＂馬庫斯·杜利烏斯·西塞羅是羅馬的政治家、律師、學者、哲學家、作家和學術懷疑論者，他試圖在導致羅馬帝國建立的政治危機中維護最佳觀點原則。他的大量著作包括有關修辭學、哲學和政治的專著。並是所謂“西塞羅式修辭”的創新者。＂
"Marcus Tullius Cicero[a] (/ˈsɪsəroʊ/ SISS-ə-roh; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs ˈtʊlli.ʊs ˈkɪkɛroː]; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric".Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.
He greatly influenced both ancient and modern reception of the Latin language. A substantial percentage of his work has survived, and he was admired by both ancient and modern authors alike.Cicero adapted the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy in Latin and created a large amount of Latin philosophical vocabulary via lexical innovation (e.g. neologisms such as evidentia, generator, humanitas, infinitio, qualitas, quantitas), almost 150 of which were the result of translating Greek philosophical terms.
Though he was an accomplished orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. It was during his consulship that the Catiline conspiracy attempted to overthrow the government through an attack on the city by outside forces, and Cicero (by his own account) suppressed the revolt by summarily and controversially executing five conspirators without trial, an act which would later lead to his exile. During the chaotic middle period of the first century BC, marked by civil wars and the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, Cicero was a supporter of the Optimates faction. Following Caesar's death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and consequently executed by soldiers operating on their behalf in 43 BC, having been intercepted during an attempted flight from the Italian peninsula. His severed hands and head (representing his career as an orator) were then displayed on the Rostra.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, and classical Roman culture. According to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, "the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity." The peak of Cicero's authority and prestige came during the 18th-century Enlightenment, and his impact on leading Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists such as John Locke, David Hume, Montesquieu, and Edmund Burke was substantial. His works rank among the most influential in global culture, and today still constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for the writing and revision of Roman history, especially the last days of the Roman Republic.
Cicero has been traditionally considered the master of Latin prose, with Quintilian declaring that Cicero was "not the name of a man, but of eloquence itself." The English words Ciceronian (meaning "eloquent") and cicerone (meaning "local guide") derive from his name. He is credited with transforming Latin from a modest utilitarian language into a versatile literary medium capable of expressing abstract and complicated thoughts with clarity. Julius Caesar praised Cicero's achievement by saying "it is more important to have greatly extended the frontiers of the Roman spirit than the frontiers of the Roman empire". According to John William Mackail, "Cicero's unique and imperishable glory is that he created the language of the civilized world, and used that language to create a style which nineteen centuries have not replaced, and in some respects have hardly altered."
Cicero was also an energetic writer with an interest in a wide variety of subjects, in keeping with the Hellenistic philosophical and rhetorical traditions in which he was trained. The quality and ready accessibility of Ciceronian texts favored very wide distribution and inclusion in teaching curricula, as suggested by a graffito at Pompeii, admonishing: "You will like Cicero, or you will be whipped".
Cicero was greatly admired by influential Church Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo, who credited Cicero's lost Hortensius for his eventual conversion to Christianity, and St. Jerome, who had a feverish vision in which he was accused of being "follower of Cicero and not of Christ" before the judgment seat.
This influence further increased after the Early Middle Ages in Europe, where more of his writings survived than any other Latin author. Medieval philosophers were influenced by Cicero's writings on natural law and innate rights
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters provided the impetus for searches for ancient Greek and Latin writings scattered throughout European monasteries, and the subsequent rediscovery of classical antiquity led to the Renaissance. Subsequently, Cicero became synonymous with classical Latin to such an extent that a number of humanist scholars began to assert that no Latin word or phrase should be used unless it appeared in Cicero's works, a stance criticised by Erasmus.
His voluminous correspondence, much of it addressed to his friend Atticus, has been especially influential, introducing the art of refined letter writing to European culture. Cornelius Nepos, the first century BC biographer of Atticus, remarked that Cicero's letters contained such a wealth of detail "concerning the inclinations of leading men, the faults of the generals, and the revolutions in the government" that their reader had little need for a history of the period.
Among Cicero's admirers were Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, and John Locke. Following the invention of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, De Officiis was the second book printed in Europe, after the Gutenberg Bible. Scholars note Cicero's influence on the rebirth of religious toleration in the 17th century.
Cicero was especially popular with the Philosophes of the 18th century, including Edward Gibbon, Diderot, David Hume, Montesquieu, and Voltaire. Gibbon wrote of his first experience reading the author's collective works thus: "I tasted the beauty of the language; I breathed the spirit of freedom; and I imbibed from his precepts and examples the public and private sense of a man...after finishing the great author, a library of eloquence and reason, I formed a more extensive plan of reviewing the Latin classics..."
Voltaire called Cicero "the greatest as well as the most elegant of Roman philosophers" and even staged a play based on Cicero's role in the Catilinarian conspiracy, called Rome Sauvée, ou Catilina, to "make young people who go to the theatre acquainted with Cicero." Voltaire was spurred to pen the drama as a rebuff to his rival Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon's own play Catilina, which had portrayed Cicero as a coward and villain who hypocritically married his own daughter to Catiline.
Montesquieu produced his "Discourse on Cicero" in 1717, in which he heaped praise on the author because he rescued "philosophy from the hands of scholars, and freed it from the confusion of a foreign language".Montesquieu went on to declare that Cicero was "of all the ancients, the one who had the most personal merit, and whom I would prefer to resemble."
Internationally, Cicero the republican inspired the Founding Fathers of the United States and the revolutionaries of the French Revolution. John Adams said, "As all the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher united than Cicero, his authority should have great weight." Thomas Jefferson names Cicero as one of a handful of major figures who contributed to a tradition "of public right" that informed his draft of the Declaration of Independence and shaped American understandings of "the common sense" basis for the right of revolution. Camille Desmoulins said of the French republicans in 1789 that they were "mostly young people who, nourished by the reading of Cicero at school, had become passionate enthusiasts for liberty".
Jim Powell starts his book on the history of liberty with the sentence: "Marcus Tullius Cicero expressed principles that became the bedrock of liberty in the modern world."
Likewise, no other ancient personality has inspired as much venomous dislike as Cicero, especially in more modern times. His commitment to the values of the Republic accommodated a hatred of the poor and persistent opposition to the advocates and mechanisms of popular representation. Friedrich Engels referred to him as "the most contemptible scoundrel in history" for upholding republican "democracy" while at the same time denouncing land and class reforms. Cicero has faced criticism for exaggerating the democratic qualities of republican Rome, and for defending the Roman oligarchy against the popular reforms of Caesar. Michael Parenti admits Cicero's abilities as an orator, but finds him a vain, pompous and hypocritical personality who, when it suited him, could show public support for popular causes that he privately despised. Parenti presents Cicero's prosecution of the Catiline conspiracy as legally flawed at least, and possibly unlawful.
Cicero also had an influence on modern astronomy. Nicolaus Copernicus, searching for ancient views on earth motion, said that he "first ... found in Cicero that Hicetas supposed the earth to move."
馬庫斯·杜利烏斯·西塞羅是羅馬的政治家、律師、學者、哲學家、作家和學術懷疑論者，他試圖在導致羅馬帝國建立的政治危機中維護最優觀點的原則。他的大量著作包括有關修辭學、哲學和政治的專著。他被認為是羅馬最偉大的演講家和散文風格家之一，並是所謂“西塞羅式修辭”的創新者。西塞羅在羅馬和希臘受過教育。他出身於羅馬騎士級別的富有市民家庭，並在公元前63年擔任執政官。
他對拉丁語的古代和現代接受影響深遠。他的很大一部分作品得以保存下來，並且他受到古代和現代作家的一致欽佩。西塞羅將希臘哲學主要學派的論點改寫成了拉丁語，並通過語詞創新（例如明證、生成器、人道主義、無窮小、品質、量）創造了大量的拉丁語哲學詞彙，其中差不多150個是從希臘的哲學術語翻譯過來的。
儘管他是一位出色的演說家和成功的律師，西塞羅認為他的政治生涯是他最重要的成就。在他的執政期間，卡提林陰謀試圖通過外部力量對城市的攻擊來推翻政府，而西塞羅（依據他自己的描述）通過決定性且具爭議性的行動，在未經審判地處決了五名陰謀者以鎮壓了這場叛亂，這個行動最終導致了他的流亡。在公元前一世紀的混亂中期，這個時期被內戰和朱利葉斯·凱撒的獨裁統治所標誌，西塞羅是最優分派的支持者。在凱撒死後，西塞羅在隨後的權力鬥爭中成為了馬克·安東尼的敵人，並在一系列演說中攻擊他。他被第二個執政官聯盟視為國家的敵人，並因此在公元前43年被他們的士兵處決，處決他的時候他正在試圖從義大利半島逃亡。他被割下來的手和頭（代表他作為一位演說家的生涯）然後在羅斯特拉展示出來。
佩特拉克重新發現了西塞羅的書信，經常被認為是14世紀公共事務、人文主義和古羅馬文化復興的開端。根據波蘭歷史學家塔德烏什·齊林斯基的說法，“文藝復興首先且主要的是西塞羅的復興，然後只有通過他和他的影響才得以恢復古典古代的其它部分。”西塞羅的權威和聲望在18世紀的啟蒙時代達到了巔峰，他對領先的啟蒙思想家和政治理論家如約翰·洛克、大衛·休謨、孟德斯鳩，以及埃德蒙·伯克的影響是巨大的。他的作品在全球文化中的影響是巨大的，今天仍然使用他的大量原始材料進行羅馬歷史的寫作和修訂，特別是羅馬共和國的末日。
西塞羅一直被傳統上認為是拉丁文散文的大師，昆提良宣稱西塞羅的名字不僅僅代表一個人，更代表了辭令本身。英文中的Ciceronian（意為“雄辯的”）和cicerone（意為“當地導遊”）這兩個詞都源自他的名字。他被認為將拉丁語從一種樸素的實用語言轉變成了一種能夠清晰表達抽象和複雜思想的多功能文學媒介。朱利葉斯·凱撒讚揚西塞羅的成就，說“擴大羅馬精神的疆界比擴大羅馬帝國的疆界更為重要”。按照約翰·威廉·麥凱爾的說法，“西塞羅獨特而永恆的光榮在於他創造了文明世界的語言，並用這種語言創造了一種風格，十九個世紀以來未被取代，而且在某些方面幾乎未有改變。”
西塞羅也是一位充滿活力的作家，涉獵廣泛的主題，符合他所受的希臘化哲學和修辭傳統訓練。西塞羅文本的品質和易於獲取使得它們在教學課程中得到了廣泛的傳播和包含，就如同龐貝一處塗鴉所警告的：“你會喜歡西塞羅，否則你將會被鞭打。”
西塞羅受到了例如希波的奧古斯丁等有影響力的教父的極大尊敬，奧古斯丁稱他失傳的《霍滕修斯》促使他最終皈依基督教，聖杰羅姆則在一次發燒的幻覺中被控告為“追隨西塞羅而非基督”的人，出現在審判座前。
這種影響在歐洲的早期中世紀進一步增加，那時他的著作比任何其他拉丁作者都更多地存留了下來。中世紀的哲學家受到了西塞羅關於自然法和固有權利的著作的影響。
彼特拉克重新發現西塞羅的書信為尋找散落在歐洲修道院中的古希臘和拉丁文著作提供了動力，隨後對古典文明的重新發現導致了文藝復興。此後，西塞羅成為與古典拉丁語同義的代表，以至於許多人文學者開始聲稱，除非出現在西塞羅的作品中，否則不應使用任何拉丁語詞語或短語，這一立場被伊拉斯謨所批評。
西塞羅豐富的書信往來，尤其是寫給他的朋友阿提庫斯的部分，對歐洲文化尤其有影響，引介了精緻書信寫作的藝術。公元前一世紀的阿提庫斯傳記作家科尼利烏斯·內波斯評論說，西塞羅的信件包含了如此豐富的細節，“關於領導者的傾向、將軍的過失，以及政府的動盪”，以至於讀者幾乎不需要該時期的歷史。
西塞羅的崇拜者包括德西德里烏斯·伊拉斯謨、馬丁·路德和約翰·洛克。繼約翰內斯·古騰堡的印刷機發明之後，《論職務》成為繼古騰堡聖經之後在歐洲印刷的第二本書。學者們指出西塞羅對17世紀宗教寬容的復興有所影響。
西塞羅尤其受到18世紀哲學家的歡迎，包括愛德華·吉朋、狄德羅、大衛·休謨、孟德斯鳩和伏爾泰。吉朋描述他第一次閱讀這位作者的綜合著作的體驗：“我品味到了語言的美麗；我呼吸到了自由的精神；我從他的準則和例子中吸收了一個公眾和私人都是一位人...完成了偉大的作者之後，一個雄辯和理性的圖書館，我構想了一個更廣泛的計畫來回顧拉丁經典...”
伏爾泰稱西塞羅為“不只是羅馬哲學家中最偉大，也是最優雅的”，甚至上演了一齣基於西塞羅在卡提萊那陰謀中的角色的戲劇，名為《被拯救的羅馬，或卡提利納》，以“讓去劇院的年輕人熟悉西塞羅。”伏爾泰被激勵編寫這部戲劇，是為了反駁他的對手克洛德·普羅斯佩爾·祖勒奧·德·克雷比永自己的戲劇《卡提利納》，該戲劇將西塞羅描繪為一個懦夫和惡棍，他偽善地將自己的女兒嫁給了卡提利納。
孟德斯鳩在1717年發表了他的《論西塞羅》，在其中他對作者大加讚譽，因為他將“哲學從學者手中救出，並讓它擺脫了外國語言的混亂。”孟德斯鳩接著宣稱，西塞羅是“所有古人中個人功勞最大，且我最希望模仿的。”
在國際政治上，身為羅馬共和的西塞羅激勵了美國的開國元勛和法國大革命的革命者。約翰·亞當斯說：“世界上所有的時代都沒有產生過比西塞羅更偉大的政治家和哲學家，他的權威應該具有重大影響力。”托馬斯·傑斐遜將西塞羅列為少數幾位對他起草《獨立宣言》具有重大貢獻的人物之一，他們塑造了美國對“公共權利”的理解，並形成了對革命“基本理性”權利的理解。卡米爾·德穆朗斯在1789年談到法國的共和主義者時說，他們“主要是那些在學校讀西塞羅，因此對自由充滿激情的年輕人”。
吉姆·鮑威爾在他關於自由歷史的書中以這句話開頭：“馬庫斯·圖利烏斯·西塞羅表達了成為現代世界自由基石的原則。”
同樣地，沒有其他古代人物像西塞羅一樣，在更現代的時代引起了如此多的惡毒反感。他對共和國價值的承諾容納了對窮人的仇恨，以及對民眾代表和機制的持續反對。弗里德里希·恩格斯稱他為“歷史上最可鄙的流氓”，因為他捍衛共和國的“民主”，同時譴責土地和階級改革。西塞羅因誇大共和國羅馬的民主特質而受到批評，並因為捍衛羅馬寡頭政治階層反對凱撒的民眾改革而受到批評。邁克爾·帕倫蒂承認西塞羅作為演說家的能力，但認為他是一個虛榮、自大和虛偽的人物，當符合他的利益時，他可以公開支持他私下鄙視的民眾事業。帕倫蒂認為西塞羅對加特林陰謀的起訴至少在法律上存在缺陷，甚至可能是非法的。
1.
"Equidem ad pacem hortari non desino; quae vel iniusta utilior est quam iustissimum bellum cum civibus."
我不再主張和平。它可能是基於不公正的條件，但即便如此，它也比最公正的內戰更有利。
2.
"Quidem concessum est rhetoribus ementiri in historiis ut aliquid dicere possint argutius."
事實上，修辭學家可以在歷史問題上撒謊，這樣他們就可以說得更微妙。
3.
"Silent enim leges inter arma."
因為法律在武器中是沉默的。
4.
"Vi victa vis."
以武力對抗武力。
5.
"Omnium rerum principia parva sunt."
一切事物的起源都是微不足道。
6.
"Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil."
有了田野和圖書館，那麼您就擁有了活著所需的一切。
7.
"Una navis est iam bonorum omnium."
所有忠誠者現在都在同一條船上。
8.
"Adsiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit."
對一件事的持續錘鍊往往會征服天才和天賦。
9.
"Non enim parum cognosse, sed in parum cognito stulte et diu perseverasse turpe est, propterea quod alterum commun hominum infirmitati alterum singlei cuiusque vitio est attributum."
任何人都會犯錯，但只有傻瓜總會堅持自己的錯誤。
10.
"Quid enim foedius auaritia, quid immanius libidine, quid contemptius timiditate, quid abiectius tarditate et stultitia dici potest?"
還有什麼比貪婪更可怕，比慾望更殘酷，比怯懦更可鄙，比愚昧和無知更卑鄙的呢？
11.
"Noxia poena par esto"
讓懲罰與罪行相符。
12.
"Prima enim sequentem honestum est in secundis tertiisque consistere."
如果你嚮往最高的地方，那麼止步於第二，甚至第三，並沒有什麼恥辱。
13.
"Non enim omnis error stultitia est dicenda."
並非一切錯誤都是錯誤。
14.
"Nec vero superstitione tollenda religio tollitur."
我們不會透過消滅迷信來消滅宗教。
15.
"Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici."
我們並非只為自己而生；我們的一部分被我們的國家所佔據，一部分被我們的摯友所佔據。
16.
"Parvi enim sunt foris arma, nisi est consilium domi."
除非軍政有明智的戰略，否則武器在戰場上毫無價值。
17.
"Sed tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri nec considerate potest."
憤怒應該遠離我們，在憤怒中是無法正確或明智地做任何事情的。
18.
"Vera gloria radices agit atque etiam propagatur, ficta omnia celeriter tamquam flosculi decidunt nec simulatum potest quicquam esse diuturnum."
真正的榮耀會紮根，甚至延伸；一切虛偽的花兒都會凋零，虛偽的東西也不能長久。
19.
"Virtute enim ipsa non tam multi praediti esse quam videri volunt."
願意擁抱美德而不是表面上擁有美德，這是極少數人才有的。
20.
"Vita enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita."
死者的生命被鑲嵌在生者的回憶。
21.
"Beatus aautem esse sine virtute nemo potest."
沒有美德，沒有人能夠幸福。
22.
"Opinionis enim commenta delet dies, naturae iudicia confirmat."
時間摧毀了想像的虛構，同時也證實了自然的真理。
23.
"Malim equidem indisertam prudentiam quam stultitiam loquacem"
寧願選擇不言而喻的明智，也不願天花亂墜的愚蠢。