most polished orations, composed less than six months after the murder of Julius Caesar in March 44 BC. This period--roughly 63-44 BC--is important because the Roman state was in transition from Republic to Empire. The Second Philippic not only presents Cicero's assessment of his own political career and his place in Roman history from a perspective late in his life, but it also provides a vivid eyewitness account of how Julius Caesar, with the help of Mark Antony, made himself master of Rome.

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