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Marcus Tullius Cicero, is remembered in modern times as the greatest Roman orator and innovator of what became known as Ciceronian rhetoric. He was the son of a wealthy family of Arpinium. He made his first appearance in the courts in 81. His brilliant defense, in 80 or early 79, of Sextus Roscius against a fabricated charge of parricide established his reputation at the bar. After his election as consul for 63 his chief concern was to discover and …

…about 48 have been lost. The bulk of his philosophical writings belong to the period between February 45 and November 44. Cicero lays no claim to originality in these works. Writing to Atticus, he says of them "They are transcripts; I simply supply words, and I've plenty of those." His importance in the history of philosophy is as a transmitter of Greek thought. In the course of this role, he gave Rome and, therefore, Europe its philosophical vocabulary.