Cicero: Philippics I-II / Edition 1

by Marcus Tullius Cicero, John T. Ramsey

Overview

This edition is the first since J.D. Denniston's of 1926 to present the Latin text and commentary on the First and Second Philippics, two of Cicero's most polished orations, composed less than six months after the murder of Julius Caesar in March 44 BC. This period—roughly 63-44 BC—is important because the Roman state was in transition from Republic to Empire. The Second Philippic not only presents Cicero's assessment of his own political career and his place in Roman history from a perspective late in his life, but it also provides a vivid eyewitness account of how Julius Caesar, with the help of Mark Antony, made himself master of Rome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521422857
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/04/2003
Series:	Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.91(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

John T. Ramsey is Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His publications include two commentaries on Sallust and Cicero and, with A. Lewis Licht, a monograph entitled The Comet of 44 BC and Caesar's Funeral Games (1997; ISBN HB 0788 502735; PB 0788 502743).

Table of Contents

Preface; References and abbreviations; Map 1: the Roman world in 50 BC; Map 2: Rome in the Late Republic; Calendar of events of 44 BC; Introduction; 1. Historical background; 2. Survey of the primary sources; 3. The Philippics; 4. Prose rhythm; 5. The text; M. TVLLI CICERONIS IN M. ANTONIVM ORATIO PHILIPPICA PRIMA; M. TVILLI CICERONIS IN M. ANTONIVM ORATIO PHILIPPICA SECVNDA; Commentary; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"[A] useful and handy aid to working on the text as it facilitates and quickens understanding of the speeches and their background; and it provides the reader interested in the history of the period with lots of information on the speeches as historical sources." Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"What really does make this commentary a valuable tool even to more advanced scholars, are its concise explanations of historical facts when it comes to details. Thereby a quick grasp of circumstances and facts underlying Cicero's statements is possible. The commentary thus is a useful and handy aid to working on the text as it facilitates and quickens understanding of the speeches and their background; and it provides the reader interested in the history of the period with lots of information on the speeches as historical sources. It is to be hoped for that this commentary will make the Philippics more widely read and more closely worked on among all university students and scholars of the ancient world." Gesine Manuwald, Albert-Ludwigs Universitat Freiburg

From the Publisher