Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43), is the
most prominent figure in the history of the last years of the
republic. Born in an obscure country town, his family of the middle
class only, without the prestige of wealth or noble birth, brought
into contact with some of the greatest men Rome ever produced, ---
Sulla, Caesar, Pompeius, Antonius, Octavianus, --- aided only by his
natural talent, high ambition, and tireless industry, he left a name
remarkably free from moral reproach, prominent in politics,
incomparable in literature, the second, if not the first, in
oratory.
-Harold W. Johnston, Selected Orations & Letters of Cicero. Scott, Foresman & Co., 1902.