Book 5, Letter 1 - In Defence of Pompey

 

Dear Cicero,

I come before you, oh august father, a humbled man. My summer has been well spent with many books. I have read your Tusculan Disputations, as well as your books on the Republic and the Laws. I have read your books On Oratory, and On the Orators. I have read the first of many books of your collected speeches, and today I ordered a complete volume of your Philippics. But you are not the only author for whom my deep affections have given me cause to spend my hours in the company of the long dead. I have also read Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys, by Louisa May Alcott, and I have discovered that she and I have read some of the same books, and that we admire some of the same great figures of history. I have finally finished reading Tacitus' Histories, and Annals, as well as his books On Britain (Agricola), and On Germany. I have begun reading Seutonius' The Twelve Caesars, I continue to read Seneca's Letters to Lucullius, and today I purchased a copy of Seneca's tragic plays.

I have also read SPQR by Mary Beard, The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan, In The Shadow of the Sword and Persian Fire by Tom Holland, and The Other Side of History, by Robert Garland. I have been deeply moved by the things I have learned, and humbled greatly by these magnificent modern works of historical scholarship. Great pieces of the puzzle of history have converged in my mind, and, with greater understanding, has come a reduced willingness to pass comment on the works of yourself and the other dead friends of our common, immortal acquaintance.

So it is that I come at last to the point of this letter.

Book 5 of this compendium will consist of 21 videos. I will read to you some of my favourite passages of your books, Cicero, as well as writing from other authors, both ancient and modern, and some of my own writing.

 

So Cicero, I begin with your speech in defence of Pompey.

 

with Gratitude and Respect,

Morgan