Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC, was an outspoken defender of republican principles amidst the civil wars that destroyed the existing order and gave rise to the Roman Empire. A noted orator and writer, he gave innovated the widely used styles of Ciceronian rhetoric and Ciceronian Latin.
Though of equestrian rather than patrician origins, Cicero became a famous scholar and writer in his day, and numerous letters, orations, and other writings survive, as well as musings on philosophical topics. His outspoken positions made him unpopular in political circles, however, and he was executed near Caieta December 7, 43 BC.
Short biography of the Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher (106 B.C.-43 B.C.). Harvard Classics editions of the Treatises on Friendship and on Old Age, and the Letters, as well as selected quotations from Bartlett. http://www.bartleby.com/people/Cicero-orat.html
