This is the first intermediate-student edition of a selection from Cicero's
Pro Milone
. Sections 24–32, 34–35, 43–52, 53–64 (to
defendere
) and 72–80 are included as Latin text with an accompanying commentary and vocabulary. Focusing on a deliberately concise extract from the original, this edition is designed to be manageable for students reading the text for the first time while also perfectly encapsulating the interest of the longer work and inspiring further study of it. A detailed introduction explains points of historical and stylistic interest, encompassing the full speech, including sections omitted here from the Latin.
The death of Publius Clodius and the prosecution of Milo for his murder came at a critical point in the history of the late Republic, with Civil War and the collapse of the Republic only three years away. In his passionate defence of Milo, Cicero pleads for the rule of law as a vital counterweight to the anarchy that the gangs of Clodius, and Milo, had created. The published speech was regarded as a masterpiece of oratory in its own time, and is still held to be one of his finest compositions and a model for the presentation of such a defence.