Cicero

Thursday, March 13, 2008
I have recently finished reading Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician by Anthony Everitt. I had planned on doing a much longer review than the one that follows, but time is marching on and I can’t seem to get enough quiet time without answering kids’ questions and calls to do more that quickly check e-mail, so I’ll have to content myself to this. However, this was a fascinating book and I have more than 50 note markers in it of all the things I wanted to mention.
Cicero was from a wealthy provincial family. His father had been of poor health and not able to attain to the education he desired, so he determined that his sons, Marcus (our Cicero) and Quintus, should have it. Cicero excelled at learning and was not at all interested in physical sport or aggression. Roman boys were sent to a mentor, a well-connected man, where they lived and were tutored in rhetoric, Greek literature, and philosophy along with other boys who were under the same mentor. One of Cicero’s contemporaries was Julius Caesar, who was several years younger. Cicero was known, even from this young age, as being likeable and fair-minded.
As a young man, he participated in a Civil War in Italy called the War of the Allies. Rome seemed to suffer these politically seismic events on a fairly regular basis. There was always conflict between the communities on the peninsula that weren’t considered Roman, and thus had none of the privileges of a citizen, and the Romans. The commander’s son in the unit Cicero fought in was Cnaeus Pompeius. That’s Pompey to the modern reader. Through his experience living through this conflict led him to detest Roman militarism when it came against democracy. In his writings he said, “Victories in the field count for little if the right decisions are not taken at home.” It was shortly after this, that the slave rebellion led by Spartacus broke out. The slave army bested four Roman armies before Pompey arrived to put it down.
As Cicero entered law and began making a name for himself, he actively styled himself as a man who could bring the popularis (common man) and optimates (aristocracy) together. He did this in order to start building up a base for himself so that he could eventually attain the Consulship. This was very similar to a presidency, but there were always two consuls that acted jointly. He attained the Consulship with a rather weak fellow named Antonius, and gave him his pension in return for Cicero having free rein. When Cicero puts down a revolt through quick thinking and quick action, he is voted by the Senate as “Father of His Country”. In Rome at this time, it was acceptable and even advisable to brag about oneself, and it seems that Cicero flaunted this virtue over this event to excess. Plutarch writes about having to listen to “endless repetitions” of Cicero’s success.
It is during this time, that Julius Caesar began working his way up in the ranks of the political system. He was frustrated with the deadlocks in the Senate and began trying to build up ties with three other powerful figures: Cicero, Pompey, and Crassus. Pompey and Crassus were not difficult to bring on board, but Cicero was a Republican through and through and was leery of being involved in anything that would take power away from the Senate. Another man who wanted to attain power, Clodius, hired bands of thugs to terrorize Rome, and under threat, the people voted him into the Consulship where he promptly exiled Cicero and seized all his property, even burning down his house in Rome. Clodius then turned his attentions on Pompey, and was mightily slapped down.
Cicero’s friends in Rome began a campaign to recall him. Popular opinion grew and with Cicero’s promise not to oppose the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, was brought back to Rome to a hero’s welcome. He was considered an elder statesman, and because of his isolation in exile, was seen as a political independent that could be counted on to support the common man. He was given a triumph parade similar to a military victory with town officials coming out along the route to offer up flattering speeches. However, he found that his influence in the Senate much abated because he was now indebted to the triumvirate. Furthermore, he was still broke and forced to take large loan from Caesar.
Then the triumvirate began to disintegrate. Crassus was murdered during a military campaign by a treacherous enemy during parlay. Then Julius Caesar’s daughter, who was married to Pompey, died in childbirth, along with the child. Caesar was in Gaul (Those Romans are Crazy!), and Pompey was promoted to Consul to replace Crassus. Cicero took advantage to his lack of power in the Senate to go into retirement and write many, many books on how the nation should be run in specific and philosophy in general. His ideas of mixed constitution greatly influenced political thought in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. His ideas took full flight during the Enlightenment, particularly in North America.
Cicero was then appointed as governor of what is today Turkey as a way to get him out of the way for a while. Before leaving Rome, he enlisted the services of a young man to keep him up to date on the entire goings on. He was very careful to make sure that his presence didn’t overtax the local administration and was determined to run a clean administration. He was generous and made a habit of rising early each day to greet any officials who wanted to come pay their respects. One of the reasons he did this was that the preceding governor had been Clodius’ brother, whose sole concern was enriching himself, brutally extracting taxes. In fact, this brother refused to lay down power and kept holding office in one end of the province as Cicero was entering in the other. At the same time, the province was attacked by the Parthians and Cicero himself led a sub-prime military force to victory, and was lauded by his troops for his strategic leadership, calling him “Commander-in-chief”, an honor only given to a military leader who led in person.
Upon successfully completing his civil service, he returned to Rome, bent on reconciling Pompey and Caesar. He writes to his good friend, Atticus, “There looms ahead a tremendous contest between them….There is no room for fence-sitting.” His main concern was the preservation of the Republic. If either man gained the upper hand, he would be so powerful as to overthrow the Republic and establish a dictatorship. Cicero worked for compromise. As Caesar pushed his power, the Senate gave Pompey the military power to “save the Republic”. Cicero predicted that Caesar would do a surprise attack on Rome before Pompey was ready for him, and was absolutely correct. As Caesar moved swiftly and secretly down to Rome, he continued to make peace offers. Between his famous luck and the loyalty of his soldiers, his advance was nearly miraculous. Most towns simply gave in. One town tried to mount a defense and was defeated. Caesar promptly released all the Senators and aristocracy there, in a classic example his well-renowned leniency. Pompey freaked out and ordered the evacuation of Rome.
Caesar entered Rome uncontested. He urged Cicero to return to Rome. He saw Cicero’s value as propaganda. Cicero was miserable and thought about escaping Italy. Mark Antony, Caesar’s protégé, urged Cicero to stay, thinly veiling threats against his family. Cicero asked for formal permission to leave for Greece. It was not given, but he escapes anyway and is welcomed into Pompey’s camp in Greece with open arms. Caesar surrounded Pompey’s camp and was nearly defeated, but Pompey did not push the advantage and Caesar was able to march away and regroup. Pompey then attacks Caesar and is stunningly defeated, even though Pompey’s forces are much greater.
At this point, Caesar goes to Egypt and meets Cleopatra. All his attention on her, Pompey regroups, and Caesar nearly loses all the gains he has made. Finally he comes out of his thrall and returns to solidifying his empire. Meanwhile, Cicero has been anxiously awaiting Caesar’s verdict. When Caesar arrives in Brundisium, where Cicero is holed up, Cicero goes out to meet him on the road, and Caesar dismounts and embraces Cicero, and given a full pardon. Caesar, now in full power, enacts social reforms, including giving free food to the poor and extending the calendar to 365 days. Many people at the time were amazed at his even-handedness. Cicero used his favored position on behalf of the defeated aristocracy, both out of his natural kindliness and also out of hopes of restoring the Republic with a mixed congress.
Shortly after this, Cicero’s beloved daughter, Tullia, dies in childbirth. He is devastated and retires from all activities to grieve, something that was just not done over a “poor little frail woman” and he was criticized for it. He describes spending most of his time out of doors crying. He writes a work, now lost, called Self-Consolation, attempting to consolidate all relevant texts on overcoming grief. Finally, he makes plans to build a grand memorial for Tullia, but event would soon turn his attention elsewhere. The lasting impact of her death is a new perspective on life. He becomes less volatile and less prone to listen to criticism. He attains new self-control and a new steely resolve. He begins writing again on philosophy pointed at the political environment. One thing he writes, seemed very Buddhist: “So let us, believe me, study to dissociate ourselves from our bodies—that is, to acclimatize ourselves to the idea of death. While we are still alive, this will be an imitation of heavenly life: once we are free from our chains here, our soul will run their race less slowly. For those who have always been shackled to the flesh make slower progress even when they are released. It is as if they have spent many years in manacles. Once we have arrived at the other place, and only then, shall we live. For this life is truly death.” Through reading his works, early Christian leaders merged his ideals with Christian theology, and even declared him a “virtuous pagan”.
Then comes the assassination of Caesar. Cicero was front and center for the event and was stunned and somewhat offended that he was not invited to the cabal. Brutus and the others tried to calm the crowds after the deed was done, but the people truly loved their dictator, and Brutus was nowhere near the eloquent speaker that Shakespeare made him out to be. He is characterized as “plain and unemotional”. Instead of the Republic being restored to life, Mark Antony tries to take over the dictatorship. He and Brutus skirmish when out of left field comes Caesar’s nephew and heir, Octavian, later known as Caesar Augustus. He was only 18 years old, and had been a sickly child, but he was determined that he would follow in his uncle’s steps.
With the conspirators in Caesar’s death still lurking about, Mark Antony and Octavian form an uneasy alliance. Octavian went to Cicero as a mentor, seemingly indicating that he was for the Republic. Cicero returns to Rome after fleeing, and is again welcomed as a hero, much to Mark Antony’s annoyance. Cicero sees through Octavian’s guise, but decides to play nice in hopes of swaying the young man away from dictatorship. Antony calls out Cicero’s “divide-and-rule” policy, but Cicero’s plans succeed, at least temporarily. Brutus and Cassius attempt to return from exile to retake Rome, and are driven back by Mark Antony and Octavian, who re-ally to do so, thus negating Cicero’s plans. Mark Antony, Octavian, and another man, Lepidus, create a second triumvirate and formalized as a triple dictatorship. In order to raise much needed cash, they come about with a plan of killing various rich senators and other aristocracy who had been troubling them and seizing their property. Prices were put on their heads, with a high bounty being paid out of the victims’ estates. Cicero’s entire family was put on the list. Cicero half-heartedly tries to escape, but is captured. His last words were, “Come here, soldier. There is nothing proper about what you are doing, but at least make sure that you cut off my head properly,” and stretched his neck out while his servants covered their faces.
Besides this book being about a fascinating character, it has helped me understand a lot of what was going on around the first century, and I’ve used some of the material in my New Testament Survey class that I teach at church. The general social set-up of roman society had major consequences for Judea and the atmosphere that Christ was born into. I promised a short review, but I just couldn’t. I’ve been 4 hours writing this and am really late for bed, so I’d better post this and go. I might post some other interesting stuff I found over the next few days.