National Geographic History - 01.2019 - 02.2019

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 39

He tried his first case in 81 B.C., and then success-

fully defended a man accused of parricide—a

bright beginning to Cicero’s public life.

Marriage at age 27 into a wealthy family

brought him the necessary funds to continue

to rise. After he wed in 79 B.C., Cicero’s career

took off, and he rapidly rose through the ranks

He was elected quaestor in 75, praetor

consul in 63, the highest political of

republic. Cicero was one of the young

reach that high office.

Consul and Conspiracy

Wielders of imperium, Roman autho

ity, consuls held executive power i

in his nose resembling the cleft of a chickpea.

Cicero’s family was wealthy but did not be-

long to the patrician class, the aristocracy of

Rome. His family belonged to the equestrian

class, which sat below the patricians and above

the plebeians, the working class of the republic.

His family had strong military connections, but

not the political ones necessary for the career in

government desired by Cicero.

Educated in Rome and in Greece, Cicero aimed

to scale the political ladder as quickly as pos-

sible. He would do so as a novus homo, new man,

a term which signified that his family did not

come from the ruling class. Cicero served briefly

in the military before turning to a career in law.

CAESAR’S HEIR

Part of the Cross

of Lothair, a cameo

(below) depicts

Octavian after he

became emperor

of Rome. Circa

AD1000 Aachen

Cicero is reunited with Pompey
in Greece. After Pompey’s
forces are defeated at Pharsalus,
Cicero returns to Rome and is
superficially reconciled with
Caesar. He retires to his rural
villa, where he writes poetry.

48 b.c.

Five months after the assassination of

Julius Caesar, Cicero releases the first

of his Philippics, a series of 14 speeches

in which he bitterly decries the power-

hungry consul Mark Antony. Cicero

requests that the Senate declare Mark

Antony a public enemy, but they refuse.

44 b.c.

On December 7

Mark Antony has

Cicero killed and

then displays Cicero

severed head and rig

hand on the rostrum

the Forum.

43 b.c.

h the ranks.

r in 66, and

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gest ever to

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in

A.D.1000, Aachen

Cathedral Treasury

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