Who Was Cicero In Ancient Rome?
Marcus Tullius Cicero was Rome's greatest speaker and jurist. He was a productive writer of verse, letters, and works on philosophy and politics that greatly influenced European thought. His speeches and writings would become models for generations to come.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 B.C.E. , at Arpinum near Rome, the oldest son of a wealthy landowner, also named Marcus Tullius Cicero. At a young age Cicero began studying the writings in his father's library. Both Cicero and his brother Quintus became greatly interested in philosophy and public speaking. When his father noticed this interest, he decided to take his sons to Rome for the best education that could be found.
Regarded as one of the greatest orators in world history, Cicero was a writer and an advocate in philosophy and politics. His work has influenced and actually guided Western thought processes, an evolution that has inspired fields such as verse and logic even to this day.
At an early age Cicero saw military service during the Social War (90–89 B.C.E. ), but he managed to avoid involvement in the civil wars that followed.
Cicero's first appearances in court were made during the dictatorship of Sulla (81–80 B.C.E. ). Cicero defended Sextus America on charges of murder against the regime’s politics. In the Social War, Cicero gained a reputation as a staunch lawyer who could argue his point of view with the best in the land. Following the public outcry, Cicero decided to leave for Rhodes, where he would complete some of his studies. He later advocated other cases that gained him public fame as a defender of the people.
When Caesar rose to power with the Triumvirate, a three-head council that acted as a dictatorship, Cicero was exiled to Macedonia. He then returned to Rome and worked in support of Caesar, most likely since his life was in danger. During the internal struggle and Civil War of Rome, Cicero, instead of bothering in the politics and struggles of the day, took to his writing, where he produced some of his most famed philosophical works. He became somewhat helpless to the ways of force over reason of the day and did not get involved in higher levels of politics for some time. The writings that survived him are small in number, but show the true audacity and lucid ability of Cicero in his speeches.
In Cicero’s Dialogues, he wrote using Latin and discussed a variety of subjects, including ethics, religion, and philosophy. In his work, he claims that he helped outline some of the dominant forms of thought in his day, namely those of Aristotle and Plato. In his latter years, he published several essays on friendship and growing old. He also devoted himself to writing about more conservative issues, including several on morality, and composed poetry. While he is not regarded in history for his verse, his poetry was shown to be well studied and choreographed. However, Cicero’s Letters are what most scholars focus on as it portrays the bulk of Cicero’s thought processes, done in both speech form and dialogue.
Upon Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE, Cicero returned to public life and delivered a series of scathing speeches (the "Phillipics") against Marc Antony. This proved to be Cicero's undoing: when Antony took power in a triumvirate with Octavian and Marcus Lepidus, Cicero was declared an outlaw and killed by Antony's men in 43 BCE.
Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes
"A man of courage is also full of faith."
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."
"Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief."
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error."
"If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started."
"Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself."
"While there's life, there's hope."
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero Facts
Cicero was elected Consul for the year 63 BC. His co-consul for the year, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, played a minor role. During his year in office, he thwarted a conspiracy centered on assassinating him and overthrowing the Roman Republic with the help of foreign armed forces, led by Lucius Sergius Catilina.
Cicero's last words are said to have been, "There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly." He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of the litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he wouldn't resist. Cicero's head and hands were cut off and nailed to the Rostra of the Forum Romanum.
The name Cicero means "chickpea".
Cicero's writings had a great influence on writers for many years to come. Historians have learned a lot about the Roman government and how Romans thought through Cicero's works.
Two common themes in Cicero's writing were "duty to country" and "duty to man".
Very famous are Cicero’s writings and letters with topic on government, laws, nature, faith, friendship, duties and honor.