Cicero and the Roman Republic

1. Cicero and the Roman Republic

3. The Early Life • Cicero was born January 3, 106 B.C. • According to Plutarch, he was an extremely adept student • Cicero also had a love for almost everything Greek. He found the ancient philosophers such as Plato very thought provoking. • Cicero served as quaestor (elected official) in western Sicily in 75 BC • Despite his great political success, Cicero suffered from his lack of reputable ancestry • In 63 BC, Cicero was elected to the Roman consul

5. Life in the Consul • His only significant accomplishment during his year in office was the suppression of the Catiline conspiracy, a plot to overthrow the Roman Republic • Cicero was able to oust Catiline through a series of speeches to the Senate however he left behind his 'deputies' to start the revolution from within whilst Catiline assaulted it from without • Cicero managed to have these 'deputies' of Catiline confess their crime in front of the entire Senate • After much debate about their punishment in the Senate, Cicero had the conspirators taken to a Roman prison, where they were hanged. • He was honored for suppressing the conspiracy, but thereafter lived in fear of trial or exile for having put Roman citizens to death without trial

8. Life in Exile • In 58 BC, a new law went into effect exiling any man who had put Roman citizens to death without trial • Cicero claimed his honor had protected him against legal penalty, but he appeared ragged in public and began to beg for support from the people • Cicero maintained that the Senate was jealous of him which was why they did not save him from exile • While in exile, he began putting his speeches to paper. • Cicero returned after over a dozen months from his exile to a cheering crowd

9. Last Attempts at Politics • Cicero was taken completely by surprise when Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44 BC • In a letter to one of the conspirators, Cicero expressed a wish of having been "...invited to that superb banquet" • Cicero became a popular leader during the instability and was disgusted with Mark Antony • Cicero and Antony became the leading men in Rome; Cicero as spokesman for the Senate, and Antony as consul and as executor of Caesar's wishes • During this time, Cicero became an unrivaled popular leader

11. Cicero’s Last Stand • Cicero and Antony, quarreled bitterly over their political power and personalities. • Cicero's failed plan to drive out Octavian and Antony resulted in bloodshed • Cicero was soon numbered among the enemies of the state and was forced to flee Rome • Antony hunted for Cicero most viciously throughout Italy. Many men fell bravely • Cicero’s confidants tried to protect him as long as they could. However, his executioners had arrived at his hideout.

13. Cicero’s Last Stand • His last words were said to have been "there is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly.“ • He was decapitated by his pursuers on December 7, 43 BC • Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed the tongue repeatedly with her hairpin, taking a final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.

15. Cicero’s Legacy • He was declared a "Righteous Pagan" by the early Catholic Church, and therefore many of his works were deemed worthy of preservation • Saint Augustine and others quoted liberally from his works "The Republic" and "The Laws," and it is due to this that we are able to recreate much of the work from the surviving fragments • Of Cicero's books, six on rhetoric have survived, as well as parts of seven on philosophy • Of his speeches, eighty-eight were recorded, but only fifty-eight survive • More than 800 letters by Cicero to others exist, and over 100 letters from others to him