Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born in Arpinum (80 km southeast of Rome) on January 3, 106 BC. He studied rhetoric, philosophy, and law in Rome and spent two years traveling in Greece and Asia Minor, completing his philosophical and rhetorical studies. He began his career as a lawyer in 81 BC, quickly establishing his reputation as an orator, and distinguished himself in many public offices. Cicero wrote 107 speeches, theoretical works on the art of rhetoric, philosophical treatises, 774 letters, poems, historical works, and a geographical treatise. He was fluent in Greek and engaged in translations. He married twice and had two children from his first wife. He was assassinated by agents of Antony on December 7, 43 BC. Cicero became the model of Latin prose for subsequent generations, created the scientific and philosophical terms that were missing from his language, simplified and disseminated the fundamental principles of ancient Greek philosophy in Europe, and influenced the way of thinking throughout the centuries.