Cicero was born in Arpinum, a town some sixty miles southeast of Rome, on January 3, 106 bce. His family was well-to-do (of equestrian status) but previously involved only in local politics. His brother, Quintus, was one to four years younger. Their father took care to see that they received the best education available, first in grammar and rhetoric, later in philosophy, supplemented by observing the activities of a leading jurist. Cicero was a keen student and began writing, with poetry, a book on rhetoric, and a translated book on philosophy to his credit by the mid-80s. At the end of the decade, he began pleading in the courts and publishing his speeches. He won Terentia, an upper-class woman, as his wife and started a household.