Cicero: Roman Orator, Politician, and Natural Law Philosopher

Introduction: Cicero's Origins and Political Vision

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 BC, and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC. He was born and raised in the Italian provincial town of Arpinum (modern Arpino), seventy miles east of Rome. The Arpinates had been citizens of Rome for nearly a century, but residents of the town were still viewed with careless disdain in Rome as novi homines—"new men"—without noble ancestors, breeding, or distinguished background. His life coincided with the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, and he was an important actor in many of the significant political events of his time; his writings are now a valuable source of information about those events. He was, among other things, an orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher.

Making sense of his writings and understanding his philosophy requires keeping that context in mind. Cicero placed politics above philosophical study; the latter was valuable in its own right but was even more valuable as the means to more effective political action. No single fact in Cicero's life is more important. Until his death, he labored under the political disadvantage of his provincial heritage. Although he rose to the highest position in Rome, he always—often unattractively—bore deep insecurities regarding the more established Roman aristocracy.

In the increasing political chaos of the late Republic, some ambitious men, like Gaius Julius Caesar, sought personal power through military careers. Others, like Cicero's lifelong correspondent Atticus, turned their backs on public affairs, preferring an Epicurean life of intellectual pursuits and entertaining friends. Cicero chose a career in civilian public affairs, hoping to prevent the Republic from degenerating into a violent, lawless regime or a new monarchy. He saw the Republic as a mix of different groups that would produce a "concord of the orders," just as music is a blend of different instruments producing a harmonious sound—a system that would benefit all members of society.

Early Career: Law, Integrity, and the Courts

Cicero decided to begin his difficult climb in Roman politics as a lawyer. In his first famous public trial, he defended a man named Sextus Roscius against the charge of murdering his own father. In fact, the charge had been hatched by three of the father's enemies, including Chrysogonus, a henchman of the then-dictator Sulla. Cicero not only refuted the murder charge but launched a full-scale assault on Chrysogonus as a corrupt official. Though he was careful to point out that Sulla could not be expected to know the misdeeds of every underling, Cicero risked the anger of a murderous dictator to clear his client of false charges, and in doing so helped promote honesty as a moral foundation of the Republic.

Cicero also led by example. In his first elected office, he was responsible for purchasing and paying for grain to be sent to Rome from the province of Sicily. While serving in that position, he refused to take the customary—though illegal—cut from the moneys he paid to merchants for their grain. For Cicero, a magistrate's corruption and abuse of subject peoples was a weakness for the Republic. His honesty so endeared him to the Sicilians that, a few years later, a delegation of Sicilians employed Cicero to bring a lawsuit against the politically well-connected but rapacious Gaius Verres, who had become governor of that island after Cicero's term. Cicero returned to Sicily to gather facts and witnesses, and in spite of the efforts of Verres' influential friends, the corrupt former governor was forced to flee Rome ahead of a guilty verdict.

These early episodes established the twin pillars of Cicero's public reputation: mastery of the law and an uncommon personal integrity. Both qualities would define—and ultimately endanger—him throughout his political life.

The Consulship and the Catilinarian Conspiracy

During his consulship in 63 BC, an event occurred that defined Cicero for the rest of his life. Catiline—a patrician with a notorious reputation who claimed to represent the disenfranchised—was refused higher office. Cicero discovered information suggesting that Lucius Sergius Catilina was plotting to raise an army to march on Rome, murder many of the magistrates, and seize power. Many senators thought Cicero exaggerated the danger, but as the evidence mounted, more colleagues realized that the Republic was in peril. Cicero's speech against Catiline in the Senate was so withering that Catiline left Rome, later taking up arms against the state and dying in the attempt.

During the subsequent trial of the conspirators, Caesar's conduct made Cicero take him seriously. Cicero spoke forcefully for the immediate execution of all conspirators, as did Cato. Caesar argued for banishment rather than death, noting that no Roman was allowed to be put to death without a formal trial—a rule which Cicero, in the urgency of the moment, was determined to set aside. Although Caesar nearly swayed the crowd, Cato then spoke in support of Cicero's position and carried the argument. The conspirators were executed immediately, with Rome in a state of extreme political tension.

One of the least attractive sides of Cicero's character was revealed by the Catilinarian conspiracy. He was absolutely convinced that, single-handedly, he had saved the Roman state. He pursued the praise of his contemporaries as Rome's savior with impetuous greed, collecting all his speeches against Catiline for publication and inviting others to write of his deeds in prose and verse. He was unwise to boast as loudly as he did; the ambiguities of his legal actions were kept firmly in the public eye.

In the end, however, the Catiline conspiracy became Cicero's undoing. The Senate had granted him extraordinary powers during the crisis, allowing him to take any measures necessary to protect the Republic. When two conspirators were caught red-handed, he asked the Senate whether they should be put to death without the fundamental Roman right to a trial. Facing the threat of an armed assault on Rome, the Senate agreed to a death sentence and the conspirators were dispatched. But one of Cicero's enemies, Publius Clodius Pulcher, later turned this action against him.

Clodius was a brutal political operator who organized gangs of thugs to intimidate and murder opponents. Playing on Cicero's apparent violation of a citizen's right to trial, Clodius rallied the former consul's opponents and had him exiled from Rome. Cicero's house was burned and his property confiscated. In just a few years, Cicero the savior of the Republic had become a refugee. This episode illustrates the deteriorating political climate in Rome: political violence was becoming a regular and tolerated feature of Roman politics, and the law was being wielded by those who sought to destroy it.

References

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