This monograph on Cicero's use of quotations in his correspondence is a slightly revised German doctoral dissertation. In accordance with the rules of the genre, B. begins by devoting Parts 1 and 2 to a critical survey of previous scholarship (pp. 9–32) and an elaboration of the theoretical foundations and the methodological approach of the present study (pp. 33–58). She develops her definition of citation by situating the phenomenon within the broader field of intertextual studies and differentiating it from related modes of cross-textual engagement such as plagiarism or allusion. For B. a citation is the result of an intentional act on the part of an author that consists in the extrapolation of a recognisable verbal unit from its concrete place within a specific text and its insertion into a new text (and context) where it functions as an – in some form or fashion marked – intertext (p. 43). When a reader encounters a citation (and recognises it as such) a corresponding three-phase process of reception tends to kick in. Phase 1 involves ‘desintegration’, in so far as we realise (and need to cope with) the presence of an alien voice within the flow of another author's discourse. This moment of irritation initiates the ‘digressive’ phase 2, during which we follow up on the invitation extended by the citation to ponder the possibilities of dialogue between the text at hand and the text from which the citation comes. In particular, this may involve consideration of what the context of the citation in the original text contributes to its meaning in the host text: B. considers a range of possible options that authors have to give readers clues about the extent to which a full understanding of the citation's significance within its new context presupposes broader familiarity with the source text. In the concluding phase 3 (‘reintegration’) we re-enter the flow of the text at hand. The chapter concludes with some rather non-descript and by and large derivative pages on the letter as a medium of communication.

The massive Part 3 (pp. 59–194) forms the core of the book. B. here offers a series of interpretations of individual letters, with the aim of developing a typology of how Cicero cites (and marks his citations). The chapter opens with some general reflections on the function of citations. B. identifies six main ones: they serve Cicero (especially in the letters to Atticus but only rarely elsewhere) as means of offering (urbane) commentary on situations or characters of everyday life; they make contributions to the strategy of ‘redressive politeness’ (J. Hall's phrase) that Cicero adopts towards many of his correspondents; they are mustered to manage conflict (either to soften or exacerbate criticism); they provide the (rare) ornamental stopgaps; they are means of enhancing ‘affiliative politeness’ (Hall's phrase again); or they operate like a ‘postcard’ in so far as they bridge the temporal and spatial gap between author and addressee by graphically evoking specific locations or shared knowledge. What follows is a bipartite discussion of the different ways in which Cicero brings citations into play. B. first explores formal aspects: does Cicero cite verbatim and, if so, does he cite syntactically complete or syntactically incomplete units? If he modifies the citation, does he do so deliberately or because of a slip in memory? Does Cicero initiate the dialogue with his correspondence by means of citation or does he respond to a previous citation made by his addressee? Does the citation occur at the beginning or the end of the letter? Then issues of content come to the fore. B. considers to what extent Cicero takes over the full meaning of the passage cited and its original context and to what extent he cites selectively, activating only specific aspects or themes of the source text while suppressing others. B. illustrates each ‘type’ or ‘aspect’ with reference to a representative instance. This results in close readings of the following letters: Att. 2.16, 2.19, 2.25, 5.12, 7.3, 7.11, 12.6a, 13.12, 13.34, 14.10, 16.13; Brut. 1.2a; Q. fr. 1.2; and Fam. 1.9, 3.7, 7.10, 9.7, 12.25, 13.15. To her credit, B.'s interpretations are not limited to illustrating her (ultimately rather banal) typology. In most cases, she offers more exhaustive discussions of the letters as a whole, as acts of communication within a specific historical context, with a focus on what the citations have to contribute to their overall meaning and message. Her readings are for the most part solid and thoughtful, though the discussion is not entirely free of irrelevancies (such as a long comparison of Fam. 12.25.3–5 with Odysseus’ apologos in Homer and the Hercules and Cacus episode in Virgil's Aeneid, the latter admittedly anachronistic). Her tendency to explore the significance of the context from which a citation comes yields some neat insights. For instance, when Cicero recalls rebutting Caesar's overtures to him by citing a line from Homer's Odyssey (7.258 ~ 9.33: ἀλλ’ ἐμὸν οὔ ποτε θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔπειθεν), he implicitly turns Caesar into a Calypso or a Circe, who is trying to tempt the resistant hero to abandon his principles with alluring promises of sex, power or immortality, and thereby creates an epic equivalent for the personal politics between author and addressee that Caesar too will have enjoyed. At times, however, the extended analogues between the cited and the citing texts that B. elaborates appear somewhat forced or implausible.

The final Part 4 (pp. 195–206) summarises the main findings, with an emphasis on flexibility: while Cicero's use of citation manifests certain patterns and regularities, B.'s investigation demonstrates that he did not follow any particular ‘method of citation’ in the strict sense of the term. The book concludes with a massive appendix (pp. 207–339) that lists all citations found in Cicero's letters according to the various criteria established in the body of the book (making this material available on a cd-rom would perhaps have been the more attractive option, not least since the binding of the book is a disgrace: my copy fell apart almost instantly), the bibliography and an index.