OVERVIEW

In March 58 bc, the great orator and statesman M. Tullius Cicero left the city of Rome and went into exile. A few weeks after his departure, a distraught Cicero wrote to his friend Atticus of his remorse for having chosen exile instead of death: “The fact that you encourage me to live prevents me from harming myself, but you are not able to stop me from lamenting my decision and my life.” Cicero's letters during his eighteen-month exile are peppered with similar expressions of grief concerning his situation, as well as reports of his efforts to attain a recall from exile. Not all Roman exiles reacted in such distraught fashion, however. T. Albucius, an exile of a previous generation, seemed to flourish as a banished man. With his public career cut short by exile, Albucius did not lament the loss of his homeland and political aspirations, but reveled in his freedom from work and indulged his passion for philosophical study.

Although Cicero and Albucius had dissimilar reactions to their banishment, both had voluntarily chosen exile when faced with the potential of criminal prosecution. In this action, they were not unique: elite Romans pursuing public careers were always vulnerable to prosecution for their official conduct. When charged with a crime in Republican Rome, such men had a choice concerning their fate. They could either remain in Rome and face possible conviction and punishment or go into voluntary exile and avoid legal sentence.