Why This Page Matters
The year between Caesar's assassination and Cicero's death sees the Republic's final agony. Cicero, now in his sixties, makes one last political gamble: he attacks Antony in the Philippics, a series of devastating speeches modelled on Demosthenes' attacks on Philip of Macedon. He pins his hopes on the young Octavian, Caesar's adopted heir, believing he can be used and then discarded. It is his greatest miscalculation.
When Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus form the Second Triumvirate, Cicero's name appears on the proscription lists. His death on 7 December 43 BC is the death of the Republic's last voice.