Audiobook: The Life of Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) was an orator, statesman, philosopher and prolific correspondent, who rose as a ‘new man’ in Rome in the turbulent last years of its republican government. Anthony Trollope, best known as a novelist, admired Cicero greatly and wrote this biography late in life in order to argue his virtues against authors who had granted him literary greatness but questioned his strength as a politician and as a man. He takes a personal approach, affording us an insight into his own mind and times as well as those of his subject.

Volume I covers the period (up to the year 57BC) of Cicero’s education, his rise through the courts and offices of state to the Consulship, and his exile.

Please note that footnotes – predominantly bibliographical citations and Latin quotations – are omitted unless explicitly referred to in the main text; the appendices, which consist mainly of more substantial extracts from other works, are likewise omitted.

Summary by Philippa

Volume II can be found here.