Commentary
The first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth essays in this series addressed the influence on the Constitution of four leading Greek thinkers. There is one more Greek on our list, the biographer Plutarch. He lived much later, however, so to retain chronological order, we now turn to our first Roman.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is a pivotal figure in the Western tradition. His writings were at the heart of Founding-era education. His precepts, whether derived directly from his compositions or from authors who relied on those compositions, permeated 18th-century political and ethical thought.
Cicero was born on Jan. 3, 106 B.C.E. in Arpinum (now Arpino), Italy. His family was part of the local aristocracy. “Marcus” was his given name, “Tullius” designated his clan, and “Cicero” the specific branch of his clan. Members of the founding generation frequently referred to him as “Tully,” an Anglicization of “Tullius.”…