Salvete!
Indeed it makes my ego swell significantly that the people I've taken under my wings are talking - to each other!
j/k about the ego stuff though.
Good to see you post Helena! Welcome to the forum!
Anyway, I'm not going to move all topics here so I'll give my quick comments on Cicero here.
In popular history I get the impression Cicero is portrayed in a positive way, as he also is in philosophical overviews. Like Mus sometimes remarked, you can't argue about the man's merits and intelligence. However, he is self-contradictory and, although he didn't actively contribute to destroy the Republic as some others did, neither did he save it, as he claims to have (I doubt that he could have saved it).
In Collegium Historicum we staged a fictional trial of Cicero about 1,5 year ago. You might want to check it out. I have a friend who also wrote her thesis on Cicero (the Catalinarian affair) and she liked it. Perhaps you might like it too. If there's anything you disagree with, of course, just let us know here
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Valete optime,
Draco
Gn. Dionysius Draco Invictus