Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero, who lived from 106 BC to 43 BC, was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator and writer. His extensive surviving writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics, and a large share of his work has come down to later readers. He is regarded as one of the greatest orators and prose stylists of Rome and as the innovator of what became known as Ciceronian rhetoric. He adapted the arguments of the main Hellenistic schools of philosophy into Latin and coined much of Latin philosophical vocabulary, often by translating Greek terms. His political career included the consulship of 63 BC, the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy, and the Philippics against Mark Antony, which led to his proscription and execution in 43 BC. The rediscovery of his letters by Petrarch is often credited with helping begin the Renaissance, and his influence on Enlightenment thinkers was substantial.