Cicero, Statesmanship, and Republicanism in Roman Historiography

The reputation of the statesman M. Tullius Cicero in the Roman imperial period (ca. 31 BC – 300 AD) is often approached from a rhetorical perspective. After all, Cicero was most influential as an orator and rhetorician — or was he? This dissertation discusses four important episodes in the reception of Cicero’s political achievements, which together demonstrate that the orator’s career is fruitfully applied by imperial historical writers to symbolize the crisis of the first-century Roman Republic. As Sallust testifies, already in the late Republic, Cicero’s skills as political leader are critically evaluated (and found wanting). In the early empire, under the influence of the Roman discourse of exemplarity, which amplifies civic virtue at the cost of anything else, Cicero’s public achievements are often overshadowed by a focus on his intellectualism. Readings of Seneca, Plutarch, Appian, and Cassius Dio show further how in the course of the first three centuries AD, Cicero’s life exemplifies the conflict between intellectual ideals and political interests. This dissertation explores step by step how Cicero became a universal icon for the problem of political morality, which, according to ancient authors, lay at the basis of the fall of the Republic.