The review of Cicero the statesman. By Smith, R E. New York: Cambridge University P, 1966. v-286.
The fact that Cicero was one of the best lawyers, orators, and political philosophers in the world, is not surprising to a lot of students, scholars and educated society. Many are even familiar with the history of the Roman Empire and the Roman republic. Form the first glance Professor Smith from the Manchester University wrote “another” book about Cicero and Rome. However, it is not an ordinary book because instead of retelling the history it analyses and evaluates it. The author gives a lot of arguments to the main thesis, which states that the political situation in Rome and the personality of Cicero himself gave rise to Cicero. The result is that the book to less experienced researchers leaves a pretty good understanding about the rise of Cicero and the decline of the Roman Republic during the century before the Common Era. Nonetheless, the lack of footnotes, other recourses or any other support of the arguments reduces the value of the book.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on 3 January 106 BCC in Arpinum, really close to Rome; however, he was born to a family, which did not belong to nobility. This fact influenced the whole life of Cicero- he wanted to change that fact since his childhood and struggled his entire time to get recognized by the nobility and politicians. In 89 B.C.E. Cicero found himself entering the military with the aim get recognized by the people of the Roman Republic, but in 71 B.C. E. he left the military because it became obvious to him that despite the fact that Rome was a republic, the country was governed by the Senate, which even though officially was a consultative and advisory body, in reality it was a niche for the nobility to control the republic.
According to Smith, Cicero had no choice but to try to enter the politics. The book’s second, fifth, ninth and eleventh chapters precisely deal with how Cicero was struggling to become a politician in the Roman Republic. He was deepening his understanding and broadening his experience of oratory art, making connections with important people, demonstrating to the society his lawyer’s skills. The book’s fourth chapter is exactly dedicated to Cicero’s as lawyer’s achievements. The most significant, according to Smith, was his victory in defending Sextus Roscius in court, after which Cicero had been assigned to Sicily as a tax collector (questor), chief of public works (aedile), chief judicial magistrate (praetor) and as chief executive of the republic (consul) at the end.