{"id":80204,"date":"2021-12-06T17:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T22:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=80204"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:11","slug":"cicero-symbol-destroyed-state","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/cicero-symbol-destroyed-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Cicero isn\u2019t a model for saving the state, but a symbol of what destroyed it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Cicero isn\u2019t a model for saving the state, but a symbol of what destroyed it\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When writer Caitlin Flanagan announced the opening of the University of Austin<\/a> \u2014 a proposed private liberal arts college that is \u201canti-cancel culture\u201d and welcomes academics treated like \u201cthought criminals\u201d<\/a> \u2014 in November, she made a strange claim: that Cicero defended the dying Republic (apparently<\/a> against Julius Caesar). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero, had Twitter existed during his time, would be immensely pleased to see this \u2014 he had often<\/a> said he \u201csaved the state<\/a>,\u201d from the Catilinarian Conspiracy<\/a> \u2014 an abortive attempt to overthrow the economic and political power of the Roman state<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero was Rome\u2019s leading public speaker<\/a> and one of its two consuls. Although his political powers were diminished in later years, his public and private correspondence provides a detailed look at political life in Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conservative writers often use him as an example of someone who defended the Republic by standing up to Caesar<\/a> or stood up for Rome\u2019s constitution<\/a> in the face of executive overreach. Some even believe that Cicero \u201cnobly held the Republic together<\/a>\u201d during the last decades of the Republic, or even that \u201che serves as the republic itself<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero himself promoted this view, but modern historians see it differently. Although he privately disapproved of Caesar\u2019s power, Cicero publicly supported him and directly contributed to the end of the Roman Republic \u2014 the reign of Caesar\u2019s nephew Augustus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero and Caesar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many people have heard of Caesar\u2019s dictatorship<\/a>. But they might be less aware that Caesar became dictator after a civil war between himself and his friend and rival, Pompey the Great, or that \u201cdictator\u201d was a legal office in the Roman Republic<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unusual thing about Caesar\u2019s dictatorship didn\u2019t come until a month before his death, when Caesar was named \u201cdictator perpetuo<\/a>\u201d or \u201cdictator in perpetuity.\u201d This event arguably triggered his assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Caesar had been installed as the head of the Roman state, Cicero quickly became a member of the dictator\u2019s \u201ccourt.\u201d This was humiliating<\/a> and alienating for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero tried to spin his position as useful: he could use his close contact with Caesar to win extra pardons<\/a>. But he wasn\u2019t successful in convincing everyone. Those who eventually assassinated Caesar didn\u2019t trust him enough to join their plot<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero however believed that the assassination hadn\u2019t gone far enough<\/a>, and more murders were necessary<\/a> to save the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
\n Once Caesar had been installed as the head of the Roman state, Cicero quickly became a member of the dictator\u2019s \u2018court.\u2019<\/span>
\n (Shutterstock)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although he had been happy to learn of Julius Caesar\u2019s assassination, Cicero supported Caesar\u2019s young nephew<\/a>, who would later become Rome\u2019s first emperor, Augustus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero promoted Augustus\u2019 interests<\/a> until Augustus turned on him. Augustus found a better ally in Antony \u2014 Caesar\u2019s former right-hand man who had replaced him as Rome\u2019s quasi-legal leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augustus and Anthony teamed up with a third man in what is now called the Second Triumvirate<\/a>. To support this political program, they initiated a purge targeting wealthy citizens whose estates could fund their army. Political enemies were also targeted, and at the top of the list was Cicero<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero\u2019s legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although it is tempting to fit Cicero into the template of a martyr, his contemporaries had a different view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the height of his career, Cicero was forced into exile<\/a> because he had murdered Roman citizens without trial \u2014 and Rome\u2019s representatives of popular sovereignty<\/a> disapproved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon his return, he wrote works of political philosophy, including On the State<\/em><\/a>, a work which promoted the idea of benevolent dictatorship<\/a> as a stabilizing measure. Cicero had achieved his political aims before his exile by invoking what I have called a \u201crhetoric of terror<\/a>\u201d to ensure his extrajudicial murders would not be questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ancient historians, as well as modern scholars, struggled with Cicero\u2019s legacy. Writing shortly after Cicero\u2019s death, the historian Livy<\/a> admitted that Cicero\u2019s death was tragic, but \u201che suffered at the hands of his enemy no more cruel fate than he would himself have inflicted had he been equally fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biographer Plutarch lamented Cicero\u2019s \u201clove of power<\/a>,\u201d which led him to ruin. Even Cicero\u2019s near-contemporary Asinius Pollio admitted, \u201che invited<\/a> enmity with greater spirit than he fought it\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confusing what Cicero had actually said and done throughout his life for a heroic character \u201cCicero\u201d<\/a> who died for the Republic has become commonplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
\n This wall was set around the so called monument tomb of Cicero, in Formia, Italy near the Appian Way.<\/span>
\n (Shutterstock)<\/span><\/span>
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Intended to persuade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cicero\u2019s silver tongue secured his reputation. His speeches are masterpieces of rhetoric and remained part of an elite education<\/a> from his own day until the early 20th century. But we shouldn\u2019t forget that they are rhetorical, and therefore they are intended to persuade, not to inform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In talking about the University of Austin, Flanigan said: \u201cWe have a strange little goal: we\u2019re going to teach you to think for yourself. Then you\u2019ll be free<\/a>.\u201d But \u201cthinking for yourself\u201d is smoke and mirrors; everyone thinks their own thoughts. But thinking critically, the goal of a university education, requires asking hard questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicero co-operated with Caesar to save his life; he promoted Augustus to powers outside of constitutional norms to regain clout after Caesar\u2019s death; he advocated<\/a> political murder not only once<\/a>, but multiple<\/a>times<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oddly enough, conservatives remember Cicero\u2019s \u201cwillingness to surrender power for the sake of the republic<\/a>.\u201d But they should reconsider. Because he isn\u2019t a model for saving the state, but a symbol of the political calculations and binary thinking that destroyed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
\nCarleton Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation from various sources. When writer Caitlin Flanagan announced the opening of the University of Austin \u2014 a proposed private liberal arts college that is \u201canti-cancel culture\u201d and welcomes academics treated like \u201cthought criminals\u201d \u2014 in November, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":80205,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-80204","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/80204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/80204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80211,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/80204\/revisions\/80211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=80204"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=80204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}