Cicero

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas developed by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) to support and reinvigorate the Roman Republic when, as it transpired, it was in its final years, threatened by civil wars, the rule of Julius Caesar and the triumvirates that followed. As Consul he had suppressed a revolt by Catiline, putting the conspirators to death summarily as he believed the Republic was in danger and that this danger trumped the right to a fair trial, a decision that rebounded on him. While in exile he began works on duty, laws, the orator and the republic. Although left out of the conspiracy to kill Caesar, he later defended that murder in the interests of the Republic, only to be murdered himself soon after. With Melissa Lane The Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University and 2018 Carlyle Lecturer at the University of Oxford Catherine Steel Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow And Valentina Arena Reader in Roman History at University College London Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website.
0:07.0	And you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.0	Hello, in 63BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero was elected as one of the two consoles in Rome.
0:21.0	The highest political position, a remarkable rise for someone born outside the establishment.
0:26.0	One of his goals was to stabilize the Republic, which was under threat from armed conspirators,
0:31.0	aristocrats who claimed to be men of the people, and generals who would be tyrants.
0:35.0	He suppressed a revolt to great acclaim, executing the ring leaders without trial.
0:40.0	Only to be exiled for this act once their supporters were in power.
0:43.0	Exiled gave him time to develop his ideas about the form the Republic should take, if he were to survive.
0:49.0	How the powers would be balanced within it, how to reconcile duty with self-interest,
0:54.0	and how to deal with tyrants, the true enemies as he saw it of the people.
0:58.0	We need to discuss Cicero's life and political philosophy, our Melissa Lane,
1:02.0	and the class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University, Catherine Steele,
1:07.0	Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow, and Valentina Airena,
1:11.0	reader in Roman history at University College London.
1:14.0	Melissa Lane, what was Cicero's background?
1:16.0	Cicero came from a town outside Rome that had only recently been given the privileges of full citizens.
1:23.0	He was a Noah's Homo, he was a new man, his family hadn't had historically political power or political office in Rome.
1:32.0	He really had to make his way on his own merits.
	...

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