Irish Mensa Lecture & Discussion: Cicero In and On Political Crises

Each month we watch a pre-recorded lecture from Gresham College and follow up with a discussion inspired by what we just learned. This month's topic is "Cicero In and On Political Crises."

ABSTRACT
An enthusiast of the Roman mixed constitution, Cicero was elected consul, and in that role dramatically curbed the tyrannical ambitions of Catiline. He would later become fatally embroiled in the shifting politics of later generations of ambitious strongmen, while also writing his own theories of constitutional change. This lecture explores Cicero's life and death as a way to articulate the crises of the late republic.

SPEAKER
Professor Melissa Lane is an author, lecturer, and broadcaster who has received major awards, including being named a Guggenheim Fellow and the Lucy Shoe Meritt Resident in Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome. She has published widely in journals and authored or introduced nine major books, including Greek and Roman Political Ideas, Eco-Republic, and, most recently, Of Rule and Office: Plato's Ideas of the Political, which was awarded the 2024 Book Prize of the Journal of the History of Philosophy. Professor Lane is the only person ever to have delivered both the Carlyle Lectures and the Isaiah Berlin Lectures at the University of Oxford.

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This is a FREE virtual event, with no need to register in advance. Just click on the Zoom link when it is time to join the meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://tinyurl.com/2rv6ee5v
Meeting ID: 816 1795 7463
Passcode: 850078

For more information, contact Mary Reilly at mary@craftcottage.ie.