Who they were
Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, and orator, and the greatest of Roman prose stylists.
What they did
A new man, he rose to consul in 63 BC, when he suppressed the Catiline conspiracy. He defended the Republic against what he saw as tyranny, and wrote influential works on rhetoric, politics, and philosophy that carried Greek thought into Latin. He attacked Mark Antony in the Philippics; he was proscribed and killed in 43 BC.
Legacy
His letters and speeches shaped Latin prose and European education for centuries. His rediscovery helped spark Renaissance humanism, and his political thought influenced later republicanism.