My love for Marcus Cicero isn't a secret. Most students know him as the greatest Orator in Rome, and those students who study Rome know him as an annoying Senator who got what he deserved. Being a smartass myself, I related to Cicero immediately. I didn't, however, fully understand him as a human being until I started reading his letters. Cicero left behind hundreds of letters, many of which are overlooked by students of Rome because there isn't a resource for searching topics and themes within them. The only way to fully utilize the resource of these letters is for someone to compile an index for them. That's what my current research project is. I'm working through my notes on the letters and trying to make a searchable index of the letters. Part of the project involves making my own translations. That's where this blog will be useful. I plan on posting my own translations of some of Cicero's lesser known letters so that they can be a little more readily available for the public.
I understand that Cicero and Rome is an acquired taste, but this is the best avenue for me to take to keep myself up to date on my Latin and to maintain my familiarity with Cicero. If you've got questions about Cicero or anything related to his letters or speeches, please let me know! I can also look for letters pertaining to a specific topic, if anyone would like that.
In the Roman Forum, public speeches were given from a platform known as the "Rostra", from the plural of "rostrum" (a prow of a warship), because of the six ship prows that hung from it. The speeches given on that platform, by famous speakers like Cicero and Cato, still ring in the air. My aim is to make this blog my "Rostrum", preferring the singular until I earn the right to the plural.
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