Some will probably be appalled by the apparent cynicism in this translation of Quintus’ letter of advice to his brother Marcus, especially if you are a “follower of the philosopher Plato” like Marcus Cicero, but I enjoyed this short volume translated by Prof. Philip Freeman.

As you read, you might think Quintus has advised Marcus to be like an Etch-a-Sketch. Newt probably could’ve taken some Quintus advice about not taking a vacation during the campaign and avoided the two he took (Greece and Hawaii). There’s a lot of great stuff in this book, and as a hack my overall impression is the more things change the more they stay the same.