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grandfather’s farm a few miles from the hill town of Arpinum. It was in Italy, 70 miles
away from Rome. Cicero was definitely a remembrance to all of Rome and still is
everywhere today. He was a good citizen to Rome and did what was best for the people.
school. He received most of his education in Rome, because his father, brother, and he
moved to Rome. His father wanted to ensure that the boys could benefit from the big city.
His education consisted of a business lasting until the age of 17. Cicero and his brother,
Quintus, learned by heart, large portions of the works from the poet Homer. He was
inspired by him and became very interested in philosophy. He studied great playwrights,
historians, and philosophers of Greece. Cicero was a great student and so intelligent.
Fathers of other students in his class would come into school just so they could see for
themselves the talent Cicero had. Plutarch said he was good in poetry and especially
excellent in oratory, the art of making speeches. Cicero was considered one of the very
best orators Rome ever had. Learning from a lawyer, Scaevola, helped Cicero by
Cicero married Terentia around the age of 27, in 79 BC. He was forced to
have a wife that came from the right sort of family, so she was wealthy as well. They had
a daughter, Tullia, but she died at a young age. Cicero then had a son, Marcus, who was
very important to carry on the family name. Terentia and Cicero’s marriage did not last
long.
continually would try to improve his human faults. Cicero served as quaestor in 75,
became senator in 74, and was elected aedile in 69. He had always been a supporter of
the republican style of government and would hate to see it corrupted. His most intense
part in office was when he won election as consul in 63 BC. Catiline, a former runner up
to consul was jealous of Cicero and plotted to kill him and his fellow consul, Antonious.
He planned on taking over the government, but Cicero acted swiftly and boldly to stop
Catiline. Cicero was a hero to all the people, but no one knew he made an error in
judgment that day. Cicero denied the conspirators’ legal rights and caused the death of the
Roman citizen without a regular trial, and that came back to haunt Cicero. Later, one of
the chief associates, Clodius, found out about Cicero’s wrong act and silenced him.
Cicero went into exile in Greece. Plutarch wrote, “He remained for most of the time
miserable…keeping his eyes fixed, like a distressed lover, on Italy.” (Plutarch 61) Cicero
Being a lawyer, orator, consul, senator, patriot, and a gifted writer, made
him big later in life. While keeping his job as a lawyer, he also organized public
entertainment at festivals, and was responsible for supervising the markets of Rome.
Cicero has 58 lengthy speeches, more than 800 letters, and 2,000 pages of philosophical
and rhetorical tracts. Those were about him, friends, society, and roman character. Most
of his works were addressed to his best friend, Titus Pomponius Atticus.
from destroying Rome and renew the traditional system. He made some speeches of
Antony, telling him to change his ways. But in 43, Antony joined a triumvirate with
Lepidus and Octavian. Their first order of business was to kill their enemies, and Cicero
appeared at the top of the list. When Antony found his enemies, they cut off his head and
hands and nailed them to a platform in Rome’s main square. “Most of those who stood by
covered their faces while they were killing him.” (Plutarch 63) In a real sense, that was
never quit understood how people like Antony could disregard the good of the
community that had nurtured him. After he died, his speeches became textbooks of
oratory, and his ideas and deeds were retold by scholars and writers of all disciplines and
nationalities. Cicero, last champion of the republic, was known as the greatest statesman
who gave his life trying to preserve Rome more than any other person of the ancient
world. “All in all, Cicero was...a human, not heroic personality. He was warm-hearted
and emotional, a good friend, but always a good hater.” (John Rolfe 56)