“Princeton University Press has made a predictable move in publishing a book called How to win an election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians . . . but they're using a less predictable choice: the words of Quintus Tullius Cicero, brother to the great Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero,” says the Los Angeles Times. “The great Marcus Cicero needed his younger brother's advice? Absolutely. In class-conscious Rome, explains translator Philip Freeman, Cicero's bid to become consul was hampered because his family wasn't blue-blooded. His practical brother Quintus stepped in with a letter of advice to him known as the ‘Commentariolum Petitionis.’ Though Quintus' tips are directed at only one person, it is not difficult to find insights here that would help today's U.S. presidential contenders.” Speaking to us from a distance of more than 2,000 years, “Quintus Cicero's words are incisive and revelatory: They remind us that, when it comes to that strange beast known as politics, human nature hasn't changed very much since then.”
