Contra spem spero? Cicero's Last Political Struggle

The aim of this article is to show how Marcus Tullius Cicero's hope for the restoration of the republic after Caesar's assassination changed in the last years of his life. The author analyses the information contained in Cicero's surviving letters and philosophical writings from that period. Their message is not unambiguous, which means that they can be interpreted in different ways today. Cicero was not a supporter of Caesar's dictatorship, but after his assassination, he was aware that tyranny continued and that the chances of rebuilding the republic were slim. Nevertheless, he undertook a final struggle, in which his weapons were speeches against Antony and philosophical writings, the content of which shows many similarities to Cicero's thoughts expressed in the Philippics. The orator did all this to prove that he deserved to be remembered by posterity

Cicero · Politics · Supporter · The Republic · Unification · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical Studies on Spain · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies