Letters of Cicero Scholarship

van der Blom on bias

they cannot be read as objective observations

Gwynn on Cicero’s character within the lettters

revealed with all his failings

Speake on Atticus

wielded considerable influence through his amicitiae

Tempest on Atticus’ amicitiae

a circle of friends larger than any man’s in Rome

Morello on letters

a substitute for conversation

Walsh on the formal letters

Cicero exercises expertise and artistry

Cresswell on recurring themes

libertas and national pietas

Swain & Davies on the private nature of the letters

they were not intended for publication

Swain & Davies on the most important insight we gain from Cicero’s letters

the life of a Roman politician

Stowers on the distinction between private and public letters

unfamiliar to the Roman correspondent and misleading

Tempest on Cicero’s view of Pompey in 62

he could be the captain of the ship of state

Cresswell on the formation of the First Triumvirate in Cicero’s eyes

a terrible blow to concordia ordinum and libertas

Cresswell on Cicero’s political stance in 59

he tried to reconcile the different factions

Cresswell on Cicero’s letter in 53

a strong statement about the curtailing of his freedom of expression

Richardson on the most worrying aspect of Caelius’ request, to Cicero

imposition of a special tax

Cresswell on what the letter to Caelius shows

Cicero would not exploit provincial office to support political careers

Murrel on Caesar and Pompey during the Civil War

both wanted to be kings

Murrel on Cicero’s final view on Caesar’s civil war

an unjust peace was better than civil war

Hall on what Cicero’s correspondence early in Caesar’s civil war shows

the nexus of conflicting expectations of a man in his position

Cresswell on Cicero’s letter to Caesar

Cicero at his most articulate and careful

Grant on Caesar in 45

absolute ruler

Grant on Marcus Brutus

hard-hearted stoic intellectual

Cresswell on the political situation in April 44

tense, fast-moving, and extremely dangerous

Velleius Paterculus on Plancus

pathologically treacherous

Grant on Plancus

a watchful and obsequious observer

Grant on Lepidus

another political weathercock