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Marcus Tullius Cicero was born in Arpinum, into the family of "tribus Cornelia" the Cornelia tribe. His family was part of "Equites" the Equestrian order, or the Roman Knights. His father had good connections within Rome, but living outside of the capital, it was hard to become successful. Growing up, Cicero, was too ill to be involved in public life, and thus he studied while everyone else played.
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Quintus Cicero was born. He became a successful "legatus" a high ranking general under Caesar during The Battle of Alesia, but during Caesar's civil war, he decided to join Pompey's side. He had a great influence on Marcus Cicero's life, as they had a close relationship, and he also helped with Marcus' political endeavours.
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Julius Caesar was born in July of 100 BC into a prestigious Julian clan, named "gens Julia". His father was Gaius Julius Caesar, and mother was Aurelia.
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Here they were taught by Lucius Crassus, where they learnt skills that would shape their lives from then on. These included, Greek, Latin, Law, Rhetoric, and Literature.
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"Pro Quinctio", meaning for Quinctius, was a defence speech written by Cicero in defence of Publius Quinctius, due to a dispute Quinctius and Naevius, over Naevius forcibly taking Quinctius' land, over a debt that he didn't owe him. At the moment, Cicero was up against someone who was in the league with the dictator Sulla. He managed to win the case, and managed to avoid criticising the dictatorship at the same time, displaying his strengths at being a lawyer.
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This case was defending Sextus Roscius, where Roscius was accused of killing his father. He managed to convict Chrysogonus, freedman of Sulla, of killing Roscius' father to get his land for a cheap price. Here, Cicero brought light onto the political corruption of Sulla's rule, displaying his strong sense of justice.
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Cicero left Rome to study Rhetoric in the Academy, helping him become a successful lawyer in the future.
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This was a lesser known speech of Cicero. It was a dispute over the income of a freedman, between famous comic actor Roscius and Chaereas. Chaereas demanding a large sum from Roscius, but Cicero was able to win the case, and rejected Chaereas' sum.
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A quaestor is the lowest rank of the "Cursus Honorum", the course of honours. Their main role is to manage financial and administrative duties
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A band of Cilician pirates captured Caesar who was on his way to study oratory. He was released after the pirates recieved his ransom, which he had negotiated up. He later came back with a naval force, and captured the pirates, then had them all crucified.
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This speech was to try win the right to prosecute the former Governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, who was accused of corruption and extortion. He was able to win the right, by stating how his opponent, Quintus Caecilius was biased.
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Cicero became an aedile, performed administrative duties, which were one of the tasks of aediles in Ancient Rome, as well as maintaining "aedes", houses, the root of the word aedile.
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A quaestor is the lowest rank of the "Cursus Honorum", the course of honours. Their main role is to manage financial and administrative duties
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Cicero gets elected a praetor, which is one rank below a consul in the Cursus Honorum, the Course of Honours. Praetors often are judges, but when consuls were absent, they could have been in charge of whole governments.
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Caesar became an aedile, performed administrative duties, which were one of the tasks of aediles in Ancient Rome, as well as maintaining "aedes", houses, the root of the word aedile.
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This was very impressive, as Cicero was the first one in his family's history to ever be elected consul. Caesar was running against Lucius Catiline. -
Cicero discovered a plot to overthrow him and the republic, led by Lucius Catiline. By making four speeches named "In Catilinam, Pro Morena", Cicero was able to drive Catiline out of Rome. He eventually argued against Caesar to execute the conspirators, and won. -
This speech was about the case of Gaius Rabirius. Gaius Rabirius was a senator, who was supposedly guilty of treason 63 years ago. This was actually orchestrated by Caesar, who opposed the government that Cicero was leading. Cicero however dismissed this, allowing Rabirius to walk free. However, this was the beginning of the opposition between Caesar and the Senate.
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Caesar gets elected a praetor, which is one rank below a consul in the Cursus Honorum, the Course of Honours. Praetors often are judges, but when consuls were absent, they could have been in charge of whole governments.
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Caesar became a propraetor in Further Spain, which is a position given to a praetor who has served 1 year in Rome, and has extended their term by 1 year, to govern a province of Ancient Rome. When given the role of propraetor, he commanded and army, and won many triumphs in Spain. This proved his talent at being a general.
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The First Triumvirate was formed between Pompey, Crassus and Caesar. Initially, Cicero was invited to join the Triumvirate, but he rejected the request. -
This helped establish a firm bond within the First Triumvirate
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Although he was faced with skeptism from the optimates, the aristocrats, Caesar was voted consul, the highest order in the Course of Honours. Caesar was only able to overcome this deep opposition by forming an alliance with his friend Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey. This was known as the First Triumvirate. This strong alliance helped him get elected for consul. -
Caesar proposed a set of laws, that stated any empty land would be given to Pompey's soldiers, or the homeless. This greatly increased his popularity, however the senate opposed the idea. Caesar ignored them, and took it to the plebians, where they voted in favour of it. Although this was legal, it was against tradition, and signified the increasing disputes between Caesar and the senate.
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The Helvetii Tribe began a mass migration into Gaul. Here Caesar planned to intercept the migration, and he did so with great success. This Battle essentially marked the beginning of the Gaulic Campaign. -
As a proconsul (a consul whose term was extended, even though they were not effectively in office as a result of prorogatio, "extension of a term in office), he was given the province of Cisalpine Gaul and the Illyricum region for 5 years, because of the newly introduced law, Lex Vatinia. The Gallic war started in 58BC, and although Caesar's term ended in 54BC, his term was extended for another 5 years, in which he was able to finish the Gallic war.
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Ariovistus, the king of Suebi, or in Caesar's words, rex Germani, "king of Germany". Ariovistus first was allied with a Gallic tribe known as the Sequani, to help defeat another tribe that was allied with Rome, the Aedui. After defeating the Aedui, he stayed and actually demanded land from both the Sequani and the Aedui. These tyrannical actions attracted Caesar, and Caesar defeated Ariovistus, and claimed both the land of the Aedui and the Sequani. -
Cicero was accused of killing Roman citizens who were conspirators of the Catiline conspiracy without a trial. This was because, a few months age, Clodius, an old enemy of Cicero's had passed a law that stated anyone who killed a Roman without a trial, should have been exiled. Cicero unfortunately was forced out of Rome, and he went to Greece. -
Caesar was elected consul in 59BC, and as a result of his political campaigns, he was deeply in debt, and had made a lot of enemies within Rome. This drove him out of Rome, to solve these problems. And so, he began the Gallic campaign.
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Julius Caesar fought Belgic Tribes who all allied to fight against the Romans. After this victory, there was a rise of a new Belgic coalition that was against the rule of Caesar, which included the Nervii. This Battle that Caesar won. At the end of 57BC, Caesar managed to conquer all of Northern Gaul. -
Cicero made these two speeches, one "ad Quirites" to the people, and one "ad Senatum' to the Senate. His speech to the people, stated how he was thankful that they recalled him from exile, and attempts to emphasize his loyalty to Rome. To the Senate, he thanks them as well, and pushes for the exile of Clodius.
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With the help of Pompey, and other notable figures, Cicero was allowed to come back to Rome.
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The Veneti tribe, who were seafaring people of North-Western France, or Britanny, commonly supported other tribes that were against the Caesar rule. Once, they had taken a few of Caesar's envoys hostage, and this pushed Caesar to build and send a naval fleet to oppose the Veneti tribe. To do this, Caesar had to cross the Rhine river, which put him in new territory, and further expanding his influence. -
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Julius Caesar invaded Britain for the first time. He only brought 2 legiones "legions" and thus only achieved to land on the coast of Kent in South-East Britain. -
By now, Caesar was prepared to invade Britain once again. However, this time, he prepared to do it with 500 naves "ships", 5 legiones "legions" and 2000 equites "cavalry". This time, he reached Middlesex, which is now regional London in the South-East of Britain. Here he defeated a few British tribes, however did set up any permanent settlement. Instead he took some hostages, and demanded the British to give him a payment of goods and money.
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There was an revolt in the Gaul region led by the Eburones tribe, which wiped out a Roman legion. Caesar was forced to return to Greece, where he defeated the Eburones tribe.
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Caesar's daughter, the wife of his political ally, Pompey, passed away. This shook Caesar and the relationship he had with Pompey, which is widely considered the beginning of Caesar's downfall. -
"De Republica" on the Republic, was a series of six books. It was written in a dialogue, and outlined what the Roman government was, how it evolved, and what the ideal government or ruler should have looked like.
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The death of Marcus Crassus in battle, completely disbands the First Triumvirate. -
The Germanic tribes were beginning to get more and more rebellious under Caesar's rule, and so he determined to cross the Rhine again to invade these Germanic tribes once again.
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Caesar was staying in Cisalpine Gaul, which is modern day Northern-Italy, and in Transalpine Gaul, which is further north, in modern day Southern-France, Vercingetorix, "Gallorum fortissimus" the strongest Gaul was uniting the area to revolt against Caesar. After a long battle, Caesar was able to defeat an army 3 times larger than his, that had trapped him in his own walls. This proved his place as one of the greatest generals in history. -
Finally, Caesar went and besieged the remaining revolting Gallic tribes. Now, Gaul was finally under Roman control, and thus Caesar starting building settlements.
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"De Legibus" on the Laws, was published in four books, which narrated the dialogue between Cicero, his brother, and a friend named Atticus. It describes Cicero's idea of the ideal laws of Rome, and how they should operate.
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Caesar's time as proconsul was up, and it was agreed that Caesar, would let go of their command over their individual armies, and their role of governor. However, Pompey, who is now Caesar's enemy, was offered a deal to have full control of all the troops in Italy, after he was to give up their command as governor. Caesar, although his proconsulship had ended, he was not willing to give up control of his army.
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Even though, this was 12 years after his proconsulship, Cicero reluctantly went to govern Cicilia for a year, as he hated being away from politics.
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Caesar decided to approach Rome, with the whole of his army, in preparation for civil war. This began Caesar's civil war. This civil war was fought in Europe, Asia and Africa. Caesar first crossed the Rubicon River. This marked the beginning of the civil war. Rome was completely unprepared for the invasion, and thus Caesar was able to drive them out of Italy with ease. Then Caesar appointed himself dictator for the first time, but only for elections. He stepped down to consul, after 11 days. -
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Now that Caesar arrived in Egypt, he had already taken control of the port of Alexandria. Here he met with the young queen Cleopatra, whom he had an affair with, and whom he was resolved to help to take control of Egypt over Ptolmey XIII during the Egyptian civil war. -
Caesar pursued Pompey to Brundisium, where he was unable to catch him and his army. From here, Pompey fled to Greece. And so, Caesar followed him. He defeated his army in the Battle of Pharsasus. Pompey was able to escape once again, and this time, he fled to Egypt. Unfortunately for him, he was assassinated by the Egyptian king's forces immediately after he arrived.
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Cicero was conflicted whether to stay with Caesar, or to join Pompey. His daughter Tulia, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar all urged him to stay, but ultimately he decided his loyalties had always lain with the Republic, and joined Pompey in Greece.
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Cicero returned to Italy, as he saw no other way forward, except to trust Caesar.
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After defeating Ptolmey XIII, and helping Cleopatra regain control of Egypt, Caesar returned to Rome and appointed himself dictator. Caesar also received words that his old enemies were organizing a revolt in Northern Africa.
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Caesar went down to North Africa, and he defeated his enemies once again, to stop the rebellion. After this, he once again found out about a rebellion stemming in Spain. He stopped this one as well.
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This time, when Caesar returned to Rome, he declared himself dictator for 10 years. This alarms many senators, such as his close friend Marcus Brutus, as it contradicts the strong democracy that Rome had had for many years.
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Cicero and Caesar met, and Caesar pardoned him for supporting Pompey.
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In "Brutus", Cicero described Brutus' style of giving speeches.
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"De Optimo Genere Oratorum" describes the history of rhetoric, and the best Roman orators.
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Despite Caesar's will reading that Octavian would be his predecessor, Mark Antony continued to act as the leader. -
Caesar managed to get rid of the final opposition of Pompey. When he returns to Rome, he begins to do many alarming things. He sits on a throne with a purple robe with a crown, all signs of a dictator. He also has coins embedded with his face. This angers many people, as it eradicates all the hard work the Romans have gone through to have a stable democracy. -
This greatly impacted him, and he was consumed with grief.
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Cicero divorced Publilia, because she displayed joy after Cicero's daughter had died. This was likely because she was tired of being overshadowed by Tulia, whom Cicero loved the most.
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He is made dictator for life, and this is the final straw for a lot of the senators. On the Ides of March, March 15th, he is assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey by a group of Senators, including Marcus Brutus, who called themselves the conspirators. -
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Cicero made 14 speeches known as "Philippics against the Mark Antony", to expose Antony's tyrannical character, and advocate for support of the original heir, Octavian. This pushed Antony to leave Rome.
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Cicero was caught trying to enter Macedonia. There he was executed, by beheading. It is unknown who beheaded him. -
The Second Triumvirate was formed between Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, where they would be in a joint 3 way dictatorship for 5 years. They also tried to denouncing 300 senators and about 2000 Equites, including Cicero, who Octavian tried to get of the list for Cicero's help, but was unable to.