CICERO, Marcus Tullius, Roman orator and public man and the greatest master of Latin prose styles b, 106 az.; killed at Formim 43 B.C. was a dative of Arpinum, the birth place also of Marius. His father : was a knight of good social position and the son was well educated in preparation for the bar and for public life. While still a young man • he served a campaign under the elder Pompey. He first appeared as a lawyer in 81 and again in '80, and in the latter case was brought into direct collision with a favorite of Suite, at that time perpetual dictator. It was perhaps in conse quence of this that he withdrew for a time from Rome and spent the years 79-77 in Greece and Asia Minor, occupying himself with the further study of oratory. In 75 he began his political career by serving as quzstor in Sicily, and in 70 he gave evidence of the closeness of his relation to that province by prosecuting Verres for maladministration as governor there. In 69 he was curule mdile and in 66 prwtor urbanus, following the usual course of offices; in the latter year he made his first 'distinctively political speech in support of a proposal by the tribune Manilius to give to Pompey the com mand of the war against Mithridates. Though the distinction between parties was then less sharp than it is now, he had thus far been con nected with the democratic party, but in the canvass for the consulship for 63 that party had already two candidates in the field, Catiline and Antonius, while the Optimates had no candidate of special promise. As Catiline belonged to the radical wing of the democrats, the sena torial party, desiring his defeat, threw its influ ence in Cicero's favor. He was thus elected as a representative of the Optimates and con tinued to act with that party during the rest of his life. His constitutional instincts were fur ther strengthened by the outbreak during his consulship (63) of the so-called conspiracy of Catiline, an attempt by the radicals under the leadership of this reckless noble to seize the government by violent means. This attempt Cicero put down with considerable vigor; Cati line was killed in batde and several of his asso ciates were condemned to death by a vote of the Senate and executed under Cicero's orders. The execution, however, was of questionable legality, since it set aside the right of the accused.to an appeal to the popular assembly, and Geer() was at once attacked by members of the democratic party for his responsibility in the transaction. Upon the formation, in 60, of the coalition be tween Caesar, Pompey and Crassus called the First Triumvirate, by which the democrats came into control of the government, Cicero was banished from Rome and left Italy (April 58). The years preceding his exile had been years of great professional activity and some of the best of his speeches belong to thiS period, but he had not yet acquired the habit of literary production and the year of his absence was unfruitful ex cept in letters. His return to Italy in 57 was made the occasion of a great party demonstra tion and was to some degree a personal triumph, and he engaged himself at once in suits for the recovery of his property and in the party strug gles with the Triumvirate. During this period
he also took up again his early studies in rhet oric and wrote the We one of his most ,finished and authoritative works. He had not up to this time followed 'the usual' custom of taking the proconsular governorship of a prov ince, but in 51, in compliance with a new law, though much against his will, he went as gov ernor to Cilicia. He spent here exactly the year required of him, from 31 July 51 to 30 July 50, but impatient as he was of the from Rome his governorship was highly credit able to him; he showed, in particular, the most honorable scrupulousness in abstaining from even the customary exactions from the provin cials. When he returned to Rome, he found all parties absorbed in the agitations which pre ceded the civil war. Early in 49 Caesar marched upon Rome and Pompey withdrew to Dyrrachium. During these months Cicero re mained away from the city in great uncertainty as to- his duty and his interests. Caesar asked of him only that he should remain neutral, and his own forebodings as to •the outcome of the struggle inclined ham toward this course, but' his party connections, his constitutional preju dices and opinions and his lifelong respect for Pompey took him finally to the camp at Dyr rachium. After the victory of Caesar at Phar salus in August 48, he returned to Italy and spent a year in Brundisium, awaiting Cmsar's permission to go to Rome. From the summer of 47 to March 44 the domination of Caesar put an end to free discussion and action in the state and Cicero made only.a few speeches, addressed to. Caesar, with whom he had always been on terms of friendship, on behalf of persons desir ing amnesty. But the enforced political inactiv ity he put to use in literature, and to this period belong almost all his greatest writings, the ripe fruits of a life of intellectual interests. In March 44 the assassination of Caesar aroused in -Cicero, though he was not cognizant of the plot, a renewed hope that the Senate might re cover control of the state. But for the first few months events turned against his party; popular feeling did not approve the death of An tony was unexpectedly active and successful, and Cicero for a time thought of joining Brutus. and Cassius in the East. As the confusion be gan to clear, however, and the old issue between constitutional government and the rule of a dictator took form, Cicero's indecision came to an end and he threw himself unreservedly into the contest of the Senate with Antony. The 14 Philippics, delivered between September 44 and March 43, are unmatched among his speeches. When Antony and Octavianus (the later Au gustus) were reconciled and formed with Lepi dus the Second Triumvirate, Cicero's name was placed upon the list of the proscribed, and he was killed at bis villa near Formise, 7 Dec. 43.