The private correspondence of the most active public figure of Rome. Cicero (Marcus Tullius, 106–43 BC), a Roman lawyer, orator, politician, and philosopher, about whom we know more than any other Roman, lived in the turbulent era that witnessed the rise, dictatorship, and death of Julius Caesar in an unstable republic. In his political speeches, in particular, and his correspondence, we see the tension, upheaval, and intrigues of politics, as well as the role he played in the turmoil of the era. Of approximately 106 speeches, which were delivered before the Roman people or the Senate if political, or before jurors if judicial, fifty-eight have survived (some of them partially). In the 14th century, Petrarch and other Italian humanists discovered manuscripts that included more than 900 letters, of which more than 800 were written by Cicero and nearly 100 from others to him. These offer a revealing insight into the man, which is even more impressive as most were not written for publication. Six rhetorical works survived and another one in fragments. The philosophical works include seven major compositions that have survived and many others, as well as some that have been lost. There is also poetry, some original, some in translations from the Greek. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Cicero comprises twenty-nine volumes.