Cicero: Political Speeches - an audio guide

“Two things alone I long for: first, that when I die I may leave the Roman people free… and second, that each person’s fate may reflect the way he has behaved towards his country.”

Cicero (106-43 BC) was the greatest orator of the ancient world and a leading politician of the closing era of the Roman republic.

This book presents nine speeches which reflect the development, variety, and drama of his political career,among them two speeches from his prosecution of Verres, a corrupt and cruel governor of Sicily; four speeches against the conspirator Catiline; and the Second Philippic, the famous denunciation of Mark Antony which cost Cicero his life.

Also included are On the Command of Gnaeus Pompeius, in which he praises the military successes of Pompey, and For Marcellus, a panegyric in praise of the dictator Julius Caesar.

In this audio guide to Cicero’s Political Speeches, Dominic Berry, senior lecturer in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Edinburgh University and the translator of this volume, introduces Cicero and his world. To listen to the guide, click on the links below.

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Cicero’s background and early career

• Dominic Berry talks about Cicero’s inauspicious beginnings and early life. [3:23]
  
  

Law and Politics

• The law courts of the late Republic were highly politicized.
  
  Find out more about how the law was put to political ends. [2:01]



• Persuasive argument was not the sole important factor for an orator.
  
  His own character and personal authority also counted in Ancient Rome [2:13]



• During the 60s and 50s BC, political differences spilled over into outright violence. [1:54]



• We asked Dominic Berry to characterize Cicero’s own political stance.
  
  Hear his response [2:13]

An eye to posterity?

• Cicero published his speeches, often years after they were delivered.
  
  How and why did he do this? [2:23]



• Why has Cicero been revered as a writer of Latin prose for centuries?
  
  Listen to Dominic Berry explain why [1:04]



• What characterizes Cicero’s style as a writer? [0:58]

Reading cicero, translating cicero

• Finally, Dominic Berry discusses how he made his selection of speeches for this and its companion volume of Cicero’s Defence Speeches. [1:49]



• What challenges does Cicero present the translator with… [3:58]



• … and the reader coming to him for the first time?
  
  Dominic Berry here suggests how to embark of reading Cicero. [1:01]