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Title: Selected Works by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Michael Grant ISBN: 0-14-044099-2 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1960 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Introduction Sets the Table
Comment: Marcus Tullius Cicero is one of the most well known Romans and probably the one who has influenced the course of Western intellectual thought more than any other. Cicero was a lawyer, philosopher, statesman, and defender of Rome's republic. He was not a member of the Roman elite but fought his way into gaining their acceptance and respect by the power of his mind and by mastering the ever important art of rhetoric.
This particular compendium of Cicero's works is a good starting point to get to know the man Cicero. Included are two of Cicero's most famous philosophical treatises, "On Duties" and "On Old Age", selected letters of Cicero ranging on topics from his son's studies to his worries about Julius Caesar and Pompey, and his second Philippic against Marc Antony.
The weakest selection has to be the Philippic against Marc Antony. What we are introduced to here is the public, unpolished Cicero engaged in the fine art of mud slinging. This is not in and of itself a problem as I am a big fan of the political brawl; however, a rant such as this seems beneath a man of such great intellect as Cicero. What this tirade does show though is Cicero's genuine love of his country and its republican institutions. Cicero lived at a time when the Roman republic was being destroyed by ambitious men, like Caesar and Antony, who sought to make Rome their personal empires. It was over his struggle against these forces that Cicero eventually lost his life.
What really recommends this particular issue of Cicero's works is the translator, Michael Grant. Grant pens a tremendous introduction to these works that fully explains the difficulties of translating 2,000 year old Latin into modern English. It's Grant's introduction which really sets up these selections to be enjoyed as the work of art that they are.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good translation, but the material...
Comment: First of all I foundt this translation to be clear and readable, something that I have come to expect from Michael Grant.
But the material is what baffles me. Cicero is considered the greatest Latin orator and writer, having a concise and interesting style. Personally, I find him to be very long-winded, and I realize this is due to a shortened attention span, but nonetheless, he could have made many of his points with two examples instead of ten.
I also find it ironic that Cicero paints himself to be the epitome of Republican Roman values, a man who stood completely for the decrepit and dying Roman Republic. Yet, he was a great friend of Pompey, a man who's goal it was to acquire dictatorial power, albeit within the confines of Republic. Yet he despises Caesar for aspiring to the same goal. Caesar was simply a better general, shrewder politician and a more charismatic man than Pompey, and he deserved to win.
So, I give 2 out of 2 stars for the translation, but 1 out 3 for the material. It is instructive if one is interested in the ancient world (which I am), but the average reader will no doubt find it dull.
Mildly reccommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Pleasure
Comment: Michael Grant has done it again with this wonderful translation of some of Cicero's finest work. Designed to give the reader an overview of this great master it shows you just how diverse a writer he really was, and why he cast such a shadow over European prose for the next thousand years.
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Title: The Conquest of Gaul (Classics S.) by Julius Caesar ISBN: 0140444335 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1983 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: On the Good Life (Penguin Classics) by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Michael Grant ISBN: 0140442448 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1971 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician by Anthony Everitt ISBN: 037575895X Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The New Testament of the New Jerusalem Bible, With Complete Introduction and Notes by Henry Wansbrough ISBN: 0385237065 Publisher: Image Pub. Date: 07 November, 1986 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Republic and the Laws: And, the Laws (Oxford World's Classics) by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Jonathan Powell, Niall Rudd ISBN: 0192832360 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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