Marcus Tullius Cicero
(106 BC - 43 BC)
Born in Arpinum in 106 bc, Cicero was educated in the capital and in Greece, served in the military in 89 bc, and made his first public defense in 81 bc. The greatest Roman orator blended existing styles of rhetoric: “A leading speaker will vary and modulate his voice,” he wrote, “raising and lowering it and deploying the full scale of tones.” Neither his skill nor his political views made him popular with the Second Triumvirate, and he was murdered in 43 bc, his severed head displayed in the forum.