Political Speeches of the Greatest of Roman Orators

C.). By the same item that he believed in the inherent worthiness of the republican state, Cicero did non question the integral place violence held in the political relation of the times, neither on the world stage, nor domestically. If Cicero had qualms about the killing of one's enemies per se, he did not voice them as matters of general principal.

However, as an orator-advocate, Cicero was in any case grounded in the tenets of logic: violence might be the post quo in ancient Rome, but it was not always the logically sound practice to follow. Thus, as Consul, Cicero would have this to say to an ireful and blood-seeking Senate about his adversary, the rebellious conspirator Catilina:

Senators, we have been living for a long time among the perils and snares of his conspiracy . . . If the horde of looters is diminished by the removal of this single valet, we shall perhaps have the brief head game of finding a respite from our anxieties and fears. But the danger go forth still be here . . . When a very sorry person, tossing about in a burning fever, takes a sop up of cold water, at first he thinks it makes him better, but afterwards feels untold more seriously and violently ill than he did before. In just the same way . . . our nation go forth at first seem relieved by the punishment of this single individual, but later it will get much worse ("Against Lucius" i, xii, 31).

Cicero considered violence a political tool, one far-off too overused. More important, standardised

both political tool, violence was to be used only for the proceeds of the state. Cicero was insistent on that point. Thus his championing of Pompey (Cnaeus Pompeius) to take command of the romish legions in Asia Minor battling 20-years-successful Mithridates VI; Pompey had earlier shown military and political acumen in resolving the problem of Mediterranean pirates who had menaced romish trade for decades: "Pompeius is also a thoroughly humane man: it is hard to say which is the more impressive, the dread his valour elysian in his foes while they were fighting against him, or their gratitude for his mercy after they were defeated" ("On the Command" xiii, 40-41).

While Cicero accepted the fact that he lived in a violent world - and, on occasion, voiced his endorsement for its use by the military and the judicatory - by his actions and his words it is clear that Cicero did not personally achieve to use violence as the method of eager choice. in that respect is no evidence that he employed violent center to gain office or silence opponents. On the contrary, withal when he was involved in civil war - join Pompey's side in that general's ill-fated war with Julius Caesar (49-48 B.C.) - Cicero remained a noncombatant. "I myself," he said later in an oration, "throughout the full course of the war, invariably believed that peace proposals should be given a hearing. I was continually sad that peace, and even recommendations in favour of peace talks, met with rejection" ("In Support" v, 13).

Grant, Michael. Introduction(s). Selected Political Speeches. By Cicero. Trans. Michael Grant. Rev. ed. capital of the United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 1989. 7-32+.

It was Cicero's tragedy that he sought to establish the rule of virtue as the arbiter of violence during a period when character assassination and civil war became the signal characteristics of the dying Republic. One would like to say that he recognized the connection between the increase anarchy of his political colleagues and growing popul
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