On Living and Dying Well

Nov 12, 2025 9:49 AM

Author:Cicero,Thomas Habinek,Thomas Habinek,Thomas Habinek

In the first century BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero, orator, statesman, and defender of republican values, created these philosophical treatises on such diverse topics as friendship, religion, death, fate and scientific inquiry. A pragmatist at heart, Cicero's philosophies were frequently personal and ethical, drawn not from abstract reasoning but through careful observation of the world. The resulting works remind us of the importance of social ties, the questions of free will, and the justification of any creative endeavour.

This lively, lucid new translation from Thomas Habinek, editor of Classical Antiquity and the Classics and Contemporary Thought book series, makes Cicero's influential ideas accessible to every reader.

Reviews

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—— Anthony Quinn , Observer

This calm, reflective and extraordinarily beautiful novel offers American fiction at its finest

—— Irish Times

Maxwell's voice is one of the wisest in American fiction; it is, as well, one of the kindest

—— John Updike

Maxwell is one of the past half-century's unmistakably great novelists

—— Village Voice

Maxwell offers us scrupulously executed, moving landscapes of America's twentieth century, and they do not fade

—— Times Literary Supplement

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