(1) what is your letter's occasion or main topic (public events? personal matters? both?) – what important Roman (historical) events are happening as Cicero writes?
(2) what impressions do you get of Cicero (as a person) from your letter?
Group 1: Letter 70 (49 BCE) |
Group 2: Letter 77 (49 BCE) |
Group 3: Letter 133 (45 BCE) |
Group 4: Letter 137 (44 BCE) |
Timelines of events (49-43 BCE)
January, 49 BCE: Caesar crosses the Rubicon, civil war with Pompey commences
48 BCE: Pompey defeated at Pharsalus, Greece, and killed in Egypt
46 BCE: victory of Caesar over Pompeians at Thapsus, North Africa (suicide of Cato the Younger); Caesar triumphs in Rome
45 BCE: last of Pompeians defeated at Munda, Spain; Caesar given extraordinary powers
44 BCE: Caesar assassinated on Ides of March; Caesar's 19 yrs. old heir Octavian returns to Italy from Greece; Cicero delivers first of Philippics against Antony
43 BCE: Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus; murder of Cicero