Customer Reviews

Cicero: In Catilinam 1-4. Pro Murena. Pro Sulla. Pro Flacco: B. Orations (Loeb Classical Library No. 324) (Bks. I-IV)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are probably Cicero's best speeches in which his oratory is full of passion in its appeal to save The Republic from the impending doom brought by Catiline's sinister plot to consume Rome in flames and slaughter the wealthy.

Cicero's style in the Catilinam is very inflammatory and accusatory as he urges his fellow senators to issue a decree approving of his actions as Consul against Catiline and to ratify his plea to execute Cataline's co-conspirators. His pacing and choice of words make the reader feel that doom is near unless swift action is taken. A simply marvelous piece of oratory. The final speeches 'Pro Flacco', 'Pro Murena', and 'Pro Sulla', are his defense presentations in the trials of Flacco, Murena, and Sulla (Sulla's son that is.) Although not as moving as his speeches on Catiline, these criminal defense speeches are useful in understanding the origins and effects of Catiline's bizzare attempts as well as Rome's judicial system in the context of political elections. It was common for defeated candidates to seek prosecution of their successful opponents to frustrate their ability to obtain that office: almost all of these trials involved claims of bribery and corruption. Political trials were extremely common in The Late Republic and these are fine examples of them: the rhetoric is heated and many of the accusations speculative; all of this is colored by the free use of invective. These trials are also important in that they show Cicero to be a rather practical politician who has no qualms in defending staunch optimates to the likes of Sulla or working with other defense advocates whom he doesn't like such as Marcus Licinius Crassus. What is perhaps most touching is Cicero's pompous flair which makes him quite human: I saved The Republic! Me! Me! Me! Cicero's self-congratulatory remarks in his speeches and letters were often considered pompous even by Roman standards of oratory and behavior. Perhaps no one else was more dismissive of Cicero's arrogant airs than Brutus, the tyrannicide, who tought of them as too Greek for his taste.

These are some of Cicero's greatest public orations that will capture the reader into all of the intrigues and turmoils of The Late Roman Republic. A good companion to this text would be Loeb's edition of Sallust's monograph on Catiline which both complements and deviates from some of the information presented in Cicero's speeches. The Loeb library is unique in that its classical texts are printed in both the original Latin text and English side-by-side. The translations are quite good and were done by competent scholars of classics whose choice of language is accurate, clear, and modern. These hard bound volumes are small but their covers are durable: the paper is of good quality.

This Loeb needs revision. The introductions are so-so, and offers little information about the precise points of historical context of the speeches. Further, I feel each speech deserves its own introduction. For example, the Catlinarians all has their own little class and context, and more specialized introductions would help to show the variant history and audience of each. The translation was sub-par, sometimes following Cicero, sometimes English idiom. It hard to follow the economy of Latin (not that these speeches are given to economy) and McDonald doesn't quite succeed in this effort.

This is what a cicero's fan expect of an opus of him...great work by harvard university press doing this book...very good version, very good investigation

I hate to rate such a great
book with less than 5 stars,
but I am compelled to do so.
This is an indispensable book
for the English speaking classical
Latin reader, but...
the book is smaller than a pulp
fiction paperback and the print
is tiny.
The price is not tiny.

I'm glad that I have the book
and I will no doubt make good
use of it, but I will remain
disappointed due to it's size.
If there is a bright side,
I suppose it is that you can put
it in your pocket and have it
handy as you are moving about.
This is a not a great benefit.
A book of Cicero's orations
in Latin and English translation
is not generally the kind of book
that one carries around to read
on the bus or during a break in
one's activities.
It is most useful for study,
and for that purpose,
it ought be larger and have
larger print.

I highly recommend getting this
little book and a magnifying glass
to go with it.

Shows general disragard by this conservative hack for the civil liberties of the accused. This guy ought to have his ears pinned back, at the least; preferably put on display so he would have to listen to his speeches. Readability is generally ok, although sentences ramble on occasion and are often unnecessarily lengthy. This may, however, merely reflect the customs of the times