Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) was a late Republican politician, orator and philosopher. He came from an equestrian family of Arpinum outside Rome’s consular nobility. His advocacy helped him build a political career: he served as quaestor in Sicily in 75 BCE and consul in 63. Cicero played a central role in opposing the Catilinarian conspiracy. During the civil wars he defended the senatorial Republic, although his position and alliances changed. After the establishment of the Second Triumvirate, he was proscribed and killed.

Cicero’s surviving speeches, letters and philosophical works are major sources for Roman political and cultural life in the first century BCE. His Latin prose influenced later literary traditions, while his philosophical writings introduced Roman readers to Greek schools of thought.

Birth: 3 January 106 BCE, Arpinum.

Death: 7 December 43 BCE, near Formiae.

The article on the Triumvirate explains the political setting of his final years.

Family and early years

Cicero was born near Arpinum, on his grandfather’s estate by the Fibrenus. His family belonged to the town’s respected equestrian society, but lacked a tradition of Roman consulships. His father was also Marcus Tullius Cicero, his mother Helvia, and his younger brother Quintus remained an important companion throughout his life.

Family connections included the legally knowledgeable Gaius Aculeo and links with the Marii and Gratidii. Plutarch associates the cognomen Cicero with the chickpea; Cicero declined advice to replace it, declaring that he would make it famous.

As a young man in Rome he studied Greek literature, philosophy, rhetoric and law. He learned from orators, actors and legal specialists, including Quintus Mucius Scaevola. His intellectual interests also brought him into contact with different Greek philosophical schools.

His first wife was Terentia, with whom he had a daughter Tullia and a son Marcus, later consul in 30 BCE. The marriage ended in divorce in 46. His subsequent marriage to the young Publilia was brief; Tullia’s death in 45 affected him deeply.

Cicero served during the Social War and then concentrated on legal and rhetorical studies while rival political factions fought. His early public career developed after the Sullan victory of 82 BCE.

Beginning of an oratorical career

Cicero’s first surviving speech is Pro Quinctio of 81 BCE, concerning a property dispute. The defence of Sextus Roscius of Ameria in 80 brought greater recognition. Roscius faced an accusation of murdering his father, against the background of property seizures and Sulla’s proscriptions.

Cicero challenged the prosecution’s portrait of the accused and stressed Roscius’ farming life rather than extravagance, debt or urban dissipation. The argument survives in Pro Roscio Amerino, XIV, 39. The successful defence demonstrated the young advocate’s skill in a politically sensitive case.

In 79–77 Cicero travelled to Greece and Rhodes for further philosophical and rhetorical study, including instruction from Apollonius Molon. His return to Rome preceded an expanding legal and political career.

Beginning of a political career

In 75 BC, Cicero was elected quaestor and appointed to Sicily. He directly managed the export of grain during a period of bread shortage in Rome. With his fair and honest leadership, he earned a good reputation among the Sicilians. At the same time, according to Plutarch, his successes went unnoticed in Rome, and over time he only lost his popularity. Nevertheless, the title of quaestor meant for Cicero entry into the senatorial class. The first mention of Marcus Tullius as a senator dates back to October 14, 73 BC. In the following years, Cicero's career rapidly developed - he took part in a number of high-profile court cases, gained recognition in the Senate, and in 69 BCE, he held the office of aedile.

In August 70 BC, Cicero delivered a series of speeches against the propraetor of Sicily, a former supporter of Sulla, Gaius Verres, who had looted the province and executed many of its inhabitants during his three years of governorship (73-71 BC). The difficulty of the case lay in the fact that Gaius Verres had the support of many influential nobles, including both consuls of the following year (Hortensius, a famous orator who agreed to act as a defender at the trial, and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus). In addition, Cicero's opponent was also supported by the presiding judge, praetor-designate Marcus Caecilius Metellus.

"Gaius Verres has often said... that there is a powerful man behind him, relying on whom he can plunder the province, and he does not collect money for himself alone; that he has distributed the income from his three-year praetorship in Sicily in the following way: he will be very pleased if he can turn the first year's income to his advantage; he will give the second year's income to his patrons and defenders; the income from the third year, the most profitable and promising the greatest profits, he will fully keep for the judges."

— Cicero's Speech Against Gaius Verres (first session), XIV, 40.

Cicero managed to win this case against corruption at all levels of government. The speeches of Marcus Tullius, written for this trial, had great political significance, as Cicero essentially opposed the senatorial oligarchy and achieved a crushing victory over it. The orator's arguments in favor of Verres' guilt were so indisputable that the famous Hortensius refused to defend the accused. Verres was forced to pay a heavy fine of 40 million sesterces and go into exile.

After this, Cicero was elected praetor for 66 BC. At the same time, he continued to practice law, and also delivered the speech "On the Appointment of Gnaeus Pompey as Commander," in which he supported the bill of Gaius Manilius to grant Gnaeus Pompey the Great unlimited powers in the fight against Pontus King Mithridates VI Eupator.

Cicero during the First and Second Triumvirates

In 60 BC, Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus formed the first triumvirate with the aim of seizing power. Recognizing Cicero's talents and popularity, they made several attempts to attract him to their side. Cicero declined their offers, wishing to remain loyal to the Senate and the ideals of the Republic. This decision made him vulnerable to opponents, among which was the popular tribune Clodius, who had a grudge against Cicero since the orator testified against him in court.

Clodius pushed for the adoption of a law that banished an official who executed a Roman citizen without trial. This law was primarily aimed at Cicero. Marcus Tullius himself sought Pompey's support but did not receive it. At the same time, he writes that he refused Caesar's help, who offered his friendship, then an embassy in Alexandria and later the position of legate in his army in Gaul. The formal reason for the refusal was unwillingness to flee from danger. According to Plutarch, however, Cicero himself asked Caesar for a legate position, got it, and then rejected it due to Clodius's feigned friendliness.

Sources note Cicero's faint-hearted behavior after the law was passed. He humbly asked for help from the current consul Piso and the triumvir Pompey, even falling at the latter's feet, but in both cases received a categorical refusal. Dressed in poor and dirty clothes, Cicero accosted random passers-by on the streets of Rome, even those who didn't know him at all. Eventually, in April 58 BC, Cicero had to go into exile and leave Italy. After that, his property was confiscated, and his houses burned down.

In September 57 BC, Gnaeus Pompey took a hard line against Clodius: he drove the tribune from the forum and secured Cicero's return from exile with the help of Titus Annius Milo Papianus. Marcus Tullius's house and estates were rebuilt at the state's expense. As a result, Cicero found himself in a difficult position: he owed his return personally to Pompey, the Senate's power significantly weakened amid open skirmishes between Milo's and Clodius's supporters, and the strengthening of the triumvirs' positions. Cicero had to accept the actual patronage of the first triumvirate and give speeches in their support, meanwhile mourning the state of the Republic.

Gradually, Cicero withdrew from active political life and devoted himself exclusively to legal and literary activity. In 55 BC, he wrote the dialogue "On the Orator", and the next year he began working on the composition "On the State".

The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC was a complete surprise to Cicero. It delighted and inspired him greatly: he thought that with the death of the dictator, the Republic could be restored. However, his hopes for a return of power to the Senate did not come true. Brutus and Cassius had to leave Italy, and in Rome the positions of Caesar's follower, Mark Antony, who hated Cicero, were significantly strengthened. Mostly because eighteen years earlier, Cicero had arranged for his stepfather Lentulus, a supporter of Catiline, to be executed without trial.

For a while, Cicero planned to go to Greece. However, learning that Antony was willing to cooperate with the Senate, he decides to return to Rome. But the very next day after his return (September 1, 44 BC), an open conflict occurred. On September 2, Cicero delivered a speech against Antony, which the author called "philippic" (by analogy with the speeches of Demosthenes against the strengthening of Philip of Macedon). In response, Antony stated that Marcus Tullius was involved in the murder of Caesar, the massacre of Catiline's supporters, the murder of Clodius and provoking disputes between Caesar and Pompey. After these events, Cicero, fearing for his life, retreated to his home in Campania and started writing the second Philippic, the treatises "On Duties" and "On Friendship".

The second Philippic was published at the end of November. Antony went to Cisalpine Gaul, which was assigned to him as a province. At the same time, Cicero became a leading advocate of the senatorial campaign against Antony. He formed an alliance against Antony with Decimus Junius Brutus, who refused to hand Gaul over to him, with both consuls (former Caesar's followers), and with Caesar's heir Octavian. Already on December 20, Cicero delivered the third and fourth Philippics, where he compared Antony with Catiline and Spartacus.

Cicero was confident in his victory, as he failed to anticipate the alliance of Octavian with the already defeated Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, as well as the formation of the Second Triumvirate (autumn 43 BC). The troops of the triumvirs occupied Rome, and Antony managed to include the name of Cicero in the proscription lists of "enemies of the people", which the triumvirs announced immediately after the formation of the alliance.

Cicero tried to flee to Greece, but the assassins caught up with him on December 7, 43 BC, near his villa in Formia. As soon as Cicero noticed the pursuing killers, he ordered his slaves to put down the litter. Then, sticking his head out from behind the curtain, he exposed his neck to the sword of the centurion. Cicero's severed head and hands were delivered to Antony and then placed on the speaker's rostrum of the forum. According to legend, Antony's wife Fulvia stuck pins in the tongue of Cicero's dead head, after which, as Plutarch recounts, "they ordered the head and hands to be displayed on the speaker's platform, above the ship's bows, to the horror of the Romans, who seemed to see not the face of Cicero, but the image of Antony's soul...".

Related topics

• First Triumvirate
• Second Triumvirate
• Roman Republic
• State structure of the Republican Rome
• Mark Antony
• Marcus Licinius Crassus
• Catiline Conspiracy
• Mithridates Eupator

Literature and sources

The Writings of Cicero:

• Plato's Timaeus (first Latin translation, preserved in fragments)

• De consiliis suis ("On my political intentions", not preserved)

• Carmina Aratea (poetic translations of Aratus from Sol; fragments)

• Phaenomenon (from "Phenomena")

• Prognosticorum (from "Weather Signs")

• De consulatu suo ("About my consulate", fragments)

• Pro muliere Arretina (Speech in defense of a woman from Arretia; 80; lost)

• Pro Titinia (Speech in defense of Titinia; 79; lost)

• Pro G. Cornelio (2 speeches in defense of Gaius Cornelius; 65; fragments)

• Rhetorica ad Herenium (Rhetoric for Herennius, 80's BC; the oldest Latin textbook of rhetoric; recognized as anonymous, but traditionally published in the corpus of Cicero's works)

Reissues in Russian:

• Cicero. Complete collection of speeches in Russian translation. / Edited by F. F. Zelinsky. In 2 vols. Vol. 1. [Speeches 1-24]. 81-63 BC-St. Petersburg, 1901.

• Marcus Tullius Cicero. Speeches. In 2 volumes / Translated by V. O. Gorenshtein, edited by M. E. Grabar-Passek. (Series "Literary monuments").-M.-L., 1962. Vol. 1. 448 p. Vol. 2. 400 p. reprint: Moscow, Nauka. 1993.

• Cicero. Speeches. Translated by V. O. Gorenstein. // Bulletin of Ancient History. — 1986. — № 4, — 1987. — № 1-2.

• Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Translated by V. O. Gorenstein. In 3 volumes (Series "Literary Monuments"), Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1949-1951.

• Cicero. Dialogues: About the state. About the laws. Translated by V. O. Gorenshtein, ed. by I. N. Veselovsky and V. O. Gorenshtein, art. by S. L. Utchenko. Ed. by S. L. Utchenko. (Series "Literary monuments"), Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1966, 224 p.

• Cicero. Three treatises on public speaking. Translated and edited by F. A. Petrovsky ("About the Orator" [p. 75-272]), I. P. Strelnikova ("Brutus, or About famous Orators "[p.253-328]), M. L. Gasparov ("The Orator" [p. 329-384]). Edited by M. L. Gasparov, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1972, 472 pp.

• Cicero. About old age. About friendship. On Duties. V. O. Gorenshtein, edited by M. E. Grabar-Passek, and S. L. Utchenko. Ed. by S. L. Utchenko. (Series "Literary monuments"), Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1974, 248 p.

• Marcus Tullius Cicero. Selected essays. / Comp. and ed. by M. L. Gasparov, S. A. Osherov, V. M. Smirin. Introductory article by G. S. Knabe. (Series " Library of Ancient Literature. Rome").
• Moscow: Art. lit, 1975.
• 456 p.

• Cicero. Philosophical treatises. Translated by M. I. Rizhsky. Ed., comp. and an introductory article by G. G. Mayorov. (Series "Monuments of Philosophical thought"). Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1985, 384 p.

• Cicero. On the limits of good and evil. Paradoxes of the Stoics. Transl. by N. A. Fedorov, comm. by B. M. Nikolsky, introduction by N. P. Grintser. (Series "Monuments of World Culture"), Moscow: RSUH. 2000 —
• 480 pages.

• Cicero. Topic. Translated by A. E. Kuznetsov, Moscow: Direkt-Media. 2002. 49 p.

• Cicero. The teaching of academicians. Translated by N. A. Fedorov, introductory article by M. M. Sokolskaya, Moscow: Indrik. 2004.
• 320 p.

• Cicero. About finding the rhetoric. Translated by M. M. Ledashchev, P. A. Dubrova — and M. Solba. 2020 —
• 176 p.

Modern literature:

• Bobrovnikova T. A. Tsitseron: An intellectual in the days of the Revolution.
• Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 2006.
• 532 p.
• (Life of remarkable people; 1219). — ISBN 5-235-02933-X.

• Grimal P. Tsitseron / Translated from French: G. S. Knabe, R. B. Sashina.
• Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1991.
• 544 p —
• (Life of remarkable people; 717).

• Zvirevich V. T. Cicero-philosopher and historian of philosophy. Sverdlovsk: Ural Publishing House.univ., 1988, 208 p. (in Russian)

• Plutarch. Comparative biographies. St. Petersburg: Kristall Publ., 1994, vol. 3, 672 p. ISBN 5-306-00240-4.

• Utchenko S. L. Tsitseron i ego vremya [Cicero and his Time], Moscow: Mysl', 1973; 2nd ed., Moscow, 1986, 352 p.

• Cicero: 2000 years since Death: Collection of articles / Ed. by N. F. Deratani, Moscow: MSU Publishing House, 1959, 176 p.

• Tsitseron: Collection of articles / Ed. by F. A. Petrovsky, Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958, 152 p.

• Cicero. About the State // Dialogues, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1966, pp. 7-88.