![]() ![]() This wall was set around the so called monument tomb of Cicero, in Formia, Italy near the Appian Way. Even Cicero’s near-contemporary Asinius Pollio admitted, “ he invited enmity with greater spirit than he fought it”.Ĭonfusing what Cicero had actually said and done throughout his life for a heroic character “Cicero” who died for the Republic has become commonplace. Writing shortly after Cicero’s death, the historian Livy admitted that Cicero’s death was tragic, but “he suffered at the hands of his enemy no more cruel fate than he would himself have inflicted had he been equally fortunate.”īiographer Plutarch lamented Cicero’s “ love of power,” which led him to ruin. Cicero had achieved his political aims before his exile by invoking what I have called a “ rhetoric of terror” to ensure his extrajudicial murders would not be questioned.Īncient historians, as well as modern scholars, struggled with Cicero’s legacy. Upon his return, he wrote works of political philosophy, including On the State, a work which promoted the idea of benevolent dictatorship as a stabilizing measure. Cicero’s legacyĪlthough it is tempting to fit Cicero into the template of a martyr, his contemporaries had a different view.Īt the height of his career, Cicero was forced into exile because he had murdered Roman citizens without trial - and Rome’s representatives of popular sovereignty disapproved. Political enemies were also targeted, and at the top of the list was Cicero. To support this political program, they initiated a purge targeting wealthy citizens whose estates could fund their army. Augustus found a better ally in Antony - Caesar’s former right-hand man who had replaced him as Rome’s quasi-legal leader.Īugustus and Anthony teamed up with a third man in what is now called the Second Triumvirate. Once Caesar had been installed as the head of the Roman state, Cicero quickly became a member of the dictator’s ‘court.’ (Shutterstock)Īlthough he had been happy to learn of Julius Caesar’s assassination, Cicero supported Caesar’s young nephew, who would later become Rome’s first emperor, Augustus.Ĭicero promoted Augustus’ interests until Augustus turned on him. Those who eventually assassinated Caesar didn’t trust him enough to join their plot.Ĭicero however believed that the assassination hadn’t gone far enough, and more murders were necessary to save the state. But he wasn’t successful in convincing everyone. Once Caesar had been installed as the head of the Roman state, Cicero quickly became a member of the dictator’s “court.” This was humiliating and alienating for him.Ĭicero tried to spin his position as useful: he could use his close contact with Caesar to win extra pardons. The unusual thing about Caesar’s dictatorship didn’t come until a month before his death, when Caesar was named “ dictator perpetuo” or “dictator in perpetuity.” This event arguably triggered his assassination. ![]() But they might be less aware that Caesar became dictator after a civil war between himself and his friend and rival, Pompey the Great, or that “dictator” was a legal office in the Roman Republic. Many people have heard of Caesar’s dictatorship. ![]() Although he privately disapproved of Caesar’s power, Cicero publicly supported him and directly contributed to the end of the Roman Republic - the reign of Caesar’s nephew Augustus. Some even believe that Cicero “ nobly held the Republic together” during the last decades of the Republic, or even that “ he serves as the republic itself.”Ĭicero himself promoted this view, but modern historians see it differently. Although his political powers were diminished in later years, his public and private correspondence provides a detailed look at political life in Rome.Ĭonservative writers often use him as an example of someone who defended the Republic by standing up to Caesar or stood up for Rome’s constitution in the face of executive overreach. When writer Caitlin Flanagan announced the opening of the University of Austin - a proposed private liberal arts college that is “anti-cancel culture” and welcomes academics treated like “thought criminals” - in November, she made a strange claim: that Cicero defended the dying Republic ( apparently against Julius Caesar).Ĭicero, had Twitter existed during his time, would be immensely pleased to see this - he had often said he “ saved the state,” from the Catilinarian Conspiracy - an abortive attempt to overthrow the economic and political power of the Roman state.Ĭicero was Rome’s leading public speaker and one of its two consuls.
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