Fifty papers, more than half dealing with philosophy at Rome, half a dozen classic pieces; all elegant, many diverting as well as instructive; and all eminently sane (a rare phenomenon). The drama takes place in Rome. The time, from the Gracchi to Marcus Aurelius. The protagonists, Cicero and Seneca, with Pliny as a comprimario, and a large supporting cast. Pawn your grandmother’s tea-spoons and buy a copy. A question unites the volume: how did philosophy affect Rome’s statesmen? Some historians offer a sceptical answer: ‘Philosophy? Window-dressing.’ Others urge that philosophical doctrines did determine political actions, that (say) the Gracchi’s reforms were grounded on Stoic dogma. Miriam Griffin doubts the influence of doctrine, but she is not a sceptic: the politicians were affected not by theory but by a habit of mind. When they pondered practical questions, they applied the methods and conceptual resources they had learned from their philosophical studies.