The citizens of ancient Greece and Roman raised public speaking to an art form, and their addresses continue to rank among the world's most illustrious examples of oratory. From Demosthenes' First Philippic, a rousing call to Athenians to resist foreign invaders, to Cicero's Catiline Orations, which exposed an internal plot to overthrow the Roman government, this compilation comprises 22 of antiquity's most eloquent speeches.
Featured orations include Pericles' "Funeral Speech," as preserved in Thucydides' "History of the Peloponnesian War"; Socrates' "The Apology," in which the philosopher defended himself against charges of corrupting Athenian youth; Julius Caesar's speech to the Roman senate, "On the Punishment of the Catiline Conspirators"; and Publius Cornelius Scipio's "To His Soldiers," delivered before a decisive battle against Hannibal and the Carthaginians. Additional orations by other generals and statesmen examine the concepts of justice, political rectitude, and social order.