History of Europe

Rome's greatest philosopher, lawyer and villain! About the life of Kikero

The first century of civil war was also a time when many excellent people were produced.

China's three-country era, Japan's war-torn country era, and the first century of the Roman civil war are all civil wars within the same ethnic group, but it may be common in world history for attractive figures to appear at such times. do not have.

If Caesarya Octavian was the main character in the first century of the Roman Civil War, Cicero, the main character, would be the first enemy.

Let's take a look at the life of Kikero, who is known as the best philosopher in the history of 1000 years in Rome.

Being conservative enough to be born

Among the people who were active in the first century of the civil war, Crassus and Pompey were the Equites class of the emerging wealthy, and Cicero was the so-called emerging aristocratic Nobiles who could not be said to have a good family.

Julius Caesar, on the other hand, is from one of the most traditional aristocrats in Rome, but it is interesting that the aristocratic Caesar was an innovator and Cicero, a commoner, led the Senate as a conservative.

This phenomenon is ubiquitous in world history, and when something that you don't have has it becomes conservative and you don't recognize the interests of other companies.

From a young age, Cicero seemed to boast that he would make the name of Cicero prestigious for himself, like his habit, and from a young age he studied hard and became a lawyer.

In the modern overseas court scene, there is a scene where a lawyer appeals to a jury while exaggerating various productions, but it is said that Cicero developed such a method.

The Roman trial is a jury trial, and there is a culture in which the people decide the outcome of the trial, but in Japan, the government decides everything so that Ooka Echizen's defense is still popular. It's correct and it just accepts what the government has decided, so the judge decides everything like that in the law.

The story goes awry, but he is said to have acquired a background in speech and philosophy through making friends with the exiled Greeks who fled the Mitridates War, and was studying abroad in Athens, Greece with his younger brother. He seems to have met his lifelong friend Atticus.

The collection of letters by Cicero and Atticus was published during the Roman Empire, and is now extremely valuable as primary information showing the situation in Rome at that time.

As an aside, I think it's interesting that Cicero was consistently anti-Caesar and pro-republic, but was allowed to publish in imperial Rome. After all, it was Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who executed Cicero.

In Augustus's later episode, he saw his grandson reading Kikero's book and tried to hide it, saying, "His patriotism was real." It's one of the few Clementia episodes of ruthless Augustus.

By the time Cicero returned to Rome, after the death of Sulla, who was in power at the time, he was elected to the important position Praetor (legal officer) with the name given by the trial, and in 63 BC the Roman highest best consul. Succeeded in taking office.

He was in direct opposition to Caesar's triumvirate, which began in 60 BC, and disagreed, especially when Caesar was black.

Still, it's interesting because when they left the Senate chamber, they were their best friends.

It is even said that the foundation of parliamentary democracy was created in ancient Roman times. It appears in Japanese history that the Iwakura Mission to Europe was shocked to see that the human beings who had a fierce debate in the parliament were on good terms, but that feeling in Western Europe may have been around this time. It can be said that democracy does not take root in Japan because the ground is different in the first place.

Cicero assassination plan

In 63 BC, Catiline's plot that shook Rome occurs.

This case was caused by a person named Lucius Sergius Catilina trying to pass a kind of Tokuseirei law and failing due to opposition from Cicero and others, and Catilina and his supporters used force including the assassination of Cicero. Cicero.

Cicero's Catilinarian orations are quite harsh and often appear in European history textbooks. Catiline, who was forced to leave Rome due to the impeachment, was given the final recommendation of the Senate and became an enemy of the nation.

The cornered Katilina was beaten by the Roman regular army, while Cicero was given the title of "Father of the State" to consolidate his position in the Senate.

However, on the other hand, some people pursued Cicero for killing the lives of Roman citizens regardless of the trial, and Cicero was temporarily forced to flee.

Even so, when he returned to his home country with the help of pro-Cicero lawmakers, he denounced Caesar violently, and eventually issued a "final recommendation of the Senate" to Caesar, deciding to make Caesar an enemy of Rome. put out.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in spite of it, Cicero remained on the Italian peninsula, while other senators fled to scatter the spider cubs. Cicero also confronted the small anti-Caesar Kato and did not appreciate Pompey, who had no political beliefs.

Around this time Caesar wrote a letter to Cicero.

The content was that he wanted to meet Cicero and meet him at Rome.

Caesar visited Cicero directly, but Cicero was the only one who did not go to Rome.

Caesar is a man of Clementia (forgiveness). He is a man who is hostile to himself and has forgiven the person who turned his blade. Caesar left for Greece, where Pompey and his friends were waiting. Cicero does not side with Pompey. That may have been enough for Caesar.

Caesar then achieved a feat in the Battle of Pharsalus, defeating the Pompey-led Senate.

Caesar did not dispose of any of his opponents, but Pompey was killed in his exile in Egypt, and Small Cato died himself.

Cicero praises Kato and publishes "Kato", and Caesar counters this by publishing "Anti-Kato", causing a heated debate in Rome. Since neither of them exists, it is not possible to know the contents, but when Caesar holds the dispatch and publishes such a publication, I think that Cicero is also a first-class person.

Assassination of Caesar and Death of Kikero

Caesar was assassinated by Cassius Longinus and two Brutus.

Cicero was very pleased with that.

It's very different from Caesar, whose rival Pompey died and cried quietly.

Cicero's ability was first-class, but he was second-class as a human being, so it can't be helped. There are such people in every age.

However, Cicero probably did not understand that he had survived by Caesar's Clementia.

Cicero seemed to be close to Caesar's assassin and was initially hostile to Antonius. Perhaps because of that, Caesar was approaching Octavian, his successor.

Octavian was despised by calling him a "boy," but this was Kikero's biggest miscalculation.

No wonder. Even though he was the successor to Caesar, Octavian had no track record and was still an 18-year-old man.

Cicero wouldn't have expected this young man to put a prize on his neck.

Octavian made a list of the humans involved in the assassination of Caesar and drastically purged it. Octavian is not Caesar. He did not step on the rut of Caesar, who was tolerated and killed, and he mercilessly purged him. He mercilessly forced confessions, even women and children, to hide the subject.

Cicero was named at the beginning of the list. There was no reason to escape.

Caesar's assassin said that only his head was adorned by the Roman Forum, but only Cicero was exposed not only to his head but also to his hands.

Philosopher Cicero

Cicero plays a side role in world history classes, but plays a leading role in ethics classes.

In his book De Officiis, Cicero states:

"Of all human love, the most important and greatest joy is the love for the homeland ... no citizen will hesitate to give his life to the homeland."

Whatever it should be, Cicero must have had patriotism. He was hostile to Caesar, but what did the man who actually admitted Caesar more than anyone, and Caesar more than anyone else, think in the end?

Caesar dies, Cicero dies, and Rome goes on its way to imperial rule.

However, even after the fall of the Roman Empire, the works and ideas left by Cicero remained and remained until now, and it was said that they had a great influence on the princely theory of Machiavelli and the genius Grotius who was called the father of international peace.

In that sense, it may be a person who lives in the hearts of people like Caesar.