History Creator / Cicero

** Took on the various Caesarian warlords, most particularly Mark Antony, with no protection but his name, his reputation and his spectacular talents as an orator.

** It is worth noting, after reading the above, that Cicero lost only one case. He lost that case because the court was filled with heavily armed, menacing looking men wanting a conviction and staring meaningfully at both him and the jury throughout proceedings.

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedEvil: Octavian, though there was mutual admiration between the two even after Octavian largely discarded him, and the future Emperor later appointed Cicero's son as his consul. He also turned a blind eye to the latter's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Mark Antony and Antony's entire family.

** Accusing a political rival of incest in a completely unrelated case, where the sister of said rival accused her lover in attempting to poison her (see above).

** It is worth noting, after reading the above, that Cicero lost only one case. He lost that case because the court was filled with heavily armed, menacing looking men wanting a conviction and staring meaningfully at the jury throughout proceedings.

* DownerEnding: Whether you like him or not, Cicero was assassinated for speaking out.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Traditionally, he was viewed very fondly by history (most likely because he was ultimately killed unjustly), even though, as demonstrated by the LongList of his CourtroomAntics, he had no regard for logic and reason at all, having practically invented the ChewbaccaDefense, and was thus just as hostile to the idea of rationality and being unbiased as his opponents.

** Telling the judge he was going to ignore all courtroom procedure for the citizenship application he was arguing and [[ItMakesSenseInContext spend the next hour or so discussing Greek literature]].

* HeterosexualLifePartners: with Atticus.

** Accusing a political rival of incest in a completely unrelated case, where the sister of said rival accused her lover in attempting to poisin her (see above).

** Accusing a political rival of incest in a completely unrelated case.

* CausticCritic: Whoo, boy.

'''Marcus Tullius Cicero''' (sometimes called "Tully" in later references), 106-43 BC, was a prominent statesmen and the preeminent orator of late Republican Rome, as well as being single-handedly responsible for the persistence of the ancient Greek intellectual tradition in Western culture. Most people don't like Cicero anymore, which is a pity, because despite having issues with political consistency, he was absolutely brilliant and fought to the last for the Republic on the debate floor. During the wars following the death of [[Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar Caesar]] he essentially gambled on his life and lost: he re-entered the political stage attempting to play [[EmperorAugustus Octavian]] and Mark Antony against each other, which failed when they ended up joining forces in the Second Triumvirate, and was proscribed by Antony in 43 BC. After evading his killers for some time with help from his many sympathizers, he was eventually betrayed later that year. Unable to escape or fight, he acted as a true philosopher and calmly offered his neck to the centurion's sword.

* WorthyOpponent: There is evidence both Julius Caesar and his nephew Octavian - thence EmperorAugustus - respected Cicero [[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cicero*.html#49.5 as a great man of Rome]].

** Accusing opposing counsel of being gay.[[note]]In Roman times, there was no words like "gay" or "straight". There was "active" (top) and "passive" (bottom). He was calling the counsel "passive", as in, submissive, woman-like.[[/note]]

** Accusing opposing counsel of being gay.

* CompellingVoice: The leading orator of the ancient world, and arguably one of the greatest public speakers who has ever lived.

* SelfMadeMan: Famous for being a "[[NouveauRiche novus homo]]," lacking the significant lineage of 99% of politicians at the time. He came up through the Roman law courts and was the first member of his family to be elected consul, solely on his talent. Ironically, he caught a lot of flak about this from the entrenched patrician class whose traditional rights he often had to defend against (faux-)populist reformers like Catilina and Caesar.

'''Marcus Tullius Cicero''' (sometimes called "Tully" in later references), 106-43 BC, was a prominent statesmen and the preeminent orator of late Republican Rome, as well as being single-handedly responsible for the persistence of the ancient Greek intellectual tradition in Western culture. Most people don't like Cicero anymore, which is a pity, because despite having issues with political consistency, he was absolutely brilliant and fought to the last for the Republic on the debate floor. During the wars following the death of [[Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar Caesar]] he essentially gambled on his life and lost: he re-entered the political stage attempting to play [[EmperorAugustus Octavian]] and Mark Antony against each other, failed when they ended up joining forces in the Second Triumvirate, and was proscribed by Antony in 43 BC.

* GracefulLoser: When Cicero's assassin came for him, he found him reclining on a litter reading a scroll. Cicero lowered the scroll to look at his soon-to-be-murderer and calmly said "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Ah, there you are]]."

* CourtroomAntics: Roman legal proceedings in this period were very nearly a spectator sport, and Cicero was practically an all-star quarterback. Antics Cicero got away with in court (copied from TheRomanRepublic page):

* Appears in both seasons of HBO's ''{{Rome}}'', played by David Bamber. In the series, the soldier who assassinates him turns out to be [[BeenThereShapedHistory Titus Pullo]].

* Appears in both seasons of HBO's ''{{Rome}}'', played by David Bamber. In the series, the soldier who assassinates him turns out to be [[TheGump Titus Pullo]].

* CourtroomAntics: Roman legal proceedings in this period were very nearly a spectator sport, and Cicero was practically an all-star quarterback.

* CourtroomAntics: Roman legal proceedings in this period were very nearly a spectator sport, and Cicero was practically an all-star quarterback. See the trope page for details.

* CourtroomAntics: Roman legal proceedings in this period were very nearly a spectator sport.

* DeadpanSnarker: Notorious for being unable to keep his mouth shut.

* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Invented an awful lot of them. Of course, when you're trying to import a discipline with an entirely foreign vocabulary, you pretty much have to do this at some point.

->''Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici. (We are not born for ourselves alone; our country, our friends have a share in us.)''

'''Marcus Tullius Cicero''' (sometimes called "Tully" in later references), 106-43 BC, was a prominent statesmen and the preeminent orator of late Republican Rome, as well as being single-handedly responsible for the persistence of the ancient Greek intellectual tradition in Western culture. Most people don't like Cicero anymore, which is a pity, because despite having issues with political consistency, he was absolutely brilliant and fought to the last for the Republic on the debate floor. During the wars following the death of [[GaiusJuliusCaesar Caesar]] he essentially gambled on his life and lost: he re-entered the political stage attempting to play [[EmperorAugustus Octavian]] and Mark Antony against each other, failed when they ended up joining forces in the Second Triumvirate, and was proscribed by Antony in 43 BC.

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Antony had him murdered because Cicero made a series of speeches against him. His head and his hands (which had penned the speeches) were cut off and displayed in the Forum Romanum.

* HeroicBSOD: Grieved heavily when his beloved daughter Tullia died after giving birth to her second son.