Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration, with Introduction, Running Vocabularies and Notes (English and Latin Edition)

This is, truly, one of the greatest speeches of our modern era. Mr. Cicero here presents his case with vigor and passion and I think Senator Catiline's guilt will be clear to all who read it. It shocks me that abuses, such as the ones Mr. Cicero describes, were allowed to continue for so long in this great country. In my opinion Mr. Cicero's speech is of such eloquent quality that it should be required reading for all school children.

This is a very useful and useable aid and guide to the First Catilinarian Oration. But in this age when we recognize the importance of Latin vowel length, with many of us subscribing to Wheelock's views, why do the authors omit the macrons? It used to be prohibitively expensive for printers to indicate vowel length, but this is the 21st Century, and technology allows us to express fully in our printing the knowledge of the Latin language that we actually have. One might argue that students need to be trained to do without macrons in order to cope with earlier editions of texts such as this (e.g., Loeb Classics), but I would argue that it is more important to provide to students and teachers the full expression of Latin phonology and grammar that we actually have, and work from there. My suggestion: Prepare a new, properly printed (with macrons) edition of this guide.The historical introduction provided is excellent. It wisely includes maps, diagrams, and photos of relevant sculpture. For high school students preparing for the AP Latin exam, these features are valuable.The running vocabulary goes beyond individual lexical items and includes suggested translations. This, too, is a great help to students, who are routinely expected to propose fluent and appropriate translations.One might complain that some of the practices observed in this guide are outdated, with modern Latin scholarship suggesting more succinct and streamlined indication of grammatical relations, etc. Yes, but this guide provides a link to decades of previous scholarship, and this is valuable to students as long as teachers point out the somewhat antiquarian tendencies here.Overall, I recommend this aid and guide for both teachers and students. I wish that it were pegged explicitly to a Latin grammar text (like Wheelock -- but I'm a partisan here) for consistency, but as mentioned above, the very inconsistency and relative lack of specificity found here can provide useful teaching moments to teachers who encourage their students to fill in the phonological and grammatical gaps.

This was my textbook for a Latin class I took in college and it was one of the better translating textbooks I have seen. It gives great advice and helps you translate the Latin

For novice Latinates, this book is an excellent resource to practice translating actual Latin texts. There is a general glossary of terms at the back of the book, as well as a gloss particular to the actual passage on every page. In addition the supplemental help provides contexts and idiomatic phrasing help. A good book.

The extra large format (8.5 X 11) is just so obnoxious.

Love this book. No bias even though he's my teacher.

Cicero's First Catilinarian is a great read for students just finishing grammar and moving towards translation of Classic works. Frerichs' edition of this oration makes that transition smooth with this book's numerous aids to students.The Introduction provides background on Cicero, Catiline's conspiracy, and Latin oratory itself, as well as maps of the Forum and Italy. Having this information available puts this oration into context, and students will have a better time understanding Cicero's references. Before the text of the oration, the book also has a glossary of terms and figures of speech, which also prepares students nicely.The Latin text has vocabulary on the facing page, and many notes beneath on grammar, idioms, etc. A comprehensive glossary in the back serves as quick reference to unfamiliar words. About 60 pages long, students won't complain about having to take this book home! With a student-friendly format, Frerichs' book is wonderful for any student of Cicero's important oration.

The book is the book, and it is what it is. However, before buying this, know that there are two versions (pink and blue). The content is identical, but they are arranged differently. The main problem here is the line numbers, which makes it mostly doable but very annoying if you have a different version from the instructor. For whatever reason, you do not know what version you're getting until it arrives (according to my instructor).