Welcome to Litsy!

His various letters are illuminating, his Philippic against Antony is furious & damning, and his expositions on Duties & Old Age are still relevant today. The style in his written letters & essays may be more accessible to modern readers than his speeches, which can get long in the tooth. But stick with it. As a window into Ancient Rome & into the mind of the most celebrated orator of his time, his insight is still penetrating & meaningful.

"Life's course is invariable - nature has one path only, and you cannot travel along it more than once. Every stage of life has its own characteristics: boys are feeble, youths in their prime are aggressive, middle-aged men are dignified, old people are mature. Each one of these qualities is ordained by nature for harvesting in due season." - from On Old Age

"Consider the paradox of a person who admits the wickedness of tyrannizing a country....but who nevertheless sees advantage in himself becoming its tyrant if he can....Who, in God's name, could possibly derive advantage from murdering his country? Of all murders that is the most hideous...even when its perpetrator is hailed, by the citizens he has trodden underfoot, as 'Father of his Country'."

"So everyone ought to have the same purpose: to identify the interest of each with the interest of all. Once men grab for themselves, human society will completely collapse."

"...neglect of the common interest is unnatural, because it is unjust... nature's law promotes and coincides with the common interest."

So even in Cicero's day, "competition [was] the law of the jungle, but cooperation [was] the law of civilization." (Pyotr Kropotkin)

"For honesty is not particularly virtuous when there is no one with the ability or ambition to corrupt it."

❤️ Hugs from my daughter. Chocolate is also nice 🍫
❤️ ❤️ tagged. This trilogy has both platonic and romantic love.
@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

I'm getting back into the #litsylove groove. Thank you to this wonderful group for being patient with my silence (despite my best intentions) in 2023. I'm excited to be back to writing letters.

(Not pictured is the puppy I managed to distract with a chew long enough to write four cards.)

#TeamWhoYaGonnaCall The final game of #Scarathlon 2023 is now up and running! What are some fun links you can make? See if you can tell a story with titles, or create a theme! Have some fun with this!!

🎧 Finished off the series with a bang. My favorite of the 3 & the 1st book was my 2nd favorite.

It was sad. It was shocking. It was kind of funny that Cicero mentioned multiple times that he was SO old at 60 that it was ok if he died, then married someone 1/3 his age )for her money) & then run away from her.

Just so many little snippets of humor, sadness, still a lot of politics, Caesar …

The trilogy is a minimum 4.5⭐️ stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4

A Cicero manuscript created in 1446 at an exhibit I stumbled upon in an Indianapolis building. The collection was presented by the Remnant Trust, a group dedicated to collecting manuscripts, first editions, and early works dealing with topics of individual liberty and human dignity. So many fascinating pieces, including some from Frederick Douglass, John Locke, Mary Shelley, and more!