title: On Living and Dying Well (Penguin Classics)
author:  Marcus Tullius Cicero 
description: <b>Marcus Tullius Cicero</b> (106-43 BC), Roman orator and statesman, was born at rural Arpinum (in the south of modern Italy) to a wealthy local family. He was taken to Rome for his education with the idea of a public career and, by the year 70 BC, he had established himself as the leading barrister in Rome. In the meantime, his political career was well under way and he was elected praetor in 66 BC. In addition to his speeches, Cicero produced a large number of works on the theory and practice of rhetoric, on religion, and on moral and political philosophy. He was put to death in 43 BC. <br><br><b>Thomas Habinek</b> is Professor of Classics at University of Southern California. His most recent books include The World of Roman Song: From Ritualized Speech to Social Order and Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory. He is an editor of the journal Classical Antiquity and editor of the book series Classics and Contemporary Thought.
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  ![](../Images/00001.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To the real Deeby  
  
  
  with many thanks
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Why were you born when the snow was falling?
  
  
  
  
  
  You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,
  
  
  
  
  
  Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
  
  
  
  
  
  Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
  
  
  
  
  
       For their far off flying
  
  
  
  
  
       From summer dying.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
  
  
  
  
  
  You should have died at the apples’ dropping,
  
  
  
  
  
  When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
  
  
  
  
  
  And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
  
  
  
  
  
       And all winds go sighing
  
  
  
  
  
       For sweet things dying.
  
  
  
  
  
  _Christina G. Rossetti, “A Dirge”_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # [Prologue](../Text/part0060.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Is demum miser est, cuius nobilitas miserias nobilitat._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Unhappy is he whose fame makes his misfortunes famous.
  
  
  
  
  
  Lucius Accius, _Telephus_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE BUZZ IN T