Cicero: Early Career and Consulship

Why This Page Matters

Cicero's career is the lens through which we see the late Republic most clearly. As a novus homo — the first man in his family to reach the Senate, let alone the consulship — he has to fight harder than anyone for his position. His weapon is oratory. His political vision — concordia ordinum, harmony between Senate and equestrian order — represents the Republic's best hope for survival through consensus rather than force. But his consulship in 63 BC, while his greatest triumph, also plants the seeds of his later destruction.