CICERON
AlAlphaone
About our leaders, Cicero’s words speak with loud voice against them:
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.
--Marcus Tullius Cicero
Roman orator, statesman 42 B.C pls s+v +shout thanks
Comments
Said Traitor is not going unnoticed.
wtf?
ummmm...
It's worth noting that towards the end of "Rome", Pullo kills Cicero, steals his fruit, cuts off his hands and nails them to the Senate's door so Octavian and Antony can ROFL.
Maucus Antonius never forgave Cicero for his Anti Antony Phillipc and the moment Antony had undoubted power Cicero knew he was doomed. Those old Romans knew a thing or three about hating. Cicero's death was the price Octavian had to pay to get Antonius as an ally.
Romans also knew a thing about betrayal. Remember that Octavian, later the First Emperor Augustus, required Cicero for his numbers in the Senate to become Consul of Rome.
Octavian was Caesar's favorite, he was very intelligent and had some of Caesars characteristics but unlike Caesar Octavian never forgave anyone, ever. In fact Caesar was the only Roman in history that ever spared the lives of his main enemies. One thing that made Octavian different from Caesar was that he could hold a grudge and be very cruel once he was in control. Crossing Octavian was almost as deadly and suicidal as crossing Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the most vengeful Roman to ever live.
Wasn't Cicero the one with the big nose? 😛
No Cicero was the country bumpkin with the massive bulbous head. Cicero's family were considered country bumpkins and definately not Roman. Only those living within a radius of Rome were considered real Romans, live outside of that and you were just an Italian, a second class cotizen. Cicero rose to power in the senate through pure talent alone. His birth was considered low in patrician eyes.
Cicero was renowned for his oratory. When it came to power as a Senate leader in the time leading up to the first Caesar's death and following, there were a lot of ethical questions surrounding where his loyalty lied. It fluctuated with tremendous torrent, one moment it was to Caesar, next to the combined Triumvirate (Caesar, Crassus and Magnus), next to the House of the Julii (in which Caesar had an interest, though not exclusively and certainly not following his death), next to the Caepionis.. it never ended.
LOL actually it reminds me of an eRep crossover. Oh how history has flailed in instructing the eras.
Cicero made his name as a lawyer but it was his uncovering of Saturninus's plot that put him in good with the "boni" or we call them conservatives. Before that Cicero was seen as a wimp and a non Roman, I think it was either Picenum where Pompey came from or the place where ZGauis Marius came from. All three were discriminated against initially.
Cicero's main problem with Caesar was probably jealousy towards a guy who was as good as Cicero in his strengths and was also everything that Cicero was not, namely a great soldier and general, and basically incredibly brave. Caesar liked Cicero but did not at all trust him, you didn't trust anyone back then if you were smart. I believe the murder of Caesar was a massive mistake, thankfully all the murderers and plotters were dead with twelve months. Killing Caesar was very unpopular.
I was making a joke by referring to Cyrano de Bergerac instead of Cicero. Oh never mind. It fell flat.
LOL, I missed that infrence.