Marcus Tullius Cicero's Role In Politics

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman lawyer and a politician who became consul in 63 B.C. He was considered one of the best orators of his time. He was given the governorship of a province called Cilicia in 51 B.C. While in Cilicia, his main aim was to make the lives of the locals comfortable and to enhance the economic situation the province was passing through. To achieve this, he avoided problems, tried not to cause trouble to the locals and tried not to spend money on expenses. On the other hand, his main concern was not being able to go back to Rome after his term was over. He was afraid he had to stay longer than a year.
Cicero was the successor of Appius Claudius Pulcher, who during his time as governor of Cilicia, caused the downfall of the province since he was a corrupt, intolerant and incompetent man. He devoted his governorship to enrich himself regardless of the situation of others. Once Cicero discovered the bizarre way in which his predecessor acted, he aimed to enhance the lives of the locals and boost the province’s economy. To achieve his goal one of the measures he enacted was to restrain himself from extravagances. He mentioned “under my governorship not a …show more content…
The main goal was to control improper conducts and each law tried to restrict them more and more. Rome’s reforms show that several times governors had taken advantage of the provinces they were in charge of, instead of improving or maintaining their status. Hence, based on Cicero’s words, his behavior was faultless. He stood out for his “justice, self-control and mercifulness” as he mentions (Cicero, 2). Furthermore, the governors must maintain law and order in their respective provinces. Cicero also complied with this. Typically the governors tended to acquire a bad reputation due to the way they handled themselves while in charge. However, the reputation of Cicero could not be