CICERO (Roman, 106-43 BCE)
Cicero: the name is synonymous with eloquence. Indeed, the little-used English word Ciceronian can mean "eloquent," and a cicerone is a "local guide." The Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and philosopher named Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, and wrote more than 75% of the Latin literature known to have existed in his day. Nevertheless, he considered politics his prime occupation, and it was his downfall: Mark Anthony and others had him assassinated for his principles, and received his hands and head as tribute. His letters were key catalysts of the Renaissance, which one scholar has called "a revival of Cicero," and only through him "the rest of Classical antiquity." His works remain important today.
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