Marcus Tullius Cicero, most commonly known as simply Cicero, was a Roman Statesman, Lawyer and Academic Skeptic Philosopher.
There was a time when Simply Cicero was doing quite well.
Simply Cicero played an important role in the politics of the Roman Republic and was a strong advocate for the Republican Principles of the Republic and he was considered one of Rome's Greatest Orators.
What could go wrong for Simply Cicero? Rome was a Republic and he was an Eloquent Defender of the Republic.
************
Simply Cicero was not only an Eloquent and Gifted Orator when he spoke to his fellow Friends, Romans and Countrymen but he is just as Eloquent when he speaks to us more than 2 millennia after his death.
Now I ask you, who can argue with these Eloquent Bolded Words below?
Actually, a lot of Romans did not like Simply Cicero’s
Eloquent Words and a lot of My Fellow Americans today do not like them either...
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and
controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome
become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public
assistance."
************
My Dear Readers, be careful, if u ever decide that you are going to start speaking the Truth to your Fellow Americans (and any Fellow Romans who might be still out there on the Fruited Plain) because they might treat you like Simply Cicero was treated for speaking the Truth...
Cicero's last words were said to have been, "There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly."
He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of the litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he wouldn't resist.
He was decapitated. Then his hands were cut off and nailed along with the head on the Rostra in the Forum according to the tradition of Marius and Sulla, both of whom had displayed the heads of their enemies in the Forum.
According to Cassius Dio, Mark Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.
************
By Golly, Simply Cicero died on December 7, 43 BC but, from reading the quote below (especially #6), it appears he could actually see into 2020 AD...
“Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
Would Simply Cicero kid u,
Smartfella
Lagniappe: I just had to add this quote...
“Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and
everyone is writing a book.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero