Earth's Pettiest Hero | The Life & Times of Cicero 

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Cicero also hold the record for oldest known your mom joke. A Senator was making fun of Cicero’s lowly provincial origins asking, “who was your father?” Implying Cicero’s father was a nobody. Cicero reply’s, “as for your’s, your mother has made that quite hard to determine.”

My favorite of Cicero's legal cases was when he had to argue that the wife of a patrician didn't cheat on her husband with their African slave even though the child she bore was obviously of African descent by comparing human birth to sheep, and that just like how every once in a while a black sheep pops out of a white sheep, so too it was with humans. Ah, life before anyone understood genetics.

The man the myth the legend

The funniest thing in the Verrinae (the persecution of the corrupt official) is the fact that the guy accused (Verre) ran out of the trial just after the first part of Cicero argument and he was so mad that he didn’t let him finish that that we find ALL of the arguments in Cicero text to show how smart and how capable as a lawyer he was

Something you had your Cicero said had me thinking. The romans used crucifixion as capital punishment before and after Jesus, so would the term "My own cross to bear" have been conceived before Jesus?

So Jack. Are you Going to make a Video on Horatio Nelson

Cicero, a hero? Who are you joking?

To me, the coolest part of Cicero is how he handled his own assassination like a champ. He was sitting on the side of the road when the assassins caught up to him and he was just reading. When they matched eyes, instead of a pokemon battle, Cicero just put away his book and said: "There's nothing right about what you're doing, but at least try to kill me properly."

Fiction needs more Ciceros. I know the self-aggrandizing hero is a bit of a trope, but I swear (especially nowadays) they always end up being secretly evil. We need more legitimately wise, noble characters that are also narcissistic blowhards with zero likable qualities

You forgot the part where Cicero tore into the assassins for having no idea what to do post-regicide and just kinda thought it'd all be cool from there

For fans of Historia Civilis, Cicero will always be my favorite green square.

Hey, if my writings kick-started the Renaissance 1400 years after I died, I'd be pretty full of myself too.

You forgot to mention the time when he asked two poets to write something about how he defeated the conspiracy of Catiline, and then since they refused he just decided to write his own poem about it. And he made it an epic iliad-style poem. And it was all about how great he was. He then went on to continue to make self-citations from it in later speeches, even if it was generally considered one of the most distasteful poems in antiquity. It contained infamous verses such as "Oh Rome, lucky to be born when I was consul!", which not only is ludicrously self-congratulatory, but it doesn't even make sense since Rome didn't come into existence when he was consul; it doesn't even make sense as a metaphor! (and contains in the original language one of the most misused allitterations in the history of latin poetry)

Two quotes by Cicero I think we can all agree on: "Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do." And, of course: "Politicians are not born; they are excreted."

Cicero-one of the most human of humans in human history: Petty, great, hypocritical, righteous, fair, prejudiced, ambitious, circumspect, loving father, distant husband…

"When I was a young man, I defended our state. As an old man, I shall not abandon it. I give sincere thanks to Mark Antony who has generously presented me with the most promising theme imaginable. I address you directly Antony. Please listen as if you..."

"The wise are instructed by reason, the average minded by experience, the stupid by necessity, and the brute by instinct." My favorite Cicero qoute.

"He fought for what was right for the most petty and selfish reasons : not for wealth, or fame or power but for the pure smug satisfaction of being the most self-righteous person in the whole world." So you're telling me Cicero was a redditor ?

Some people say I am as humble as Cicero. Some people would say that I deserve the heart from Jack Rackam. But I won't take that from his favourite fans. Even though I am one of his favourite fans. A fan that has been here since the Great Pompey video. Yes I know I deserve all the likes, but please save your likes for the video

The thing is being a good person just to inflate your ego was the most Roman institution in the world. You didn’t do charity because you were good, you did charity because you wanted people to cheer your name and call you the best. That’s what I love about Roman culture.

The weird thing is Cicero was a decent politician and decent person he just hated everyone. Which to be fair considering when he lived. Also Augustus did like him

Cicero was Rome's greatest statesman. After Augustus had Cicero killed later in life he caught his grandson reading Cicero writing and grabbed the book off him...after reading Cicero words he looked at his grandson and said "Here was a learned man who loved his country." Cicero was one of the realest to ever live.

A bit baffled you actually skipped over the Philippics there, Jack. The greatest stream of disses that side of rap battles.

The whole thing with Macedonia is quite a bit more clever and complicated than "he sold it so he could buy a house." After their year in office, Consuls received the governorship of a province. These were assigned by lot around the time the new consuls took office. Cicero drew Macedonia, a very lucrative province to govern. The thing is, there were two consuls at a time and Cicero's co-consul, Gaius Antonius (Mark Antony's uncle), was kind of a doofus without any real political stances. Basically, dude just wanted to be able to say he'd been consul. Cicero offered to give the governorship of Macedonia to Antonius in exchange for staying out of Cicero's way during his consulate. Antonius also agreed to pay Cicero 1/4 of the revenue from Macedonia. The house was actually paid for with a loan taken from Antonius against that 1/4 share of Macedonia. So, yes, he did get the money for the house out of the deal, but he also secured the ability to actually get things done in a Senate that was increasingly paralyzed by factionalism. If he just wanted the cash, it would have been better for him to just keep Macedonia.

I love how Caesar and Alexander the great conquered and battled for fame and fortune, but when it comes to Cicero its just "i wanted to be popular"

Cicero soo desperately wanted to be the main character, but there were 4 main characters in his lifetime (Pompay, Ceaser, Antoni, and Augustus) This might explain why he was so peti

Cicero after the assassination of Caesar :"I'm surrounded by idiots"

Octavian always gets done wrong in these sorts of videos. He spent three days trying to convince Marc Antony not to kill Cicero, but Fulvia was so adamant that it ended up being Cicero's life or Antony's alliegence, and in the end he stood aside and let Cicero die rather than break the 2nd triumvirate

"I just demand the everlasting recollection of this day" The catiline: Set of speeches that Cicero gave that day, were fully preserved to this day, available on the Internet and are still considered the pinacle of rhetorical roasting with Demosthenes Philippics. The madlad actually did it !

The crazy part is that Cicero talking about himself seems modest compared to his contemporaries, like Caesar and Pompey. Would he even truly be Roman if he wasn't talking about himself like that?

You forgot the part about Mark Antony nailing Cicero’s severed hands to the Senate doors

“Cicero rooted out corruption” ‘Cicero sold a governership for the most ostentatious house in Rome” These seem mutually exclusive…

This is exactly the vibe I got from him in all of the historus civilus videos I've seen with Cicero in them.

Cicero would be the type of person to talk in third person. "Cicero would like to know why cicero wasnt invited to the plot, cicero is a humble man." Haha!

This is a good video, but I feel like it is kinda weird in a few ways. 1. You kinda passed over the fact that Cicero was consul during the Cataline conspiracy, and also the fact that this was during a Senatus Consultum Ultimum and that he had all of Cataline's supporters executed without a trial. 2. He gave away the governorship of Macedonia to the other consul (Marcus Antonius, the father of the famous Marcus Antonius) so that he wouldn't get in Cicero's way, not for a cool mansion (at least not entirely).

The HBO series Rome had a part wherein Cicero's letter mocking Anthony was read in the forum. That was actually true, but it was just way bit longer. Good job to the producers for summarizing it and giving it dramatic effect.

Historia Civilis: “I don’t know if I want to kill you, or kiss you” Dude seriously loves Cicero

Maybe a Cassius Dio video? "You thought it was another great Roman, but it was me, Dio!"

I can’t believe you didn’t mention the multiple executions without trial Cicero carried out in the aftermath of the Catalina Conspiracy. It’s basically the whole reason Clodius got him banished

it's about time! Cicero doesn't get talked about anymore. Sulla next??? You are great Jack

Cicero: "We did it cato!! We saved the republic!!!" *rome burning*

Ah he's what average twitter blue checkmarks aspire to be

Wow what a timing! just as I finished watching HBO's Rome season 1 this drops.

While I strongly disagree with him on the topic of "preserving the Republic", I still like him as a historical figure. Especially the way he died is one of my favorite historical deaths. I mean, telling your to-be assassins "There's nothing right about what you're doing, but at least try to kill me properly.". Damm.

Cicero: Willing to sacrifice principles for the sake of the Republic. Cato: Willing to sacrifice the Republic for the sake of principles. (Obviously a gross oversimplication, but generally true I think.)

alright after this video i have decided what to do with a time machine, Putting Cicero and Cato the elder in the same room and see what happens. Because i do not know if they would love or hate each other and i want to find out.

Cicero in the Afterlife: "I told everyone about that arch-pirate Antonius, in my 14 excellent orations against him I outlined what a drunken, debauched, violent barbarian he was, so he put my head on display in the forum, which actually proved me correct. It was an epic death, however, certainly a fitting way for a principled statesman to meet his end during tempestuous times, some people are saying this will become the stuff of legend for thousands of years and be remembered in far-distant lands, and certainly that is flattering."

When doing my research on Cicero I loved just how much he hated his governorship, like he despised it, tried to delay it as much as possible and generally moaned about being there the whole time.

He died as he lived. Looking down on all the plebs.

Cicero is the embodiment of a politician. Corruption is wrong, except when he does it. The law is sacred and must be obeyed, but it’s fine for him to break the law when it suits him. Everyone deserves a trial before they’re sentenced, except for people which Cicero decides don’t deserve a trial. There’s nothing proper about killing your political opponents, but boy oh boy it sure was great when those guys killed Cicero’s political opponent. Thank god there’s at least one history youtuber that can see through his unearned reputation.

How are you going to do my man Cicero dirty like that? Cicero is one of the few Romans who should actually be lauded. I get this isn't supposed to be a serious video on Cicero but half of it is objectively incorrect and portrays him like some sort of greedy and egotistical politician.

Taking a break from studying the First Oration against Cataline for Fridays final, so I really appreciate the humous take on Cicero. That dude loved a run-on sentence!

My favorite thing about Cicero is the poem Catullus wrote about him. It's pretty short, but says that Cicero is the greatest of all Romans who were, are, and will be and Cicero is the best advocate as much as Catullus is the worst poet. Except that if you read one of Catullus' other poems, he specifically states that he ISN'T the worst poet, which means this poem is calling Cicero (at most) 2nd best. And he mocks Cicero's own speech styles by using tricolon and a shit ton of superlatives. The question then is: Did Cicero realize he was being mocked? Or did he honestly think Catullus was praising him? I hope he thought Catullus was praising him.

This video is kinda in bad faith, and mostly incorrect. You have to remember that cicero was from a provincial family that wasn’t nearly as wealthy or powerful as the usual families in the senate. He had no great ancestors or family members to advocate for him and his family’s name. He actually only got into the senate through marrying a rich woman who supported him. He was utterly a self made man, which wasn’t really looked too highly upon in the times of the Roman republic (they put a lot of emphasis on your lineage). So, because of his family’s lack of status, he had to advocate for himself the way he did (father of the republic, savior of rome, etc) not only to bolster his own reputation, but also to secure a future for his children, so that they would have a powerful ancestor to fall back on. It is evident through his letters to atticus and other friends that he realized his displays of grandeur were over the top and ridiculous, but necessary in the society he lived in. Also, Cicero was a constitutionalist. He didn’t do anything simply to be petty, though I can’t say that wasn’t part of his motivations sometimes. He loved his country and the republic system and wanted to see it thrive, which is why he opposed caesar publicly (they were actually good friends in private).

Cicero is like Dante- both huge self-aggrandizing blowhards, but both so good at their jobs you can't be mad at them

I think you're being a bit unfair to my favorite boomer Cicero, but he did like to blown his own horn. My favorite story is that he wanted someone to make him an Epic poem like the Illiad or the Enead about one of his accomplishments. Nobody accepted the job because it was kinda cringe, and he decided to make it himself. We don't have a copy nowadays, but from all sources it was an incredibly terrible work, which makes Cicero one of the best prose writers in Rome and also one of his worst poets.

7:57 Well, He still gets to look down on everyone at least.

Got to admire his sticking to his principles

I always find it interesting how different RU-vidrs can show different preferences in historical figures. This versus the portrayal of Cicero in historia civilis show the same actions but differently. I think Cicero can be a bit of a smug man, but when you compare him to Caesar (whom, for the record, I like) and Cato (whom I despise) he comes out well.

Doing the right thing *because* it’s the right thing isn’t petty. It was a cornerstone of Platonic philosophy and Hellenistic culture. Way to assassinate Cicero’s character without accounting for the intellectual climate or social virtues of the period.

this is like the 4th time ive been randomly interested in a topic (late roman republic in this case) and it just so happens you upload a video on the same topic the next day

Cicero- The Keyboard Warrior of the roman republic.

That intro is just perfect. That is exactly what Cicero war. The most pedantically self-righteous man in Rome, and easily one of the most interesting. He is a bit of a dunce when it comes to his marriage. He leaves his powerhouse of a first wife for some bimbo, basically, because I guess he got tired of being married to someone who had money, estates, power, connections...

Other roman greats: I want power and wealth Cicero: I just want to be always right

If Cicero had only realized how much fonder he would be remembered as a historian/writer than as a politician and focused his energy there instead. Like, it's not even close: he's at best a 3/10 politician stupidly competing against Caesar, Mark Anthony, Octavius and others way out of his league. But at the same time he's a 10/10 writer (12/10 if you ask anyone alive during the Renaissance) who will be studied by basically every European who got a higher education between 1500-1900 and is still a great source for both historians and students of classical Latin.

I love how abruptly all these biographies end. One day, you just die. Poetic.

Cicero was such a self righteous and needy jerk that he changed how he spoke latin, intentionally putting the verbs at the end of the sentence, so that people HAD to listen to everything he said so they could know what he was talking about. You couldn't just stop listening or you'd have no idea what he was trying to say. And then this became standard.

I just love how Cicero was just Phoenix Wright cranked up to eleven. Before the series was made.

Man was the only one to realize that killing Caesar would just make a power vacuum and make them all look guilty lol

4:10 He was such a good orator he came up with the saying “my cross to bear” like sixty years before the birth of Christ!

Cicero actually wrote an Epic that didn't survive. Epics are usually of huge importance to the cultures that created them and told of epic heroes that have the inspiration of the Gods within them and are therefore Gods themselves. You know who he wrote it about? Yes. Himself.

Cicero's biggest fault, he thought he could manipulate and control Octavian

Caesers time as consul Caser: Here are some bills that will help 99% of all Romans Cicero: It's a good bill but the time is no- bla bla bla (internally) "this is too good it's going to make him too popular!? Why hav't I come up with it!?!" Cato: Fuck you NO REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Casaer; WHY!? Cato: Becuse REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

My friend recommended Robert Harris' Cicero trilogy to me so I now recommend it to anyone else. It is phenomenal.

I get that the video is supposed to memetic in many ways but it really paints Cicero in a light that ignores a lot of what he tried to do. Also to call him a hero is a bit of a stretch, in many ways he was just the last levee on the dam that was the Roman Republic who didn’t do enough to protect himself from the wrath of Antony

7:13 I can’t believe you used Cassius Longinus from A Courtesan of Rome, I really enjoyed it, apart from that a great video Jack, keep it up!

I've been in love with Cicero for years :3

I am of twwo minds on Cicero. First of all he was one of the all time greats as a writer, almost as good as Caesar. The second is that he was so envious of the Optimates that he tried everything to get into their club but they all turned their noses up to him and snickered, 'new man go back to the farm."

Can you do Seneca next?

Ah Cicero, the second most petty, arrogant Roman in history. Second to Antony and tied with Caesar. I can't help but admire the guy

What I love about this content is that it's sort of like a roast for the figures of history we all find so fascinating. Bravo! Also, Ayn Rand getting pissed about Cicero's altruism is hilarious.

Man, Cicero became my favorite historical figure after reading Robert Harris' Imperium. Which I would recommend to anyone wanting to know about him

This was fun. And it reminded me to reread Colleen McCullough's Roman republic series.

There was a rumor awhile back that Christopher Walken was going to play Cicero. Couldn’t stop saying his quotes in that voice.

I love "Free to use" music, especially because sometimes I recognize it from completely different videos on RU-vid, case in point, i know the intro song from a Minecraft chill cottagecore building series from some 6 years ago

Awesome sauce, man. I love Cicero, he's one of my favorite historical characters, but YES, he was a pompass tool. A tool we should still be teaching mind you because, dick or no, he WAS pretty damn awesome.

In all honesty, I've never understood why Cicero was so revered. Yes, dealing with the Cataline Conspiracy is a big deal and deserves credit, as does his public speaking ability, but after the 1st Triumvirate was formed, he basically became useless, outside the time he owned Mark Antony, and that ended with his hands being nailed to the Senate door. He didn't save the Republic, and in some cases, actually directly helped accelerate its fall, like giving Octavian the consulship, thinking that he was so smart and placating an inexperienced boy's ego, only for Octavian to pull one of the biggest, Reverse Uno cards and take over the whole shaybang. I'm sure I'm missing things, but in comparison to others like Julius Caesar, Octavian, Marius, the Gracchi, and Scipio Africanus, I don't see why he's so famous or looked up to. Hell, I'm more of a Cato the Younger fan myself as not only was his stoicism and extreme stubbornness somewhat admirable, but he actually led the Senate forces after Pompey's death and committed suicide so that Caesar couldn't use his pardoning as a political tool. Cato the Younger, in my opinion deserves just as much, if not more credit for than Cicero, but again, I'm sure I'm missing something.

Cicero's finest hour is probably the best hour in history, just sayin just sayin

kiiinda feels like you can't stand the idea of someone doing things for good motives so dig into ways to characterize him as a blowhard. Maybe that's just how it comes across. But it comes across that way.

While Caesar wrote self agrandizing adventure novels, Cicero wrote self indulgent text books. It was for thay reason Caesar was popular.

Cicero is my favorite Roman Statesman. This video has reinforced my view of him as a smart dude.

"Its my cross to bare" ~ Cicero 20 BC A now famous quote that likely spawned the phrase, saw a short surge in popularity until it started to die out by 1-0 B.C, by 12 A.C we have no records of its use in any form until it saw another massive surge in popularity around 30-36 AC when then popular figurehead Jesus Christ was reported as having said "Yea of course I'll pick up the boys tab at the brothel, Since my girl Mary gets an employee discount anyway *its just my cross to bare* ", showing that he was truely a humble and selfless man of the people. Unfortunately later that night he was cought trying to flee the massive debt by the bouncers and turned into a sight seeing attraction until the debt was paid.

You have this disgustingly wrong. You're ignoring Cicero's origins, the culture of Roman patricians, ancient Mediterranean cultural norms, and, I mean, you depicted one of the greatest defenders of the Republic and Senate ever say that he was part of an empire (5:35 ish). I could go on about how Cicero always had to defend himself for not technically being native to Rome, how pretty much everybody in Roman politics at the time spoke with lots of grandeur, how the frivolous things you said Cicero was asking for actually had precedent, but I'll stop myself now before it becomes an essay. Edit: wow, this video is an utter bastardization of Cicero's life to the fullest extent. I'll reiterate, Cicero wasn't technically native to Rome and he certainly had critics for being an institutionalist that made a very big point of it and called him and immigrant. While Clodius was undeniably utterly Roman and ended up moving to a poorer area of Rome for populist support (it's was to become plebian but it also was very symbolic too), Cicero was very deniably Roman to his opponents and so buying an extremely lavish mansions bolsters his Roman-ness

I'm ready for Historia Civilis to react to this

"No plan! No system! No method!." - Cicero about the Liberators.

little addition to the throwaway line "cicero started to irritate anthony": Cicero and anthony had a life long fued going on, after cicero had one of anthony's family members executed. While Anthony was a man of harsh actions, Cicero was as depicted more the sly fox. Answering Anthony's "subtle death threats" (like "Hey man I can't really garantee your safety in Rome anymore" and stuff like that), Cicero once attacked Anthony in the senate with a speech lasting SIXTEEN rolls of perkament. While it's impossible to determine how long one scroll is and how much handwriting fits on it, it's safe to say you could wrap the entire senate building into that amount, making it literally the longest burn in ancient history

Man, your Arthur and Cicero just appeared today. Clealry RU-vid doing shady things again lol.

Historia Civilis does not approve.

"[Cicero is] the most contemptible scoundrel in history" ~Friedrich Engels