Cicero
Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman (106–43 BCE) who articulated the principles of natural law and republican government, and was executed by the Second Triumvirate for defending the Republic with words rather than legions.
Cicero is the voice of the Roman Republic in its death throes. His speeches, letters, and philosophical works preserved Stoic philosophy, articulated natural law, and argued that legitimate government must operate through law and consent rather than force. He is, in many ways, the ancient world's clearest statement of what the rule of law requires.
His political career was built on words rather than armies, a fatal limitation in the late Republic. He exposed the Catilinarian conspiracy (63 BCE), defended the Republic against Caesar's military coup, and after Caesar's assassination, delivered the Philippics against Mark Antony in defense of the Senate's authority.
Mark Antony never forgave the Philippics. When the Second Triumvirate formed (43 BCE), Antony insisted on Cicero's death. Cicero was killed on December 7, 43 BCE; Antony had his hands and head displayed in the Forum, the hands that had written the Philippics, the mouth that had spoken against him. The Republic died when the man who argued for its legitimacy was killed for doing so.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Cicero's natural law theory? ＋
That there is a universal rational law embedded in nature, knowable to human reason, that stands above any particular government's laws. Unjust laws are not true laws; governments that violate natural law lose their legitimacy.
Why was Cicero killed? ＋
Mark Antony demanded his death as part of the Second Triumvirate's proscription lists, because Cicero had written the Philippics, a series of devastating speeches attacking Antony and defending the Senate's authority.