Cicero's philosophical works are now exciting renewed interest and more generous appreciation, in part because they provide vital evidence of the views of the (largely lost) Greek philosophers of the Hellenistic age, and partly because of the light they cast on the intellectual life of first-century Rome. The Nature of the Gods is a central document in this area, for it presents a detailed account of the theologies of the Epicureans and of the Stoics, together with the critical objections to these doctrines raised by the Academic school.

Cicero's Topica is one of the canonical texts on ancient rhetorical theory. This is the first full-scale commentary on this work, and the first critical edition of the work that is informed by a full analysis of its transmission.

This volume contains a new translation of, and commentary on, Cicero's defense of Publius Sestius against a charge of public violence. Pro Sestio is arguably the most important of Cicero's political speeches that survive from the nearly two decades separating the Speeches against Catiline and the Second Philippic. Its account of recent history provides any student of Rome with a fascinating way into the period; its depiction of public meetings, demonstrations, and violence are highly pertinent to the current debate on the place of "the crowd in Rome in the late Republic"; the speech is also...

The third and fourth books of Cicero's "Tusculan Disputations" deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero presents the insights of Greek philosophers on the subject, reporting the views of Epicureans and Peripatetics and giving a detailed account of the Stoic position, which he himself favors for its close reasoning and moral earnestness. Both the specialist and the general reader will be fascinated by the Stoics' analysis of the causes of grief, their classification of emotions by genus and species,...

This edition of the Latin text, with accompanying commentary, of the first book of Cicero's essay, On the Nature of the Gods comprises an exposition and refutation of the theology of the Epicurean philosophical school as well as a history of ancient reflections on the gods. Prefaced to the dialogue is Cicero's general justification for writing on philosophy. In his introduction, Andrew Dyck analyzes the work in the context of Cicero's intellectual development and of ancient views of the deity.

This is a complete critical edition of Cicero's Cato Maior de Senectute (On Old Age )with an introduction and commentary. The text is based on a fresh examination of the manuscript tradition while the introduction aims to place the work in the context of Cicero's writings on old age in the ancient world. The Roman and Ciceronian qualities of the work are emphasized, rather than the search for lost sources that occupied scholars in the past. Matters of text, language, and content are all considered equally in the commentary.

This edition contains the Latin text of most of the surviving parts of Cicero's most elaborate philosophical dialogue, De re publica, together with a full commentary explaining the philosophical and historical argument, and elucidating the grammar and style. De re publica is a major document in the history of European political theory, and a masterpiece of Ciceronian style. This is the fullest commentary ever to appear in English.

This edition is the first since J.D. Denniston's of 1926 to present the Latin text and commentary on the First and Second Philippics, two of Cicero's most polished orations, composed less than six months after the murder of Julius Caesar in March 44 BC. This period--roughly 63-44 BC--is important because the Roman state was in transition from Republic to Empire. The Second Philippic not only presents Cicero's assessment of his own political career and his place in Roman history from a perspective late in his life, but it also provides a vivid eyewitness account of how Julius Caesar, with the...

This is a full-scale scholarly edition of Cicero's speech in defense of P. Cornelius Sulla, delivered in 62 BC. It contains an introduction, a newly established Latin text, a commentary and appendices. The introduction includes a reassessment of Sulla's guilt and Cicero's undertaking of the case and also considers issues such as the prose rhythm of the speech and its publication. The commentary discusses history, text and syntax as well as rhetoric and style.

As consul in 63 BC Cicero faced a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman state launched by the frustrated consular candidate Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero's handling of this crisis would shape foreverafter the way he defined himself and his statesmanship. The four speeches he delivered during the crisis show him at the height of his oratorical powers and political influence. Divided between deliberative speeches given in the senate (1 and 4) and informational speeches delivered before the general public (2 and 3), the Catilinarians illustrate Cicero's adroit handling of several distinct types of...