Cicero

Cicero was a new man from Arpinum who rose by oratory to the consulship, exposed Catiline’s conspiracy, and was exiled, recalled, and finally proscribed and killed by Antony’s soldiers after the assassination of Caesar. His speeches made Latin prose; his letters, never meant for publication, are the fullest record of any ancient life. In the months before his death he wrote the philosophical works that carried Greek thought to Rome and the Middle Ages: On Duties for his son, On Friendship and On Old Age for his friend Atticus. Petrarch’s rediscovery of the letters began the Renaissance.