His rise
Cicero was born in Arpinum in 106 BC. J-C. Arriving in Rome to study law and philosophy, he had the opportunity to listen to Anthony and Crassus, the two greatest orators of the time, on the forum. He ranks until he becomes a praetor. But what launched his brilliant career was the Sextus affair.
In 81 BC, Cicero defended Sextus Roscius Amerinus. He succeeded in exonerating him by revealing the strategy of his adversaries who had him accused. Alone against all, Sextus was condemned to lose the trial and to suffer the punishments given to a man accused of parricide. But Cicero skilfully exposed the true situation and at the end of the trial, Sextus was no longer guilty for the judges, seduced by his lawyer.
This Sextus affair allowed him in particular to show his talents as an orator and to be appreciated by the Romans.
Rhetoric
According to Cicero, an orator must be a vir bonus dicendi peritus (a good man who masters the word). He must be cultivated, intelligent and talented; without that, his speeches will be in vain.
For the Greeks, there are three oratorical genres:the deliberative which pushes to make a decision, the judicial which seeks to make the just triumph and the demonstrative which praises or blame someone. At its origins, rhetoric made it possible to show the superiority of the human species over other living beings. His apprenticeship was in Athens.
Cicero recited speeches that he prepared carefully and with an impeccable structure, always with the aim of convincing, moving and charming his listeners.
Life in politics
Two years after the Sextus affair, Cicero went to Greece, the land of culture and eloquence, to practice rhetoric with great orators. He then returned to Rome and began his cursus honorum –the order of access to the magistracy; he becomes quaestor in -75. Thereafter, he will become aedile in -69 and praetor three years later, while continuing his career as a lawyer. Cicero is a homo novus; he is now in the rank of aristocrats even though he was born with no title. His goal now is to reach the consulate, and another important case will make him more famous:the Verrès scandal.
The trial began on August 5 of the year -70. Cicero was against Verres, the latter being part of the aristocracy. His attack on a man of nobility was also an attack on the senate, which at that time acquitted the wealthy by embezzling justice by corruption. When Verres realized that he was losing the case, he fled. Cicero's success was great, and he published his speeches which he had been unable to deliver during the shortened trial.
It becomes a bonus vir , “concerned with justice and legality”. Divided between the reformist party of populares and the conservative one of optimates , he finally rallies to Pompey, the curator. Cicero becomes consul, elected mainly by the optimates :it displays a balanced status between the people and the judiciary.
But that was twice Catiline missed the election to the consulship, and he planned to assassinate Cicero. The latter is warned by Crassus and therefore escapes the attack. On November 8 of the year -63, he pronounced the First Catiline , a speech that denounces the conspiracy and its instigator. Catiline flees; his accomplices are punished.
The end of Cicero
In 58 BC, Cicero was forced into exile for having had Catiline's accomplices executed without trial. He began to bother the Romans with his "conservative centrism" that the imperatores no longer want. Rejected, he devotes himself to writing. He resumed studying philosophy and published philosophical dialogues, such as De Oratore , De Republica and De Legibus .
In 44 BC, Cicero returned to Rome and opposed Antony against whom he pronounced the Philippians . But Octavian, Caesar's adopted son whom Cicero thought was an ally, reconciled with Antony and on December 7 of the year -43, Cicero was assassinated.