Mike Fontaine

Professor

Overview

Michael (Mike) Fontaine is Professor of Classics and Director of Cornell’s Program on Freedom and Free Societies. A Latinist with broad interests in ancient Rome and its reception from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, he writes and teaches about free speech, humor, persuasion, leadership, and human behavior. His forthcoming book, How to Speak Freely: An Ancient Guide to Free Speech and Dissent, combines a new translation of Plato’s Apology with an ancient satire about what happens when leaders promise free speech and someone takes them at their word. His books for general readers also include How to Tell a Joke, How to Drink, How to Grieve, How to Get Over a Breakup, and How to Have Willpower. His work has occasionally escaped the academy altogether—including, somewhat improbably, into a Saturday Night Live sketch.

He teaches courses on ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, mythology, humor, wine culture, and Latin literature, and develops executive-education programs for eCornell.

Cornell’s Program on Freedom and Free Societies promotes serious, open discussion of liberty, free inquiry, and the institutions that sustain them. Its lectures and events welcome disagreement, encourage debate, and are open to everyone.

For books, public writing, talks, media, and speaking inquiries, visit michaelfontaine.com

Research Focus

Latin and Greek literature
Roman intellectual and cultural history
Classical reception
Rhetoric and humor
Free speech and freedom of inquiry

Publications

For a complete list, click here. Book reviews are here. Popular press writings are here.

Latest Books

11. 2026. Plato. How to Speak Freely: An Ancient Guide to Free Speech and Dissent. Princeton University Press.

A vivid and timely new translation of Plato's Apology, in which Socrates defends his pursuit of truth, no matter the consequences, supplemented by Lucian's short dialogue The Gods in Council.

12. 2027. Killing Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato, with Aristophanes’ Clouds. Princeton University Press. Fresh translations of Plato’s Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo, together with Aristophanes’ Clouds, with original commentary.

I'm now working on a book (or more) that draws on Lucian, Celsus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Gorgias, and a host of Latin authors from antiquity through the Renaissance. The working title is The Art of Bullshit.

Latest Articles

In press (allegedly). “How to Make a Joke Without Getting Cancelled: Plutarch’s Survival Guide to Jesting Safely.” (On some passages in Table Talk and Macrobius' Saturnalia)
In press. "Humour as a Calculated Risk." (For a Cambridge Companion)
2026. "Clueless Strepsiades, Clueless Scribes? Recovering Two Lost Jokes in Aristophanes’ Clouds (234, 380–81)." Electryone.

Just for Fun

2026. Trump: Brutale Kämpfe zum 80. Geburtstag (video in German). Kulturzeit
2026. Trump celebrates 80th birthday with an Iran deal and UFC cage fights at the White House. AP.
2026. Did Ovid Bury Philippi in a Love Story? (Part 2 of 2) In Medias Res.
2026. Was Ovid Really Apolitical? (Part 1 of 2) In Medias Res.
2025. Caesar in the Kremlin: Vladimir Putin's Speeches in Latin. Antigone.

Mike Fontaine

Professor

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