Cicero was, of all the Roman senators, in favour of peace at all costs, until he was pushed to the absolute limits by public enemy number one, Marcus Antonius.
As always, it is my aim to draw links to the past in order to enhance our understanding of the present. In this article, I felt it best to present much of it through the manโs own words. I am confident you will hear and feel the reverberations from 2000 years ago.
I am not an advocate of war. I advocate for learning the lessons of the past in the hope we donโt repeat the mistakes, instead replicate the successes. But as humans, frail a species that we are, we have trouble doing so. I doubt anyone would want to be in the shoes of the President of the United States right now as he makes the tough decisions that only tough individuals are equipped to make.
These are some words of Cicero as he argued in the Senate on 5 January, 43 BC, for a change in approach to his bitter enemy, Marcus Antonius:
โ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ.
๐๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ-๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ.
๐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ญ.
๐, ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐บ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ; ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆโฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ถ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐บ?
๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐บ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ; ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.โ
Most of us as onlookers to what is occurring right now in our world have no idea what is truly going on. We form opinions; we put those opinions forward; we argue or agree. But we donโt feel the heat from the burning cauldron inside the decision-makerโs den. It is one not to be envied. We can only hope the outcome is the right and just one.
So, when I watch the unfolding of world events in real time, I turn to what we know of the past. There will always be a similar event from which can be drawn on. Nothing has really changed, only the clothes we wear.
Where we go from here is in the hands of History.
Sadly, for Cicero, the man he advocated for - Octavian, soon to become Augustus, first emperor of Rome - would betray him at the behest of Antonius. So insulted by Ciceroโs vitriolic speeches against him, Antonius would only agree to Octavianโs demands upon formation of a new triumvirate comprised of the two and Lepidus, that he ordered Ciceroโs hands and head cut off and be delivered to him to be displayed on the rostra from where he delivered his magnificent speeches.
Oh, the irony in that move!
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