Cicero in Wikipedia
Marcus Tullius Cicero (pronounced /ˈsɪsɨroʊ/; Classical Latin: [ˈkikeroː]; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC), was a Roman philosopher,
statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is
widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.[1][2]
He introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary (with neologisms such as
humanitas, qualitas, quantitas, and essentia)[3] distinguishing himself as a linguist, translator, and philosopher. An impressive orator and
successful lawyer, Cicero thought that his political career was his most important achievement. Today, he is appreciated primarily for his
humanism and philosophical and political writings. His voluminous correspondence, much of it addressed to his friend Atticus, has been
especially influential, introducing the art of refined letter writing to European culture. Cornelius Nepos, the 1st-century BC biographer of
Atticus, remarked that Cicero's letters contained such a wealth of detail "concerning the inclinations of leading men, the faults of the
generals, and the revolutions in the government" that their reader had little need for a history of the period.[4] Cicero's speeches and
letters remain some of the most important primary sources that survive on the last days of the Roman Republic.
During the chaotic latter half of the first century B.C. marked by civil wars and the dictatorship of Gaius Julius Caesar, Cicero championed
a return to the traditional republican government. However, his career as a statesman was marked by inconsistencies and a tendency to shift
his position in response to changes in the political climate. His indecision may be attributed to his sensitive and impressionable
personality; he was prone to overreaction in the face of political and private change. "Would that he had been able to endure prosperity with
greater self-control and adversity with more fortitude!" wrote C. Asinius Pollio, a contemporary Roman statesman and historian.[5][6] Cicero
became an enemy of Mark Antony, attacking him in a series of speeches. He was proscribed an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and
subsequently murdered in 43 BC...
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