As consul in 63 BC Cicero faced a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman state launched by the frustrated consular candidate Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero's handling of this crisis would shape foreverafter the way he defined himself and his statesmanship. The four speeches he delivered during the crisis show him at the height of his oratorical powers and political influence. Divided between deliberative speeches given in the senate (1 and 4) and informational speeches delivered before the general public (2 and 3), the Catilinarians illustrate Cicero's adroit handling of several distinct types of rhetoric. Beginning in antiquity, this corpus served as a basic text for generations of students but fell into neglect during the past half-century. This edition, which is aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, takes account of recently discovered papyrus evidence, recent studies of Cicero's language, style and rhetorical techniques, and the relevant historical background.

Pro Marco Caelio is perhaps Cicero's best-loved speech and has long been regarded as one of the best surviving examples of Roman oratory. Speaking in defence of the young aristocrat Marcus Caelius Rufus on charges of political violence, Cicero scores his points with wit but also with searing invective directed at a supporter of the prosecution, Clodia Metelli, whom he represents as seeking vengeance as a lover spurned by his client. This new edition and detailed commentary offers advanced undergraduates and graduate students, as well as scholars, a detailed analysis of Cicero's rhetorical strategies and stylistic refinements and presents a systematic account of the background and significance of the speech, including in-depth explanations of Roman court proceedings.

Pro Marco Caelio is perhaps Cicero's best-loved speech and has long been regarded as one of the best surviving examples of Roman oratory. Speaking in defence of the young aristocrat Marcus Caelius Rufus on charges of political violence, Cicero scores his points with wit but also with searing invective directed at a supporter of the prosecution, Clodia Metelli, whom he represents as seeking vengeance as a lover spurned by his client. This new edition and detailed commentary offers advanced undergraduates and graduate students, as well as scholars, a detailed analysis of Cicero's rhetorical strategies and stylistic refinements and presents a systematic account of the background and significance of the speech, including in-depth explanations of Roman court proceedings.

Sextus Roscius was murdered in Rome some months after the official end of the Sullan proscriptions on 1 June 81 BC. The case was tried early the following year with a young Cicero acting as defense counsel in his first criminal case for the accused son. Though a novice, Cicero was able to tap into the public anger over the uncontrolled killing and looting of the proscriptions and channel it against the men behind the prosecution, T. Roscius Magnus and T. Roscius Capito. Cicero won a career-making victory, establishing his reputation as a formidable advocate. This 2010 book provides a Latin text and commentary updated to take account of advances in the study of the Latin language as well as Roman institutions, law and society. It is suitable for use with upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.

As consul in 63 BC Cicero faced a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman state launched by the frustrated consular candidate Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero's handling of this crisis would shape foreverafter the way he defined himself and his statesmanship. The four speeches he delivered during the crisis show him at the height of his oratorical powers and political influence. Divided between deliberative speeches given in the senate (1 and 4) and informational speeches delivered before the general public (2 and 3), the Catilinarians illustrate Cicero's adroit handling of several distinct types of rhetoric. Beginning in antiquity, this corpus served as a basic text for generations of students but fell into neglect during the past half-century. This edition, which is aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, takes account of recently discovered papyrus evidence, recent studies of Cicero's language, style and rhetorical techniques, and the relevant historical background.

Book 1 of De Natura Deorum exhibits in a nutshell Cicero's philosophical method, with the prior part stating the case for Epicurean theology, the latter (rather longer) part refuting it. Thus the reader observes Cicero at work in both constructive and skeptical modes as well as his art of characterizing speakers. Prefaced to the Book is Cicero's most elaborate justification of his philosophical writing. The Book thus makes an ideal starting point for the study of Cicero's philosophica or indeed of any philosophical writing in Latin, since it delineates the problems such a project raised in the minds of Roman readers and shows how Cicero thought they could be met. There is also a systematic and detailed doxography of ancient views about the deity, an important document in itself, presented from an Epicurean perspective. The volume's Introduction situates this text within Cicero's intellectual development and ancient reflection about the gods.

Besides his renowned prosecution of Gaius Verres, Cicero also appeared as defence counsel in a number of cases in which former governors were accused of misconduct in the provinces. This volume unites two such defences, both incompletely preserved, from an early phase of Cicero's career (ca. 69 BC) and from his maturity (54 BC). The first speech is on behalf of Marcus Fonteius. Fonteius was governor of Transalpine Gaul probably from 74 to 72 BC, a time when the Romans were consolidating their control of that province and simultaneously fighting a bitter war with rebels under Sertorius in the Iberian Peninsula. Cicero defends Fonteius with the argument that his measures, though severe, were in the state interest. The second speech is on behalf of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, governor of Sardinia in 55, whose charges included not only peculation but also cruelty and hounding a woman to suicide through his unwanted attentions. In both cases Cicero seeks to stir Roman prejudice against the foreign witnesses testifying for the prosecution. The outcome of Fonteius' case is not clear from surviving evidence, but Scaurus was acquitted, only to be condemned and exiled on charges of corrupt electoral practices three years later. Dyck's volume provides a general introduction on the Roman extortion court and, for each speech, an introduction, English translation, and the first detailed commentary in English.

An Open Letters Review Best Book of the Year Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) was one of the great scholar-poets of the Italian Renaissance and the leading literary figure of Florence in the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, "il Magnifico." The poet's Miscellanies, including a "first century" published in 1489 and a "second century" unfinished at his death, constitute the most innovative contribution to classical philology of the Renaissance. Each chapter is a mini-essay on some lexical or textual problem which Poliziano, drawing on the riches of the Medici Library and Lorenzo's collection of antiquities, solves with his characteristic mixture of deep learning, analytic skill, and brash criticism of his predecessors. Volume 1 presents a new Latin edition of The First Century of the Miscellanies, and these volumes together present the first translation of both collections into any modern language.

An Open Letters Review Best Book of the Year Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) was one of the great scholar-poets of the Italian Renaissance and the leading literary figure of Florence in the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, "il Magnifico." The poet's Miscellanies, including a "first century" published in 1489 and a "second century" unfinished at his death, constitute the most innovative contribution to classical philology of the Renaissance. Each chapter is a mini-essay on some lexical or textual problem which Poliziano, drawing on the riches of the Medici Library and Lorenzo's collection of antiquities, solves with his characteristic mixture of deep learning, analytic skill, and brash criticism of his predecessors. Volume 1 presents a new Latin edition of The First Century of the Miscellanies, and these volumes together present the first translation of both collections into any modern language.

Besides his renowned prosecution of Gaius Verres, Cicero also appeared as defence counsel in a number of cases in which former governors were accused of misconduct in the provinces. This volume unites two such defences, both incompletely preserved, from an early phase of Cicero's career (ca. 69 BC) and from his maturity (54 BC). The first speech is on behalf of Marcus Fonteius. Fonteius was governor of Transalpine Gaul probably from 74 to 72 BC, a time when the Romans were consolidating their control of that province and simultaneously fighting a bitter war with rebels under Sertorius in the Iberian Peninsula. Cicero defends Fonteius with the argument that his measures, though severe, were in the state interest. The second speech is on behalf of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, governor of Sardinia in 55, whose charges included not only peculation but also cruelty and hounding a woman to suicide through his unwanted attentions. In both cases Cicero seeks to stir Roman prejudice against the foreign witnesses testifying for the prosecution. The outcome of Fonteius' case is not clear from surviving evidence, but Scaurus was acquitted, only to be condemned and exiled on charges of corrupt electoral practices three years later. Dyck's volume provides a general introduction on the Roman extortion court and, for each speech, an introduction, English translation, and the first detailed commentary in English.

Sextus Roscius was murdered in Rome some months after the official end of the Sullan proscriptions on 1 June 81 BC. The case was tried early the following year with a young Cicero acting as defense counsel in his first criminal case for the accused son. Though a novice, Cicero was able to tap into the public anger over the uncontrolled killing and looting of the proscriptions and channel it against the men behind the prosecution, T. Roscius Magnus and T. Roscius Capito. Cicero won a career-making victory, establishing his reputation as a formidable advocate. This 2010 book provides a Latin text and commentary updated to take account of advances in the study of the Latin language as well as Roman institutions, law and society. It is suitable for use with upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.

Toward the end of the last century Cicero's work came under attack from several angles. His political stance was sharply criticized for inconsistency by Theodor Mommsen and others, his philosophical works for lack of originality. Since then scholars have come to a better understanding of the political conditions that informed the views of Mommsen and his contemporaries about Caesar and Cicero, and as a result Cicero's writings have been restored to a more appropriate position in the literature and history of the Roman Republic. At the same time recent years have seen an intensive study of Hellenistic philosophy, and this has shown more clearly than before that, even while following Greek models, Cicero nonetheless pursued his own political and, in the ethical works, moralistic agenda.
Composed in haste shortly before Cicero's death, "de Officiis "has exercised enormous influence over the centuries. It is all the more surprising that Andrew R. Dyck's volume is the first detailed English commentary on the work written in this century. It deals with the problems of the Latin text (taking account of Michael Winterbottom's new edition), it delineates the work's structure and sometimes elusive train of thought, clarifies the underlying Greek and Latin concepts, and provides starting points for approaching the philosophical and historical problems that "de Officiis" raises.
A work of major importance for classicists, philosophers, and ancient historians, this "Commentary "will be an invaluable companion to all readers of Cicero's last philosophical work.
Andrew R. Dyck is Professor of Classics, University of California, Los Angeles.
Publication of this volume is supported by agrant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.