Friendship

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman statesman, orator, and philosopher he belonged to a wealthy family of the equestrian order, and was carefully educated, especially in Greek literature and philosophy. At the age of twenty-five years he entered upon his public career as a pleader in the Forum, and before he had reached middle life he had become acknowledged to be by far the greatest of Roman orators. His orations, carefully edited, are masterpieces of eloquence. To narrate the public life of Cicero would be in effect to write the history of Roman politics for more than thirty eventful years. He opposed Caesar, but was forgiven by the victor of Pharsalia; he opposed Antony, but was put to death by the hirelings of that trimmer at the door of his villa at the age of sixty-three.