How to Grieve - (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers) by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At the age of 33, Tullia Ciceronis died from complications due to childbirth. Her father, the consul Marcus Tullius Cicero, was utterly distraught, as his contemporary letters and passages in the Tusculan Disputations make clear. And in an effort to grieve, Cicero did something new in world history: for the first time, he wrote a consolation speech--not for others, as had always been done, but for himself. This was his coping strategy, and it prefigures the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and so many other thinkers throughout history who write letters to themselves. Cicero's Consolation was lost in antiquity. In the Renaissance, a philologist named Charles (Carlo) Sigoni recreated the speech. He gathered all the extant quotations and, on the analogy of restoring missing pieces of sculpture or lost paintings, he drew on everything he could find in Cicero to write a new speech that effectively recreated the lost one. And for a while, it worked. For centuries many great scholars believed Sigoni really had discovered the speech, rather than recreated it. Alas, subsequent scholarship has proven the opposite. Signoni very probably did write it. But the authorship question is less important than the contents. The speech shows that Sigoni knew all the conventions of the Consolation genre, and the historical events of Tullia's life, at least as well as any scholar then or now. It is a masterpiece: a fascinating read in Classical Latin, and it deserves a wide audience"--

Book Synopsis

An engaging new translation of a timeless masterpiece about coping with the death of a loved one

In 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth. But from the depths of despair, Cicero fought his way back. In an effort to cope with his loss, he wrote a consolation speech--not for others, as had always been done, but for himself. And it worked. Cicero's Consolation was something new in literature, equal parts philosophy and motivational speech. Drawing on the full range of Greek philosophy and Roman history, Cicero convinced himself that death and loss are part of life, and that if others have survived them, we can, too; resilience, endurance, and fortitude are the way forward.

Lost in antiquity, Cicero's Consolation was recreated in the Renaissance from hints in Cicero's other writings and the Greek and Latin consolatory tradition. The resulting masterpiece--translated here for the first time in 250 years--is infused throughout with Cicero's thought and spirit.

Complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, Michael Fontaine's engaging translation makes this searching exploration of grief available to readers once again.

Review Quotes

"[How to Grieve] offers an engaging read . . . and will certainly make this fascinating text easily accessible."---Catherine Steel, Classics for All

"The relevance of grief is perennial, and this text has certainly stood the test of time."-- "Paradigm Explorer"

About the Author

Michael Fontaine is professor of classics at Cornell University. His books include How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor and How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing (both Princeton).