Caius Iulius Caesar and Marcus Tullius Cicero: A Case Study in Roman Politics, 63-44 BCE
The middle of the first century BCE was a time of great turmoil in the Roman Republic. The old, traditional notions of shared governance among the Senate, the magistrates and the people was on the verge of collapse as individuals like Caesar strove for absolute power. Greed and corruption plagued the Republic (Lat. respublica, "the public thing"), and a few statesman tried to stem the tide of self-serving ambition. Cicero was one of the last of these citizens dedicated to the preservation of the values of the Republic: fides ("loyalty to the state"), pietas ("respect for the gods and traditional values"), dignitas ("honor"). Of course, even those who hewed to conservative principles were themselves sometimes the victims of their own ambitions and Cicero was no exception.
Today we explore the 20-year period in the middle of the century that marks the turning point of the Roman revolution, a revolution that engulfed all Roman citizens and lands, stretching from Spain to Judaea, from Gaul to north Africa. Our focus will be on the careers of Caesar and Cicero and in particular the intersections of their political lives. Your readings are drawn from Cicero's political speeches and private correspondence (found in Cicero, Selected Works) and are listed below in chronological sequence, interspersed with key moments in the lives of these two individuals who struggled for the control or survival of the Republic.
Obverse: Brutus facing right	Reverse: Eid(us) Mar(tis), "Ides of March"
Coin struck by Brutus in 43 BCE (now at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Univ. of Cambridge)

Years (BCE)	Life and Career of Caesar	Life and Career of Cicero
110-100	--Born in Rome in 100	--Born in Arpinum in 106
100-90	--Designated for priesthood of Jupiter (flamen Dialis) at age 13	--Served in the army at age 16
90-80	--Marries Cornelia in 84; daughter Julia born in 81 --Served in the army in Asia and wins military honors	--Education: philosophy, law, rhetoric; gives first courtroom speech in 81
80-70	--Prosecutes two magistrates unsuccessfully in court but wins fame as orator --Captured, and then ransomed, by pirates near the island of Rhodes --Returns to Rome and is elected military tribune ("legionary commander" and an alternative step on the cursus honorum-->) --Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") and Marcus Licinius Crassus (Rome's richest man) elected consul for 70	--First successful defense in court --Studies philosophy and oratory in Athens and Rhodes --Marries Terentia in 79; daughter Tullia born 76 --Elected quaestor ("financial magistrate") in Sicily and begins ascent of Roman political ladder of magistracies (Lat. cursus honorum, "course of offices") --Successfully prosecutes Verres, unscrupulous governor of Sicily, for corruption in 70 READ: Cicero Against Verres I, pp. 37-38 (to "... good judges in the land"); p. 55 (to "... approval of all Romans!")
69-60	--Elected quaestor in Spain --Delivers funeral orations in 69 for aunt Julia (widow of the demagogue and military leader Caius Marius) and wife Cornelia --Marries Pompeia in 67, granddaughter of military dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla --courts the support of Pompey and Crassus --Elected pontifex maximus ("chief priest") for 63 --Supported and then abandoned Catiline's conspiracy --Elected praetor for 62; divorces Pompeia due to sex scandal --Proconsul in Spain in 61: military victories, financial profits --Returns to Rome triumphant in 60	--Elected aedile ("administrator of buildings and games") and praetor ("administrator of justice") --son Marcus born in 65 --Elected consul (one of two supreme civil and military magistracies) for 63 --Foils conspiracy of Catiline to overthrow the government, granted senatus consultum ultimum ("ultimate decree of the Senate") and executes the conspirators without a fair trial. --Named pater patriae, "father of the country." READ: Introduction to "Cicero's Life and Letters," pp. 58-61; Letter to Pompey from 62 BCE, pp. 61-62

Years (BCE)	Life and Career of Caesar	Life and Career of Cicero
59-50	--With Pompey and Crassus, forms the First Triumvirate (-->) and is elected consul for 59 --Receives as proconsul provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul; Pompey marries Julia (Caesar's sister); Caesar marries Calpurnia (daughter of Pompey's ally) --Campaigns in central Gaul 59-56 --First Triumvirate renewed in 56 --Campaigns in northern Gaul and Britain 56-53 --Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 --Caesar's proconsulship extended 55-51 --Deaths: Julia (54), Crassus (53) --Pompey authorized by Senate to restore order, appointed consul without colleague in 52 --Caesar conquers Gaul in 52; publishes Commentaries in 51	--Declines to support the First Triumvirate ("three men") of Caesar, Pompey the Great and Crassus READ: Intro. and Letter to Atticus from 59 BCE, pp. 62-64 --Goes into self-imposed exile in Greece in 58 to escape attacks of political enemies for his role in the Catilinarian conspiracy --recalled to Rome by Pompey in 57 --invited to join the First Triumvirate in 56 but declines READ: Intro. and Letter to Atticus from 56 BCE, pp. 67-69 --appointed governor of Cilicia in Asia Minor for 51-49
49-44	--Antony and Curio attempt to prevent recall of Caesar --Jan. 7, 49: civil war erupts between Caesar and Pompey --Senate grants Pompey dictatorial authority; Caesar crosses the Rubicon and enters Italy under arms, proclaiming alea iacta est ("the die is cast") --Pompey flees to Greece and Caesar elected dictator in 49 --Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus in Greece in 48, pursues him to Egypt, where Pompey is murdered before Caesar's arrival --Caesar conquers Egypt, installs Cleopatra as queen, returns to Rome as dictator in 47 --Caesar consul, dictator for 10 years in 46 --Caesar consul, dictator for life, receives divine honors in 45 --Caesar assassinated on the Ides of March in 44	--tries unsuccessfully to mediate between Caesar and Pompey in 49 --Jan. 7, 49: civil war erupts between Caesar and Pompey READ: Introductions and Correspondence from 49 BCE, pp. 77-84 --Caesar pardons Cicero for supporting Pompey --Cicero divorces Terentia in 46, marries his young ward Publilia --daughter Tullia dies and Cicero divorces Publilia in 45 READ: Intro. and Letter to Atticus from 45 BCE, pp. 88-90 READ: Intro. and Letter to Atticus from 44 BCE, pp. 90-91 --Cicero denounces Marc Antony in a series of speeches (the Philippics) in 44