is philosophically important partly as a transmitter of Greek ideas in Latin, but also for the unity of philosophy and rhetoric that he sought to promote. Rhetoric enables the statesman, educated to wisdom by philosophy, to prevail by gaining the consent of a free citizenry. Cicero was an eclectic who had sympathy with Stoicism, the Peripatetics, and the scepticism of the Academy, but was opposed to the system of Epicurus. He exercised a considerable influence on thinkers of the Enlightenment, and notably on Hume.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/cicero.html Plutarch’s biography of Cicero (translated by Dryden)

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Cic.html A list of internet resources on Cicero, including a bibliography