Cicero and the Roman Republic San Ramon Valley Unified 西塞罗与罗马共和国 圣拉蒙山谷的统一.ppt

Cicero and the Roman Republic The Early Life Cicero was born January 3, 106 B.C. According to Plutarch, he was an extremely adept student Cicero also had a love for almost everything Greek. He found the ancient philosophers such as Plato very thought provoking. Cicero served as quaestor (elected official) in western Sicily in 75 BC Despite his great political success, Cicero suffered from his lack of reputable ancestry In 63 BC, Cicero was elected to the Roman consul Life in the Consul His only significant accomplishment during his year in office was the suppression of the Catiline conspiracy, a plot to overthrow the Roman Republic Cicero was able to oust Catiline through a series of speeches to the Senate however he left behind his deputies to start the revolution from within whilst Catiline assaulted it from without Cicero managed to have these deputies of Catiline confess their crime in front of the entire Senate After much debate about their punishment in the Senate, Cicero had the conspirators taken to a Roman prison, where they were hanged. He was honored for suppressing the conspiracy, but thereafter lived in fear of trial or exile for having put Roman citizens to death without trial Life in Exile In 58 BC, a new law went into effect exiling any man who had put Roman citizens to death without trial Cicero claimed his honor had protected him against legal penalty, but he appeared ragged in public and began to beg for support from the people Cicero maintained that the Senate was jealous of him which was why they did not save him from exile While in exile, he began putting his speeches to paper. Cicero returned after over a dozen months from his exile to a cheering crowd Last Attempts at Politics Cicero was taken completely by surprise when Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44 BC In a letter to one of the conspirators, Cicero expressed a wish of having been ...invited to that superb banquet Cicero became a popular leader during the ins