Cicero

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Cicero
A mid-first century AD bust o Cicero in the Capitoline Museums, Roum
Born3 Januar 106 BC
Arpinum, Roman Republic
(modern-day Arpino, Lazio, Italy)
Dee'd7 December 43 BC (aged 63)
Formia, Roman Republic
ThriftPoliteecian, lawyer, orator, filosopher an poet
NaitionalityAncient Roman
SubjectPolitics, law, filosofie, rhetoric
Leeterar muivementGowden Age Laitin
Notable warksOrations: In Verrem, In Catilinam I-IV, Philippicae
Filosofie: De Oratore, De Re Publica, De Legibus, De Finibus, De Natura Deorum, De Officiis

Marcus Tullius Cicero[n 1] (Classical Latin: [ˈmaːr.kʊs ˈtʊl.lɪ.ʊs ˈkɪ.kɛ.roː]; 3 Januar 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) wis a Roman statesman, orator, lawer an filosofer, that served as consul in the year 63 BC. He cam frae a walthy municipal faimily o the Roman equestrian order, an is conseedert ane o Roum's greatest orators an prose stylists.[2][3]

His influence on the Laitin leid wis sae immense that the subsequent history o prose, nae anerly in Laitin but in European leids up tae the 19t century, wis said tae be aither a reaction against or a return tae his style.[4] Accordin tae Michael Grant, "the influence o Cicero upon the history o European leeteratur an ideas greatly exceeds that o ony ither prose writer in any leid".[5] Cicero introduced the Romans tae the chief schuils o Greek filosofie an creatit a Laitin filosofical vocabulary (wi neologisms sic as evidentia,[6] humanitas, qualitas, quantitas, an essentia)[7] distinguishin himsel as a translator an filosofer.

Tho he wis an accomplished orator an successfu lawer, Cicero believed his poleetical career wis his maist important achievement. It wis in his consulship that the seicont Catilinarian conspiracy attemptit tae owerthraw the govrenment throu an attack on the ceety bi ootside forces, an Cicero suppressed the revolt bi summarily an controversially executin five conspirators. In the chaotic latter hauf o the 1st century BC merkit bi ceevil wars an the dictatorship o Gaius Julius Caesar, Cicero championed a return tae the tradeetional republican govrenment. Follaein Julius Caesar's daith, Cicero becam an enemy o Mark Antony in the ensuin pouer struggle, attackin him in a series o speeches. He wis proscrived as an enemy o the state bi the Seicont Triumvirate an consequently executit bi sodgers operatin on thair behalf in 43 BC efter haein been interceptit in an attemptit flicht frae the Italian peninsula. His severed haunds an heid war then, as a feenal revenge o Mark Antony, displayed in the Roman Forum.

Petrarch's rediskivery o Cicero's letters is eften creditit for ineetiatin the 14t-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, an clessical Roman cultur.[8] Accordin tae Pols historian Tadeusz Zieliński, "the Renaissance wis abuin aw things a revival o Cicero, an anerly efter him an throu him o the rest o Clessical antiquity."[9] The peak o Cicero's authority an prestige cam in the 18t-century Enlichtment,[10] an his impact on leadin Enlichtment thinkers an poleetical theorists sic as John Locke, David Hume, Montesquieu an Edmund Burke wis substantial.[11] His warks rank amang the maist influential in European cultur, an the day still constitute ane o the maist important bouks o primar material for the writin an reveesion o Roman history, especially the last days o the Roman Republic.[12]

Notes[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. The name is infrequently anglicised as Tully[1]

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. E.g., in H. Jones, Master Tully: Cicero in Tudor England (Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1998).
  2. Rawson, E.: Cicero, a portrait (1975) p. 303
  3. Haskell, H.J.: This was Cicero (1964) pp. 300–01
  4. Merriam-Webster, Inc (Januar 1995). "Ciceronian period". Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-87779-042-6. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  5. Cicero, Selected Works, 1971, p. 24
  6. Q. Acad. 2.17–18
  7. Conte, G.B.: "Latin Literature: a history" (1987) p. 199
  8. Wootton, David (1 Januar 1996). Modern Political Thought: Readings from Machiavelli to Nietzsche. Hackett Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-87220-341-9. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  9. Zieliński, Tadeusz. Cicero Im Wandel Der Jahrhunderte. Nabu Press.
  10. Wood, Neal (1991). Cicero's Social and Political Thought. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07427-9.
  11. Nicgorski, Walter. "Cicero and the Natural Law". Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism.
  12. Griffin, Miriam; Boardman, John; Griffin, Jasper; Murray, Oswyn (15 Januar 2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. pp. 76ff. ISBN 978-0-19-285436-0. Retrieved 10 August 2011.