Cicero was a dedicated citizen of the Roman Republic.
By the time he reached its highest office, that of consul in 63 BCE, it was
an institution that had lasted over 500 years.
Cicero would be one of its last defenders.
Cicero's most influential book 'De Officiis' or 'On Duties' was written at
the height of the conflict over the future of the Republic.
Cicero had refused to join the alliance between Julius Caesar, Crassus and Pompey,
known as the First Triumvirate, and even pleaded with Julius Caesar in order to
preserve the Republic. But it was all in vain, and in 44 BCE Caesar was violently
murdered. It was at this point when the Republic could either be restored or
destroyed forever that Cicero wrote 'De Officiis'.
In 'De Officiis' Cicero was making a direct attack on those like Caesar and
Mark Antony who were corrupting what he saw as the foundational principles of
the Roman Republic; primarily the sense of civic duty which lay at its
foundation. For Cicero our public life ought to come first, we should fix our
gaze on what it's good for the Republic not for ourselves. We have a duty to
human fellowship over and above any others. Furthermore, and importantly for
later thinkers, Cicero suggested that in working out what our duty is, we should
always assume that the good and honourable action is the same as the
useful or profitable one; no dishonest action can ever lead to the good of the
Republic. 1,500 years later, Machiavelli will have a thing or two to say about
this.
Cicero followed his own advice, returning to politics as was his duty and doing
his best to pursue the honourable course. This meant opposing the rise of Mark
Antony. Cicero made a fundamental miscalculation, however, reportedly
stating that the young Octavian, later Augustus Caesar, could be used against
Antony and then "disposed of". Octavian did not take kindly to this; a year after
writing 'De officiis', Cicero's captured by Octavian's troops and killed. His head
and hands were displayed on the speakers' platform in Rome; a warning to those who
might think and write as he did.
The attendants were terror struck thinking
that more soldiers were coming and Laenas, who had once actually won a
court case with Cicero's support, dragged him from the litter and cut his head off.
It took three blows and some sawing through because of his inexperience.
He also to cut off the hand with which Cicero had written his speeches against
Antony, portraying him as a despot.
Cicero's head and hand for a long time were fastened to the rostrum
in the forum where he had previously played the popular leader. And more
people came to see his severed head and hand than had come to listen to him
speak. It is said that Antony had the head placed before his table at meals,
until he was sated with looking at the vile object.
The roman republic may have died shortly after Cicero but his ideas lasted long
after. The rediscovery of his texts in the Renaissance became the foundation
for a new movement, humanism. Civic humanists espoused the same ideals of
duty and sacrifice to the Commonwealth as Cicero, seeking to oppose the tyranny
of those who would rule it arbitrarily.
JFK " And so my fellow Americans -
ask not what your country can do for you...
...ask what you can do for your country."