Marcus Tullius Cicero

Abdool-Hack Mamoojee (Lakehead University)
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Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman lawyer, politician, man of letters and moral philosopher, was one of the most famous orators and Latin prose stylists of the Classical period. His works have been studied and emulated by generations of thinkers down to the present.

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on 3rd January 106 BC in the outskirts of Arpinum (mod. Arpino), a hill-town in Latium approximately 70 miles southeast of Rome which shared Rome's Latin culture and her Roman citizenship. The Ciceros were landed gentry, active in municipal governance and hopeful of national public life. They cultivated social connections with conservative nobles of the capital, optimates, whose opponents, populares, included the upstart generalissimo Marius, a fellow-townsman and distant relative of the family. The

2551 words

Citation: Mamoojee, Abdool-Hack. "Marcus Tullius Cicero". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 April 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=884, accessed 19 March 2024.]

884 Marcus Tullius Cicero 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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