Cicero And The Catiline Conspiracy

In this situation Cassius had a conversation about killing Mark Antony as well as Caesar. This was a form of Treason. Cassius would never have said such things if he did not have the power to. Being a senator he felt he had the right to decide what was good for Rome. He not only said this for Rome, but for himself as well. If Caesar had become King, he would have been able to get ride of Cassius. This thought did not please Cassius. "Casca, you are the first to that rears your hand" (Shakespeare 3.1.30). This was another point in the story where treason was committed. It took place in the Senate House, as Caesar approached. Cassius and the other senators discussed how Casca would attack Caesar first.

Both Marcus Aurelius and Cicero try to create a guide, based on their stoic views, on how a person is supposed to live a purposeful life. Marcus Aurelius was an emperor and Cicero was a politician, so both serve somebody or something. In Cicero’s “On Friendship” he bases his guides on what he has learned from important people in his life. In Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” he bases his guide off of what he has learned as an emperor with stoic views. Some of what he Aurelius has learned is different from Cicero’s view of stoicism; an example of this is in section seven of Meditations. Section seven of Meditations is about what Aurelius learned from his tutor. He states, “Endure hardship, and have few needs; to do things for myself and not

The Civil war had started in 1861 in fort Sumter when the southern states did not wish to give up slaves, due to the hiring of paid labor would decrease profits. It was the summer in 1863 and General Lee was trying to figure out how to best end the war, with the succession being successful or victory for the south.

He spent 8 years in Gaul territory, expanding the army and expanding the Roman Republic. Around 49 BCE - 50 BCE, Caesar went back to Rome, because Pompey and the senate ordered him to disband his army and return. When he crossed the Rubicon river with his army(not following the senate 's rules), it initiated the civil war, which Caesar won. He then was able to become whatever he wanted to, so became consul and dictator which helped him achieve the things he set out for.

In the victory over the battle of Pompey, supporters that sided with Pompey, Caesar still forgave them, “Surely not his former opponents, the defeated Pompey supporters like Cicero himself, who had been allowed to return to Rome and the Senate with their properties intact, and who were now his staunchest and most appreciative friends” (Parenti 172). Caesars concerns wasn’t to be biased and was only in favor of returning to the prosperous, content Rome. The aristocrats then decided to mastermind a plan with the senators in order to take Caesar’s life and remove his reign of reforms. Upon arrival, Caesar would be gathered around his senators and hear about Tillius Climber’s petition about allowing his brother to be return from being exiled. Delivering the first assault would be led by Casca, followed by a slash from Cassius, and after encountering twenty-three stab wounds, Caesar would bleed to death and lay motionless.

Cicero is presenting his version of events; he is focused on gaining more dignitas, as most Romans are. Cicero is going to present a much more nefarious-seeming Cataline intent on destroying the Roman republic. He accuses Catiline of being a sore loser over his defeat in the consular election the previous year:

Background Cicero was one of the greatest orators in Ancient Rome. He was not of noble birth, but in 64 BCE became consul, one of the most powerful offices in the Roman Republic. Cicero's time as consul was difficult, and he successfully prevented an overthrow of the Republic and his own assassination. Once Julius Caesar began to amass more and more personal power, however, he receded from active politics because he believed the ideals of the Republic would be diffused with tyranny. Once Caesar was assassinated, Cicero again became popular but because of his dislike (public and private) of Mark Antony, as Antony's power grew, Cicero's diminished. He was killed in December 43 BCE after being declared an enemy of the Republic.

The other two triumvirs agreed to grant Julius Caesar the office of consul in 59 BC. He was appointed the governor of Roman Gaul in 58 BC and built up an army there. Caesar marched north into Gaul and defeated the Helvetii. Caesar's military contributions to the empire were significant, but he destroyed the Republic with his civil wars. His march on Rome exploited the precedent of Sulla, whose own march was due to far more legitimate political issues. Caesar simply didn't want to be prosecuted for the innumerable laws he broke during his consulship, and so refused to lay down his arms when ordered by the Senate and People of

My fellow senators, if I may begin by bringing attention to the issue at hand. We speak of Catiline and his crimes, and what should be done to defend Rome from his devious plots of insurrection. I have heard several of his followers speak before me, and they seem to disregard the accusations against the very man that leads them. His proposals are not the matter we are currently discussing. How can you speak of highly of reforms without voicing defense of the man who proposed them? He, who has been accused of attempted assassination upon our presiding magistrate? Even worse, he denies his involvement in the face of his failure. Unlike the brave Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Catiline will not show honor by thrusting his hand into the fire and facing these accusations as a true Roman should. Instead, he proves himself to be a coward by hiding in claims that the assassination was never attempted; or, at least, not by him.

Caesar's successes in Gaul, along with his growing power and wealth, drove Pompey. While Caesar was fighting in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for Rome, which revealed that he was now covertly allied with Caesar's enemies. Pompey also made it clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar defenseless before his enemies. Pompey was elected consul without colleague in 52. The

     Cicero was a member of the Senate during the time of Catiline’s Conspiracy. His life was

Caesar was duplicity, he wanted to be a king but denied it on public “Some even proposed to call him king, until he heard of this and forbade it himself, saying the name was evil after the curse laid on it by their ancestors” (Appian The civil wars ex. 106). However, his behavior in various aspects illustrated that he really wanted to be a king. He celebrated the victory of the civil war which upset most of the Roman citizen because it was not vanquishing foreign general but destroyed numerous Roman family and consolidated Caesar’s own position in Roman (Plutarch Caesar ex. 56). Also he did not put the tribunes into death who over and over again peeved Caesar by intimated that he is a king in public (Dio Roman history ex.). This could be regarded as his mercy, but could not avoid the truth that it might be his willing to be a

Many people wonder whether Brutus should or should not join the conspiracy. In William Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar” play, Brutus is conflicted by joining the conspiracy, which helps Rome, but hurts his best friend Caesar in the process. Brutus did the right thing by joining the conspiracy for the better of Rome. He is able to use Logos, Ethos, and Pathos to justify the reasons for his actions against Caesar. Brutus’s main reason for killing Caesar is to stop him before he gets too powerful. As Brutus says in the story, “And therefore we think of him as a serpent’s egg which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous, and kill him in the shell.” (II, i, 32-34). Not only does Brutus want to stop him before he gets to powerful, but he also

Once Caesar’s wife, Cornelia, had died, he remarried to a woman named Pompeia who ironically was “a wealthy Optimate granddaughter of the Emperor Sulla.” Caesar went on to gain the support of Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey or Pompey the Great) and become friends with Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome, which allowed him to run for generalship and Chief Priest in 63 BC. He divorced Pompeia after finding out she cheated with another man, and moved to Spain to serve as praetor of Hispania. Caesar served as consul in the year 59 BC and with his friends Pompey and Crassus, led as the first triumvirate for 10 years. From 58 BC to 50 BC, Caesar led his Roman army to conquer Gaul, modern day France, and making him loved by his soldiers and a hero to the Roman people. He prevented Germanic attacks in his conquered lands by building walls and making a spectacle of his armies, a message the German tribes understood clearly. To finalize the conquest of Gaul in 52 BC, Caesar killed the Gallic leader Vercingetorix in the Battle of Alesia. In 50 BC Pompey, who was running the senate in Rome, ordered for Caesar and his troops to return to the capital, but Caesar refused the senate’s orders and brought his army across the Rubicon River of Italy to Rome to fight Pompey’s army in 49 BC where Pompey and his army fled. Caesar then defeated Pompey’s armies in Greece, Egypt, Asia, and

The more conservative people in Rome did not like Caesar and continued to block his attempts at being re-elected to political offices (Gruen 13; “Julius Caesar“). It did not help that Pompey took the conservatives’ side on many topics, which hurt Caesar’s political campaigns even more (Gruen 13). After crossing the Rubicon river on January 10, 49 B.C., Caesar defeated Pompey and his troops, and his army forced Pompey’s to surrender (Gruen 13; “Julius Caesar“). In his attempt to go after Pompey, Caesar fled to Egypt and conquered many groups in Italy along the way(Gruen 13; “Julius Caesar“). Once in Italy, Caesar met Cleopatra and eventually, the two would