Marcus Tullius Cicero minor (), or Cicero the Younger, was born in 65 BC. He was the son of the distinguished orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero and his first wife, Terentia. Cicero minor had an elder sister, Tullia, who was born in 79 and died in 45 BC.

Biography

In youth, apparently despairing over his father's exile to Greece in 58 BC, by 52 BC he had joined his father during his governorship in Cilicia. During his time in Cilicia he served as envoy to Deiotarus, king of Galatia, and returned to Italy with his father in 51 BC. In March 49 BC amid the start of

Caesar's civil war Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was a civil war during the late Roman Republic between two factions led by Julius Caesar and Pompey. The main cause of the war was political tensions relating to Caesar's place in the Republic on his expected ret ...

his father gave him the toga virilis at Arpinum. When his father took Pompey's side in mid-49 BC, Cicero minor followed him to Greece and served as officer of a cavalry detachment. After Pompey's defeat at Pharsalus in 48 BC, Cicero minor with his father was pardoned at Brundisium. The next year he was made one of the three municipal aediles at Arpinum with his cousin and one Marcus Casius as colleagues. During Caesar's Spanish campaign, Cicero minor asked his father for leave to join Caesar's troops in late 46 BC. However, Cicero minor evidently stayed at Rome, since by March 45 BC he was planning to go to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

for studies. While he was at Athens he wrote a letter to Tiro, a former slave, now

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

, of the family. In it, he said that he was practising declamation in Greek with Gorgias but had to let him go, because his father, whom he did not want to offend, had told him to. Cicero minor was then taught declamation in Greek by Cassius and Latin with Brutus, the two leading conspirators in the

assassination of Julius Caesar Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, was assassinated on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC by a group of senators during a Roman Senate, Senate session at the Curia of Pompey, located within the Theatre of Pompey in Ancient Rome, Rome. The ...

who, their deed complete, were in Greece trying to gain support for the war against the Second Triumvirate. Brutus praised Cicero and admired him for his noble spirit and his detestation of tyranny. During his time in

, Brutus gave Cicero command and used his services in a number of successful undertakings. While his father was in Rome leading the senate during the War of Mutina, he sought to advance Cicero minor to the

College of Pontiffs The College of Pontiffs (; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Rome, ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the Religion in ancient Rome, state religion. The college consisted of the ''pontifex maximus'' an ...

. However, after the senate's defeat, both father and son were proscribed by the

Second Triumvirate The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created at the end of the Roman republic for Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November ...

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

's request in late 43 BC. After his father was killed in those proscriptions that December, Cicero joined the ''liberatores'' led by Brutus and Cassius. After the republican defeat at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, Cicero minor fled to Sextus Pompey in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. He stayed with Sextus until the Pact of Misenum in 39 BC, when Cicero minor returned to Rome. Graciously received by Octavian, he was quickly advanced to a priesthood (either the augurate or pontificate). Made one of the suffect consuls for 30 BC at Octavian's initiative, Cicero minor announced Antony's death to the senate and people. The appointment was one of political theatre, allowing Octavian to associate through the younger Cicero defeat of a Roman internal enemy (as the elder Cicero had done with the Catilinarian conspiracy), distance Octavian from the crimes of the Second Triumvirate, and conjure the romantic image a son avenging his father's murder. Cicero minor had the senate revoke Antony's honours and tear his statues down, as well as decree that no

Antonii The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft w ...

would bear the name Marcus again. "Thus the heavenly powers devolved upon the family of Cicero the final steps in the punishment of Antony". After his consulship, he was proconsular governor of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. In 28 BC, he then served as legate to the imperial province of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Legacy

Later remembered as an alcoholic, Pliny, in ''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' () is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work' ...

'' recounts a story where in a drunken stupor Cicero Minor threw a goblet at Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Seneca the Elder Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder ( ; – c. AD 39), also known as Seneca the Rhetorician, was a Roman writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Corduba, Hispania. He wrote a collection of reminiscences about the Roman schools of rhetoric, ...

, in ''Suasoriae'', said that the younger had "none of his father's ability except his wit" and that he "was not gifted with a good memory, and drunkenness was gradually destroying any that he had"., also citing Dio, 46.18.5 (in a speech placed in the mouth of Quintus Fufius Calenus lambasting the elder Cicero for bringing up a son who is "sober neither night or day"); Sen. ''Suas.''
7.13
He is not known to have had any children.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cicero minor 60s BC births 1st-century BC clergy 1st-century BC Roman governors of Syria 1st-century BC Roman consuls Roman-era students in Athens Roman governors of Asia Tullii People of the War of Actium Year of birth uncertain Year of death unknown