Augustine had great respect for the Roman statesman and orator Cicero, whose writings inspired him to pursue philosophy, especially Platonism. What Augustine writes about the death of Cicero and Fall of the Roman Republic (Bk III, 30) is a sobering historical lesson for all idealists who aspire to and engage in politics.
After Gaius Julius Caesar had conquered Pompey, he was suspected of aiming at royalty, and was assassinated by a party of noble senators. Although Cicero did not participate in the assassination, he approved of it on the ground of defending the “liberty of the republic”, as he later wrote in a letter to his friend Atticus, “The tyrant is dead! We rejoice at his slaughter”. When another deadly threat to the Republic arose in the person of Antony, “polluted and debased by every kind of vice”, Cicero vigorously opposed him, and fostered the advancement of a young adopted son of Caesar, Octavius, hoping that he would overthrow the power of Antony, and establish a free state. Unfortunately for Cicero, Octavius made a strategic alliance with Antony, and allowed Cicero to be killed. Octavius eventually became known as Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, who brought an end to the liberty of the republic which Cicero had spent his life defending.
Augustine writes that Cicero was blind in supporting Octavius. To be fair, as a Roman statesman, Cicero had no choice but to choose the lesser of the two evils for the sake of the Republic; As a philosopher and student of human nature, however, Cicero was gravely mistaken in setting his hope of liberty on the rule of men, virtuous though they may seem. For a ruler who is himself a slave of lust cannot set the citizens free; A citizen who is a slave of lust cannot be delivered from his self-imposed slavery and misery by any policy of the state.
The tragedy of Cicero is, essentially, the tragedy of secular humanism.
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References:
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Letters to Atticus, Volume IV. Translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press., 1999.