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The writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero constitute one of the most renowned collections of historical and philosophical work in all of classical antiquity. Cicero was a Roman politician , lawyer , orator , political theorist , philosopher , and constitutionalist who lived during the years of 106–43 BC.
Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon and came to Rome, sparking a civil war. When Caesar prevailed in the war and looked to seize power in Rome, Cato committed suicide. Several leading Romans wrote works in posthumous praise or criticism of Cato. A famous panegyric by Cicero titled simply Cato led to Caesar writing his Anticato in response. [2]
De Natura Deorum belongs to the group of philosophical works which Cicero wrote in the two years preceding his death in 43 BC. [1] He states near the beginning of De Natura Deorum that he wrote them both as a relief from the political inactivity to which he was reduced by the supremacy of Julius Caesar, and as a distraction from the grief caused by the death of his daughter Tullia.
Marcus Tullius Cicero [a] (/ ˈ s ɪ s ə r oʊ / SISS-ə-roh; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs ˈtʊlli.ʊs ˈkɪkɛroː]; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, [4] who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. [5]
Cicero addresses the Disputationes to his friend Brutus, a fellow politician of note, and later assassin of Julius Caesar. In the first book Cicero sets up the fiction that they are the record of five days of discussions with his friends written after the recent departure of Brutus. [ 3 ]
Cicero became acquainted with Brutus through his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus, an admirer of Brutus. Their personal relationship likely grew during their time together in opposition to Caesar during the civil war in 49 BCE, it being firmly established by the time Cicero returned to Rome in the autumn of 47.
Caesar's lenient position won many senators over to his side, although it too was illegal – life sentences not being permitted without trial – and impractical. [50] Cicero purports he then interrupted proceedings to deliver a speech urging immediate action, [b] but the tide did not turn towards execution until Cato the Younger spoke. [51]
Marcus Tullius Cicero, the author of the Academica.. Just before Cicero turned his efforts to writing books on philosophy he experienced a series of hardships. Gaius Julius Caesar had become both dictator and consul in 46 BCE, and was subverting elements of the Roman Senate, of which the decidedly republican Cicero was a fervent supporter.