Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (Lat. Marcus Tullius Cicerō; 3 January 106 BC, Arpinum — 7 December 43 BC, Formiae) was an ancient Roman politician and philosopher, and a brilliant orator.

Early career

At the age of 15, Cicero came to Rome with his brothers to receive a good education. His family, belonging to the equestrian order, had sufficient means to allow the young men to study under the best Greek philosophers (the Stoic Diodotus, the Academic Philo of Larissa, the Epicurean Phaedrus) and jurists (Quintus Mucius Scaevola). His excellent education and oratorical gifts enabled Cicero to appear as a lawyer in court as early as 81–80 BC and win several cases. Although his life was not in danger, he nevertheless, fearing the vengeance of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and seeking to improve his education, went to Greece and Asia Minor for two years.

Cicero returned to Rome only after the dictator’s death, to take up the post of quaestor and go to Sicily to organize an uninterrupted supply of grain to the capital. Cicero’s activity in this post was so successful that news of his peaceful exploits spread beyond the island. Returning to Rome, Cicero entered the Senate and soon acquired a reputation as an outstanding orator. In 69 BC he brilliantly prosecuted the former governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, who for three years had plundered and oppressed the island’s inhabitants with unprecedented impudence and cruelty. Crushed by the weight of evidence and testimony, Verres voluntarily went into exile and was obliged to pay a huge fine. The successful outcome of the case made Cicero the most fashionable and popular lawyer in Rome: in 70–67 BC he repeatedly appeared as defense counsel. In 68 BC he became praetor, and in 63 BC consul.

Cicero as consul of the Republic

The most famous speeches of this period were those against Lucius Sergius Catiline, who in the autumn of 63 BC attempted a political coup. A special report by the consul convinced the Senate of the need for emergency measures, and in January 62 BC the rebels were defeated, while Catiline himself