Professor Shackleton Bailey is renowned for his major scholarly editions of Cicero's letters already published by Cambridge University Press. This selection from the complete correspondence is designed specifically for students at universities and in the upper forms at schools, and offers them a representative introduction to one of the most varied and most important literary correspondences in any language. In choosing letters for inclusion the editor concentrates on Cicero as a man and writer and on his relationship with his contemporaries, but he has also included letters which deal with people and events of special significance in the turbulent political history of the period. The edition includes an introduction, the text of the letters with critical notes, and a commentary which gives help with linguistic problems as well as elucidating the historical and social background.