Cicero’s relationships with the Optimates and Populares

• Cicero has 2 massive chips on his shoulder: He is a novus homo and part of the equites class
• Cicero is lower class than his rivals like Caesar and Cato and has fewer clients as he is a novus homo
• Cicero makes his name by prosecuting the senator Verres for his behaviour while governor of Sicily


  70BC
• Verres' accusation of extortion


  Wants to make the most money by openly going around and taking people's stuff and money, leading the people of Sicily to ask Cicero to defend them
• Cicero's actions in Verres' case

  Collecting strong evidence, publishing it before his speech, causing Verres' lawyer Hortensius to suggest exile as he has no defense
• Cicero becomes the best lawyer in Rome due to beating Hortensius
• Cicero becomes aedile and successfully defends his first senator Marcus Fonteius


  69BC
• Fonteius' accusation of extortion

  During his governorship in Cisalpine Gaul
• By clearing Fonteius of charges, Cicero increased his network of supporters from both groups
• In the 60s, politics starts dividing into factions, with Cicero treading carefully between groups like Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and the optimates
• Cato and the Opimates look down on Cicero because they are optimates and Cicero is equites
• In his speech against Verres, Cicero suggested he held similar views to Pompey, mainly sympathy to the populares
• In 67BC, Cicero campaigned to be Praetor and deliberately didn't get involved with the lex Gabinus, Aulus Gabinius' proposal to give Pompey command against the pirates
• Cicero, as praetor, made a speech advocating for Pompey to be given the command against Mithridates


  66BC
• Cicero supported Pompey to make Rome safe and secure her finances, appealing widely to the equites and the people without appearing revolutionary
• Cicero's support for Pompey risked alienating him from the optimates he had previously supported
• The Manilian law was passed, granting Pompey imperium to fight in the East
• The key difference between Cicero and Cato is that Cicero was willing to compromise to maximize his appeal as he aspired to be consul
• Cicero became consul and made a speech critical of a bill proposed by the tribune Publius Servius Rullus about land reform on his first day in the job

  63BC
• Cicero became consul


  63BC
• Cicero tested both his principles and his bonds of optimate amicitia greatly
• On his first day as consul (1st January), Cicero made a speech critical of a bill proposed by the tribune Publius Servius Rullus about land reform
• The bill proposing land redistribution was supported by all 10 tribunes and backed by Caesar and Crassus behind the scenes
• The proposal was to set up a commission of 10 men for 5 years to look at redistribution of land, an attractive prospect to the urban masses
• Cicero was concerned that places on the commission would be attractive for power-hungry individuals seeking popular appeal
• Cicero bribed his co-consul Antonio by offering him the wealthy province Macedonia for his governorship the next year
• Cicero's speech convinced the people that the bill was a fraudulent gesture of populism driven by personal ambition, giving individuals the power of kings
• Cicero positioned himself against Caesar by opposing the bill
• The Catiline conspiracy was a defining event of Cicero's consulship in 63BC
• Catiline, from an ancient patrician family, was believed by Cicero to be guilty of trying to overthrow the State
• Cicero called an SCU (Senatus consultum ultimum) which suspended normal restrictions on consuls to protect the state
• Cicero used the SCU to apply the death penalty, even to Roman citizens
• Caesar recommended life imprisonment for the plotters
• Cato spoke in favor of executing the plotters
• Cicero won almost full senatorial backing and had the plotters put to death
• The Catiline conspiracy was considered Cicero's greatest achievement as a politician
• Cicero achieved his personal ambition to become consul and saved the state from ruin
• The end of the 60s saw the optimates close ranks and their uncompromising behavior towards Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey led to the formation of an alliance that undermined the future of the Republic forever