The writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero constitute one of the most renowned collections of historical and philosophical work in all of classical antiquity.

Cicero was a Roman politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, philosopher, and constitutionalist who lived during the years of 106–43 BC.

He was extant during the rule of prominent Roman politicians, such as those of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Marc Antony.

Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

A distinguished orator and successful lawyer, Cicero likely valued his political career as his most important achievement.

His voluminous correspondence, much of it addressed to his friend Atticus, has been especially influential, introducing the art of refined letter writing to European culture.

Cornelius Nepos, the 1st-century BC biographer of Atticus, remarked that Cicero's letters to Atticus contained such a wealth of detail "concerning the inclinations of leading men, the faults of the generals, and the revolutions in the government" that their reader had little need for a history of the period.

[3] During the chaotic latter half of the first century BC, marked by civil wars and the dictatorship of Gaius Julius Caesar, Cicero championed a return to the traditional republican government.

However, his career as a statesman was marked by inconsistencies and a tendency to shift his position in response to changes in the political climate.

His indecision may be attributed to his sensitive and impressionable personality; he was prone to overreaction in the face of political and private change.

[4][5] A manuscript containing Cicero's letters to Atticus, Quintus, and Brutus was rediscovered by Petrarch in 1345 at the Capitolare library in Verona.

[6] Cicero was declared a "virtuous pagan" by the early Church, and therefore many of his works were deemed worthy of preservation.

Important Church Fathers such as Saint Augustine and others quoted liberally from his works, e.g. "On the Commonwealth" (De Re Publica) and "On Laws" (De Legibus), as well as Cicero's (partial) Latin translation of Plato's Timaeus dialogue.

Cicero also articulated an early, abstract conceptualisation of rights, based on ancient law and custom.

Several of Cicero's speeches are printed, in English translation, in the Penguin Classics edition Murder Trials.

Cicero's letters to and from various public and private figures are considered some of the most reliable sources of information for the people and events surrounding the fall of the Roman Republic.

I. Cicero, Against Verres, 2.1.53–86: Latin Text with Introduction, Study Questions, Commentary and English Translation.

Ein Beitrag Zur Philosophischen Und Politischen Interpretation Von Ciceros Schrift De Legibus.

Nickel, R. De Legibus = Über Die Gesetze; Paradoxa Stoicorum = Stoische Paradoxien.

Sauer, J. Argumentations- Und Darstellungsformen Im Ersten Buch Von Ciceros Schrift De Legibus.

Nickel, R. De Legibus = Über Die Gesetze; Paradoxa Stoicorum = Stoische Paradoxien.

Über Die Ziele Des Menschlichen Handelns = De Finibus Bonorum Et Malorum.

On Stoic Good and Evil: De Finibus Bonorum Et Malorum, Liber Iii; and Paradoxa Stoicorum.

Ein Philosophischer Kommentar Zu Ciceros Schrift De Fato.

Nach Einer Analyse Von Ciceros Laelius De Amicitia.

Wilkins, A.S. Rhetorica, Tomus I: Libros De Oratore Tres Continens.

Wilkins, A.S. Rhetorica, Tomus II: Brvtvs; Orator; De Optimo Genere Oratorvm; Partitiones Oratoriae; Topica.

Rhetorica, Tomus II: Brvtvs; Orator; De Optimo Genere Oratorvm; Partitiones Oratoriae; Topica.

Crawford, Jane W. M. Tullius Cicero: The Lost and Unpublished Orations (Hypomnemata Untersuchungen zur Antike und zu Ihrem Nachleben, Heft 80, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1984) ISBN 3-525-25178-5 1984.

37, Scholars Press, Atlanta, 1994) ISBN 0-7885-0076-7 Penguin Classics English translations