Do we have a Cicero today?

I just completed Robert Harris' marvelous trilogy on Marcus Tullius Cicero.  I literally would have said, "huh?" had you mentioned the name Cicero prior to my reading of this trilogy.

I happen to be a fan of the BBC World Book Club podcast and find it a lot of fun to listen to interviews with famous authors (Fredrick Forsyth, Jumpa Lahiri, Scott Turow etc) and happen to have listened to one with Robert Harris.

I had read his book Pompeii earlier and watched the movie, The Ghost Writer based on his book and starring Pierce Brosnan.  He is also the author of Enigma, which was also made into a movie.  I was intrigued enough by his interview that was based on the first book of the trilogy called, Imperium, that I downloaded it on Audible and Kindle to listen and read.

The approximately 50 years that defines the end of the Roman Republic roughly from 50 BC to the turn of the century are just amazing.  It includes the most well known and recognized of names in Julius Caesar as one of the defining actors of that period.  Cicero and Caesar are two sides of the same coin and are the two figures that reach out to us two thousand years later with impact and influence.

Robert Harris trilogy, while historical fiction, maintains extraordinary fidelity to actual history and timelines.  What he does, like Gore Vidal did with his work of historical fiction on Lincoln, is to let the character breathe and become accessible to the modern reader.

Robert Harris has written a wonderful work on Cicero and has brought to life one of the most amazing characters in history.

Cicero and his impact

Cicero as a character appeals to the modern reader since he was a self-made man.  He appeals to history since he was one of the most eloquent orators of all time.  He has impact as he literally was the founder of Natural Law, upon which our own modern jurisprudence is based.

The short story on Cicero is this: He makes it to the top of the Roman Republic, through sheer stint of talent as a lawyer and a politician (the first to do so in the entire history of Rome).  He opposes Caesar and Pompey's efforts to form a dictatorship.  He fails.  After Caesar is assassinated, he again opposes March Antony and Octavius' efforts to form a dictatorship.  He fails again.  And this time pays with his life.

In-between, he made a most dramatic impact on Roman life, that echoes to the modern day.  Cicero sparked the European Renaissance 1,300 years after his death, when Petrarch discovered his writings.  400 years after that, Cicero's writings and thinking strongly influenced Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers and his language makes its way into the United States Declaration of Independence (especially on Natural Law).

Cicero and his rival

In terms of governing philosophy and approach to politics, Cicero and Caesar were the true equals and rivals.  Cicero wanted to preserve the institutions while catering to the greater good.  Caesar wanted to smash them for reforms.

Anecdote:  Caesar says to Cicero, you will be the last man standing of our generation (Caesar, Pompey, Cicero, Cato, Crassus and Brutus).  And he proved right.

Cicero and his enemy

Marc Antony was Caesar's right hand man and wanted to take over the Roman Republic after Caesar's assassination.  Cicero delivered a series of 15 speeches called the Phillipics to the senate to drive Marc Antony into exile.

Anecdote:  Marc Antony proscribes Cicero and has his head and hands nailed to the door of the senate. In turn when Cicero's son becomes Counsel, he has every statue of Antony removed across the empire and bans the use of the name Marcus for ever in Antony's family.

Cicero and his friend

Atticus was Cicero's closest friend.  Indeed we know Cicero today, only because Atticus preserved and published nearly 800 letters Cicero wrote to him over his lifetime.

Anecdote:  Behind Cicero's back, Atticus does a favor for Marc Antony's family during the latter's exile.  Antony proscribes Cicero, but not Atticus.

Cicero and his family

Cicero married into aristocracy.  His wife Terentia helped buck him up as he battled the aristocrats in the senate over the years.  They were partners throughout his political career.  His daughter Tullia lived until her 40s.  His son became Counsel under Emperor Augustus.  His brother Quintus and his nephew were proscribed and killed along with Cicero.

Anecdote: Terentia was Cicero's partner in almost all of his political battles, except his last one.  She divorced him towards the end and reclaimed her dowry.  She lived to the age of 104.

Cicero and his house

Palantine Hill was the most affluent neighborhood in ancient Rome.  It overlooked the Roman Forum where all the political activity took place.  Cicero was quite proud to have been able to acquire a house on Palantine Hill.

In Robert Harris' trilogy, this house is a continuous story thread and setting for many dramatic incidents including his family under attack by political opponents.

Anecdote:  His house was bigger and located above Caesar's house.

Cicero and his Boswell

Tiro was Cicero's slave.  Tiro also invented the short hand (the "&" and "etc" come to us from Tiro).  Tiro wrote Cicero's biography; which unfortunately is now lost.

Anecdote:  In Robert Harris's humorous telling, Tiro puts up with Cicero's many foibles including  his excessively high self-regard.

Do we have a Cicero today?

The decade since the great financial recession in 2008 has been tumultuous politically around the world.  The incredible advances in technology, the sharply rising inequality in wealth, paralysis in the facing of looming global threats such as climate change, intractable political challenges, dramatically changing cultural expectations of the next generation are all causing tremendous upheaval and change.

In the face of it, we can readily see the casting about for an answer through the turmoil of politics and elections around the world.  Reforms are needed for sure.  If good answers are not reached or satisfactory reforms not made, will societies resort to strongmen or will they continue to rely on the rule of law?

And if so, will we have a Cicero that eloquently articulates for the primacy of reason, the importance of working for the greater good and against any one person being above the law?