{"product_id":"ciceros-de-oratare-book-i-jason-s-kassel-9798902839132","title":"Cicero's De Oratare Book I: Public Speech, Civic Judgment, and the Education of the Roman Soul","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn Book I of \u003ci\u003eDe Oratore\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cb\u003eCicero\u003c\/b\u003e stages one of the most important conversations in the history of political thought: what kind of human being is fit to speak for a republic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet in 91 BCE at the Tusculan villa of Lucius Crassus, the dialogue unfolds as a dramatic gathering of Rome's greatest legal and political minds on the eve of civil collapse. As the Republic strains under ambition, faction, and the loss of shared judgment, Cicero asks a question that remains urgent: is public speech a technical craft, or a moral-political capacity formed by education, character, and lived civic responsibility?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis translation does not reduce \u003ci\u003eDe Oratore\u003c\/i\u003e to a rhetoric manual. Instead, it restores the work as Cicero conceived it: a philosophical drama about \u003cb\u003ejudgment, law, education, and the conditions of free political life\u003c\/b\u003e. Crassus, Antonius, and Scaevola debate whether eloquence can exist apart from wisdom; whether speech shapes cities or merely adorns them; and whether a republic can survive when its speakers lack inner formation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKey Roman concepts are rendered as stable philosophical terms-\u003cb\u003eLeisure-with-Dignity (\u003ci\u003eotium cum dignitate\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eRes Publica\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eNatural-Capacity\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ePublic-Speech\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eJudgment (\u003ci\u003eiudicium\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e-and repeated deliberately to preserve Cicero's argumentative architecture. The dialogue is structured for clarity and cadence, allowing the text to be read not only as philosophy, but as living speech.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten for readers of political philosophy, classical education, law, and civic theory, this edition presents \u003ci\u003eDe Oratore\u003c\/i\u003e as a meditation on republican speech in an age of instability. It is Cicero not as stylist, but as political diagnostician-examining how societies fail when speech separates from truth, character, and responsibility.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis volume is part of the \u003cb\u003ePoetic Philosophy Presents\u003c\/b\u003e series, which restores classical texts as coherent philosophical structures rather than technical fragments-works meant to be read, heard, and judged as living arguments.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jason S. Kassel,Cicero\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798902839132\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Recursive Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/09\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 130\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.28d","brand":"Jason S. Kassel","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48447248924927,"sku":"9798902839132","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e5b25696-15a7-4367-a20d-b2cb29c8758f.jpg?v=1777229842","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/ciceros-de-oratare-book-i-jason-s-kassel-9798902839132","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}