Roman Life in the Days of Cicero

he first six decades--to speak roughly--of the firstcentury B.C. I speak of Cicero as the "central figure," not as judginghim to be the most important man of the time, but because it is fromhim, from his speeches and letters, that we chiefly derive theinformation of which I have here made use. Hence it follows that I give,not indeed a life of the great orator, but a sketch of his personalityand career. I have been obliged also to trespass on the domain ofhistory: speaking of Cicero, I was obliged to speak also of Caesar andof Pompey, of Cato and of Antony, and to give a narrative, which I havestriven to make as brief as possible, of their military achievements andpolitical action. I must apologize for seeming to speak dogmatically onsome questions which have been much disputed. It would have beenobviously inconsistent with the character of the book to give theopposing arguments; and my only course was to state simply conclusionswhich I had done my best to make correct.