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The Cicero Collection
Letters and Orations
A statesman, a philosopher, an orator- Marcus Tullius Cicero was many things. However, he is perhaps best remembered as a staunch proponent of the ideals of the Roman Republic and a fierce adversary of those who wished to overthrow the republic.
Many of you already know that Cicero was unsuccessful when it came to his mission to preserve the Roman Republic, however is influence in the fields of literature, linguistics, philosophy, and oratory continue to have a profound effect on our modern world.
So copious are they in number, broad in content, illuminating in context and high in quality, that it was no easy task to decide which of the orations and letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) should be selected to make an easily digestible compendium for the discerning readers of this Classical Wisdom ebook.
The temptation simply to pick the ‘best’ in terms of quality would have been a near-impossible task – being as it is a rather subjective qualification. However, before we can even make a judgement of quality we have to think about what we’re interested in learning from these scribblings. Even if we restricted ourselves simply to orations, we would have to decide if we wished to look for the power of the argument, for a ‘classical’ example of its type, for the beauty of the language, for something practical, instructive and educational, for a glimpse at the character of the man himself, or for an insight into the historical context.
Whilst all of these different aspects inevitably come to the fore at one point or another, it is the latter point on which we have primarily chosen to focus…
To discover more about the giant from the classical Roman age, and to read some of his most timeless pieces yourself, choose your preferred format below.