Cicero

The volume offers a compact biography tracing the subject's early life, education, and rise through legal advocacy to high office. It recounts major public episodes including high-profile prosecutions, a contentious consulship, enforced exile and eventual return, and the subject's fraught relations with powerful military leaders and political rivals. It assesses oratorical skill, political character, and administrative probity, noting avoidance of common provincial corruption. It summarizes extensive correspondence and short philosophical essays addressing friendship and old age. Chapters close with examinations of philosophical outlook and religious beliefs, presenting both the public career and the private intellect in concise, accessible form.