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Letters to Atticus, Volume I: Letters 1–89
In letters to his dear friend Atticus, Cicero reveals himself as to no other of his correspondents except, perhaps, his brother. These letters, in this four-volume series, also provide a vivid picture of a momentous period in Roman history‒years marked by the rise of Julius Caesar and the downfall of the Republic.
When the correspondence begins in November 68 BCE the 38-year-old Cicero is a notable figure in Rome: a brilliant lawyer and orator, who has achieved primacy at the Roman bar and a political career that would culminate in the Consulship in 63. Over the next twenty-four years‒to November 44, a year before he was put to death by the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony‒Cicero wrote frequently to his friend and confidant, sharing news and discussing affairs of business and state. It is to this corpus of over 400 letters that we owe most of our information about Cicero's literary activity. And taken as a whole the letters provide a first-hand account of social and political life in Rome.
When the correspondence begins in November 68 BCE the 38-year-old Cicero is a notable figure in Rome: a brilliant lawyer and orator, who has achieved primacy at the Roman bar and a political career that would culminate in the Consulship in 63. Over the next twenty-four years‒to November 44, a year before he was put to death by the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony‒Cicero wrote frequently to his friend and confidant, sharing news and discussing affairs of business and state. It is to this corpus of over 400 letters that we owe most of our information about Cicero's literary activity. And taken as a whole the letters provide a first-hand account of social and political life in Rome.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 44
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About the author
Marcus Tullius Cicero
8,549 books1,933 followersBorn 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
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.
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
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.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 23, 2024
“Life is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.”
“Friendship makes prosperity brighter and adversity easier to bear.”
“In politics, boldness without judgment is dangerous; judgment without boldness is ineffectual.”
Letters to Atticus is a masterpiece of personal correspondence and one of the most compelling windows into the life and mind of Marcus Tullius Cicero. This collection offers a mix of political intrigue, philosophical reflection, and heartfelt emotion, all framed within the context of Rome’s turbulent late Republic.
What I loved most about this book is its raw, unfiltered honesty. Cicero's letters to Atticus reveal his anxieties, ambitions, and vulnerabilities, making him feel remarkably human despite the centuries that separate us. His insights into friendship—such as “You are a second self to me”—are deeply moving, while his reflections on politics and power, like “What is more shameful than to have power but to lack the ability to use it wisely?” are timeless and thought-provoking.
The letters are also filled with humor, wit, and intellectual depth. Cicero’s commentary on philosophy, particularly his playful jab that “There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher,” made me smile more than once. His love for books and the written word resonates deeply, as he writes, “Books are the nourishment of the mind.”
This is so much more than a historical document—it’s a conversation with one of the greatest minds of the ancient world. While the political context can be dense at times, the emotional and intellectual richness of Cicero’s words make this a rewarding read for anyone interested in history, philosophy, or human connection.
Highly recommended for those who love ancient Rome, epistolary works, or simply want to experience Cicero’s sharp intellect and profound humanity firsthand!
“Friendship makes prosperity brighter and adversity easier to bear.”
“In politics, boldness without judgment is dangerous; judgment without boldness is ineffectual.”
Letters to Atticus is a masterpiece of personal correspondence and one of the most compelling windows into the life and mind of Marcus Tullius Cicero. This collection offers a mix of political intrigue, philosophical reflection, and heartfelt emotion, all framed within the context of Rome’s turbulent late Republic.
What I loved most about this book is its raw, unfiltered honesty. Cicero's letters to Atticus reveal his anxieties, ambitions, and vulnerabilities, making him feel remarkably human despite the centuries that separate us. His insights into friendship—such as “You are a second self to me”—are deeply moving, while his reflections on politics and power, like “What is more shameful than to have power but to lack the ability to use it wisely?” are timeless and thought-provoking.
The letters are also filled with humor, wit, and intellectual depth. Cicero’s commentary on philosophy, particularly his playful jab that “There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher,” made me smile more than once. His love for books and the written word resonates deeply, as he writes, “Books are the nourishment of the mind.”
This is so much more than a historical document—it’s a conversation with one of the greatest minds of the ancient world. While the political context can be dense at times, the emotional and intellectual richness of Cicero’s words make this a rewarding read for anyone interested in history, philosophy, or human connection.
Highly recommended for those who love ancient Rome, epistolary works, or simply want to experience Cicero’s sharp intellect and profound humanity firsthand!
February 27, 2025
I’m coming back to review volume 1 after finishing the last volume (4) after about a year and a half of sporadic reading. I wanted to give it time, to avoid leaving an unjust review. In retrospect, I still give it three stars. The later volumes get four stars because I found them slightly more interesting. They relate to more widely known history (i.e. Julius Caesar’s rule and the aftermath), so I was a little more invested.
There’s no denying D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s expertise on Cicero. He contributed no less than ten out of thirty-one volumes in Loeb’s Cicero edition, and at least a few of the critical Latin texts in the Teubner series. His biography of Cicero is the best I’ve seen. His notes and interpretation are elucidating and interesting. I learned a lot. As far as the content stands by itself, my “true” review would be one star higher for a total of four stars (which would accordingly increase my evaluation of the later volumes to five stars).
The translation, however, left me frustrated. I don’t know Latin well enough to read it outright, which is why I chose the Loeb edition in the first place, but when a phrase strikes me as odd, I know enough to be able to estimate or look up how close SB’s rendition stays to the original. In all fairness, it is extremely reliable semantically, but —
(A) Cicero peppered his letters to Atticus with Greek phrases. Interestingly, Shackleton Bailey decided to approximate them on the English side with French phrases instead of directly translating them — and not even one-to-one, but only when he could think of a close enough match, and sometimes flat-out inserting one elsewhere to compensate for one he couldn’t approximate (Introduction, pp. 21–22). I understand that this was intended to capture the feeling of Cicero’s writing rather than textual literalness. Unfortunately, to me, the result is that if I want to feel connected to the real text, I have to know at least two, possibly up to four languages. I’m lucky I know French, because half of the time they’re idioms or proverbs that might still be confusing if taken literally.
To be fair, in no case were they ever thematically inaccurate, but when I compare with other multilingual translations, I really think a better approach would have been to let the Greek phrases stand in the English side, with either bracketed translations or explanatory footnotes. I’ve been reading M. A. Screech’s Montaigne and Rabelais translations, where this approach is adopted, and let me tell you, it feels so much more authentic to me.
Perhaps the intended audience of the Loeb Classical Library is assumed to have both Latin and Greek proficiency. In that case, I probably should have picked the Penguin edition. If this were my only complaint, I’d forgive it and give a star back to my rating. However:
(B) SB attempted to capture the natural feeling of Cicero’s writing. Unfortunately, to SB’s ear, the feeling of natural diction makes Cicero sound like a somewhat antiquated British professor. At best this comes across as a bit quirky, but at worst… I literally threw one of the volumes down when he put a wildly anachronistic Christian metaphor in the mouth of Cicero. I wish I could remember what it was, but unfortunately I read it over a year ago and deliberately waited to see if I could forgive it. Alas. I did not. On another occasion he used an old-fashioned slur to translate one of the Greek idioms (v. 4 p. 235) and then provided a translation in the footnote that is more literal, more understandable, and less offensive.
Loeb editions aren’t always literal, nor are they strictly academic/technical. But they’re usually at least a little more formal-equivalent instead of dynamic-equivalent. I do think these editions suffered by lifting the text from SB’s more thorough Cambridge Classical Texts editions virtually unmodified.
There’s no denying D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s expertise on Cicero. He contributed no less than ten out of thirty-one volumes in Loeb’s Cicero edition, and at least a few of the critical Latin texts in the Teubner series. His biography of Cicero is the best I’ve seen. His notes and interpretation are elucidating and interesting. I learned a lot. As far as the content stands by itself, my “true” review would be one star higher for a total of four stars (which would accordingly increase my evaluation of the later volumes to five stars).
The translation, however, left me frustrated. I don’t know Latin well enough to read it outright, which is why I chose the Loeb edition in the first place, but when a phrase strikes me as odd, I know enough to be able to estimate or look up how close SB’s rendition stays to the original. In all fairness, it is extremely reliable semantically, but —
(A) Cicero peppered his letters to Atticus with Greek phrases. Interestingly, Shackleton Bailey decided to approximate them on the English side with French phrases instead of directly translating them — and not even one-to-one, but only when he could think of a close enough match, and sometimes flat-out inserting one elsewhere to compensate for one he couldn’t approximate (Introduction, pp. 21–22). I understand that this was intended to capture the feeling of Cicero’s writing rather than textual literalness. Unfortunately, to me, the result is that if I want to feel connected to the real text, I have to know at least two, possibly up to four languages. I’m lucky I know French, because half of the time they’re idioms or proverbs that might still be confusing if taken literally.
To be fair, in no case were they ever thematically inaccurate, but when I compare with other multilingual translations, I really think a better approach would have been to let the Greek phrases stand in the English side, with either bracketed translations or explanatory footnotes. I’ve been reading M. A. Screech’s Montaigne and Rabelais translations, where this approach is adopted, and let me tell you, it feels so much more authentic to me.
Perhaps the intended audience of the Loeb Classical Library is assumed to have both Latin and Greek proficiency. In that case, I probably should have picked the Penguin edition. If this were my only complaint, I’d forgive it and give a star back to my rating. However:
(B) SB attempted to capture the natural feeling of Cicero’s writing. Unfortunately, to SB’s ear, the feeling of natural diction makes Cicero sound like a somewhat antiquated British professor. At best this comes across as a bit quirky, but at worst… I literally threw one of the volumes down when he put a wildly anachronistic Christian metaphor in the mouth of Cicero. I wish I could remember what it was, but unfortunately I read it over a year ago and deliberately waited to see if I could forgive it. Alas. I did not. On another occasion he used an old-fashioned slur to translate one of the Greek idioms (v. 4 p. 235) and then provided a translation in the footnote that is more literal, more understandable, and less offensive.
Loeb editions aren’t always literal, nor are they strictly academic/technical. But they’re usually at least a little more formal-equivalent instead of dynamic-equivalent. I do think these editions suffered by lifting the text from SB’s more thorough Cambridge Classical Texts editions virtually unmodified.
January 4, 2019
This took me way too long to read, considering how short it really is; an interesting look at the mind of one of the great orators of the Late Republic
November 3, 2023
I'll admit I wasn't enthused to read this when it was picked by a reading group I belong to. I'd never been a fan of Cicero, and having to read his letters to Atticus didn't sound like much fun. However, I quickly became interested in the letters. The version I read (translated by D.R. Schackleton Bailey) was readable, and went quickly.
Yes, Cicero is giving his view on events occuring in the Republic (this volume includes letters from roughly 68 BCE to 56 BCE, give or take a few years). But I found myself often intrigued by Cicero's seeming obsession with decorating his numerous villas (where are those statues he was supposed to get from Atticus?) and enriching and organizing his library.
If you know nothing about the Roman Republic, this isn't a great place to start. Names are thrown around in the letters that would be meaningless without some background. And even though I've taken several courses on the period I still had to look up a lot of names and events.
On to Volume II!
Yes, Cicero is giving his view on events occuring in the Republic (this volume includes letters from roughly 68 BCE to 56 BCE, give or take a few years). But I found myself often intrigued by Cicero's seeming obsession with decorating his numerous villas (where are those statues he was supposed to get from Atticus?) and enriching and organizing his library.
If you know nothing about the Roman Republic, this isn't a great place to start. Names are thrown around in the letters that would be meaningless without some background. And even though I've taken several courses on the period I still had to look up a lot of names and events.
On to Volume II!
December 14, 2017
Although particular nuances and stylistic features are lost when translating any text, Shackleton Bailey does a fantastic job of conveying Cicero’s intended tone throughout his many ups and downs in his career. The content itself provides incredible detail of Roman politics during this complex and fascinating period. It is also intriguing reading how friends in the Roman world (albeit highly literate and influential) communicated with each other.
August 9, 2012
This is a collection of letters from Cicero to his good friend Atticus, running from November 68 BC to July 1, 54 BC. I was hoping for more about the Catilina affair, but there were many letters bemoaning Cicero's banishment from Rome, when Publius Clodius Pulcher, as Tribune of the Plebs, passed a law forbidding Cicero to come within 400 miles of Rome and conficating his property, based on Cicero's having executed, without a trial, some Roman citizens who aided Catilina. I bought this edition, with Latin on one page and the English translation on the facing page, hoping one day to read the Latin, but I don't know if that will ever happen.
November 5, 2008
Reading Cicero in Latin is time consuming and not too fun... but I'm thinking it may be worth it in the end
February 23, 2009
D.R. Shackleton Bailey, trans.
v1 interesting, v2 more interesting, v3 buy
v1 interesting, v2 more interesting, v3 buy
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews