Very interesting set of correspondence by Cicero. Intriguing and pivotal in order to understand the man behind the politics-- or, just maybe, the politics behind the man. ( )

The Letters were intended for publication (unlike Cicero's impulsive notes), and frame an honest political toady who rose in rank even under the hated Domitian. Describes a surprising variety of subjects, including the eruption of Vesuvius at Pompey, where his uncle (Pliny the Elder) perished, Roman villas, country life (charms), dinner parties, legacy-hunting for testate succession, statuary, ghost stories, various marvels, and his love for his 3rd wife after being widowed twice. Reported to Trajan on the suppression of Christianity in Bithynia. Friend of Tacitus, and even of the exiled Cicero who he emulated as an orator. The Letters are his largest body of work, and they picture the life of a cultivated gentleman at the time that Pompei was destroyed.

ancient history, Rome, Latin literature