Here we have the marble portrait of Marcus Tullius Cicero (preserved at the Capitoline Museums in the Palazzo Nuovo), the famous orator who tried to defend with force the values of the Republic and the mos maiorum, two Latin words which contain the principles and ideals of justice, law, and behavior that should characterize the true Roman. A marble work of art that I can use to describe one of the most famous ancient Romans in the world... 

We know a lot about Cicero thank to the literary sources that we have, mainly the copies of the numerous letters wrote by the Roman politician who was born at the 106 b.C. in the modern Arpino, a little town not so far from Rome. We know that he had a great education focused on philosophy and oratory, a specific education provided by the Cicero's family, which was a part of the upper class of that time. The main purpose for Cicero was to defend the Republic by the different men who saw it as a tool of their personal powers, men like Silla who were real dictators, men who believed that the Senate must be under the control of one leader. For Ciero it was not possible because for him the perfect administration should be managed by an oligarchy of men of the upper class, men like the senators. It is the reason why Cicero followed the usual cursus honosum, the series of public roles that should be led until the most important one: the consul. And after some years Cicero became consul at the 63 b.C. And when it happend he suddenly faced some of the public dangers for the Republic, a challenge won by Cicero who owes his immense fame to the discovery of the conspiracy of Catilina, a noble senator who, after having lost fir two times (he was also rigged) the elections to be consul, decided to take action to overthrow the republican power.

Catilina at first was a Silla's follower, so another man who believed that the figure of a dictator could be the right way to rule Rome. Of course Cicero, who hated everything that could also only get closer to a tyranny and to a civil war, a resurgent absolutist, could not refrain from attacking Catilina. In that case Cicero used his oratory and speeches, his ways to capture the attention and his knowledge to fight Catilina, convincing the other Senators that he should must be stopped. But probably his orations and his faith for the Republic signed also his death, especially when he hardly attaccked, at the 44 and 43 b.C. Mark Anthony, the new main politician of this time after Julius Caesar (another man strongly fought by Cicero in the Senate).

The 14 orators claimed by Cicero against Mark Anthony were called Filippiche, and he strongly condemned without appeal the work of Mark Antony. He was not just a general but another guy who tried to follow the Julius Caesar's footsteps in order to destroy the noble oligarchy for a new political way. For his orators the poor Cicero was listed as the first name in the list of proscrizioni. It was a public list of names, drawn up by the triumvirate Anthony, Octavian and Lepidus around the 43 to b.C., whose fate they were marked by it: anyone who appeared in those lists, was automatically sentenced to death. It seems that Mark Antony, in the context of the agreements with the other two associates, claims that the name of Cicero appeared for the first on the list. After all Mark Antony, in a turbulent time for Rome, following the murder of Caesar (which, of course Cicero did not approve), began to take far too many liberties, to take too many powers and to fight with his legions, even the wars and battles are not decided by the Senate. For this Cicero was killed by the assassins send by Mark Antony during his attempt to escape that, unfortunately for him, miserably failed. He was in Formia when it happened, but reading the words left by Livio we can understand how Cicero, until the end, was always proud, refined and dignified man.

Livio said that "Leaning out of the litter and offering his neck without shaking, his head was cut off. And this was not enough for the foolish cruelty of the soldiers: they also cut off his hands, reproaching them for having written something against Antonio". It seems moreover that when the Cicero's head was brought to Mark Antony as a war trophy, his wife Fausta did something dismissive and horrible at the same time. She took the Cicero's head pulling out the tongue. Then she pierced it in a violent way with a long hair pin. That same tongue that had harshly attacked Mark Antony and other protagonists of the political history of Rome in the I century b.C., the same language which, in one way or another, still today is alive in the many writings left by him that are studied and translated by thousands of students and fans every year. Let me leave you with the Titus Livio's words that could be usefull to understand more the greatness of this historical figure: "He lived for sixty-three years, so much so that his death wouldn't even seem immature if it weren't violent. An intelligence fertile in works and successes, he also had a long prosperous fate, but in his long and continuous fortune he was sometimes struck by profound wounds (exile, the ruin of his party, the death of his daughter, the sad and cruel end) and none of these adversities he knew how to endure as a man, except death; that moreover, in a serene judgment, it might seem less unworthy, thinking that he was not treated by his victorious opponent any more cruelly than he would have done if he had won. But whoever balances his vices with his virtues will find him great and worthy of memory: a man whose praise only Cicero's eloquence could worthily celebrate".