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Born Marcus Tullius Cicero in Arpinum (Italy) in 106 BC, he became a writer, statesman, orator and philosopher. He loved politics and he wrote only when he could not participate in government. He had a motto which he constantly strived for: to always be the best and over top the rest.
Cicero had a high political career in Rome for that time as winning elections were almost always exclusively controlled by a group of wealthy aristocratic families. Cicero’s family was not one of them. Lacking this advantage there were essentially only two career options open to him; a military career, he was no soldier and hated war, or a career in law. He prepared for this by studying jurisprudence, rhetoric and philosophy. Then he began taking part in legal cases could lead to a career in law and did lead to political success.
He proved to be excellent orator and lawyer and a shrewd politician. He was elected to each of the principal Roman offices on his first try at the earliest legal age and was now a member of the Roman senate but could only offer advice. Advice that would almost always be followed. But the Roman government was not a democracy but more of an oligarchy with only a few men wielding all economic and political power.
During his term as consul in 63BC he was responsible for exposing the conspiracy of Catiline. Catiline was a plan to take over the Roman state by force. Cicero had the five conspirators put to death without trial. He became proud of this as well as other events, he claimed that he single-handedly saved the commonwealth. He enjoyed his wide spread popularity, but this popularity and the events over the Catiline conspiracy had also made him many enemies which began a new trial. This trial included a propose of a law which was applied immediately. It stated that anyone who killed a Roman citizen without trial would be striped of their citizenship and forced to exile. This began attacks and riots on Cicero who fled the city. Cicero was now forbidden to live within 500 miles of Italy. As now he could now participate in any politics he had time to study philosophy. But after a year and a half the political conditions changed and he was allowed to return to Rome. He owed his return to Rome to the Triumvirate for ending his exile and for not killing him. He paid them off over the next eight years as a lawyer. During this time he continued his studies in Philosophy. Between 55-51BC he created some of his most famous pieces of writing; On the Orator, On the Republic, and On the Laws.
In 49BC the Triumvirate collapsed with the death of another Roman senator, Crassus. This raised the question if Rome would become a republic or an empire or weather Pompey or Caesar would be Emperor. Cicero believed it would make little difference as it would be a disaster in either case. But Caesar won the civil war and became the first Roman emperor in 47BC and Cicero was forced to stay out of politics, and again used this time to write the rest of his philosophical papers.
In the Ides of March in 44BC Caesar was murdered by a group of senators and Cicero was witness to this killing. The murder lead to another power struggle between Mark Antony, Marcus Lepidus and Octavian. Cicero, who stilled hoped that a republic could be restored. He made a series of speeches known as Philippic. These speeches called for the senate to avoid Octavian in overcoming Antony. Instead Antony, Lepidus and Octavian were able to come to terms with each other and agreed to share power. They each had enemies who threatened their status and wanted them eliminated. The three leaders wrote a list of names of who the wanted killed which included Cicero, his son, and his nephew; as the leaders were not impressed by the Philippics speeches. So Cicero again fled Italy.
Antony ordered Herennius to kill him. Cicero’s throat was cut and Antony demanded Cicero’s hands and head to be nailed to the speaker’s podium in the senate as a warning to others.
Bibliography:
Cicero: UTM [online]. Available www.utm.edu/research/icp/c/cicero
Encyclopedia Brittanica [virtual drive]
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. London (1994)
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