Selected Letters by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Selected Letters Reviews

• 
  saïd

  nemo est qui tibi sapientius suadere possit te ipso: numquam labere, si te audies.

  What's the Latin for "bullshit"?*
  
  The edition translated by D.R. Shackleton Bailey is my favourite, although I've also read and translated the original Latin (kill me). However, Shackleton Bailey's translation is not without its flaws: notably, he rearranged the order of Cicero's letters for no discernable reason, so I'd suggest that anyone not already familiar with Cicero's writing have a list of the correct order in which to read the letters.
  
  Here are a few of my personal favourite lines from Cicero's letters, along with Shackleton Bailey's translation, for comparison:

  Marcellus candidatus ita stertebat ut ego vicinus audirem.

  From Letters to Atticus, IV.III. Shackleton Bailey's translation:

  My neighbour Marcellus (the candidate) is snoring loud enough for me to hear him.

  This is a fine translation, very literal. The parenthetical around candidatus in the translation is awkward—"Marcellus the candidate" would've worked just as well—and Shackleton Bailey switches the location of the word vicinus (neighbouring, nearby), but otherwise no complaints from me.
  
  (I love this particular line because Cicero wrote this around 2.1 thousand years ago, but it's a sentiment most people could relate to even today—I mean, who hasn't been stuck with a roommate who snores loudly? And Cicero couldn't sleep, so he wrote about it to his boyfriend best friend.)

  hic Abdera non tacente me. dices "tamen tu non quiescis?" ignosce, vix possum.

  From Letters to Atticus, IV.XVII. Shackleton Bailey's translation:

  All Fools Festival there, not without a protest from me. ‘Still not keeping quiet?’ you’ll say. Sorry, I scarcely know how to.

  (I also really love this fragment because Cicero has a big mouth and it got him in trouble a lot.) Abdera was an ancient city in Thrace, known for its inhabitants' apparent foolishness; the adjective abderitanus could mean either "pertinent to the city of Abdera" or "foolish, idiotic." The first sentence, hic Abdera non tacente me, literally means, "It's crazy town, [but] not shutting me up." The second, dices "tamen tu non quiescis?" literally means, "You'll say 'yet you don't keep quiet?'" The third, ignosce, vix possum, literally means, "Pardon [me], I'm scarcely able to."

  utinam illum diem videam cum tibi agam gratias quod me vivere coegisti.

  From Letters to Atticus, III.III. Shackleton Bailey's translation:

  I hope I may see the day when I shall thank you for making me go on living.

  This is the very first line from the second letter Cicero wrote after his exile. There's a lot going on in the sentence—Cicero was a poet, and he loved his syntactical trickery—but the translation is quite good, in my opinion. Also quite good at making me tear up, so I may be biased.
  
  *This is a joke; I know it's one of the following, depending on context: stercus (manure), merda (shit), nugae (nonsense), fabulae (nonsense), logi (rubbish [words]).
• 
  Illiterate

  I prefer Cicero as philosophical hack to man of the world.
• 
  Jeff Dawson

  I enjoyed this collection but found many errors and punctuation issues. I don’t believe a man as learned as he would have made all these mistakes. I did take into consideration the time they were written and how the Latin translation could have been bungled, but not to the degree I came across. Looking forward to reading a much more complete better compiled version: “Cicero—Political Speeches,” by D.H. Berry
  
  Three Stars
  
• 
  Timothy Phin

  My review is NOT of Cicero, but of this particular edition. While I have no qualms with Professor Bailey's selection of letters, I do have some issues with the commentary itself. I'd selected this for my advanced, undergraduate course, and but in retrospect I'm not sure it was the best decision. The commentary was wide-ranging, and certainly showcases Professor Bailey's considerable knowledge of Cicero, but it was also unhelpful for undergraduates puzzling their way through the particular, and often confusing turns of Cicero's grammar and vocabulary in the letters. I appreciated several of Professor Bailey's insights, however, and so I was glad of the text myself. I just don't feel that it was the best fit for even sturdy, capable undergraduates in their second or third semester of advanced Latin.
• 
  Zachary Rudolph

  “I absorb myself in literary work, writing or reading. Some of my visitors listen to me as a man of learning, because I know a little more than themselves. All the rest of the time is given to the claims of the body. As for my country, I have already mourned her longer and more deeply than any mother ever mourned her only son.”
  
• 
  Laure

  Read or translated them in Latin. Cicero seemed very human and the grief he has over his daughters dead was very touching, he wrote some things that are very accurate today.
• 
  Sunny

  Super interesting book that probably goes into a bit more detail than I could handle. Cicero was one of the leaders of Rome who was around at the time of the first triumvirate and when Julius Caesar was around. This was around 50 BC. The book is essentially his letters, a lot of them to his own brother and occasionally to Julius Caesar and a few other leaders of Rome in and around that time. Hhonestly I found the letters a little bit boring 'cause I did't know the history of that area that well but one thing that stood out an absolute mile was the way Cicero wrote, almost Machiavellian at times but always very self deprecating and always with the intentions to make the recipient feel as though he's worth $1,000,000. He was able to be firm at times but the way he spoke using flowery Latin would have definitely won over many hearts. That's something I'll definitely take away maybe try to apply in my own writing.
  
  Here are some of the best bits from the book:
  
  After protracted maneuvering the upshot was another civil war which broke out at the beginning of 49 BC when Caesar led his troops across the river Rubicon into the homeland. Hardly more than two months later after Caesar had encircled and captured a large republican army at Corfinium, Pompey, the consoles and a large part of the Senate crossed the Adriatic with their remaining troops, leaving Caesar in undisputed control of Italy and Rome.
  
  “Humanitas” which Cicero so often associates with him, that untranslatable Roman amalgam of kindness and culture width of mind and tact of manner. Sunny: wow what a combination.
  
  I not only part in your irritation, I highly commend it, my own experience of the power of a brothers affection is my monitor. In return I ask you to be fair in your judgment of a similar feeling on my part and to take the view that if I had been the victim of a bitter, savage and unprovoked attacked by a member of your family it was not incumbent on me to give way. I shall sooner give up my resentment against your brother out of affection for you then abate a jot of the goodwill between us out of animosity towards him. Sunny: As this previous example shows, Cicero was very good at making sure he added a lot of words to make sure they didn't offend and was able to fully get his meaning across: for example here again: redeeming the promise I made as I took my leave of you to write to you all the news of Rome in the fullest detail. I have been at pains to find a person to cover the whole ground so meticulously that I am afraid you may find the results too wordy. However I know how curious you are and how much everybody abroad likes to be told of even the most trifling happenings at home. But I do hope you won't find me guilty of a business in my performance of this office because I have delegated the work to someone else.
  
  Until Julius Caesar reformed the calendar the Roman year consisted of 355 days divided into 12 months, all of which had the Latin forms of their present names accept quintilis July and sextilis August. Each month had 29 days except February with 28 and March, may, July and October with 31. The first fifth and 13th days of each month were called the Kalends, nones and ides respectfully. Except that in March, may, July and October the nones turn on the 7th and the ides on the 15th.
  
  Nomenclator: a slave whose duty was to remind his master of the names of clients and acquaintances whom he happened to meet.
  
• 
  Alexander

  
  Marcus Tullius Cicero, един от най-великите римляни (а може би и най-великият) е безспорно една изключително многопластова личност. Общественият му образ - този, запазил се най-добре в историята, е на остроумния и успешен оратор, юрист, публичен защитник, но преди всичко държавник.
  Но зад всички тези постижения - консулството, разкрития заговор на Катилина и успешните военни кампании проличава и един друг човек. Именно запазените и до днес негови писма ни позволяват да надникнем, макар и ограничено, в света на човека Марк Цицерон.
  Пред нас се разкрива мъж, който притежава извънредно голямо чувство за собственото си достойнство, искрено обичащ своето семейство и своите най-близки съмишленици. Наред с тях трябва да прибавим и силната му любов към родината му. Но тук не става въпрос за тази родина, в която се вижда принуден да прекара по-късните си години, а за идеала - Републиката, на която е посветил най-добрите свои години.
  Неправилно ще е обаче да изобразяваме всяка велика личност изключително едностранно, удобно пропускайки, че, дори и велики, тези хора са все пак хора. Марк Цицерон не прави изключение. Дори самият той признава своето двуличие пред силните на деня - нещо, което противоречи на всичко, което го е направило прочут, за да съхрани и себе си, и близките си. Това негово качество, което векове по-късно ще бъде описано от
  Niccolò Machiavelli във
  Владетелят. Размишления върху първите десет книги на Тит Ливий, обаче по никакъв начин не опетнява образа на този човек. Напротив - кореспонденцията му единствено прави образа му по-достоверен, по-истински. Но дори и да можем да обвиним Марк Цицерон в лицемерие (а също и в ня��олко финансови злоупотреби), използвайки думите на същия този Макиавели, ще можем спокойно да заявим, че "целта оправдава средствата".
• 
  John Lucy

  Letters, I think, are often the best way to get to know a person. The introduction to Cicero's letters will help give a good lens for reading the letters, too. Cicero was a politician, no question about it. Anyway, if someone is looking for primary sources to get to know one of the big names of history, go for it. You'll probably find his flip-flopping, doing whatever he needs to do to be important, a little frustrating... yet illuminating.
• 
  Aki Ranin

  It’s an exciting opportunity to get in the mind of one of the great orators of Rome. Sadly, the letters offer only occasional points of interest and references to major events.
• 
  Renee

  Everybody. Has. The. Same. Names.
• 
  Marcos Augusto

  From Cicero’s correspondence between 67 and July 43 bce more than 900 letters survive, and, of the 835 written by Cicero himself, 416 were addressed to his friend, financial adviser, and publisher, the knight Titus Pomponius Atticus, and 419 to one or other of some 94 different friends, acquaintances, and relatives. The number obviously constitutes only a small portion of the letters that Cicero wrote and received. Many letters that were current in antiquity have not survived; for instance, the account of the suppression of Catiline’s conspiracy, mentioned in the Pro Sulla and Pro Plancio, which Cicero sent to Pompey at the end of 63; Pompey hardly as much as acknowledged it, and Cicero was mocked about it in public later. Many letters were evidently suppressed for political reasons after Cicero’s death.
  
  The letters constitute a primary historical source such as exists for no other part of the ancient world. They often enable events to be dated with a precision that would not otherwise be possible, and they have been used, though with no very great success, to discredit the accuracy of Caesar’s commentaries on the civil war. On the other hand, his reporting of events, naturally enough, is not objective, and he was capable of misremembering or misrepresenting past events so as to enhance his own credit.
• 
  Nathan Albright

  Once upon a time, schoolkids were intimately familiar with the writings of Cicero, a late Roman politician and onetime consul of great reputation.  These letters, in translation, are certainly useful in making a contemporary reader familiar with him, although few seem greatly interested in that at present [1].  This book, indeed, may make the reader too familiar with Cicero to the extent where he ceases to be someone who the reader holds in great respect by reputation and instead has to come to grips with his writing, which is immensely whiny and at best charmingly gossipy.  Given the fact that Cicero's times are not so different from our own in terms of political violence and the threat of demagoguery, this book is immensely practical for those readers who want to become familiar with the late Roman Republic.  Even so, this book demonstrates that Cicero himself was not a man of great bravery and he could whine with the best in history, including our own contemporary generation of 'statesmen.'  A reader who looks at the fall of the Roman Republic can ponder the fact that if such men as Cicero were the best that age had to offer, it is little wonder that the Republic fell the way that it did.
  
  This book consists of 175 pages or so of Cicero's letters in translation.  Some of these letters are short notes jotted down to some politician/crony encouraging some sort of action in support of Cicero and his interests, or apologies on behalf of someone else. Some of the letters show Cicero engaged in some sort of plan to improve his political career and that of his allies or clients.  Some of the letters are chummy notes that brag about how much of a friend Pompey is to Cicero.  Many of the letters, though, show Cicero in some sort of despondence over some sort of reversal related to politics.  At one point Cicero admits fleeing the Senate because two rival groups of thugs were fighting each other.  At other points Cicero shows despondency about and to his brother about the way that touchy people were quick to take offense.  At other times, though, Cicero shows a great deal of tact in trying to appeal to people for their sense of virtue and being honest about his considerable ambition and the troubles it involved him in.
  
  Ultimately, these letters are worthwhile because they tell us of corrupt times not very unlike our own.  Decent men, and Cicero was at least a decent man, feared death and exile and dishonor for seeking to serve both themselves as well as their country in the face of wild swings of political favor.  Cicero seems to be a political figure like that of Hilary Clinton, for better or worse, frequently going down in defeat, of the tendency to blame other people for problems and failure, and with a Taylor Swift-like tendency of claiming to be the victim and eliciting the sympathy of those he wrote letters to while using his canniness and considerable intellect and rhetorical skills to try to manipulate the situation to his advantage.  In reading Cicero, we see our own times and the fact that we cannot have any more safety in political position than he did in his own time, even if we are people with more bravery and more consistency than he had.  Still, he was among the greatest figures of his time, and was on a close personal basis with all kinds of people we still know of, like Julius Caesar, Pompey, Cato, as well as Brutus and Cassius.  If Cicero is not as great a man as one would have thought before reading his letters, perhaps we might do well to think of how we and our reputations would fare if people became familiar with our own personal letters and notes. 
  
  [1] See, for example:
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
• 
  Emily

  The Cambridge edition edited by Shackleton Bailey is so so great. I've read excerpts from Cicero's correspondence before but reading so many letters back-to-back was really entertaining. Cicero's letters are much less formal in style than his speeches. Though, I got the distinct feeling that Cicero cannot quite help himself from the occasional, unnecessary rhetorical trick. Shackleton Bailey includes very few letters not written by Cicero and I could immediately tell the difference in writing style. The exchange between Metellus and Cicero is a particularly good example (Fam. 5.1-2).
  
  I may be the exception because I neither love nor hate the Cicero that's been handed down to us in his writings, but I am indeed fascinated by him. Thus I really enjoyed the letters that exhibit more of his personality or relationship with family, friends, and associates. I was also drawn to the letters that discussed Roman theater/morality (e.g. Fam. 7.1). We have so little information about theater that these are usually brought up when the subject arises. It's nice to read them in their entirety and for their own sake.
  
  Finally, the critical commentary is very useful. Since Shackleton Bailey's an expert on Cicero and in the correspondence in particular I felt like I was in good hands. The introduction on Cicero is mostly readable and the appendices are great compendia of basic information (e.g. Roman dating and appellation). Shackleton Bailey's expertise really shines in his commentary on word usage in Cicero. For instance, I learned that Cicero does not use "dudum with a present tense except in combination with iam or tam or quam. I always wonder a bit at the sanity of the classicists who compiled such statistics, but hey, good to know. The only potential downside to the commentary is the notes on the Greek. Cicero inserts Greek words and phrases almost every letter and sometimes Shackleton Bailey translates them outright and sometimes he only includes background information on the word(s). Thus access to the Middle-Liddell or Perseus' online Greek Dictionary will be necessary for students familiar but not masters of Greek.
• 
  Aleksandar Dimitrov

  "Нямам какво да ти пиша по държавните въпроси, освен за всеобщата крайна ненавист срещу тези, които държат всичко. Все пак никаква надежда за промяна. Но както лесно можеш да разбереш самият Помпей се отвращава и горко се разкайва. Не виждам достатъчно добре какъв ще бъде изходът, но без съмнение, тези неща нанякъде ще избият."
  
  "Какви подробности да ти съобщя за държавните дела? Всичко загина и положението на държавата е по-окаяно, отколкото ти го остави. Тогава държавата бе подтисната от тирания, която беше приятна за множеството, за честните - тягостна, но не и гибелна, а сега изведнъж стана толкова омразна на всички, че се страхувам накъде ще избие. Изпитахме гневливостта и невъздържаността на онези, които сърдити на Катон, погубиха всичко, като, изглежда си послужиха с такива леки отрови, та смъртта ни се струваше безболезнена. А сега се боя, че те пламнаха от гняв от осквиркванията от тълпата, от приказките на честните хора, от негодуванието на Италия"
• 
  Judy

  For those who treasure glimpses into the minds and hearts of historical figures, and who enjoy filling out the record with greater insights into personality and character, letters such as these are a boon. It's a wonder to think that after two thousand years we can look in on the great statesman during his informal moments - though of course the business of office/court was never far from his mind (consequently several letters also provide interesting pathways into events of the time).
  This selection is just a fraction of the corpus, which tallies at over 800 letters - an amazing resource! - but is an excellent starting point for Cicero's correspondence as a whole. Shackleton-Bailey's introductions and notes are concise and helpful, even though there are some gaps, and the translation highly readable. Highly recommended.
• 
  Jimmy Lu

  Triumph. Bravery. Disillusionment. Vanity. Righteousness. A desire to do his country good. A desire to prove his own worth. A desire for acknowledgement, from the world and from himself. Cicero the man was of many faces. For as much as the ancients insisted that a man's character remained fixed since birth, Cicero was always evolving. Justification. Rationalization. Excuses to friends and to himself. His letters afford us a front seat to the portrait of Cicero, the politician and the man, of his thoughts and motives, of his sense of honor and justice, and finally of his own place in history.
• 
  David Hunt

  Cicero was a man of quick wit, as evidenced by his speeches, of deep conviction, as evidenced by his essays, and, from the evidence of his letters at least, a good friend.
  
  (This isn't the exact edition I read.)
• 
  Lauren Contreras-Loreto

  Although Cicero's insight comes through even in his personal letters, his excessive use of flattery for servants of the state makes this book rather dry reading. It is an interesting peek into the great senator and orator's mental life.
• 
  Jeanette

  supposed to be a wonderful read...recommended by alberto manguel
• 
  Silvio Curtis

  Read for class. The closest thing we'll get to an unedited look into the thought processes of a politician from the last chaotic years of the Roman Republic.
• 
  l

  "Nothing tends more to the reader's enjoyment than varieties of circumstance and vicissitudes of fortune." Basically!
• 
  Ian Vloke-wurth

  A must read for everyone.
• 
  Ben Gittus-Smith

  great to re-read this from my uni days. history is often lost on the young!