Marcus
Tullius Cicero
Marcus
Tullius Cicero was born on the 3rd
of January 106 BC at Arpinum in central Italy into a wealthy family
of the equestrian order. He was educated in Rome where he studied law
and also studied rhetoricians and philosophers in Greece. Cicero
became a scholar, lawyer and statesman in the Roman republic, later
becoming a consul and the Governor of Cilicia (southern
(Mediterranean) coast of Turkey). He is known as one of Rome's
greatest orators. Cicero joined the army briefly before embarking on
his law career. He would take on risky cases and would win them and
this made him quite famous!
Lawless
Republic
The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome
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The collapse of law and order
in the last years of the Roman Republic told through the rise and
fall of its most famous lawyer, Cicero. In its final decades, the
Roman Republic was engulfed by crime. Cases of extortion, murder and
insurrection gave an ambitious young lawyer named Cicero high-profile
opportunities to litigate and forge a reputation as a master debater
with a bright political future. In Lawless Republic, leading Roman
historian Josiah Osgood recounts the legendary orator's ascent and
fall, and his pivotal role in the republic's lurch toward autocracy.
Cicero's first appearance in the courts came shortly after the end of
a brutal civil war. After leveraging his fame as a lawyer to become a
consul, he ruthlessly crushed a coup by suppressing the liberties of
Roman citizens. The premiere legal mind of Rome came to argue that
the pursuit of a higher justice could sometimes justify sweeping the
law aside, laying the groundwork for Roman history's most famous act
of political violence - the assassination of Julius Caesar. Lawless
Republic vividly resurrects the spectacle of the courts in the time
of Cicero and Caesar, showing how politics trumped the rule of law
and sealed the fate of Rome.
Cicero
believed strongly in the Roman Republic and when he was made consul
in 63BC he tried to stop the Republic being overthrown. He accused
Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline) of leading a plot to overthrow the
Roman Senate. The Catiline or Catilinarian Orations are a set of
speeches given to the Roman Senate. The senate bestowed the tittle
Pater Patriae, meaning "Father of the Country" onto Cicero.
Picture Wikipedia
Caesar was
an ambitious politician and was part of a powerful alliance known as
the First Triumvirate which included Pompey and Marcus Licinius
Crassus. Caesar had asked Cicero to join this but Cicero refused
making himself an enemy of Caesar. Cicero was frightened of Caesar's
ambition for power. Caesar had Cicero exiled from Rome in 56BC but he
returned a year later.
During the
civil war of Caesar and Pompey, Cicero fled Rome again. Caesar had
taken control of the city and had become dictator of Rome. Cicero was
pardoned by Caesar and he was allowed back to Rome. In 44BC when
Caesar was assassinated, Cicero was not disappointed and he lead the
Senate to try and re-establish the Roman Republic.
Cicero Selected Works
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Lawyer,
philosopher, statesman and defender of Rome's Republic, Cicero was a
master of eloquence, and his pure literary and oratorical style and
strict sense of morality have been a powerful influence on European
literature and thought for over two thousand years in matters of
politics, philosophy, and faith. This selection demonstrates the
diversity of his writings, and includes letters to friends and
statesmen on Roman life and politics; the vitriolic Second Philippic
Against Antony; and his two most famous philosophical treatises, On
Duties and On Old Age - a celebration of his own declining years.
Written at a time of brutal political and social change, Cicero's
lucid ethical writings formed the foundation of the Western liberal
tradition in political and moral thought that continues to this day.Cicero was
a staunch opponent of Mark Antony. Antony was one of the leading men
wanting to fill the power vacuum after Caesar's death. Antony,
Octavian and Lepidus, formed the second Triumvirate and took control
of Rome and they sought out their enemies. They declared Cicero a
public enemy and killed him in 43BC and his final words were "there
is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to
kill me properly." Cicero's head and hands were cut off and
nailed to the Rostra of the Forum Romanum.
The
writings of Cicero would have influenced many writers for generations
to come and Historians would have learned a lot about the Roman
government at this time even if his politics were not always popular.
He wrote many works relating to philosophy, such as On
the Republic, On Invention, and
On the Orator. His son Marcus became a
consul in 30 BC.
Links
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Roman History on X @romanhistory1
or https://x.com/romanhistory1Cicero:
Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome
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As the
greatest Roman orator of his time, Cicero delivered over one hundred
speeches in the law courts, in the senate and before the people of
Rome. He was also a philosopher, a patriot and a private man. While
his published speeches preserve scandalous accounts of the murder,
corruption and violence that plagued Rome in the first century BC,
his surviving letters give an exceptional glimpse into Cicero's own
personality and his reactions to events as they unravelled around him
events, he thought, which threatened to destabilize the system of
government he loved and establish a tyranny over Rome. From his rise
to power as a self-made man, Cicero's career took him through the
years of Sulla, and the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, to his
own last fight against Mark Antony. Drawing chiefly on Cicero s
speeches and letters, as well as the most recent scholarship, Kathryn
Tempest presents a new, highly readable narrative of Cicero's life
and times from his rise to prominence until his brutal death.
Including helpful features such as detailed chronological tables, a
glossary, a guide to Greek and Roman authors and maps, the volume
balances background and contextual information with analysis and
explanation of Cicero's works. Organized chronologically and
according to some of his most famous speeches, Cicero
will appeal to anyone with an interest in Roman history, oratory and
politics in the ancient world. This accessible yet comprehensive
guide provides a thorough introduction to this key ancient figure,
his works and influence, and the troubled political times in which he
operated.