Cicero was mostly disappointed by the news from Rome, especially the fact that the consuls Antony and Dolabella had five-year governorships voted for them in an assembly. Cicero, meanwhile, cultivated A. Hirtius, designated consul for 43, with the dedication of the work On Fate. He also wrote On Glory, with reflections on Caesar’s short-lived glory, and the Topics for his friend Trebatius. His plan to visit his son, who was studying philosophy in Athens, having been thwarted by adverse winds, he resolved to return to Rome to join the opposition. His First Philippic, delivered on September 2, politely criticizes Antony’s policies. When Antony replied with a searing attack on Cicero, the orator replied in the undelivered Second Philippic. After writing On Duties, dedicated to his son, he returned to Rome and argued in the Third Philippic for regularizing the commands of Octavian and D. Brutus in opposition to Antony, an argument summarized before the people in the Fourth Philippic.

Cicero, though back in Rome, still had to regain control of his property, the Palatine house having been destroyed and replaced by a temple of Libertas (“Liberty”) by Clodius. The case was difficult, since property properly dedicated to a god was not to be put to profane use. Cicero argued his case before the college of pontiffs and won them over, as well as the senate, which returned the site to him and appropriated funds for reconstruction. In the new year, Cicero was busy in the courts, defending his political ally P. Sestius against a charge of violence and his protégé M. Caelius Rufus against the same charge. The two speeches both won acquittals and rank among his finest. Cicero’s forensic successes led him to reassert himself politically, but the three-man coalition (Caesar, Pompey, Crassus) was reaffirmed at the Council of Luca, and Cicero had to back down.

The Sicilians requested that Cicero prosecute C. Verres, who had governed the province corruptly from 73 to 71, for extortion. Cicero, who was simultaneously a candidate for aedile, agreed. Verres was represented by Hortensius, who was Rome’s leading advocate. Cicero’s right to prosecute was opposed by Q. Caecilius, who was put forward as a collusive prosecutor by Verres. Cicero defeated Caecilius in a preliminary trial (divinatio). He was also elected aedile, in spite of bribery deployed against him by Verres. At trial, Cicero confined himself to a brief opening speech summarizing the charges and then presented a long parade of witnesses. When the trial was adjourned in mid-August 70, it was already clear that Verres’ case was hopeless, and he went into exile. Cicero published the massive material he had gathered in a large corpus of seven speeches and was henceforth the acknowledged leader of the Roman bar.

Under Caesar’s dictatorship, Cicero returned to his literary pursuits. This year, a series of works flowed from his pen dedicated to M. Brutus: Brutus, a historical survey of Roman orators; the Stoic Paradoxes, which aimed to show that Stoic doctrines could be presented in a more accessible way; the Cato, an encomium of Brutus’ uncle who had committed suicide rather than surrendering to Caesar; and the Orator, an exploration of the characteristics of the ideal orator. In the fall, Caesar pardoned M. Marcellus, who, like Cicero, was a consular who had joined the Pompeian side. Cicero delivered a speech of thanks in the senate, which also included advice about future actions. He also defended another ex-Pompeian, Q. Ligarius, in both private and public hearings before Caesar. His theoretical writing turned back to philosophy, with the dialogue Hortensius, probably also dedicated to Brutus, a protreptic or argument for the study of philosophy.

As aedile, Cicero made a positive impression thanks to help from the grateful Sicilians, who brought their products to Rome to reduce market prices. In light of Verres’ case, Cicero now began to attract top clients, including his first senatorial client, M. Fonteius, whom he defended on charges of extortion. Cicero also continued in politics, canvassing for and gaining election to the praetorship. Serving as praetor in 66, he delivered his first political speech, supporting a special command for Pompey against Mithridates vi of Pontus. The following year, he announced his candidacy for consul. He faced opposition from two nobles, L. Sergius Catilina (“Catiline”) and C. Antonius, who formed an electoral alliance against him. With the help of his friend Atticus and with a speech in the senate fiercely denouncing his competitors (the Speech in a White Toga), he was able to shore up the support necessary to win election.

Cicero set a new tone by curbing exactions made by previous governors, investigating corruption, and demanding restitution, measures that restored the cities of Cilicia to solvency. A feared invasion by the Parthians was averted by their defeat in Syria by C. Cassius Longinus and again in the following year by a court intrigue. Cicero saw some military action against rebels in his province, but his triumph was never realized. When Cicero returned to Italy, he found civil war brewing between Caesar and Pompey. After long hesitancy, he joined the latter but saw little action. After Pompey’s defeat at Pharsalus, Cicero returned to Italy but remained bottled up in Brundisium for over a year until Caesar finally granted permission for him to return home. But there were now domestic troubles, leading to the divorce of Terentia and marriage to Publilia, a teenager.

Cicero can be viewed either as a historical actor or as a figure of Latin culture. The former, inevitably, dominates the historical narratives of the period. Over time, a law of diminishing returns sets in as the earliest assessments by writers who were personally familiar with Cicero and/or the institutions and politics of the republic give way to an imperial mindset that focuses on the role models of the “good emperor” on the one hand and the “good courtier” on the other. These categories, retrojected not without distortion to the late republic, then become the basis of interpretation.

The Caesarians in the senate now resisted Cicero’s calls for war and enacted an embassy to present terms to Antony. Antony refused those terms but offered terms of his own. Some proposed that a second embassy be dispatched, including Cicero among the ambassadors, but the idea was dropped. Brutus’ status in command of troops was regularized, but Cicero was unable to persuade the senate to appoint Cassius to a command. The Fourteenth Philippic recounts Antony’s defeat at Forum Gallorum. At the following Battle of Mutina, Antony was again defeated, and the siege of D. Brutus was lifted, but there was no effective follow-up since Octavian and D. Brutus quarreled. In the end, Cicero’s coalition fell apart, the Caesarian commanders all uniting under a single banner and imposing their rule and a new set of proscriptions to liquidate their enemies. Cicero was on the first proscription list and fell victim on December 7.