Cicero : The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician

Rating:
Summary: Good use of sources in a multi-dimensional account
Review: If your goal in reading a biography of a historical figure is to gain a new perspective on the society and culture they lived in as well as an insight into their character and personality, then you should find Anthony Everitt's "Cicero" a satisfying read. In particular, if you are interested in learning more about how Cicero advanced the art of politics during a multi-faceted career, this book will provide a fresh look at the methods -- primarily oratorical -- he employed.

This is the most accessible accounting I have read of the steadily intensifying battle between aristocracy and plebeians and of how that battle led to the rise of dictatorship. Cicero's role in trying to bridge this growing gap while protecting the integrity of the Senate forms the heart of the political side of his life as presented here. This is not to say that Everitt presents Cicero as man solely devoted to principle. On the contrary, the book highlights Cicero's early devotion to advancing his own interests and career. This led Cicero to some monumental injustices, for which he later paid a significant price.

Cicero's personal life takes on a dimension here not usually reflected in more general treatments of Roman history. His account of Cicero's devotion to his daughter, of his (Cicero's) reaction to her early death, and of how that affected Cicero's career are especially convincing.

Everitt has made copious use of the ancient sources. Much of Cicero's writings and correspondence has survived, and Everitt cites them frequently. In fact, his citations and notes on sources are a main reason why the book is so satisfying.

Because of this strong use of original sources, the power of Cicero's story itself, and Everitt's skill in telling it, I found it easy to credit the book with a certain authority in its depiction and conclusions.

There is some reason to be cautious however. Some reviewers, more credentialed than this reader, have claimed serious mischaracterizations in Everitt's picture of Roman politics. In an otherwise generally positive review, T. Corey Brennan, in the New York Times, faults Everitt for depicting the Roman constitution as more rigid than it really was. (I found Everitt's treatment of the constitution more nuanced than this.) Brennan also takes the author to task for badly simplifying Pompey's sack of Jerusalem. These examples seem unconvincing of a larger credibility issue, but the serious reader might want to check other sources as well.

There were two areas where the book propelled me to further reading. Cicero's sense of loss at the death of his daughter eventually led him to write the essays "On Emotions" and "On Grief". New translations by Margaret Graver have recently been published under the title "Cicero on the Emotions". On the political side, Everitt dramatically presents the use of mob violence as a political tool by the different factions. For those wanting to know more about this facet of pre-dictatorship Rome, a readable supplement to "Cicero" is Erik Hildinger's "Swords Against the Senate".

I liked "Cicero" for its multi-dimensioned story, its strong and comprehensive use of the ancient sources, and its stimulus for further reading. Although some specialists might claim that it contains unsophisticated and faulty aspects, I think most lay readers will find it rewarding and, for the most part, convincing.

Rating:
Summary: too much detail for me
Review: I was looking for a good book on Cicero, (my first on the subject.) However, I found the book to have a bit too much detail and it belabored every little event in his life too much for me. Perhaps that is kudos to the author, however if you are looking for famous quotations or a more concise summary of Cicero, this is not the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Great Leaders and Politicians
Review: Marcus Tullius Cicero was the great statesman of the Roman Republic. To Cicero politics and government was not something that was just necessary evil. It was, in the words of former US Senator Paul Wellstone "...not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's live. It's about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and in our world. Politics is about doing well for people." This is how Cicero viewed the "games" of politics and government.

Right now we have a lot of weird leaders in both parties who don't know who Cicero was or why he is important to know about. At beast our leaders today know that there was a guy with that name from the various history classes they took in High School and College. Of course, our leaders today -- on both sides of the isle -- barely know who the American founding fathers were, let another Roman ones. Yet our own American Founding Fathers knew whom the Roman ones were.

Think of whom Cicero dealt with in the Roman Politics of the first century B.C. There was Julius Caesar, Cato, Cassius, Mark Antony, Octavian/Augustus, the two Brutus', Pompey, etc. This is not just a who's who list of Roman history... these are all people who lived at the same time, who knew and worked with or against each other. The founding American political experience with so many great minds all working together was not original to history... rare, but not original.

Yes, Roman politics was a blood sport when it came to it in the end. Cicero ended up very dead, with Antony's wife, Falvia pulling out his tongue and piercing it with hairpins. But in the end, even his enemies thought highly of him. Late in life Augustus, who had colluded in his murder, said of Cicero "an eloquent man, and a patriot".

We need leaders who know the lessons history teaches. One of the great lessons of history is the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. Right now, we don't have leaders who understand the difference.

Rating:
Summary: Straight Ahead Biography of Cicero
Review: Cicero (The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician) is exactly what its author, Anthony Everitt, claims it to be in the sub-title. Cicero was an impressive figure living in an interesting time and it is important and necessary to have a biography such as this one come out to allow readers not steeped in classical studies, particularly Cicero's own writings, a chance to escape to this distant time which often has a resonance in our own difficult period. The author does a good job of hitting all the hot spots and smoothing out some of the political complexities for the general reader while still providing a feel for ancient Rome as Republicanism writhed toward its end.

Rating:
Summary: Fine Book, Not a Substitute for Broader Reading
Review:
This is a fine book. It has one really great sentence that most of those reading the book have undoubtedly passed over quickly, on page 37: ...although fighting continued for some time at a terrible cost in human lives and suffering, Rome emerged the military victor--and the political loser."

As I contemplate all of the other non-fiction books, and especially those with national security wisdom relevant to our times, it is, I must say with all candor, a little irritating to see this book in the top ten. This is what loosely-educated wonks read to appear educated and "steeped in history." This is a fine book, but if policy wonks don't understand that they need to be putting Schell (Unconquerable World) and Greider (Moral Capitalism), among others that I have reviewed, above this book, then they are demonstrating their myopia.

In addition to Schell and Greider, and much more relevant to the challenges at hand are a few of the following (the entire list can be seen in my lectures on books relevant to national security at OSS.Net): Colin Gray's Modern Strategy; Brzezinski's Grand Chessboard, Charles Kupchan's The Vulnerability of Empire; Dr. Col. Manwaring et al on The Search for Security....the list goes on. If you want history, there is always Will and Ariel Durant's The Lessons of History, or the more recent and truly elegant work by John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History...vital "to interpret the past for the purposes of the present with a view to managing the future."

This is a good book. If, however, it is the best the policy world can do in terms of selection, then we have a classic illustration of how random and ignorant policy wonks can be--meanwhile, 1400 Middle East scholars and professors throughout the land go unhead, while a handful of talking heads quote Cicero and pretend to be learned.

Rating:
Summary: A marvelous effort
Review: It's easy to see why this marvelous effort by Anthony Everitt became a bestseller. It is a beautifully written, intelligently organized and well-researched history of the famous Roman statesman whose name is certainly familiar to most American high school students. By tying the name to the story of the life of a remarkable man, Mr. Everitt has created a classic biography, one which might set the standard for future Cicero biographies.

I cannot praise too highly how well written this history is. There is no jargon, no scholarly arrogance which insults the reader, no slipshod verbosity. It is everything a biography for the general reader ought to be: a terse, focused, illuminating history of a memorable personality; a pleasure to read.

That Cicero was a giant of his time is also well documented elsewhere, but Mr. Everitt brings out his status with refreshing clarity. More than that, to aid the reader to understand how Rome ruled its people so as to fully appreciate Cicero's place in its history, the author describes in a straight forward way, its political processes, explaining the duties and powers of Quaestors, Aediles, Praetors and Consuls.

One can sense the passions of the time and see how a gifted orator that was Cicero earned his status and reputation. We come to know Cicero the gifted lawyer, Cicero the husband and father, Cicero the faithful brother, Cicero the enlightend slave master, Cicero the wary Statesman who worried at the rise of the ambitious Caesar.

And, finally -- at the end --, there is Cicero, the valiant, who bared his neck to his sword-wielding assassin with the pragmatic remark loosely translated as "Make a good job of it."

And thanks to Mr. Everitt for this outstanding biography, for he did, indeed, make of a good job of it.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I read 'Cicero' seeking insight into the mind of Rome's greatest orator, and was left wanting. Everitt's strength is in translating the Latin into simple, modern English. But 'Cicero' is no scholarly work, it's more an exposition on the man's life - little more than a book report. I was disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This is a great Biography and description of Roman civilization and politics. You will learn a lot reading this book and enjoy the process. I love this book and can't wait to read more about Roman history.

Rating:
Summary: "Restores Cicero to the patheon of our common past"
Review: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), Roman orator, advocate, politician, philosopher, and an introvert who led the most public of lives. Cicero lived through the stormy era of the Republic and testified the rise, the dictatorship and the assassination of Julius Caesar in addition to seditious movements of those who inherited his political legacy.

Drawn from Cicero's letters of correspondence with his friend Atticus and various modern sources, Everitt deftly recreates a vivid chronicle of Cicero's life and restores him to the pantheon of our common past.

To help readers understand the political infrastructure of the Roman Republic, Everitt begins with a chapter that explores the fault lines of the Republic that gave rise to all the seditious movements and military melee and thus inevitably led to the decadence. Cicero and his contemporaries helplessly inherited a self-constraining, self-defeating political system that inculcated the virtues of fortitude, justice, and prudence. Such inwardly unsound gesture was implemented to thwart any overmighty citizen seizing power.

The very same precautionary measure ironically pushed the Republic to the verge of hostilities and wars. The yearlong co-consulship, the lack of a prosecuting service and the continuous class struggle between the Patricians and People manifested venality, bribery, and collusion among officials.

In his portrait of the tenuous political situation, Everitt delineates Cicero as a man who was born and lived at the wrong time, or rather, the cruel times had dragged him along. Not a single day passed did Cicero not to worry about his opponents and those whom he had testified against with his instigation. Cicero thwarted and put down collusion and conspiracies, acted in defense and won acquittal of Roscius convicted of parricide, challenged the dictatorship of Sulla and the decadence of his regime. During his consulship, Cicero pursued the sedition of Catilina and thwarted his attacks on the Senate. Cicero vehemently opposed Julius Caesar and his despotic attempt to form a new Roman government. Even though Caesar took a liking of Cicero and looked up to him, Cicero asserted his preference for Pompey in the First Triumvirate and supported Pompey during Caesar's reign to restore Rome back to republicanism. In the remaining days of Caesar's dictatorship, Cicero remained a thorn to Caesar until his assassination.

Everitt's account also leaves readers in awe of Cicero's merits. Cicero had administrative gifts and oratorical skills of a very high order that none of his contemporaries could deploy. In a society where politicians were also expected to be good soldiers, Cicero was preeminently a civilian, a philosopher, a writer (Cicero admitted his physical weakness and nervousness) and this makes his success all the more remarkable. Cicero ceaselessly advertised and spread anti-war sentiment. He devoted his whole life, through his influence as a statesman; to negotiate a republic made of a mixed constitution. Cicero, when his career ended, must be in searing pain as he no longer entertained hopes that the Republic will be restored. Everitt deftly pointed that for the long years Cicero was a bystander in the working of Rome was not due to his lack of talent but a "surplus of principle." The republic collapsed around his neck as he tried to find more able men to run the government and enacted more efficient laws to keep these men in order.

Behind the political success laid Cicero's internal struggles. From Everitt's account, it seems the only people whom Cicero engaged in an emotional bonding were his daughter Tullia and his best friend Atticus. His divorce of Terentia (on the basis of her thoughtlessness and financial mismanagement) and his failed marriage with Publilia brought him nothing but loneliness. When Tullia died from a miscarriage, Cicero was completely devastated and read every book that the Greek philosophers had to say about grief. Atticus recounted his friend's grief as something of a new intensity too raw and too astonishing to be publicized. His rabid disagreement with Quintus, who heaped all the blame of his ill behavior on Cicero and switched to Caesar, pricked his heart. All the unfulfilled dreams led to Cicero's drastic change in personality that he was willing compromise his beliefs to stay in power and to exercise unscrupulous methods to restore the republic.

Everitt's book astutely captures the success, struggles, uproars and the spirits of truly the greatest politician of Rome. The book is up to the par of Boissier's Cicero and His Friends and Cowell's Cicero and the Roman Republic. Recommended. 4.5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: BACK IN MY DAY!
Review: Just like the human body begins to decay beyond the point of repair once we reach a certain age , so it is also with empires. With empires there are some who fight to revolutionize the system and transform it into something more vital. On the other hand, there are some who cling to the old ways like rats on a sinking ship who fail to adapt. The laws of nature have shown us that those who fail to adapt become extinct. Cicero was such a man who was too caught up in the myth of tradition and blind faith in the corrupt Republic of Rome to ever do anything to address its death.

This biography by Anthony Everitt starts out with a bang, or should I say a stab, or actually multiple stabs, by opening with a vivid description of Julius Caesar's assasination. It then gives a little background on the Roman Empire in order to show us how it was run and who exactly had authority in it. From the get go we can see two blaring weaknesses that would lead to the crises of Cicero's lifetime.

One problem was that were too many people with equal powers. Everitt states that the only real function of the Roman Senate members was to make sure that no one individual gained too much power. In other words, to keep everyone equal and to maintain a status quo. The problem with this was that when reforms needed to be passed, no one could get them through. The Senate was in perpetual stalemate.

Another problem related to this was the split between the conservative Senate which pretty much represented the aristocracy and the representatives of the people embodied in the form of the Tribunes. Neither was really interested in the other and so there was no compromise so nothing was usually accomplished.

Only after this background do we start the story of Rome's "greatest politician". Cicero was born into a fairly well-to-do family and eventually became a practicing lawyer. Unlike in present times, court was held in the open air and anyone was able to attend. Cicero concentrated a lot on his delivery and became one of the most well-known speakers of his time. He tried to keep a straight and narrow line to his virtue as he watched others around him succumb to bribes and kickbacks. Yes, if you can believe it, Rome was corrupt. You had all this money pouring in from conquered peoples and practically none of it was going to the common Roman citizen. Money existed to buy people with.

Cicero eventually works himself up into some of the high offices of the Republic but I didn't really notice anything that would distinguish him as the "greatest politician" of Rome. Cicero to me is full of himself. He never ceases to toot his own horn in front of his friends and enemies. Everitt makes some aplogy for him by saying that if Cicero hadn't done it himself, nobody would have praised his accomplishments. He did put down an attempted coup by a conspirator named Cataline but this was pretty much the high point of his career.

Cicero spent his whole life trying to curry favor with those he thought had power and then insulting them behind their back. To me Everitt didn't really show me any greatness in Cicero. In this book he showed me a cowardly, spineless man who was on the whole afraid to stand up on his own two feet. For example, Cicero said that he wanted to be the mediator between the aristocracy and the common people but when push came to shove he sided with the rich. He said he wanted to reform Rome but when put to the test he sided with the conservative business as usual side of the Senate. Cicero merely paid lip service to his causes. Even though he stood against Caesar in private, he had moments of support for him in public.

This book was good but it didn't accomplish its mission. That is, it didnt convince me that Cicero was the greatest politician of Rome. To me, he appeared as the average ineffectual Senator in action, and above average only in writing and orating. Even his murder at the end of his life was due to his lack of accepting how bad off the Republic really was and also a payback for insults he had flung at people his whole life. He was a man who had influence in Rome but had no power to steer it anywhere. A weakness of the book is that it barely mentions Cicero's literary accomplishments, something more worthy of attention than his biography. His life will be forgotten, his works will live on, even though noone but Latin scholars probably read even them.