I've grown to like Cicero. He was incredibly well read and he had the innate ability to blend his influences and have it be done rather seamlessly. In this book, he often attempts to use the Aristotelian topics/categories in a Roman legal context. It caused me to really appreciate how much of our legal system is based on a Roman precedent. I found his discussion regarding the dichotomy between the spirit and the letter of the law quite fascinating.

The first work in here was an early attempt at a discourse on rhetoric; he later attempted this again with his work on Oratory and Orators – a book I'm now reading. Cicero had been dissatisfied with his early attempt at a work dedicated to rhetoric; oddly enough though, philosophers from the middle ages had been more influenced by his first attempt. A book by Boethius I finished not too long ago, used Cicero's Rhetorical Invention as a source for his commentary on topics. The second work in here is Cicero attempting to break down the Aristotelian topics in a more understandable form for a friend of his. Both works are interesting. There are certainly other works of Cicero that should be read first, but these are recommended if one wants a more comprehensive view of Cicero's philosophy. ( )