Anthony Everitt's book; Cicero, The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician is written in the modern style with a fast narrative that makes it a painless and quick read. Rome is a source of constant historical fascination and Cicero lived right through one of the most turbulent periods that dominates modern perceptions of Rome. Consequently a biography on Cicero is incomplete without being placed in the events and political culture of the time. Everitt achieves this well.

Cicero was a contemporary of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Pompey, Marcus Brutus and the young Octavian who was to become Caesar Augustus. It was the proscription that Octavian, Antony and Lipidius came up with to pay for their civil war against Brutus and Cassius which led to Cicero's death in his 60s. Like many acts of violence the original proscription list gathered people for reasons of wealth, enmity and political competition. It is likely that Cicero was killed for the dual reasons of property and competition. During the period when Octavian and Antony were feuding Cicero led the Senate in politically dividing up the Caesarian Party.

The Roman political system managed to provide sufficient order despite not having a civic support system that we take for granted today. For instance there was no police force, and bills were often passed by gangs flooding the Senate and intimidating the legislators. During Clodius' reign as Consul gangs were used for political power constantly - including intimidating Cicero by burning down his house, which prompted Cicero to flee Rome, and then returning to find that Clodius had built a holy shrine on his property.

So politics in Rome was pretty violent and arbitrary. To add to the violence, politicians were expected to be soldiers as well. In Cicero's time most Consuls only achieved the position after martial success - such as Sulla, Caesar etc. The Roman constitution was designed to defray unitary power and had a massive set of checks and balances on the Consul (executive) who had veto power. The Tribunes, who represented the people, had veto power as well which made many policies impossible to implement as one person could veto it and it was sunk.

After Sulla, the fear was that politics and order would only be possible through dictatorship or a state of emergency which was called the Final Act. By Julius Caesar's reign the Final Act and Dictatorship became the main form of governance. Antony governed as an autocrat and Octavian had no intention of returning power to the Senate or the Tribunes.

The Senate was a limited body anyway, largely limited to the aristocratic class, though Cicero was from the wealthy merchant class, and access to the Senate required going through several other elected and appointed positions first. Cicero lacked the antiquity that the likes of Marcus Brutus had, who could trace his family line to the founding of Rome, so Cicero often touted his political and limited martial success constantly.

Cicero is known as the great orator, and his early career involved defending people in the public trials that were held in The Forum. Apparently he was a very nervous speaker and it was hit or miss whether he would rise to the occasion or not. After the trials, he would go home and write out his speech, presumably cleaning up errors and without the nervous and faltering starts. He would then distribute his speeches in written form.

During Julius Caesars reign, Cicero dropped out of politics for a while, and devoted himself to authorship. He had written books (scrolls really) prior to this such a book on oratory and on the Roman State, but, during this period he was particularly prolific and rounds up Greco-Roman philosophy and a defence of the Roman Constitution amongst others. Books from the time had no guarantee of surviving through history, something that seems odd in a world of Raid5 arrays and trans-continental digital backups.

The letters between Atticus and Cicero also survived, and this is where Anthony Everitt draws on the personal feelings of Cicero as well as the political strategies he employed. Letters were published at different times and could serve as a form of 'leaking' to the public. After Cicero's death, Atticus published the complete letters between himself and Cicero - which survived. What didn't survive was the letters between Cicero and the two Caesars.

All in all this book is well worth a read. It is a fascinating time of Roman history and Cicero was right in the middle of it with those very events and history being directly responsible for his death. Cicero is an interesting person to tell that history through as he was involved in it constantly, but not as a soldier, so it is a purer reading of the politics of the time where Roman governance went from a Senate, to dictatorship, and then to emperor.