Customer Reviews

Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration, with Introduction, Running Vocabularies and Notes

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Cicero's First Catilinarian is a great read for students just finishing grammar and moving towards translation of Classic works. Frerichs' edition of this oration makes that transition smooth with this book's numerous aids to students.

The Introduction provides background on Cicero, Catiline's conspiracy, and Latin oratory itself, as well as maps of the Forum and Italy. Having this information available puts this oration into context, and students will have a better time understanding Cicero's references. Before the text of the oration, the book also has a glossary of terms and figures of speech, which also prepares students nicely.

The Latin text has vocabulary on the facing page, and many notes beneath on grammar, idioms, etc. A comprehensive glossary in the back serves as quick reference to unfamiliar words. About 60 pages long, students won't complain about having to take this book home! With a student-friendly format, Frerichs' book is wonderful for any student of Cicero's important oration.

I used this text alongside of Cerutti's Pro Archia (2nd ed.), and I found Frerich's edition of the First Catillinarian to be sorely lacking in comparison. First, the running vocabulary is presented alphabetically on each page, not by line number, extending the time it takes to find words. This may sound minor, but it makes a difference over the course of several hundred lines. But more significantly, the notes were too few and far between. After a while, I found myself forgetting to check the grammatical notes because most of the time, they didn't address the problem with which I was working. Cerutti's Pro Archia notes, on the other hand, were copious and much more detailed. So in summary Frerich's edition is useful in so far as it gives running vocabulary and a few grammatical notes, but I would choose many other annotated editions before his.

This 60 page book provides aspiring latin scholars with the chance to understand and translate an important part of history. With it's glossary and included grammar helps a student with three years of latin should find this an interesting and exciting piece of authentic literature.

This 60 page book provides aspiring latin scholars with the chance to understand and translate an important part of history. With it's glossary and included grammar helps a student with three years of latin should find this an interesting and exciting piece of authentic literature.