Cicero was born in 106 bc in Arpinum, a small town in the hills about seventy-five miles southeast of Rome, a bit short of Monte Cassino. There was little indication that he was destined for greatness. He was a plebian, the son of a rustic “nobody,” as Trollope puts it.12 Cicero would become what the Romans called a “new man,” one who would become ennobled by eventually holding high office.
