Cicero

For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation).
"Ciceronian" redirects here. For the imitation of Ciceronian style, see Ciceronianism.

Cicero
White marble bust
First-century AD bust of Cicero at the Capitoline Museums, Rome
Born3 January 106 BC
Arpinum, Italy
Died7 December 43 BC (aged 63)
Formia, Italy
Cause of deathAssassination (by order of Mark Antony)
Occupation(s)Statesman, lawyer, writer, orator
Office
Spouses
  • Terentia (79–51 BC)
  • Publilia (46–45 BC)
ChildrenTullia and Cicero Minor
RelativesQuintus Tullius Cicero (brother)
Philosophy career
Notable work
Orations
Philosophical works
EraHellenistic philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
School
Main interests
Notable ideas
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Marcus Tullius Cicero[a] (/ˈsɪsəroʊ/ SISS-ə-roh; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs ˈtʊlli.ʊs ˈkɪkɛroː]; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic,[4] who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire.[5] His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric".[6][7][8] Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.

He greatly influenced both ancient and modern reception of the Latin language. A substantial percentage of his work has survived, and he was admired by both ancient and modern authors alike.[9][10][11] Cicero adapted the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy in Latin and created a large amount of Latin philosophical vocabulary via lexical innovation (e.g. neologisms such as evidentia,[12] generator, humanitas, infinitio, qualitas, quantitas),[13] almost 150 of which were the result of translating Greek philosophical terms.[14]

Though he was an accomplished orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. It was during his consulship that the Catiline conspiracy attempted to overthrow the government through an attack on the city by outside forces, and Cicero (by his own account) suppressed the revolt by summarily and controversially executing five conspirators without trial, an act which would later lead to his exile. During the chaotic middle period of the first century BC, marked by civil wars and the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, Cicero was a supporter of the Optimates faction. Following Caesar's death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and consequently executed by soldiers operating on their behalf in 43 BC, having been intercepted during an attempted flight from the Italian peninsula. His severed hands and head (taken by order of Antony and displayed representing the repercussions of his anti-Antonian actions as a writer and as an orator, respectively) were then displayed on the Rostra.[15]

Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, and classical Roman culture.[16] According to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, "the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity."[17] The peak of Cicero's authority and prestige came during the 18th-century Enlightenment,[18] and his impact on leading Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists such as John Locke, David Hume, Montesquieu, and Edmund Burke was substantial.[19] His works rank among the most influential in global culture, and today still constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for the writing and revision of Roman history, especially the last days of the Roman Republic.[20]

  1. ^ Magistracies and years thereof from Broughton 1952, p. 627.
  2. ^ "IEP – Cicero: Academic Skepticism". Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  3. ^ E.g., in Howard Jones, Master Tully: Cicero in Tudor England (Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1998).
  4. ^ Cicero, Academica Book II, Section 65 Archived 25 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Ferguson & Balsdon 2023.
  6. ^ Rawson, E.: Cicero, a portrait (1975) p. 303
  7. ^ Haskell, Henry Joseph (1964). This was Cicero. Fawcett Publications Incorporated. pp. 300–301.
  8. ^ "Cicero | Biography, Philosophy, Writings, Books, Death, & Facts | Encyclopædia Britannica". britannica.com. 10 May 2023. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  9. ^ Harrison, Stephen (2008). A Companion to Latin Literature. John Wiley & Sons. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4051-3737-9. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Latin literature in the period 90–40 BC presents one feature that is unique in Classical, and perhaps even in the whole of Western, literature. Although it is a period from which a substantial amount of literature in a wide variety of genres survives, more than 75 per cent of that literature was written by a single man: Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero wrote speeches, philosophical and rhetorical trea- tises, letters and poetry, which in terms of quantity outweigh all other extant writings of the period.
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster, Inc (1995). "Ciceronian period". Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-87779-042-6. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  11. ^ Cicero, Selected Works, 1971, p. 24
  12. ^ Cicero, Acad. 2.17–18 Archived 25 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Conte, G.B.: "Latin Literature: a history" (1987) p. 199
  14. ^ Cf. C.J. Dowson (2023), Philosophia Translata: The Development of Latin Philosophical Vocabulary through Translation from Greek. Brill: Leiden-Boston, pp. 314ff
  15. ^ "Severed Heads and Hands". Photo Archive. 6 August 2003. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  16. ^ Wootton, David (1996). Modern Political Thought: Readings from Machiavelli to Nietzsche. Hackett Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-87220-341-9. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  17. ^ Zieliński, Tadeusz. Cicero Im Wandel Der Jahrhunderte. Nabu Press.
  18. ^ Wood, Neal (1991). Cicero's Social and Political Thought. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07427-9.
  19. ^ Nicgorski, Walter. "Cicero and the Natural Law". Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  20. ^ Griffin, Miriam; Boardman, John; Griffin, Jasper; Murray, Oswyn (2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. pp. 76ff. ISBN 978-0-19-285436-0. Retrieved 10 August 2011.


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