Cicero, Orator and Statesman of Rome Quiz

Answer: Arpinum

Cicero was born in Arpinum about sixty miles south of Rome in 106 BC. He came from a well-to-do equestrian family.

Answer: A case of parricide with Sextius Roscius being the accused

The incorrect answers were made up. Divorce in ancient Rome usually involved a declaration on the part of one of the marital partners. Cicero defended Sextus Roscius in a case of parricide, a detestable crime in Rome. Cicero accused Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonus, a freedman of Sulla.

This was a brave act on Cicero's part. He could have easily incurred Sulla's wrath, or, at least, his disfavor. Chrysogonus was a henchman in Sulla's proscriptions of his political enemies.

Answer: Twice

Cicero was married twice, first to Terentia, and then to Publilia, a much younger woman.

Answer: To overthrow the Roman Republic

Lucius Sergius Catalina conspired to overthrow the Roman Republic. To make matters worse, he enlisted the aid of barbarian tribes in Gaul. Cicero, serving as Consul, spoke against him in the Senate in a series of speeches which have come down to us. Martial law was declared, and, eventually a conviction was obtained. Because the Senate was not a judicial body, there was much debate about inflicting a death sentence on Catalina, but eventually Catalina was executed.

Answer: False

Although Cicero was a staunch defender of the Republic, he was not involved, directly or indirectly, in the assassination plot against Julius Caesar. He hailed Brutus and Cassius as liberators after the fact, but he knew nothing about the plot.

Answer: True

Cicero favored Pompey during this period because Pompey supported the republican sentiment in the Senate. He followed Pompey to Pharsulus, during which Pompey was decisively defeated. When Cicero returned to Rome, Caesar pardoned him with his customary flair for clemency.

Answer: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus

Octavian was not considered for the post, and Marcus Junius Brutus had fled with Cassius and the other conspirators from Rome. Cato committed suicide in Utica, North Africa, towards the end of Caesar's civil war. Cicero, in this instance, had no reason to oppose the will of the Senate in appointing Decimus to governorship of Transalpine Gaul.

Moreover, Cicero disliked Antony and later denounced him in a series of speeches called "Philippics."

Answer: Optimates

Cicero supported the Optimates, an aristocratic party which wanted to retain the power of the Roman Senate, detested monarchy, and opposed popular assemblies and plebeian rights and concerns, as well as the power of the People's Tribunes. The Populares were more in favor of granting power to the popular assemblies, land reform, and other populist measures. Technically, this is partially a trick question since the Caesarian party supported Julius Caesar and his measures, many of these measures populist in nature.

The term "Republican" has no known meaning as a distinct political group during this period.

Answer: Proscribed by the Second Triumvirate and killed

Cicero was high on the list of enemies of the state under the Second Triumvirate. Mark Antony particularly listed him for death as Cicero had earlier denounced him in the "Philippics." There could be no exile for a man like Cicero. Suicide was always an option for a defeated "noble Roman," but not in this case. Cicero was overtaken attempting to escape Italy by ship, killed, and his head and hands were cut off.

Answer: Friedrich Engels

The early Christian church declared him "a righteous pagan." The Founding Fathers of the United States and French revolutionists found inspiration in the humanistic and political views in Cicero's writings. John Adams, for example, was impressed with Cicero and espoused his political ideals and style. Friedrich Engels criticized Cicero for espousing republican democratic ideals while at the same time ignoring the class struggle so vital to Marxist thought.