Murder Trials (Penguin Classics)

thanks

Gud

I ordered a new copy of this masterpiece. What I got was a used book with a page ripped off.

print is small but the subject is interesting. Our law has elements of Roman and it is noteworthy that so much of law as practiced in Rome carried show business elements to extract sympathy for the client. NOT a search for truth

If I had done something wrong and found myself in court I'd want this Cicero guy defending me. I wish I had his contact information.

I own an old hard copy of this book and it is an excellent translation of these speeches. Thought I would add the e-book to my collection. It is riddled with typographical errors. Heck, I should have realized it from the first page of the sample -- notice how they spell "Advisory?"

What makes Cicero's courtroom strategies so impressive is the fact that he never bothers to dispute the evidence against his clients. In both the defenses of Roscius and Cluentius, he doesn't even use a single witness. He doesn't offer contradictory evidence or waste much time with alibis. Instead, he focuses his entire arguments on the most critical part of the case - motive. In both trials he successfully creates such compelling versions of the events that all remaining details became irrelevant to a jury who believes there was no motive. His speeches are fantastic illustrations of a whole swath of Robert Greene's strategies in  The 33 Strategies of War : Control the Dynamic, Weave a Seamless Blend of Fact and Fiction, Take the Line of Least Expectation and so on. Cicero's work is filled with so many applicable examples and fables and syllogisms and his name still carries such weight that I really leave each of his books with a ton of material I use for other things. This is one of those books. You should read it.

For anyone wanting a picture of Roman life during the chaotic upheavals of the late Republic, this collection of Cicero's forensic (ie law-court) speeches provides a close-up view. Cicero gives us oratory that was literally a matter of life and death, together with a vivid impression of law (and lawlessness) during Sulla's 'proscription' era - essentially, the nightmarish period in which political opponents were ruthlessly executed.The most brilliant and dramatic defence speech is undoubtedly the first of the four contained in this somewhat uneven volume: 'In defence of Sextus Roscius of Ameria'. It is impossible not to admire the courage and skill of the young Cicero - a raw 26 year-old in 80 BC when this celebrated trial took place. As he explains at the outset, only he offered to undertake the defence of Roscius, the alleged parricide, since no-one else dared to incur the wrath of the criminal gang who had powerful backing - via Chrysogonus, Sulla's favourite - stretching up to the dictator himself. Cicero is understandably respectful of Sulla, but, as Michael Grant points out in his excellent and concise introduction, Sulla had many individuals murdered anyway just to gratify the whims of his supporters. These were dangerous times, with cut-throat assassins aplenty. All the more audacious, then, is Cicero at points in the speech like this, where he has fun at the expense of the prosecutor, Erucius: 'I began my speech. But at the same time I was able to watch how he [ie Erucius] went on joking and made no attempt to concentrate - until I suddenly let drop the name of Chrysogonus. As soon as I uttered that name, Erucius immediately started to attend and seemed overcome with amazement.' As did many others in the courtroom, probably.As well as the brutality of Roman life during this period, we find evidence here of the rhetorical skill of trained orators like Cicero, together with fascinating insights into ordinary Roman provincial life. We can also note the horrific punishment meted out to those found guilty of parricide/patricide. This involved being sewn live inside a sack together with a dog, a monkey, a cockerel and a snake, then hurled into the River Tiber! Harsh justice, you might say. Above all, it gives a unique insight into the workings of the Roman legal system, in which the perceived motive of the suspect and the rhetorical skills of the advocate assume greater importance than witness statements, circumstantial evidence and other aspects of the legal process considered of crucial importance today. In Cicero's capable hands, and Grant's fluent translation, such rhetoric is often spellbinding. Only tedious genealogical details occasionally lead the attention astray, notably in the most famous speech here: 'In Defence of Aulus Cluentius Habitus'. Generally, though, this is an entertaining and illuminating book.

Excellent. Eloquent. Must read if you love this sort of thing.