The renowned orator Marcus Tullius Cicero went down in history as a master of changing sides on the fly and the archetypal ancient Roman chatterbox. But few know that early in his life - indeed, for most of it - he was a man of rare integrity and even courage, acting as a defender of the people and the unjustly wronged. It was only at the age of about 40 (!) that Cicero abandoned these qualities and embraced vicious political opportunism.

Cicero's youth coincided with the seizure of power in Rome by the aristocrat Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his cronies. Sulla was most famous for his proscriptions - lists of people he disliked, whom he declared outlaws without trial. Sulla graciously paid rewards to those who brought him the heads of these people, and also he confiscated the property of the unfortunate souls and divided it among himself and his friends. After Sulla's death, power was almost entirely in the hands of his aristocratic friends (in short, there were two, so to say, political parties in Rome - oligarchs and "popularis", "people's party"; of course, the latter were not beggars, but they passed more laws in favor of poor people). Those friends continued his work for many years, albeit on a lesser scale. In such 'joyous', lawless times, Cicero was not afraid to stand up for the unjustly accused, serving as their lawyer in court.

Cicero also governed the province of Sicily fairly and didn't extort money from the locals, which was a rarity in his time. There was a saying in Rome at those times that you go into debt during an election campaign, then after serving the required year in office, you recoup that debt, and only after that when serving as governor of a province do you finally earn a living. But Cicero conducted himself with exceptional integrity in the province and earned the respect of the provincials.

He seemed like the most wonderful person. What could go wrong?

Having finally been elected to the highest public office - the consul - Cicero suddenly distanced himself from the protection of the people, and his first notable act was to undermine an initiative to distribute land to poor Romans. He then opposed Lucius Sergius Catiline, an opponent of the aristocrats, and secured the execution of five of his supporters without trial. Catiline and his associates were considered highly dubious figures, yet the execution nevertheless sparked controversy in Rome and later became a major scandal.

For a while, I searched for information about whether Cicero had suddenly gone bankrupt before his consulate. But no, nothing of the sort happened in his life. The most accurate information on why he suddenly backed down was this: Cicero's honest actions had alienated the aristocratic faction, and as a result, he was going to face a failed consular campaign.

Cicero's weak point was vanity. He was a "new man" - the first in his family to hold a significant position. While today, rising from nothing only adds to a person's accomplishments, in Cicero's time, "new men" were often looked upon with some disdain. It was considered a great honor to assume each office in the same year in which you reached the minimum age permitted for it. Therefore, perhaps, when running for consul in "his year," Cicero, most fearful of not having this achievement, hedged his bets by making some promises to influential oligarchs.

However, after his consulship ended and the tribune Clodius held Cicero accountable for the execution of Catiline's supporters, the oligarchs simply abandoned him without interceding on his behalf. He was forced into exile, during which Marcus Tullius became deeply depressed. He was rescued from exile by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, who at the time belonged to the "people's party," and from then on, Cicero spent the rest of his life scurrying from faction to faction. He finally reached his end when Mark Antony, who, after Caesar's death, had orchestrated his own proscriptions with Octavian Augustus, caught up with Cicero and sent assassins after him.

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