Cicero's Brutus and Orator constitute his final major statements on the history of Roman oratory and the nature of the ideal orator. In the Brutus he traces the development of political and judicial speech over the span of 150 years, from the early second century to 46 BCE, when both of these treatises were written. In an immensely detailed account of some 200 speakers from the past he dispenses an expert's praise and criticism, provides an unparalleled resource for the study of Roman rhetoric, and engages delicately with the fraught political circumstances of the day, when the dominance of Julius Caesar was assured and the future of Rome's political institutions was thrown into question. The Orator written several months later, describes the form of oratory that Cicero most admired, even though he insists that neither he nor any other orator has been able to achieve it. At the same time, he defends his views against critics — the so-called Atticists — who found Cicero's style overwrought. In this volume, the first English translation of both works in more than eighty years, Robert Kaster provides faithful and eminently readable renderings, along with a detailed introduction that places the works in their historical and cultural context and explains the key stylistic concepts and terminology that Cicero uses in his analyses. Extensive notes accompany the translations, helping readers at every step contend with unfamiliar names, terms, and concepts from Roman culture and history.

Cicero's dialogue on oratory responded to the political crisis of Julius Caesar but ultimately invented 'modern' literary history.

Special problems are presented to prospographers and historians of the Roman Republic who attempt to determine the chronological structure of Cicero’s Brutus. Over two hundred orators who figured actively in Roman politics from the time of the Punic Wars to that of Civil War are cited in the dialogue. Professor Sumner presents their probable birth-dates and careers in the form of a register, followed by a commentary concentrating on the controversial points in the Brutus, to give a systematic basis to our understanding of the problems of the historical aspects of the dialogue and Cicero’s organization of it. Professor Sumner has worked primarily from the historian’s viewpoint. In his words: ‘the study of the chronological structure of the Brutus should be considered the vertebra of the monograph, but the body of the work is the prosopographical commentary, while the examination of Cicero’s prosoporgraphical and chronographic resources and methods is an essential adjunct.’ For scholars and students of early Rome this analysis is a valuable addition to current knowledge.

This award-winning biography delves beyond the myths about Ancient Rome’s most famous assassin: “A beautifully written and thought-provoking book” (Christopher Pelling, author of Plutarch and History). Conspirator and assassin, philosopher and statesman, promoter of peace and commander in war, Marcus Brutus was a controversial and enigmatic man even to those who knew him. His leading role in the murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BC, immortalized his name, but no final verdict has ever been made about his fateful act. Was Brutus wrong to kill his friend and benefactor or was he right to place his duty to country ahead of personal obligations? In this comprehensive biography, Kathryn Tempest examines historical sources to bring to light the personal and political struggles Brutus faced. As the details are revealed—from his own correspondence with Cicero, the perceptions of his peers, and the Roman aristocratic values and concepts that held sway in his time—Brutus emerges from legend, revealed as the complex man he was. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Winner

Cicero is considered to be Rome's greatest orator and prose writer. His writing is some of the best classical Latin still in existence. Cicero introduced Rome to Greek philosophy and created the Latin philosophical vocabulary. This book contains two selections. Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators was written during the end of the civil war in Africa. It discusses all the Roman and Greek speakers of any note at the time. The conference is supposed to have been held with Atticus, and their friend Brutus. The Orator was written shortly after and is a plan, or critical delineation, of what he esteemed the most finished eloquence, or style of Speaking. As the following Rhetorical Pieces have never appeared before in the English language, I thought a Translation of them would be no unacceptable offering to the Public. The character of the Author (Marcus Tullius Cicero) is so universally celebrated, that it would be needless, and indeed impertinent, to say any thing to recommend them. The first of them was the fruit of his retirement, during the remains of the Civil War in Africa; and was composed in the form of a Dialogue. It contains a few short, but very masterly sketches of all the Speakers who had flourished either in Greece or Rome, with any reputation of Eloquence, down to his own time; and as he generally touches the principal incidents of their lives, it will be considered, by an attentive reader, as a concealed epitome of the Roman history. The conference is supposed to have been held with Atticus, and their common friend Brutus, in Cicero's garden at Rome, under the statue of Plato, whom he always admired, and usually imitated in his dialogues: and he seems in this to have copied even his double titles, calling it Brutus, or the History of famous Orators. It was intended as a supplement, or fourth book, to three former ones, on the qualifications of an Orator. The second, which is intitled The Orator, was composed a very short time afterwards (both of them in the 61st year of his age) and at the request of Brutus. It contains a plan, or critical delineation, of what he himself esteemed the most finished Eloquence, or style of Speaking. He calls it The Fifth Part, or Book, designed to complete his Brutus, and the former three on the same subject. It was received with great approbation; and in a letter to Lepta, who had complimented him upon it, he declares, that whatever judgment he had in Speaking, he had thrown it all into that work, and was content to risk his reputation on the merit of it. But it is particularly recommended to our curiosity, by a more exact account of the rhetorical composition, or prosaic harmony of the ancients, than is to be met with in any other part of his works. As to the present Translation, I must leave the merit of it to be decided by the Public; and have only to observe, that though I have not, to my knowledge, omitted a single sentence of the original, I was obliged, in some places, to paraphrase my author, to render his meaning intelligible to a modern reader. My chief aim was to be clear and perspicuous: if I have succeeded in that, it is all I pretend to. I must leave it to abler pens to copy the Eloquence of Cicero. Mine is unequal to the task.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “An excellent introduction to a critical period in the history of Rome. Cicero comes across much as he must have lived: reflective, charming and rather vain.”—The Wall Street Journal “All ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher combined.”—John Adams He squared off against Caesar and was friends with young Brutus. He advised the legendary Pompey on his botched transition from military hero to politician. He lambasted Mark Antony and was master of the smear campaign, as feared for his wit as he was for his ruthless disputations. Brilliant, voluble, cranky, a genius of political manipulation but also a true patriot and idealist, Cicero was Rome’s most feared politician, one of the greatest lawyers and statesmen of all times. In this dynamic and engaging biography, Anthony Everitt plunges us into the fascinating, scandal-ridden world of ancient Rome in its most glorious heyday—when senators were endlessly filibustering legislation and exposing one another’s sexual escapades to discredit the opposition. Accessible to us through his legendary speeches but also through an unrivaled collection of unguarded letters to his close friend Atticus, Cicero comes to life as a witty and cunning political operator, the most eloquent and astute witness to the last days of Republican Rome. Praise for Cicero “ [Everitt makes] his subject—brilliant, vain, principled, opportunistic and courageous—come to life after two millennia.”—The Washington Post “ Gripping . . . Everitt combines a classical education with practical expertise. . . . He writes fluidly.”—The New York Times “In the half-century before the assassination of Julius Caesar . . . Rome endured a series of crises, assassinations, factional bloodletting, civil wars and civil strife, including at one point government by gang war. This period, when republican government slid into dictatorship, is one of history’s most fascinating, and one learns a great deal about it in this excellent and very readable biography.”—The Plain Dealer “Riveting . . . a clear-eyed biography . . . Cicero’s times . . . offer vivid lessons about the viciousness that can pervade elected government.”—Chicago Tribune “Lively and dramatic . . . By the book’s end, he’s managed to put enough flesh on Cicero’s old bones that you care when the agents of his implacable enemy, Mark Antony, kill him.”—Los Angeles Times

The Roman statesman, orator, and author Marcus Tullius Cicero is the embodiment of a classic: his works have been read continuously from antiquity to the present, his style is considered the model for classical Latin, and his influence on Western ideas about the value of humanistic pursuits is both deep and profound. However, despite the significance of subsequent reception in ensuring his canonical status, Cicero, Greek Learning, and the Making of a Roman Classic demonstrates that no one is more responsible for Cicero's transformation into a classic than Cicero himself, and that in his literary works he laid the groundwork for the ways in which he is still remembered today. The volume presents a new way of understanding Cicero's career as an author by situating his textual production within the context of the growth of Greek classicism: the movement had begun to flourish shortly before his lifetime and he clearly grasped its benefits both for himself and for Roman literature more broadly. By strategically adapting classic texts from the Greek world, and incorporating into his adaptations the interpretations of the Hellenistic philosophers, poets, rhetoricians, and scientists who had helped enshrine those works as classics, he could envision and create texts with classical authority for a parallel Roman canon. Ranging across a variety of genres - including philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, poetry, and letters - this close study of Cicero's literary works moves from his early translation of Aratus' poetry (and its later reappearance through self-quotation) to Platonizing philosophy, Aristotelian rhetoric, Demosthenic oratory, and even a planned Greek-style letter collection. Juxtaposing incisive analysis of how Cicero consciously adopted classical Greek writers as models and predecessors with detailed accounts of the reception of those figures by Greek scholars of the Hellenistic period, the volume not only offers ground-breaking new insights into Cicero's ascension to canonical status, but also a salutary new account of Greek intellectual life and its effect on Roman literature.