Hi, I found your channel from a comment left on one of my videos, and I wanted to come and check out your channel. It looks like you cover many books I’ve never heard of before, and I think that’s so cool. Maybe I’ve fitted myself into a niche corner, but I find a lot of the channels I watch cover YA literature. I’m so excited to have had an opportunity to find your channel, and broaden what I watch, and genres I may read, also. You seem to have a very natural, easy-going, and concise, way of talking about your books, and I love that. I am excited to see what else you come out with! BookTube is such a gift, have a lovely day.
Great review. I read this book about 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. Of course, these days, I sometimes wish we did not live in interesting times - and Cicero likely felt the same at some points.
I think the letters are the best place to get to know the man - but I liked the Everitt biography when I read it ten years ago. I love the man - despite all his flaws - but to this day the virulence of some people’s hatred for him is remarkable, and gives pause to thought.
I find him eminently likable, too, while at the same time seeing that his constant need for validation and public attention can grating for some. Someone so brilliant having those foibles makes me like him all the more, not less.
Nice commentary. I don't know much about Cicero beyond the broad strokes, and the sustained grind of picking through some of his stuff in Latin class (I particularly recall the Catiline Orations), left me satisfied to maintain distance for a time. I'll keep this book in mind as a good place to begin learning more, although it sounds like I might enjoy the letters as much as anything. Thanks for the video, and have an "interesting" one! 😁
Bryan, you would definitely enjoy the letters - especially the correspondence with Atticus. Loeb puts out those court cases I was griping I wanted to hear more of, too. As long as you read them in English so it doesn't feel like homework, they're utterly fascinating. You can basically see oratory becoming an art right before your very eyes in real time. Small wonder that what he could do with a turn of phrase ended up changing how people used the language for well over a millennium.
Hi John, I have put this biography on my list for next year, although I might fit it in sometime this year. I loved the video. Thanks for the fun Zoom yesterday. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Very engaging and well-written (/thought out) review. I enjoyed the book but not as much in the latter part, surprisingly. Unlike you, I have no background of Cicero (apart from the phenomenal Robert Harris trilogy) and I wanted some more of his letters and excerpts from philosophy to be included in the book. There was a whole chapter simply naming the works that he wrote after Tullia's death. I would have liked a different tack when talking about the books and their ideas. I think Everitt's writing style would make for a splendid textbook, not so much a "writer's" book. His style is very linear, which is not a bad thing at all. But I went in expecting a lot more "I want to stay up all night and learn more about this enigma" moments. Harris had me doing that. Adrian Goldsworthy too. But it was a good biography, nonetheless.
Hi, Tanya! Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment. I had no idea about the Cicero trilogy. Though admittedly it might be unfair comparing a novelist to a historian. At least a novelist has recourse to some artistic license if he feels the history is getting dry as hay, lol. The Harris trilogy looks really good, actually. Did you find that it followed his life pretty closely/accurately?
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt Yes. I know I'm being unfair. But Harris remains true to the facts. In fact, he covers all aspects of the Catiline conspiracy in the second book and that was all there was to it. But his foreshadowing, using Tiro (his slave) as the narrator, and the repartee between Cicero and his contemporaries spoiled me for other biographies on him. Cicero came alive to me in these books even though, if I recall correctly, nothing too big happens in the first book either because nothing much happened to a young Cicero except for that big Consular race. It speaks to Harris' talent as a writer. That je ne sais quoi works well for his books.
I can definitely see how he's an acquired taste. A lot of this is history I'd forgotten since college that I'm just brushing up on again for the first time in twenty years. But I'd have him over to the vomitorium sometime.
This sounded super interesting! I followed Latin classes in high school and part of the content for my final exam were of Cicero’s court speeches. I had an amazing teacher and it was interesting but I found the class to be hard, so I never got the chance to really learn and remember things about Cicero 🥲(although I do still own the book we used for that class), so maybe this can add to some of my knowledge!
Hi, Damla! Once I got to about the fourth year, I was struggling with it, too (mostly the grammar). The vocabulary has been a wonderful help in life, though (especially if you're studying English or Romance languages). If you read it, come back and let me know what you think.
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt will do! It might take a little while as I have quite a lot of books to go through and bought myself a couple more a few days ago 🙈😂 but I’ll do my best!
Hi, I found your channel from a comment left on one of my videos, and I wanted to come and check out your channel. It looks like you cover many books I’ve never heard of before, and I think that’s so cool. Maybe I’ve fitted myself into a niche corner, but I find a lot of the channels I watch cover YA literature. I’m so excited to have had an opportunity to find your channel, and broaden what I watch, and genres I may read, also. You seem to have a very natural, easy-going, and concise, way of talking about your books, and I love that. I am excited to see what else you come out with! BookTube is such a gift, have a lovely day.
Great review. I read this book about 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. Of course, these days, I sometimes wish we did not live in interesting times - and Cicero likely felt the same at some points.
Thanks for the kind words, Stephanie! Couldn't have said it better myself.
I think the letters are the best place to get to know the man - but I liked the Everitt biography when I read it ten years ago. I love the man - despite all his flaws - but to this day the virulence of some people’s hatred for him is remarkable, and gives pause to thought.
I find him eminently likable, too, while at the same time seeing that his constant need for validation and public attention can grating for some. Someone so brilliant having those foibles makes me like him all the more, not less.
Nice commentary. I don't know much about Cicero beyond the broad strokes, and the sustained grind of picking through some of his stuff in Latin class (I particularly recall the Catiline Orations), left me satisfied to maintain distance for a time. I'll keep this book in mind as a good place to begin learning more, although it sounds like I might enjoy the letters as much as anything.
Thanks for the video, and have an "interesting" one! 😁
Bryan, you would definitely enjoy the letters - especially the correspondence with Atticus. Loeb puts out those court cases I was griping I wanted to hear more of, too. As long as you read them in English so it doesn't feel like homework, they're utterly fascinating. You can basically see oratory becoming an art right before your very eyes in real time. Small wonder that what he could do with a turn of phrase ended up changing how people used the language for well over a millennium.
Hi John, I have put this biography on my list for next year, although I might fit it in sometime this year. I loved the video. Thanks for the fun Zoom yesterday. I'm looking forward to the next one.
I think you'll very much enjoy it, Clare The chat was lovely. It made my weekend even more enjoyable than it already was. I'll see you in two weeks!
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt I've ordered Cicero's biography. Yes, I loved it too. I've warned Mark dinner may be late that day.
Very good review. I don't want to live in interesting times.
Three cheers for finding a happy medium in there somewhere! And thank you for the kind words!
Great review. One for me for next year maybe 😊
It's a big recommend from me. And you're already planning for 2025, too? We're incorrigible and we'll never learn.😅
Very engaging and well-written (/thought out) review.
I enjoyed the book but not as much in the latter part, surprisingly. Unlike you, I have no background of Cicero (apart from the phenomenal Robert Harris trilogy) and I wanted some more of his letters and excerpts from philosophy to be included in the book. There was a whole chapter simply naming the works that he wrote after Tullia's death. I would have liked a different tack when talking about the books and their ideas. I think Everitt's writing style would make for a splendid textbook, not so much a "writer's" book. His style is very linear, which is not a bad thing at all. But I went in expecting a lot more "I want to stay up all night and learn more about this enigma" moments. Harris had me doing that. Adrian Goldsworthy too. But it was a good biography, nonetheless.
Hi, Tanya! Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment. I had no idea about the Cicero trilogy. Though admittedly it might be unfair comparing a novelist to a historian. At least a novelist has recourse to some artistic license if he feels the history is getting dry as hay, lol. The Harris trilogy looks really good, actually. Did you find that it followed his life pretty closely/accurately?
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt Yes. I know I'm being unfair. But Harris remains true to the facts. In fact, he covers all aspects of the Catiline conspiracy in the second book and that was all there was to it. But his foreshadowing, using Tiro (his slave) as the narrator, and the repartee between Cicero and his contemporaries spoiled me for other biographies on him. Cicero came alive to me in these books even though, if I recall correctly, nothing too big happens in the first book either because nothing much happened to a young Cicero except for that big Consular race. It speaks to Harris' talent as a writer. That je ne sais quoi works well for his books.
👍
Great vid, John. Still don't like Cicero though lol
I can definitely see how he's an acquired taste. A lot of this is history I'd forgotten since college that I'm just brushing up on again for the first time in twenty years. But I'd have him over to the vomitorium sometime.
@NicholasOfAutrecourt being proud of being a slumlord doesn't pair well with vanity I've found with him haha
This sounded super interesting! I followed Latin classes in high school and part of the content for my final exam were of Cicero’s court speeches. I had an amazing teacher and it was interesting but I found the class to be hard, so I never got the chance to really learn and remember things about Cicero 🥲(although I do still own the book we used for that class), so maybe this can add to some of my knowledge!
Hi, Damla! Once I got to about the fourth year, I was struggling with it, too (mostly the grammar). The vocabulary has been a wonderful help in life, though (especially if you're studying English or Romance languages). If you read it, come back and let me know what you think.
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt will do! It might take a little while as I have quite a lot of books to go through and bought myself a couple more a few days ago 🙈😂 but I’ll do my best!