For the famous Roman orator and politician, see Marcus Tullius Cicero. This article refers to his brother Quintus.
Quintus Tullius Cicero was the younger brother of the more prominent Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Life
Quintus Cicero was born in 100 BCE, and thus was likely the same age as Julius Caesar, for whom he served as a legate during the Gallic Wars. Before that, he ascended the cursus honorum, becoming aedile in 66, praetor in 62, and propraetor of Asia (Asian Minor) from 61-59.
In 70, he was married to Atticus’ sister Pomponia, though apparently the marriage was not easy, and they divorced in 45.
Much of what is known about Quintus Cicero’s life comes from direct testimony of the biggest names in the Late Republic. He is featured in Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, in which he is depicted as a brave and praiseworthy soldier (e.g. at 5.52), and frequently corresponded with his brother; three of the letters from Quintus to his brother have survived in the collection Epistulae ad Quintum (“Letters to Quintus”), which otherwise chiefly consists of letters from Marcus to Quintus.
Quintus also appeared as an interlocutor in his brother’s De Divinatione (trans. “On Divination”), a philosophical dialogue examining whether divination as practiced by the Romans was actually legitimate. If there is any truth to the character of the interlocutors, then Quintus seemed to have been the more religiously conservative of the two brothers.
He was killed during the proscriptions of the Second Triumvirate in 43 along with his brother and son, also called Quintus.
Works
Though by nowhere nearly as prolific as his brother, Quintus has penned a few works. He authored four tragedies (Troas, Erigones, Electra, and a fourth whose title is unknown), though they are all lost. Also attributed to him is a short pamphlet on running for office (Commentariolum Petitionis), which he wrote when his brother ran for consul, though its authenticity has sometimes been doubted.
Texts Online
Latin: PHI Latin Texts
English: Perseus
