Cicero: Murder at Larinum

This brief, user-friendly edition has long remained popular, as it is pitched at just the right level for school students tackling their first continuous prose, and for other early-stage learners of Latin. Moreover, the text is selected from the Pro Cluentio — the defence speech of one of the most intriguing and lurid ancient murder trials — set in the northern Italian provincial town of Larinum, for which evidence survives, by the young forensic lawyer Cicero, destined to become Rome’s most celebrated political orator. The excitement and scandal of the original case still resonate with those who might compare the ancient reality with the modern fictions of Perry Mason or LA Law.

The Introduction elucidates the background situation, the feud between the Cluentii and the villainous Oppicianus; the Notes give ample linguistic and historical assistance and there is also a full Vocabulary. This is unadapted and exciting Latin well within the grasp of those who are tackling a 'real' text for the first time.