Pro M. Caelio Oratio

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Book Overview

In 56 B.C., M. Caelius Rufus was prosecuted for vis by L. Sempronius Atratinus in a trial with important social and political implications. This third edition of Cicero's speech in defense of Caelius reproduces A.C. Clark's authoritative text along with a new 17th-century conjecture on
Caelius' birthplace, and updated notes and appendices on a variety of political, social, and literary concerns, including the connection between Caelius and Catallus.
...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198140622
• ISBN13: 9780198140627
• Release Date: June 1988
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.9" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Austin's done a great job

The Pro Caelio is a somewhat complicated oration with its various references to lesser known people and incidents in the Late Republic. Austin attempts to reconstruct Caelius' life from the details. His commentary reveals a broad knowledge of Roman history and a sensitivity to the finer elements of Ciceronian rhetoric. My only criticism is his tendency to avoid commenting on some of the lengthier and more obscure passages by simply translating them straight through. It is often only a rare or highly informal definition which confuses the reader, such as the unexpected "Venerem" in section 52 which refers to a _statue_ of Venus. I didn't like the unenlightening hunt through a colloquial rendition of a whole paragraph to disambiguate a single odd word. Punctuation was consistently excellent and the page by page app. crit. is always a plus. The "Pro Caelio" is one of Cicero's best speeches. His political career and energy for the courts were still very near their peak, and he had a personal ax to grind with the powers behind the plaintiff, himself a shill and a judicial featherweight. Cicero had the vastly superior talent and knew so: he proceeded to rhetorically disembowel his opponents with style for the audience's delight. Since the disgruntled lawmen were missing the "ludi" because of state business, Cicero offered his own amusing theatrics. I'd like to believe Austin was right: (I can imagine the gentle headshakes and restrained chuckles on the faces of the tired "iudices") as Cicero launched into the lengthy prosopopoeia, this trial was just about a foregone acquittal. If you've ever harbored a guilty pleasure for reading the scandal mags but would like to do so with infinitely more educational value and style, pick up the Pro Caelio.

A great introduction to the speeches of Cicero

Although this commentary on one of the most interesting and enjoyable of Cicero's speeches for the modern reader is heavily slanted to the needs of US students for Advanced Placement Latin, it is nevertheless a great introduction to the speeches of Cicero for anyone learning Latin anywhere. There is a lot of help with grammar and vocabulary, and the methodical way in which the structure of Cicero's periods (long, involved sentences) is explained is particularly clear and helpful. The introductory sections giving the context and historical background to the speech are reasonably comprehensive without being unduly detailed. The notes draw fairly heavily on Professor Austin's Oxford University Press commentary, to which reference is made on more detailed points. However, Austin's edition is for the more learned. For anyone still in the Latin learning process, this book is much more accessible.On the downside, the commentary does not cover the whole speech. Lines 620 to 892 (about a quarter of the whole) are completely without notes or vocabulary, which is probably not a problem for Advanced Placement students, but disappointing for everybody else.

hic liber legendus est.

This is a great book! I have been using it all semester in my 300-level Latin course, and I cannot emphasize enough how helpful I have found it. Austin's is considered the preeminent commentary on the Pro Caelio among the faculty at my school, and I would venture to guess that the same applies just about anywhere else. The Pro Caelio is a speech which was delivered by the famed Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, in defense of Marcus Caelius, a personal friend accused of attempted murder. This text is not a translation and is not intended for reading by those without a grounding in the fundamentals of Latin grammar and syntax. In this edition of the Pro Caelio, the author provides alternate readings of the Latin text in footnotes at the bottom of each page. (Disparities between the medieval codices by which this work was passed down to us are common). He assigns each codex a Greek letter at the beginning of the book which serves to identify, in abbreviated form, the text which the alternate reading is ascribed to. This makes finding alternate readings -- and thus starting arguments over the meaning of a passage -- quite easy. Also provided, in endnotes which follow an unbroken presentation of the Latin text, are Austin's personal commentaries on certain passages. These range from very short to sometimes two pages in length, depending on the passage's importance and perceived difficulty. These notes provide a glimpse into the history behind the dramatic trial. I would recommend this book to any Classics scholar, beginning or advanced. For once, one of my course books will find a permanent home on my bookshelf instead of at the used bookstore after finals week!

Legendus est!

This book is the culmination of years of dedicated Oxford scholarship which has resulted in a masterful commentary on Cicero's Pro Caelio. I just started using this text in my advanced Latin class, and have found it far superior to even the exceptional Ciraolo text I used previously. The print is small, and the glosses and comments are placed in endnotes instead of footnotes, which makes the whole thing rather cumbersome. But oh, what marvelous information is to be found in those notes! Austin cites every major authority (up to 1959) on even the minutest of details and pits conflicting theories against each other, and then adds his own frequently curt pronouncements on the subject -- but always leaves the reader to make up his own mind. He makes certain to note where the various medieval codices diverge, even if there is only a scintilla of difference in the phrasings of a passage. This again shows his dedication to scholarship and letting the reader make up his own mind. This is THE definitive commentary on the Pro Caelio, for this is the place where you will find all the great Classicists of the ages gathered for one great symposium; it is the gateway to all the more specialized scholarship and a great general overview of them all.

This is the Cicero book needed for AP Latin

This book contains all of the Cicero required for the AP Latin Literature. It says in the preface that this book was designed specifically for AP students. Each section consists of about 30 lines of Latin (two or three "chapters") followed by explanation of words and difficult grammar (and some of it is extremely difficult). It is difficult to translate, but well worth it. This is the epitomy of persuasion.