Tusculan Disputations

Cicero (Marcus Tullius, 106–43 BCE), Roman lawyer, orator, politician, and philosopher, is a figure about whom we know more than any other Roman. He lived through the stirring era that saw the rise, dictatorship, and death of Julius Caesar during a tottering republic. In his political speeches, especially in his correspondence, we witness the excitement, tension, and intrigue of politics, along with the part he played in the turmoil of the time.

Of about 106 speeches delivered before either the Roman people or the Senate if they were political, or before jurors if judicial, 58 survive (with a few incompletely). During the fourteenth century, Petrarch and other Italian humanists discovered manuscripts containing more than 900 letters, of which over 800 were written by Cicero and nearly 100 by others to him. These letters provide a striking revelation of the man, especially because most were not intended for publication.

Six rhetorical works survive, with another existing in fragments. Cicero's philosophical contributions include seven extant major compositions and a number of others that are now lost. He also dabbled in poetry, some original, and others as translations from the Greek.

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