Complete Works of Cicero

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cicero's Rome's greatest orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero was a renowned philosopher and political theorist whose influence upon the history of European literature has been immense. For the first time in digital publishing history, readers can now enjoy Cicero’s complete works in English and Latin on their eReaders, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, History, Collections

11757 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 9, 2014

About the author

Born 3 January 106 BC, Arpinum, Italy
Died 7 December 43 BC (aged 63), Formia, Italy

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Alternate profiles:
Cicéron
Marco Tullio Cicerone


Note: All editions should have Marcus Tullius Cicero as primary author. Editions with another name on the cover should have that name added as secondary author.

Reviews

[Massimo Pigliucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a public advocate, statesman, and philosopher who made a huge political impact on the late Roman Republic and whose writings have influenced people for two millennia. This isn't the kind of book one can, and perhaps even should, read cover to cover. Rather, you should take the time to browse the table of contents, pick an essay or a letter or an oration, immerse yourself in it, then emerge, take a break, and dive back in when you feel the urge again. Believe me, you will find yourself going back to Cicero for years to come.

[Robert Goulding · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needs editorial work

The selection is comprehensive, and translations good. But the Latin is practically unusable, because Cicero uses Greek words and phrases abundantly - in his letters, sometimes every sentence. And the Greek has been left as complete gibberish. Disappointing. I hope someone at Delphi goes through and fixes this for a future edition.

[Ondrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can you rate a book composing of all written and said works of one of the greatest orator this planet has ever seen? I give this book five stars with clear concience. And I even haven't read everything, only the parts that interested me the most. There are hundreds of letters just to Cicero's friend Atticus and half of them are just about buying real estates and art works, so not exactly a thrilling read. Then there are transcripts of his lawsuit cases and his own philosophical books. Each section has hundreds of pages at least.

This book is half English (apart from small grammatical errrors, it's fine) and half Latin - for those that would like to read the exact words this Titan spoke. Unfortunatelly I don't speak Latin, but who knows, maybe one day. Other than that I can only say how privileged I felt while reading this as I am a hardcore fan of Cicero. If you'd like to read what he had to about past Roman political affairs and his personal struggles, virtues and vices this is a book for you.

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the whole bloody thing. Took me over a month but I did it. I will NEVER pick up a book with that many pages again. It was well nigh impossible to keep track of all the places and names, so much so that I ended up trashing my notes. Marcus Tullius"Circumlocution" Cicero was a man of many words, in fact, without breaking a sweat, he could use up to 500 words for what could easily have been described in seven...
Apart from that and the headache of reading around 500 pages a day I have to say it was worth it. I thought the Complete works of Virgil were much more enjoyable but this is a good book. From now on, however, I doubt I will even consider any book of more than 1500 pages ever again.

[Ben Brodt · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is just too much to break this apart. I give Cicero three big booms

[Greg S · Rating 4 out of 5]

His speeches are long (makes sense) but fascinating.

It helps to understand the political climate as well. Cicero was not a powerful man, except for his strength of oration. So each speech is a small man among the more powerful and dangerous elements of Rome.

I find I enjoy examining his word choices; strong and precise at times, alliteration and repetition used at times. He carefully words and builds a foundation to the inevitable accusation or defense.

By the end of the speech he has made a logical progression, used certain words for penetrating power, and rhythm/repetition to drive in point.

All along the way he plays his arguments for the crowd.
Ie. Everyone in the crowd had slaves, so he adds to his argument to continue would be to destroy slave conventions. Or it would be an attack on nobility. Or an attack on inheritance. Etc.

He frames the argument to touch on things the audience cares about deeply.