Cicero presented himself as a lawful and just leader of Rome. However, were his actions truly selfless? Cicero’s crowning achievement was his triumph over Catiline, using his superior oratory skills to protect the senate. Could this case have only been to keep his seat in the senate, and not to keep Rome safe? If a leader does not keep a country safe, he could be killed or cast out of office, something which Cicero knew could happen to him. Thus to maintain popularity in the senate, Cicero went against the ideals of the Roman Republic by using tactics to protect his career, ignoring the economic crisis in Rome, and swaying the opinions of the senate unjustly.
Although born into a rich family, Cicero had to build his political career throughout
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He brought up irrelevant facts and accusations and used fear to instill bias. He wanted to completely separate Catiline and his cause from Rome, which, if we are using Cicero’s metaphor, is akin to cutting off a diseased limb instead of treating it. “-let them, as I have often said before, be separated from us by a wall; let them cease to plot against the consul in his own house … so much unanimity in all good men that you shall see everything made plain and manifest by the departure of Catiline, everything checked and punished.” Cicero, Marcus Julius. ("Cicero: The First Oration against Cataline." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras., Rome, Marcus Julius Cicero, 63 BCE.) Cicero seems to push a point in his speech, that everything will be made right if they cast Catiline out, the leader of a rebellion directly against Cicero and the seat he holds. “Checked and punished” is an untraditional version of the phrase, but reflects directly on what Cicero wished to do, which was to punish Catiline without the proper judicial proceedings. When referring to the Catilinian conspiracy, Caesar states, "It becomes all men, Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, cannot easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the same moment, his passions and his interest. When the mind is freely exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gains possession of it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless”. (Caesar, Gaius Julius. "The Speech of Caesar on the Mode of Punishing the Conspirators." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras.) Even though this was aimed at Cataline, this quote reflects Cicero, who, in his interest of maintaining power, disregarded both the senate and Rome. Cicero´s clouded judgement and