Marcus Tullius Cicero Author of probably poor poetry

Marcus Tullius Cicero Author of (probably poor) poetry; seven works on rhetoric; seventeen works on philosophy; fifty-eight extant speeches from his legal career. The most influential prose author of the Roman world, whose works influenced virtually every European (and American) writer after his time. Marcus Tullius Cicero b. Jan. 3, 106 B. C. in Arpinum d. Dec. 7, 43 B. C. at Formiae Roma Arpinum Formiae

Cicero was born in the town of Arpinum about 60 miles south-east of Rome. He was a novus homo, the first in his family to engage in politics. 91 B. C. – he assumed the toga virilis, and was apprenticed to Quintus Mucius Saevola, the leading orator in Rome at that time. Toga virilis Orator

89 B. C. – served in the Social War, under the command of the father of Pompey the Great. (In this decade, there was a civil war between the Roman generals Marius and Sulla…Cicero managed to avoid becoming involved. ) 80 B. C. – at 26, delivered his first criminal speech, in support of Roscius, accused of murder by supporters of Sulla – a bold move, since Sulla had a proscription list, whereby his political enemies were put to death – Cicero won the case! 79 -77 B. C. – he studied rhetoric in Greece. On his return to Rome, he married Terentia.

Cicero Declaiming Rome, Palace of Justice

Cursus Honorum – the sequence of offices in a Roman’s political career. Cicero was elected to the offices suo anno, at the youngest allowable age. 76 B. C. – at 31, Cicero was elected quaestor, and in 75 B. C. managed the finances of Sicily. He was so fair in his management that the Sicilians hired him in 71 B. C. to prosecute Verres (propraetor of Sicily 73 -71 B. C. ) for corruption. Verres was defended by the famous lawyer Hortensius (and he bribed the judges)…but Cicero’s opening speech was so well-researched and so forceful that Verres immediately fled from Rome.

69 B. C. – as aedile, Cicero provided Greek plays and cheap meat from Sicily. 66 B. C. – he was elected praetor, and delivered a speech supporting Pompey’s expanded power in the Mediterranean, including the war against Mithridates. 65 B. C. – Cicero campaigned for the consulship. 64 B. C. – he was elected consul, with Gaius Antonius Hybrida (uncle of Marc Antony) as co-consul. Catiline came in third.

Lucius Sergius Catilina Born in a noble family, Catiline had climbed the cursus honorum – in 66 B. C. , on his return from a propraetorship in Africa, he faced charges of misrule. He tried to run for consul that summer, but his candidacy was not allowed. Again, in 65 B. C. , he could not run because he was still on trial. 64 B. C. – he ran against Cicero, Antonius and others. The optimate, Catiline lost to the equestrian novus homo, Cicero.

Catiline then gathered conspirators from among others who had political and financial problems, and planned a revolt against the government. The Conspirators with Catiline Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura Gaius Cornelius Cethegus Lucius Statilius Publius Gavinius Capito Marcus Caeparius Gaius Manlius was enrolling an army in Etruria

63 B. C. October 19 – Cicero called the Senate together and presented vague evidence that Manlius was preparing a revolt at Faesulae. October 20 (? ) – Quintus Arrius brought real evidence of the planned revolt. October 21 – the Senate passed a senatus consultum ultimum – a decree that the consul should take any action necessary to stave off a threat to the state.

November 6 – Catiline held a meeting to apportion commands in Rome and Italy and to arrange for the murder of Cicero on Nov. 7. November 8 – Cicero called a meeting of the Senate at the Temple of Jupiter Stator and delivered his First Oration against Catiline. That night, Catiline left Rome to join Manlius and his army. November 9 - Cicero delivered the Second Oration against Catiline to the people of Rome.

Cicero denounces Catiline fresco by Cesare Maccari (1840 -1919)

Mid-November – the Senate declared Catiline and Manlius hostes – official enemies of the state. Early December – the conspirators asked envoys of the Allobroges for their support…the envoys pretended to help, but got written plans from the conspirators which they handed over to Cicero on December 3. Weapons were found in Cethegus’s house, and the five chief conspirators were arrested. Cicero revealed the evidence to the Senate and gave the Third Oration against Catiline, showing what had been done, to the people of Rome.

December 5 – The Senate debated the fate of the conspirators – most favored immediate execution without trial. Julius Caesar spoke against this position. Cato supported the execution, and Cicero’s Fourth Catilinarian Oration also supported it. The five conspirators who had been arrested were garroted in the Tullianum. For saving the republic, Cicero was given the title Pater Patriae – Father of the Country.

December 10 – Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos was elected tribune of the plebs. He decreed that anyone who had executed a Roman citizen without trial should not be allowed to speak before the people. So Cicero was not able to give a farewell speech when his term as consul was over. January 6, 62 B. C. – The Senate passed a resolution that those who had acted against the conspirators were to be held guiltless. Nepos left Rome in protest – Caesar did not dispute the ruling. Mid-January 62 B. C. – Antonius led an army against Manlius’s legion and defeated it near Pistoria.

62 B. C. – Cicero testified against Clodius in the scandal of the Bona Dea. 60 B. C. – Cicero spoke against the First Triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey. 59 B. C. – Caesar, as consul, allowed Clodius to become a plebeian, so that he could be elected a tribune of the plebs…and when he was elected, he exiled anyone who had put a citizen to death without a trial…e. g. , Cicero. 58 B. C. – Cicero left Rome for Greece and Clodius had a mob burn Cicero’s house on the Palatine.

57 B. C. – the triumvirs supported a decree of the Senate recalling Cicero, and he returned to Rome. 50’s – Caesar was in Gaul, Crassus was killed by the Parthians and Pompey became more powerful in Rome. 51 B. C. – Cicero held a proconsulship in Cilicia in Asia Minor. On his return to Rome in 49 B. C. , civil war between Caesar and Pompey was imminent.

Cicero supported Pompey in the war and was with him in Greece when Pompey was defeated by Caesar at Pharsalus in August, 48 B. C. Pardoned by Caesar, Cicero retired and wrote treatises on philosophy. 46 B. C. – Cicero divorced Terentia and married Publilia, a young heiress for whom he was guardian. 45 B. C. – Cicero’s daughter Tullia died, and he divorced Publilia…and wrote more philosophy.

Following the death of Julius Caesar, Cicero’s name was eventually put on a proscription list by Marc Antony and Octavian, (Lepidus was the third member of this second triumvirate) and he was killed at Formiae by their agents on Dec. 7, 43 B. C. His head and hands were nailed to the rostra in the Forum, and the wife of Antony stuck pins in his tongue as punishment for the Philippics, speeches which he had made against Antony. Julius Caesar Octavian Marc Antony

“Tomb of Cicero” at Formiae