(Princeton Univ. Press, $10)
Quintus Tullius Cicero was the Bobby Kennedy of his era, said Peter Stothard in The Wall Street Journal. Quintus’ brother Marcus was a step ahead of him in the politics of ancient Rome and had a chance, even though an outsider, to win election as consul in 64 B.C. Think of Quintus as “the ruthless soldier of the family” and you won’t be surprised that his written advice to his more renowned sibling reads as pragmatically cynical as anything that might be spoken behind closed doors by aides to our current presidential hopefuls. “A candidate must be a chameleon, adapting to each person he meets,” Quintus wrote in his well-known letter, which benefits greatly from Philip Freeman’s fresh translation. And don’t get Quintus started on the gullibility of the masses.
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