Clarendon ancient history series

The main part of Polybius's history covers the years 264-146 BCE. It describes the rise of Rome to the destruction of Carthage and the domination of Greece by Rome.--From publisher description.

"Cicero's speech delivered in the mid '50s BC in defence of Gaius Rabirius Postumus was the last of a series of trials which followed the restoration of the Egyptian king, Ptolemy XII Auletes, to his throne. This had been secured through the services of a Roman army which had acted on the promise of a huge illegal bribe. Rabirius Postumus, a leading financier, had travelled to Egypt to collect the promised money acting on behalf of himself and other creditors of the king, including Caesar and Pompey. On his return political opponents placed him, among others, on trial. This book provides a translation of the speech and a commentary in English of a work which is a major source for Roman and Egyptian history at a time of the late Republic. The introduction furnishes a review of the events surrounding the trial as well as a significant reappraisal of the career of Rabirius Postumus who is shown to be a major actor on the Roman political stage. The commentary discusses historical and legal points and also includes a number of important textual emendations. This book is intended for academics and post-graduate students interested in the study of Cicero and in Late Republican Roman literature, especially Roman historians, those interested in Ptolemaic Egypt, and Roman law."--Jacket.

"This edition of the papyrus containing Didymos' comments on some of Demosthenes' speeches provides the student with a new reading of the text, a facing translation that is carefully edited for those who cannot use the Greek to show what is extant and what is restored, and a detailed commentary that considers all issues related to the restoration of the text and to its historical content. All Greek is translated into English so that the discussion is fully accessible."--BOOK JACKET.

"This is the first English commentary on Cicero's On Divination Book I that is fully accessible to the reader who knows no Latin or Greek." "David Wardle provides a new translation, an introduction and full commentary. The introduction explores Cicero's treatment of divination in all his works, his purpose in writing On Divination, his use of philosophical sources, and the context in which the work was written. The fully documented commentary pays attention to the development of the philosophical historiographical, and religious aspects of the examples used by Quintus."--BOOK JACKET.

"Besides his renowned prosecution of Gaius Verres, Cicero also appeared as defence counsel in a number of cases in which former governors were accused of misconduct in the provinces. This volume unites two such defences, both incompletely preserved, from an early phase of Cicero's career (ca. 69 BC) and from his maturity (54 BC). The first speech is on behalf of Marcus Fonteius. Fonteius was governor of Transalpine Gaul probably from 74 to 72 BC, a time when the Romans were consolidating their control of that province and simultaneously fighting a bitter war with rebels under Sertorius in the Iberian Peninsula. Cicero defends Fonteius with the argument that his measures, though severe, were in the state interest. The second speech is on behalf of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, governor of Sardinia in 55, whose charges included not only peculation but also cruelty and hounding a woman to suicide through his unwanted attentions. In both cases Cicero seeks to stir Roman prejudice against the foreign witnesses testifying for the prosecution. The outcome of Fonteius' case is not clear from surviving evidence, but Scaurus was acquitted, only to be condemned and exiled on charges of corrupt electoral practices three years later. Dyck's volume provides a general introduction on the Roman extortion court and, for each speech, an introduction, English translation, and the first detailed commentary in English"--

"Cicero defended Publius Sestius against a charge of public violence in early March, 56 B.C.E., intending to discharge the obligation he owed for Sestius's efforts as tribune the previous year to win his restoration from exile. Because Cicero based his defence on an ample account of recent Roman political history and a 'survey' of the commonwealth's current condition, it is among the longest of his extant speeches. It is also arguably the most important of his political speeches that survive from the nearly two decades separating the Speeches against Catiline and the Second Philippic." "Though Cicero of course did not know it at the time, it was to be his last significant public performance as an independent political agent before the upheaval that followed Caesar's murder; in little more than a month Caesar and Pompey would meet at Luca, and Cicero would be kept on a short leash until the outbreak of civil war. The speech's account of recent history and of the men who made it provides any student of Rome with a full and fascinating way into the period. Because so much of the account concerns public meetings, demonstrations, and outbursts of violence, it is highly pertinent to the current debate on the place of the crowd in Rome in the late Republic'; more generally, the speech - with its energy, drama, and broad scope - is among the best introductions we have to traditional Republican values and ethics in action. This new translation and commentary make this important text accessible to a new generation of readers."--BOOK JACKET.