Customer Reviews

Selected Works (Penguin Classics)

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How many men and women who have lived more than 2,000 years ago have impressed us with their humanity? We tend to see the statuary, but rarely the person behind it. When you read this outstanding selection edited by the excellent classical historian Michael Grant, you see that Marcus Tullius Cicero has a human face -- and it shows in his work.

The Roman Republic that Cicero loved was falling apart. Marius and Sulla, the Gracchi, the conflicts over the powers of the tribunes had dealt a severe blow to a form of government that had proved itself adequate for governing a city-state, but less so for managing a multi-cultural empire. Cicero fought valiantly against corrupt governors like Verres ("Against Verres") and would-be dictators like Marc Antony ("2nd Phillipic Against Antony"). When he finally threw in his lot with Pompey, he picked the wrong horse and put himself in harm's way. Eventually, Augustus and Antony had him killed as an obstacle to their plans.

The wonderful letters that Cicero wrote to his friend Atticus and others such as Pompey show his hurt at having been rudely pushed aside. He saw himself as the Savior of Rome for his part in quashing the conspiracy of Catiline, but he lived in a world where "What have you done for me lately?" was the question of the day.

Increasingly, Cicero turned to farming and philosophizing. His essays "On Duty" and "On Old Age," reprinted here, are penetrating, humane, and even Christian in a way. One could see why monk copyists of the Middle Ages saw in the Roman senator a pre-Christian piety at work.

Michael Grant supplies an excellent introduction, maps, genealogical charts, timelines, and even a glossary to guide the reader through Cicero's work. This book is definitely a keeper.

Michael Grant is one of the foremost scholars of classical civilization in the world. Being thus, he is an ideal candidate to translate the works of what was perhaps the greatest orator of all time.

This book contains some wonderful tirades which Cicero wrote - including his bitter (not to mention comical) attacks on Marc Antony (the same vehement and outspoken verbal assaults which led to his execution after the the banishment of Brutus and Cassius). It also contains Cicero's thoughts on topics such as old age and duty ethics (I wonder: how much Cicero did Kant read?). These are the writings of one of the most influential Romans from all time; a man who made his imprint on the history of the discourse of polemics. This is a fine book that contains the works of a gentleman who is sadly far under-read in this day & age.

I don't want to summarize the content here. I only want to talk about Michael Grant's translation.

Let's admit one fact: Grant's translation is not that good. I suggest you to check out Cicero's works published by OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSCIS: P.G.Walsh and D.H.Berry are more competent than Grant, and they are fascinating indeed. Grant often unnecessarily chops up a sentence, rendering it ends up with a whole lot of commas, and this utterly destroy the fluency and lucidity of Cicero. In my opinion, D.H.Berry (who published Cicero's DEFENCE SPEECHES) is thus far the best Ciceronian translator.

So why is it still worth 3 stars? It is mainly because of the contents, such as AGAINST VERRES, THE SECOND PHILIPIC, and ON OLD AGE, which are still not translated by OXFORD. Therefore, we have no choice but to stick with Grant's translation (unless you want to buy the expensive Loeb edition). If OXFORD will release more of Cicero's titles, I will definitely throw away Michael Grant's.

Cicero perhaps doesn't need introducing. He was a powerful politician of the last decades of the Roman Republic, the 70s to the 40s BC. Originally a lawyer and an orator, he made his name prosecuting corrupt figures of the senatorial establishment, before joining the conservative camp against the populist tribunes and against Caesar. Cicero was consul in 63BC. His writings are massive and are one of the period's key historical sources, even if obviously not unbiased. He also wrote a set of philosophical treatises.

This edition contains only a tiny portion of the 800 or so letters, countless speeches, works on the constitution, on laws, and on moral questions that Cicero produced. The selection, furthermore, is problematic. The editors have labelled the larger section, comprising political texts, `Against Tyranny' (which they also call, anachronistically, `totalitarianism'). This section includes the Verrine indictment and speeches in defiance of Marc Antony, glossing over Cicero's switching to the side of Verres' friends in the intervening decades. Moreover, the editors avoid mention of Cicero's contentious role, as consul, in using extra-judicial means to repress the Catilinarian conspiracy. The Catilinarian speeches, perhaps his best known, are essential to an honest portrait of Cicero's politics; they are missing from this edition. The philosophical, second section likewise aims to portray Cicero as a grand old moral figure, comprising only On Duties and On Old Age. It misses fancier but interesting essays such as On Divination (Cicero was also an augur, an official soothsayer) and On the Nature of the Gods. The selection of letters, finally, is interesting, though only for the reader with good basic knowledge of their background (the editors' notes don't quite suffice).

Cicero's style is easy to read. Without necessarily wanting to reach for the multiple tomes of the complete Loeb edition, you may consider browsing for a meatier sample of Cicero's political writings, perhaps the Oxford Classics, and a separate selection of the treatises and letters.

First, I think the selection is quite good and sheds a lot of light on the thoughts and life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. I particularly enjoyed the Second Phillipic against Antony and the correspondence. Duties III was also interesting. I found the remainder less interesting, but still quite thoughtful.

Secondly, I think Cicero's ideas speak for themselves. As a US Citizen, I see our own great republic faltering, government tending towards autocracy, the rule of law undermined, etc. and these threats coming from both extremes of the policial spectrum. Cicero's ideas on governance are important today to help shape the political discourse and save our republic from the same fate as Rome's. His arguments on duty are as applicable today as they were in his time as well.

Finally, I appreciated the Grant translation. While another reviewer has complained about the occasional choppiness to the translation, I think that Cicero's oratory-like prose (even in his essays) comes across well in this translation. It is tempting to remove phrases like "I must now return to my point" which make no sense in a literate medium, but this temptation leads to losing an essential aspect of Cicero's writings and I am glad that he does not do this.

As Michael Grant explains in his introduction, Cicero's reputation has waxed and waned over the past two thousand years. That reputation was at its zenith at the time of the founding of the United States, and Cicero was like an old friend to Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers. He was admired for many reasons, but perhaps the most outstanding was his concept of Natural Law, which had an enormous influence on the people who wrote the Constitution. And for that reason alone, it's worth getting to know Cicero. Relevant? You can hardly get more than a few pages into "On Duties (III)" before you come across this:

"Granted that there is nothing unnatural in a man preferring to earn a living for himself rather than someone else, what nature forbids is that we should increase our own means, property and resources by plundering others."

I would guess that the Founding Fathers agreed with this sentiment completely, for the simple reason that once citizens begin plundering one another, one of the primary social goals (living safely and without fear of your neighbor) is instantly destroyed. I would also guess that they didn't write this into the Constitution because it was so terribly obvious: every well-educated man understood Cicero and his concept of Natural Law. But they lived before the advent of Karl Marx...

I also suspect that Cicero's "religion" was pretty close to the religion of the Founding Fathers. Cicero imagined the mind of the Universe to be God, while the physical body of the universe was made up by all the natural phenomena around us, and he was quite sure that each one of us carried within himself a spark of that divinity. As far as the afterlife, Cicero basically whittled the possibilities down to two. Either we cease to exist, and cease to feel pain, or there is an afterlife, and we will enter it. In either case, there is no reason to fear death.

Another essay included in this book, "On Old Age," is a true Ciceronian classic. If I had my druthers, everyone would receive a free copy on his 60th birthday. It's a simple, short read, and cannot really be summarized in a short review.

Another excellent book by Michael Grant!

Cicero's thoughts on old age which are but one selection included here are alone worth the price of this book. The wisdom of this man is clearly reflected here and in other selections that are included. These thought provoking essays and letters contain much that is still relevant. Along with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, Cicero's writings are a window into the ancient world that helps us to understand how human nature and the problems of living a good life transcend the ages. These are books to return to again and again. The penguin paperback editions are an excellent resource for the general reader and belong on the shelf of anyone interested in philosophy ,history or living well.

First off, yes, I AM a kid, and yes, I have fully read and understood the genius of Marcus Tullius Cicero and the genius of Mr. Grant for bringing it to us. As far as the book goes, it is brilliant, and the translator's skill suffices to bring the greatest orator in history to my doorstep and unworthy mind. "Against Verres" is my favorite Ciceronian writing, because I always shake my head when I think of these noble Romans that I revere like gods stoop to the level of tabloid-like calumny!
But enough about the book! What I really wanted to share with potential customers is the enrichment that such books could bring to kids of today. All they are getting today is manure like Harry Potter and risque-teen dramas, when they should be reading the stuff of legends and the stuff of greatness. Now, I too, can be accused of reading Harry Potter, and liking it sufficiently to keep going, but I fully understand that those kind of books are NOT the kind that I will remember when I grow old.
No, indeed, I will remember the wit of Cicero, and the ambition of Herodotus, the social satires of Charles Dickens, and, of course, the poetic genius and sheer imagination that is J.R.R. Tolkien. That being said, I feel that such books (like the above) are too far undervalued in today's society because all the kids today will read is mind-corrupting filth simply becasue they wish to smother their brains. In short, they want to think as little as possible. And the escapist attitudes are also quite atrocious. Indeed, there is no greater world than this green earth (except for Middle Earth --- I would go there in a heartbeat!) and I would honor it, and honor those giants who came before us and upon whose shoulders we stand.
What is the world without the Republic, and what is the Republic without orators like Cicero and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, whose fiery opinions had kept the flame of democracy and the flame of the Senate alive for so long? I hope someday that people will come to understand this. You do not have to like Cicero, and you might find his writings a tad antiquated and boring --- but who says that they are relevant only to a certain time period or to certain people? No, I say that there are such writings that transcend time and offer us, if nothing more, a glimpse into the life of one other fellow creature who, though so different from us, is EXACTLY the same.
So, potential kid readers, I beg you to pay attention to history, and give it the respect that it deserves! And maybe you too, if only for a little while, will stand with him in the Forum, or sit beside him as he writes words that influenced the greatest giant of the Age. That giant is Rome, and that man is Marcus Tullius Cicero. Though but a Tullius of poor upbringing, he is remembered by those who care to remember as one of the greatest Romans of them all, vying only with the poetic tragedy of Julius Caesar and the military genius of Scipio Africanus and Aemilius Paullus.
So, my rant will come to an opportune end. Remember Cicero, remember Rome, and you will not be disappointed... in the mists of Time that forever encircle us, only the greatest can escape the haze and step into into the stuff of Legend. For they are remembered, and therefore, they Live. All I ask you is to let Cicero live.

Cicero is one of my heroes. He was a master politician and a masterful writer. It would have been wonderful to hear him speak one of his orations. Few politicians today come within a country mile of putting thoughts into words as did Cicero. Perhaps one should say that few politicians today have thoughts as sophisticated and well organized as those of Cicero.

Cicero: Selected Works
This book is a good start for those interested in a basic overview of Cicero's style and more famous quotes. For serious readers of Cicero and political theory chose a different book.