''Epistulae ad Brutum'' (''Letters to Brutus'') is a collection of letters between Roman politician and orator

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

and fellow politician, and conspirator against

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

, Marcus Junius Brutus. The letters in this collection, when combined with Cicero's other letters, are considered some of the most reliable sources of information for the period leading up to the fall of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. Cicero became acquainted with Brutus through his close friend

Titus Pomponius Atticus Titus Pomponius Atticus (November 110 BC – 31 March 32 BC; later named Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus) was a Roman editor, banker, and patron of letters, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with prominent Roman s ...

, an admirer of Brutus. Their personal relationship likely grew during their time together in opposition to Caesar during the civil war in 49 BCE, it being firmly established by the time Cicero returned to Rome in the autumn of 47. Traditionally divided into two books, the collection features 26 letters written from March or April to July 43 BCE — a year after the

assassination of Julius Caesar Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March (15 March) of 44 BC during a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome where the senators stabbed Caesar 23 t ...

, and a year before the death of Brutus in 42. The authenticity of the letters was for a long time cast into doubt, but is now generally recognized, with the exception of the first book's letters 16 and 17. These two letters resemble the style of ' — exercises in rhetoric commonly used by students of the late Republic and Augustan eras. The second book of Cicero's letters to Brutus was first printed by Andreas Cratander of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in 1528 from a now lost manuscript obtained for him by Sichardus from the

Abbey of Lorsch Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (german: Reichsabtei Lorsch; la, Laureshamense Monasterium or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms. It was one of the most renowned monasteries ...

References

External links

* * Cicero,
letters to his friends: volume 3. Including the letters to Quintus and to Brutus
', translated by William Glynn Williams, (1927), Loeb Classical Library, at the Internet Archive {{Authority control 1st-century BC Latin books Collections of letters Works by Cicero