Synopses & Reviews
Edition for students of these two masterpieces of Latin literature discussing literary and historical issues.
Review
"[A] useful and handy aid to working on the text as it facilitates and quickens understanding of the speeches and their background; and it provides the reader interested in the history of the period with lots of information on the speeches as historical sources." Bryn Mawr Classical Review"What really does make this commentary a valuable tool even to more advanced scholars, are its concise explanations of historical facts when it comes to details. Thereby a quick grasp of circumstances and facts underlying Cicero's statements is possible. The commentary thus is a useful and handy aid to working on the text as it facilitates and quickens understanding of the speeches and their background; and it provides the reader interested in the history of the period with lots of information on the speeches as historical sources. It is to be hoped for that this commentary will make the Philippics more widely read and more closely worked on among all university students and scholars of the ancient world." Gesine Manuwald, Albert-Ludwigs Universitat Freiburg
Synopsis
Edition for students of these two masterpieces of Latin literature discussing literary and historical issues.
Synopsis
This edition makes these two masterpieces of Latin literature accessible to students as works of literature and as historical sources. The commentary is the most thorough ever published in English, and no speech of Cicero covers a broader range of history than the Second Philippic, roughly 63 to 44 BC.
Synopsis
Cicero's First and Second Philippics (so called after Demosthenes' polemics against Philip of Macedon) were composed a few months after the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC and present a vivid picture of the early years and rise to power of Caesar's chief lieutenant, Mark Antony. The period is important because the Roman state was in transition from Republic to Empire, and Cicero's negative portrayal of the dashing and colourful figure of Antony has left an indelible impression on how later historians have come to view that Roman leader.
About the Author
John T. Ramsey is Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His publications include two commentaries on Sallust and Cicero and, with A. Lewis Licht, a monograph entitled The Comet of 44 BC and Caesar's Funeral Games (1997; ISBN HB 0788 502735; PB 0788 502743).
Table of Contents
Preface; References and abbreviations; Map 1: the Roman world in 50 BC; Map 2: Rome in the Late Republic; Calendar of events of 44 BC; Introduction; 1. Historical background; 2. Survey of the primary sources; 3. The Philippics; 4. Prose rhythm; 5. The text; M. TVLLI CICERONIS IN M. ANTONIVM ORATIO PHILIPPICA PRIMA; M. TVILLI CICERONIS IN M. ANTONIVM ORATIO PHILIPPICA SECVNDA; Commentary; Indexes.