Book excerpt: Professor Shackleton Bailey's edition of Cicero's letters to Atticus, also published in the Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries series, has been generally recognized as an outstanding achievement. Now Professor Shackleton Bailey presents his edition of the second major body of Cicero's correspondence - his letters to his friends. Unlike the Atticus volumes this edition contains no translation (this will be published elsewhere), which has made it possible to gather all the letters and commentary into only two volumes. The introduction, which includes a reassessment of the manuscript tradition, is followed by a completely revised text and apparatus criticus. The commentary covers many problems of text, interpretation, history, prosopography, and letter-chronology. Both volumes contain indexes. This edition is intended for use by students and specialists in Roman literature and history.