“We are silent when we see that all the money of all the nations has come into the hands of a few men; which we seem to tolerate and to permit with the more equanimity, because none of these robbers conceals what he is doing.”
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) December 6, 2025
CICERO
Saw this yesterday, and since I was just blogging about Cicero the day before, it seems appropriate to remark on the man's demise today. But first, I wanted to note the above quotation comes from In Verrem ("Against Verres"), his speeches during the corruption trial of a former governor, which kinda kickstarted Cicero's career.
Anyhoo, stealing from one of my several dead blogs:
Marcus Cicero, shortly before the arrival of the triumvirs, had left the city, convinced, and rightly, that he could no more escape Antony than Cassius and Brutus could escape Caesar: at first he had fled to his Tusculan villa, then he set out by cross-country roads to his villa at Formiae, intending to take ship from Caieta.He put out to sea several times but was driven back by contrary winds. At last since he could no longer put up with the tossing of the ship, as there was a heavy ground swell, he became weary of flight and of life, and returning to his villa on the high ground, which was little more than a mile from the sea, 'Let me die' says he, 'in my own country, which I have often saved'.
It is quite true that his slaves were ready to fight for him with bravery and fidelity: but he ordered them to set down the litter, and quietly to suffer the hard necessity of fate. As he leaned from the litter and kept his neck still for the purpose, his head was struck off.
But that did not satisfy the callous brutality of the soldiers: they cut off his hands too, reviling them for having written something against Antony. So the head was brought to Antony and by his order was set between the two hands on the rostra where he had been heard as consul, often as consular, where in that very year his eloquent invectives against Antony had commanded unprecedented admiration. Men were scarce able to raise their tearful eyes and look upon the mangled remains of their countryman.
...
"After he saw the armed men Cicero slightly drew aside the curtain of the litter and said: 'I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck'. Then as the soldier trembled and hesitated, he added : 'What would you have done had you come to me as your first victim?'
Reading that old post makes me want to re-watch Rome and the late, great Ray Stevenson. Anyway, RIP Marcus Cicero, I know you would've loved prosecuting Trump...
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