A collection of representative letters from Cicero's vast correspondence, with introduction and commentary.

Professor Shackleton Bailey is renowned for his major scholarly editions of Cicero's letters already published by Cambridge University Press. This selection from the complete correspondence is designed specifically for students at universities and in the upper forms at schools, and offers them a representative introduction to one of the most varied and most important literary correspondences in any language. In choosing letters for inclusion the editor concentrates on Cicero as a man and writer and on his relationship with his contemporaries, but he has also included letters which deal with people and events of special significance in the turbulent political history of the period. The edition includes an introduction, the text of the letters with critical notes, and a commentary which gives help with linguistic problems as well as elucidating the historical and social background.

This selection of Cicero's letters not merely documents in detail Cicero's career but simultaneously provides a month-by-month record of the collapse of the republic and its replacement by a tyranny. It provides a vivid picture of daily life and politics in Rome, the assassination of Caesar, and Cicero's vain resistance to the rise of Mark Antony.

'How I wish that you had invited me to that most attractive feast on the Ides of March!' Cicero lived through some of the most turbulent years in the history of Rome, and witnessed at first-hand the overthrow of the republic and its replacement by a tyranny. His letters to friends and family are an astonishingly detailed record of daily life and politics in Rome. This selection, covering the years 68-43 BC, not merely documents in detail Cicero's career but simultaneously provides a month-by-month record of the final collapse of the Roman senatorial government. The letters provide from the inside a vivid picture of events from the high point of Cicero's consulship of 63, through the humiliation of his exile and subsequent subjection to the dynasts, to the assassination of Caesar in 44, and Cicero's brief hour of glory in leading senatorial resistance to the tyranny of Mark Antony. In P. G. Walsh's lively new translation, Cicero's correspondence once more brings alive the excitement and danger of ancient Rome. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.