We have seen how steadily since the days of the Gracchi
the Roman state had been moving toward the rule of one man. Marius, Sulla, and
Pompey each represent a step in the direction of monarchy. Yet there were still
able and patriotic leaders at Rome who believed in the old order of things and
tried their best to uphold the fast-perishing republic. No republican statesman
was more devoted to the constitution than Cicero. A native of Arpinum, the same
Italian town which had already given birth to Marius, Cicero came to Rome a
youth without wealth or family influence. He made his way into Roman society by
his social and conversational powers and by his capacity for friendship. His
mind had been carefully trained under the influence of Hellenic culture; he had
traveled and studied in Greece; and throughout life he loved to steal away from
the tumult of the Forum and the law courts and enjoy the companionship of his
books. Though the proud nobles were inclined to look down on him as a "new
man," Cicero's splendid eloquence soon gave him prominence in politics. He
ranks in fame as the second orator of antiquity, inferior only to Demosthenes.
