Tag Archives: Cicero

Roman poetry is when…

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

My favourite definition of poetry goes like this: Poetry is when every line begins with a capital letter and does not reach the right margin of the page. I like this definition so much, because, in its focus on two … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sneering at Experts

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

Defamatory remarks and jokes about entire professions, regardless of the individuals pursing them or their actual performance, are a stock element of western comedic culture. Among the most ridiculed group of professionals, since ancient times, are teachers, professors, and other … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No safe (and therefore a special) place

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

American Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence went to the theatre to enjoy a performance of ‘Hamilton’, when this happened: President-Elect Donald Trump apparently was not particularly happy with this and felt compelled to put his own trademark (a.k.a. low-fact, boastful) spin on … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

In memoriam Jo Cox MP

Posted on June 16, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

Today, the increasingly shrill rhetoric around Britain’s future position within or outside the European Union (‘Bremain’ vs. ‘Brexit’) appears to have claimed the life of Labour MP Jo Cox. We tend to think of speech as ‘mere words’. But speech … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cicero’s Procrastinations

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

Today, Marcus Tullius Cicero is widely known as one of ancient Rome’s foremost lawyers, orators, philosophers, and statesmen. Born in 106 B. C., Cicero managed to establish himself in a difficult case in 80 B. C., when he – successfully … Continue reading →

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Ulpian and Cicero on Internet Security

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Peter Kruschwitz

A strange thing happened the other day. On one of the main Classics-related listservs, the Liverpool-based ‘Classicist list‘, an email that contained several internal, private email messages (that clearly were never intended to be seen by anyone other than their … Continue reading →

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Discussing Cicero, Against Verres II 1.53 ff. (for A-level students)

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Peter Kruschwitz

Reading’s Department of Classics was delighted to host the 2014 Ancient World Study Day on March 26th. On this occasion, I was invited to offer a talk on Cicero’s speech In Verrem 2.1.53 ff., the OCR set text for 2014, … Continue reading →

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Cicero, On Sustainable Government

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Peter Kruschwitz

Cicero’s work De Re Publica (‘On Commonwealth’) does for Classicists what Shakespeare will do for the Anglophone: it is so full of famous quotes that one begins to wonder if it is an authentic work, or just a string of … Continue reading →

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