days, magnificent – nobody says otherwise. But what pleasure can a cultivated man get out of seeing a weak human being torn to pieces by a powerful animal or a splendid animal transfixed by a hunting spear? Anyhow, if these sights are worth seeing, you have seen them often; and we spectators saw nothing new. The last day was for the elephants. The
chief care must be for your health, if you want us345 to keep ours. 22nd, from Formiae. 63 Q. CICERO TO TIRO Rome or Campania, January 49 From Q. Cicero to Tiro greetings. Your health makes us terribly anxious. Travellers report ‘no danger, but it will take time’, which is a great consolation. Still it’s a huge anxiety, if you are going to be away from us for long. Missing you brings home to us how useful and pleasant it is to have you. But though I long to see you with my every