Speeches against Catilina

Marcus Tullius CiceroProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.5
Word count
318K words
Chapters
32

Tags

English Originals Classical LiteraturePolitics Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyPolitical AllegoryPortrait GalleryPower GameWestern ThoughtMoral DilemmaIntellectual CommentaryRhetoricAncient Rome

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Speeches against Catilina by Marcus Tullius CiceroAuthor: Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 106 BCE-43 BCE,Language: Latin, Class: PA: Language and Literatures: Classical Languages and Literature, Release Date: Apr 2, 2012

Editor's review

Cicero's Speeches against Catilina are a masterpiece of late Roman Republican political oratory and one of the core texts of Latin literature and classical rhetorical education. The four speeches centre on the Catilinarian conspiracy and show how Cicero shaped public opinion through narrative, accusation, moral judgement and emotional appeal, making the work valuable both as a historical source and as a model of rhetoric. For students of Latin it is classic material for testing grammar, syntax and oratorical style; for readers studying Roman political history and classical rhetoric it offers a window onto how political language worked at a moment of republican crisis. This electronic edition gives the Latin text, convenient for searching and comparative reading, but lacks modern translation, notes and introduction; readers should use it alongside a commentary, a translation or classroom guidance to grasp the historical background and rhetorical strategies fully.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. First learn the basic facts of the Catilinarian conspiracy and the political landscape of the late Roman Republic, then read the original speeches.
  2. Read alongside an English or Chinese translation, checking the Latin wording and rhetorical structure paragraph by paragraph.
  3. While reading, mark Cicero's logic of accusation, moral rhetoric and techniques of emotional appeal, and take notes for rhetorical analysis.
  4. Latin learners can close-read the first speech, analyse its sentence patterns and oratorical rhythm, then read through the remaining speeches.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32

FAQ

Is this book the Latin original or an English translation? According to the data, the book is in Latin and contains the original text of Cicero's Speeches against Catilina. It is not an English translation or a bilingual edition; readers need Latin reading ability or a translation for reference.
Can someone with no Latin read this book? Reading the original directly would be quite difficult. It is a classical Latin oratorical text with complex syntax and Roman political background. Readers without Latin are advised to start with a modern translation or introduction, understand the history and the speeches' content, and then consider reading the original alongside.
What event do the four speeches mainly concern? The speeches concern the Catilinarian conspiracy, the late Roman Republican episode in which Catiline was accused of plotting to overthrow the state. Cicero, as consul, delivered the speeches to accuse Catiline and his associates and to move the Senate and citizens to action.
As Latin learning material, what level is it suitable for? It suits intermediate and advanced learners who already have some Latin. The oratorical style has long sentences and dense rhetoric, so beginners should read with teacher guidance or a commentary. One can close-read the first speech first, then gradually read through the rest.

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About the author

Marcus Tullius Cicero Author · Roman Republic

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE–43 BCE) was a Roman statesman, orator, philosopher, and jurist. He served as consul and foiled the Catilinarian conspiracy in the late Republic, and was killed in 43 BCE for opposing Antony. A prolific author, he wrote on philosophy, rhetoric, and letters; this collection holds 22 of his works, including De Officiis, the Tusculan Disputations, the Academic Questions, and De Finibus, as well as numerous speeches and letters to Atticus. His orations are tightly argued and forceful, his philosophical writings render Greek thought in Latin, and his letters are natural and intimate, preserving valuable historical and intellectual records. Cicero is regarded as a model of Latin prose, and his style and vocabulary have profoundly shaped the European prose tradition.