Introducing Cicero: A Latin Reader (Latin Texts)

click here for more details, find new or used items	Scottish Classics Group Our price £11.99 (£12.99) New from £7.73 Used from £7.19 Pages: 272 (Paperback) ISBN: 1853996378 Pub: Bristol Classical Press Pub date: 2002-07-25 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 89383

Reader Reviews:

An excellent introduction to the greatest Latin writer (3/3 people found this helpful)

Full marks to the Scottish Classics Group for this excellent introduction to the life and the many and varied works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a contemporary of Julius Caesar, hugely influential in the transmission of Roman (and Greek) classic learning through the ages, and incidentally one of the most fascinating characters of the ancient world.

The book is composed of extracts from Cicero's speeches, letters and philosophical writings assembled in more or less chronological order so as to give a potted biography of the man. The background notes are excellent, not just with respect to the political history of the time, but dealing with many aspects of Roman culture and writing.

Cicero is the pre-eminent Latin stylist, and the extracts demonstrate his versatility, but his Latin is not simple. His sentences are often long and complex and there is great subtlety in his use of words. There is no attempt in the book to simplify the Latin - what you get here is the real thing. There are however excellent notes which help to understand the language as well as clarifying the context and background of each extract. Key vocabulary is provided at the foot of each page and there is a select vocabulary of less common words at the end. Reference is made the the Scottish Classics Group's own practical grammar, 'The Latin Language', a worthy adjunct to this book and a little gem in its own right.

This is not a reader for beginning Latin students, but it is an excellent starting point for some-one with at least an intermediate knowledge of the language who wants to make a start on this most rewarding of Latin authors. A couple of minor quibbles: the print in the notes and introductions I find annoyingly small and for some reason the photographs in Bristol Classical Press editions always seem to print badly. But don't let this put you off. This is an excellent book which I suppose will mostly find its place in Latin courses but I hope it will also enrich the lives of those with some Latin.

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