Cicero
106-43 BC | Arpinum, Roman Republic
The voice of the Roman Republic in its twilight. Marcus Tullius Cicero rose from provincial origins to become Rome's greatest orator, exposing conspiracies and defending the old ways against dictators. When rhetoric failed, he turned to philosophy, translating Greek wisdom into Latin and creating the vocabulary of Western thought. His letters reveal a man of wit, anxiety, and profound learning. He died defending the Republic, his severed hands displayed in the Forum that had heard his greatest speeches.
Cicero's Works
Orations, philosophy, and letters"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
- Attributed to Cicero
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
- Letters to Varro
"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living."
- Philippics
"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book."
- Attributed to Cicero
"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child."
- Orator