On his 80th Birthday Reggie speaks to us in Latin about our next volume on the letters of Cicero. You may contact Reggie to wish him a happy birthday on 14 November 2019 either by phone or by sending a letter in the post following the information on this web-page.
If you cannot see or play the video, you may view it on our Youtube channel at this link.
OSSIUM CARNES MULTAE
E MARCI TULLII CICERONIS EPISTULIS
The Bones’ Meats Abundant
from the epistles of
Marcus Tullius Cicero
This was recorded so that Reggie would be able to appear during the presentation of the volume at Sant’Anselmo in Rome. This is why he greets us in Rome at the beginning.
The volume will appear in the Spring 2020 catalogue of Catholic University Press published as early as 1 December 2019. You will be able to place an order for when the volume is available later in 2020.
Since recording this message, the volume has changed in one significant way. Part IV of the volume consisted of 160 dialogues each based on either one sentence from one of our selection of 51 letters of Cicero to family and friends, or one of the 500 sentences of Cicero each under 5 or 6 words, also presented in this volume. Because of the length of the volume, however, these dialogues have been removed from this volume and will appear in the third volume:
OS PARAESENS CICERONIS EPISTULARIS
the immediate mouth of Cicero in his letters
That volume includes an audio component of Reggie reciting the Latin text of all 51 letters we selected for these two volumes. It also includes a significant printed text including the full text of the 51 letters and on facing pages the full text of Reggie’s translation corresponding to each letter. The 160 conversations held in English will find a natural home in this speaking volume.
This change freed up some space in the Ossium volume, so we received permission from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence to reproduce images of 50 of the letters we selected. Their manuscript of the letters ad Atticum dates to the ninth or tenth century, while their manuscript of the letters ad familiareswas copied around 1391 from an older manuscript. In this way paelographers and Latin enthusiasts may feel the living breath of Cicero speaking as they see in the pen strokes the living hand of ninth century monks copying these texts, at least this is the hope one 21st century monk typing a blog post for the internet.
Happy Birthday, Reggie!
Felix esto tibi!
