Van der Blom’s well-written and engaging book is a welcome addition to the growing resurgence in Ciceronian studies and, most particularly, those studies that choose to investigate the intersections of Cicero’s political and literary motivations. The book is divided into an Introduction and four Parts, comprising a total of eleven chapters of varying lengths. Each of these chapters builds more or less sequentially upon the previous (within the Parts, at least) and investigates the ways in which Cicero’s personal and political status both influenced his use of exempla and role models, and guided his efforts to create himself as an exemplum, and indeed role model, for the future.