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.

References

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