Pro Caelio. De Provinciis Consularibus. Pro Balbo

Pro Caelio. De Provinciis Consularibus. Pro Balbo by Cicero offers a glimpse into the life and work of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE), a Roman lawyer, orator, politician, and philosopher. We know more about Cicero than any other Roman, as he lived through the stirring era which saw the rise, dictatorship, and death of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.

Cicero's political speeches and correspondence vividly capture the excitement, tension, and intrigue of the political landscape, alongside the role he played in the turmoil of his time. Of the approximately 106 speeches, delivered either before the Roman people or the Senate—if political—or before jurors—if judicial—58 have survived, albeit a few incompletely.

In the fourteenth century, Petrarch and other Italian humanists unearthed manuscripts containing over 900 letters, more than 800 penned by Cicero himself, and nearly 100 addressed to him by others. These letters, mostly not intended for publication, provide a particularly striking revelation of Cicero the man. Furthermore, six rhetorical works remain, with another existing only in fragments. His philosophical contributions include seven extant major compositions and various others now lost, alongside poetry, both original and as translations from Greek.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Cicero is available in twenty-nine volumes.