In 63 b.c., Lucius Sergius Catilina, a Roman aristocrat, formed a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman Republic. Cicero, who was consul that year, exposed the plot and documented his defeat of the conspiracy in his
Orations against Catiline
. The
First Catilinarian Oration
is well known and deservedly famous. Scholars are familiar with the other three speeches, but few students know them. This lapse is regrettable. The
Third Oration
is a fast-paced courtroom drama, and the
Second
and
Fourth Orations
provide critical information about this key event in Roman history. Susan O. Shapiro here makes all Cicero’s
Catilinarian Orations
accessible to the intermediate Latin student.
O Tempora! O Mores!
is designed to fit a variety of pedagogical approaches. Professors can assign any of the
independently or assign excerpts from several of the speeches. Shapiro’s historical essays bring a new dimension to Latin study, explaining the history and politics behind the texts. The essays are divided into short sections that can be assigned individually for class discussion. The volume is further amplified by a vocabulary, maps, a bibliography, and appendices.