Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a politician and lawyer of the Roman Republic, who served as consul in the year 63 BC. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

His influence on the Latin language was so immense that the subsequent history of prose, not only in Latin but in European languages up to the 19th century, was said to be either a reaction against or a return to his style.

During Cicero's consulship the second Catilinarian conspiracy attempted to overthrow the government, and Cicero suppressed the revolt by executing five conspirators without due process. During the dictatorship of Gaius Julius Caesar, Cicero championed a return to the traditional republican government. 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 proscripted as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and consequently executed by soldiers operating on their behalf. His severed hands and head were then, as a final revenge of Mark Antony, displayed in the Forum of Rome.

Cicero in "The Maltese Elephant"
The first of Cicero's Verrine Orations contained the statement: Et etiam ex insulolae Melitae elephantisculos tres rapiebat.