MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO – BIOGRAPHY (http://www.egs.edu/library/cicero/biography/)
Marcus Tullius Cicero, sometimes referred to as “Tully” was born on the 3rd of January in 106
BCE into a lower aristocratic family of the equestrian order in Arpinum just south of Rome. He
lived during the tumultuous times of the civil war outbreaks of the Roman republic and its
impending decline, eventually becoming an enemy of the state. Marcus Tullius Cicero was
murdered by decree on December 7th in the year 43 BCE. He was a lawyer, statesman,
politician and philosopher and came to be known as one of Rome’s greatest orators. Marcus
Tullius Cicero was an avid thinker and writer and his texts include political and philosophical
treatises, orations and rhetoric, the latter of which has come to be known as “Ciceronian
rhetoric,” and an amass of letters. Above all, he considered politics of utmost importance,
which should be effectively influenced by philosophy, and politics his greatest achievement.
Born into a land-owning and respected family of the provincial gentry, Marcus Tullius Cicero
was well cared for and well educated in his childhood. He was the eldest of two sons. His
father, whom he was named after, did not have much of a public life due to his physical
disabilities yet was extremely learned and intellectual. His son became a renowned student,
developing a love and penchant for philosophy, taking up poetry and successfully translating
Homer. According to Plutarch’s biography, he was so auspiciously talented as a young
student it soon afforded him the attention and opportunity to study in Rome.
While his intellectual prowess would soon gain him recognition and entry into the Roman
elite, coming from second tier aristocracy inhibited him from entering into politics directly.
Therefore, Marcus Tullius Cicero had to either enter via military service or through the
practice of law. Prior to his commitment to the field of law, he did serve in the military, albeit
briefly, under Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, between the years 90-88
BCE. This was not the path for the young intellectual and he followed the opportunity in Rome
to study under the renowned stoic and Roman politician, Quintus Mucius Scaevola.
He studied alongside Servius Sulpicius Rufus and Titus Pomponius, later known as Atticus.
The former Cicero would come to regard as a far better lawyer then he, the latter became
Cicero’s closest confidant and consult, like a “second brother”. Due in part to his family and in
part to his intellectual prowess, Marcus Tullius Cicero received patronage from the wellregarded Roman consuls, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and Lucius Licinius Crassus, the latter of
whom Cicero regarded most and who became a significant mentor.
His love of philosophy also flourished during this time of study in Rome (and subsequently
over the rest of his life) in which he gained a broad range of philosophical scholarship from
the Epicurean school to that of the Stoics. He and Atticus met with Phaedrus when he came
to Rome and exposed them to Epicurean philosophy. Atticus would become an Epicurean,
while Cicero mostly rejected it. Years later Philo of Larissa, then head of Plato’s Academy in
Athens, came to Rome and Marcus Tullius Cicero apparently devoured the teachings from
the Academy and particularly of course, Plato’s philosophy. While it is said that he
disregarded Plato’s theory of Ideas, he came to admire his discussions on morality. He also
soon met Diodotus, a Stoic, who expanded Cicero’s understanding of Stoicism, even though
Cicero was not entirely convinced of it, and Logic. Cicero highly regarded the philosopher and
the two became close friends; Diodotus would come to live with Cicero until his death.
While he studied philosophy, and rhetoric, his dedication to jurisprudence he favored and it
soon led to his obtaining his first major case by 80 BCE in which he defended Sextus Roscius
on the charge of patricide (killing one’s father). It was a very big case and put Marcus Tullius
Cicero in a challenging position as he accused friends of the general Sulla (whom he had
served under) with the actual charge of murder. He was triumphant and Roscius was
acquitted. Soon thereafter, Marcus Tullius Cicero left Rome for Greece, Rhodes and Asia
Minor. He met with Atticus, the now ‘full-fledged’ Epicurean who became an honorary citizen
of Athens, and was introduced to Athenian society. In addition to further philosophical study
he expanded his knowledge and style of rhetoric with Apollonius Molon of Rhodes, which
would have a lasting impact on his oratory.
During this year, presumably 79 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero was married to Terentia. Most
likely a marriage of convenience, Terentia came from the socially and economically noble
family, Terenti Varrones, and was purportedly more interested in Cicero’s career than in their
household management. The couple produced two children, a daughter, Tullia, and a son,
Marcus, whom Cicero hoped would become a philosopher. (His son did not, but eventually
became involved in politics after his father’s murder, and under Augustus took action against
Mark Antony in honor of his father).
Not only did Marcus Tullius Cicero prove himself as a lawyer, his improved skills at oration
began to make an impact and his career in politics started to flourish. He was successfully
elected to each main Roman government office—quaestor, aedile, praetor and consul—all at
a considerably young age. Another challenging move by the incredulous philosophical
politician was his exposing the Catiline conspiracy in 63 BCE while he was serving his term
as consul. The conspiracy was attempting to forcefully take over the Roman state. Marcus
Tullius Cicero ordered the executions of five of the conspirators without a trial. Execution
without trial was a risky action to take by the statesman, and earned him both praise and
criticism.
Nonetheless, Marcus Tullius Cicero was much loved and admired. He also became a
member of the Roman Senate, which while not wielding any direct authority, was a very
influential body in Roman political life and was depended upon for advice and counsel. The
Roman republic was heading towards instability and it proved to be a difficult and trying time
for the statesman. Power struggles would leave him in precarious positions, not just
politically. During what is considered the First Triumvirate, Marcus Tullius Cicero chose to
remain loyal to the Senate and the idea of the Republic, however mythical the idea was in
practice, rather than join Julius Caesar, Pompey and Crassus in taking control of the Roman
state. In retribution, a law was passed in the tribune Clodius, 58 BCE, to retroactively punish
any order of execution without trial. This led to Marcus Tullius Cicero’s exile, as his
punishment was a dismissal of Roman citizenship, which included property.
After approximately a year and a half of exile, Marcus Tullius Cicero was restored to Rome
due to another shift in the political landscape. He was allowed to practice law, and had to, as
he now owed a debt to the Triumvirate for terminating his exile, yet he was not allowed to
practice politics. Between his exile and the subsequent years in which he could not be a
statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero enriched his studies in philosophy and began to write as
well. Roughly between the years 55 and 51 BCE, he wrote his infamous texts: De republica
(On the Republic) De legibus (On Laws), De officiis (On Duties).
On the Republic, except for Book VI containing the Dream of Scipio, was lost since the middle
ages, but reconstructed from fragments, quotes and a palimpsest found in the 19th century.
The books collectively focus on the conditions for republic, justice, human nature and
citizenry. Marcus Tullius Cicero very much identifies with the Greek ideals of justice and a
commonwealth following the Aristotelian view of “giving each their due,” and the Platonic
paternal notion of a ruling justice. He contrasts with a Roman individuating sense of glory and
honor in favor of a virtuous commitment to justice. While the dialogue in On the Republic was
set in the past, the dialogue for On Laws was set in Cicero’s day in which he, his brother and
his friend are the main figure of the dialogue. Once again, only fragments remain, but the
premise is that of law and justice being of the highest reason and while it can be corrupted,
and must be exposed and discarded, it is in fact man’s natural inclination as reason comes
from nature. The participants go on to discuss an ideal code of law that is essentially a
modified representation of the then contemporary Roman law code.
His final writing of this period, On Duties, is often considered Cicero’s “republic.” It in fact very
much parallels Plato’s Republic positing a conflict between justice and individual advantage
that is in essence illusory as ethics, being true to the ethical, would disavow such apparent
conflict. Maintaining the inseparability between ethics and politics, Marcus Tullius Cicero puts
forth an exemplifying case that acknowledges the too oft corruption of political power and self
advantage as that being a misunderstood relationship and confidence of ethical duty as self
advantageous. The latter is in effect the “moral” of the story, such that conflict and tension
between the two exists, naturally, yet justice, and ethical duty, properly understood, is in fact
always advantageous for the one, and the many.
Marcus Tullius Cicero’s philosophy was primarily in service of his role as a politician and to
his commitment to the ideal of a/the republic. And, in particular, to the Roman republic in
which, or for which, he translated much Greek philosophy and developed new vocabularies in
Latin to aid in translation and understanding for this particular audience—many of our words
used today come from this development such as: morals, image, individual, property. The
main schools of thought that Marcus Tullius Cicero engaged with, whether in disagreement or
in affinity, were the Academy Skeptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics and the Peripatetics.
He was most aligned with the Academy Skeptics and the general view that nothing can be
known with certainty and that ‘truth’ is essentially relative probability. The skeptic approach
appealed to him especially as an effective strategy in law and politics. The skeptic must seek
as many perspectives as possible and tease out as many probabilities in order to present a
valid argument. As well, it also accepts and advocates malleability as probabilities and
perspectives fluctuate over time, and ‘evidence’ proves otherwise. While he was most aligned
with the Academy he also incorporated aspects of the other Hellenistic philosophies, as
Skepticism could not attend as well to the practice of jurisprudence in the everyday with the
everyday man. Thus, through a skeptical approach, he looked to the Stoics for a philosophy
as the best probable form to attend to the significance and sanctity of law and justice in
society. His Stoic ideas are very much present in his writings on law and duties in which
natural law, a product of reason, is man’s guiding principle. When employed ‘properly’ this
creates a set of laws and a community of men that share in their duty to their just collectivity
and thus to themselves. As such, political participation is then an expected virtue. Perhaps
one could say that his overarching philosophy essentially revolved around justice and its
possibility.
Marcus Tullius Cicero would continue his engagement with philosophy and writing as the
Triumvirate eventually collapsed and he was again exiled from Rome for (barely) siding with
Pompey over Caesar, who became first Roman emperor in 48 BCE. Caesar soon pardoned
Marcus Tullius Cicero a year later, but he was forced to abstain from active political life.
Following the political upheavals that were ensconcing Rome, he and his wife divorced. It is
said that he believed his wife to have betrayed him, yet it wasn’t clear how specifically he
meant as such. It seems the official divorce occurred in 51 BCE and a few years later, either
in 46 or 45 BCE, he married a young women. It is presumed it was out of a need for financial
gain, as he owed the debt of his x-wife’s dowry. His second marriage was short lived and
Marcus Tullius Cicero was soon thereafter ensconced with bereavement over the loss of his
daughter whom he was enamored with and in which his text on death and consolation derived
from: The whole life of the philosopher is a preparation for death.
Marcus Tullius Cicero would have a final role in Roman politics before his death in the period
immediately following the murder of Caesar; members of the Senate executed the latter in 44
BCE. Marcus Tullius Cicero was witness to the murder but was presumably not a part of the
conspiracy. While another power struggle ensued, among Mark Antony, Marcus Lepidus, and
Octavian (who would come to be called Augustus), Marcus Tullius Cicero hoped that he could
assure the possibility for the continuance of the Roman republic. Addressing the Senate once
again, Marcus Tullius Cicero made a series of orations that are known as the Philippics. The
name comes from an infamous moment in Greek history when Demosthenes orated the rise
of the Athenians against Philip of Macedon. In Cicero’s case, it was a call to rise against Mark
Antony in support of Octavian and the survival of the Roman republic.
Although this moment of voice has become infamous, it failed, one could say, by subversive
power as opposed to justice. Mark Antony and Octavian partnered together in taking over
Roman power and Marcus Tullius Cicero was to become an enemy of the state since
Octavian chose not to protect him. On the orders of Mark Antony, the man of justice was
murdered—slit in the throat with his head and hands decapitated, which were then hung on
the podium in the Senate as a warning. It has been noted that Marcus Tullius Cicero, upon
capture, told his would be murderers, “there is nothing proper about what you are doing,
soldier, but do try to kill me properly.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a dedicated and committed man of justice, of justice as probability.
He was extremely prolific, and while, and only because he was detained from political
practice, wrote extensively on philosophy through dialogic writing. He wrote as well his
numerous orations that reveal both his political philosophy as well as his political prowess in
their provocative challenging rhetoric. Finally, he was an ardent and prolific letter writer
having exchanged countless letters, most often with Atticus and his brother, in which
hundreds remain in archive.
His legacy is long lasting and had its greatest effect in the Roman era and later during the
Renaissance. St. Augustine credits Marcus Tullius Cicero’s thought and writing with his
pursuit of a greater purpose in life. His political thought and activism is said to have inspired
the figures of both the American Revolution and the French revolution. The translations and
writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero are often considered to be the bedrock of much European
philosophical training and understanding and thus long-lasting effect. Yet in the more modern
era, discrepancies in his thought and character, revealed through revisionist insight and the
distribution of his private letters, have very much tainted and caused great criticism of his
ideal yet subsequently contradictory practice.