# Cicero — The City of God character guide > Cicero in The City of God by Augustine of Hippo. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** M. Tullius Cicero, Tully **First appearance:** 0002-part-i-book-i ## Snapshot Rome's greatest orator and philosopher, quoted by Augustine as a witness against Rome's own gods. ## Who they are Cicero stands in Augustine's argument as the pagan thinker who came closest to glimpsing a moral order beyond the empire, yet whose eloquence never earned him a shrine while Romulus did. Augustine turns him into an unwitting ally, using his writings to show that even Rome's finest mind found the old religion hollow. He matters because he proves the critique of paganism comes from within Rome's own intellectual tradition. ## In the story ### [Editor's Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/editor-s-preface) Augustine's accuracy and acuteness compared to Cicero's, with more profundity. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ix) Quoted extensively from his work De Republica, where Scipio discusses Roman laws against stage defamation. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiii) Recorded Scipio's testimony on Roman treatment of players. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiv) Quoted for his exclamation against the darkness and passions inflamed by poets' fictions. ### [Chapter XXI: Cicero's Opinion of the Roman Republic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxi) Roman statesman and philosopher whose work 'De Republica' is quoted extensively; he laments the decay of the republic and defines a people as bound by law and common interest. ### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvii) Roman statesman and philosopher, cited as an example of those who propitiated gods through lewd games. ### [Book III: External Calamities and the Failure of the Pagan Gods](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-book-iii) Quoted regarding the apotheosis of Romulus and the nature of his death. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xv) Quoted regarding the reputed deification of Romulus and the nature of his death. ### [Of the civil war between Marius and Sylla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvii) Quoted by Augustine to describe the return of Cinna and Marius and the subsequent slaughter. ### [Of the connection of the wars which with great severity and frequency followed one another before the advent of Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxx) A prominent statesman who supported the young Caesar but was later killed as part of an alliance between Caesar and Antony. ### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxxi) Mentioned as not seeking sanctuary in a temple because Mucius had sought it there in vain. ### [Book IV: The One True God, Not the Pagan Gods, Is the Author of Earthly Kingdoms](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-book-iv) Quoted from 'De Natura Deorum' to show that even pagan intellectuals mocked the absurdities of their own gods. ### [Of the scenic plays, the celebration of which the gods have exacted from their worshippers.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvi) Quoted as disapproving of Homer's attribution of human crimes to the gods. ### [The Confessions of the Pagan Philosophers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxx) The augur who laughs at auguries and criticizes superstition in his works. ### [On the Difference in the Health of Twins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Cited as the source of the anecdote about Hippocrates and the twins. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-viii) Translator of Homeric lines used by Stoics to discuss fate. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ix) Opponent of divine foreknowledge, arguing it leads to fatalism and undermines free will. ### [Concerning the Love of Praise](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiii) Quoted from his works 'De Republica' and philosophical writings on glory and honor. ### [Concerning the eradication of the love of human praise, because all the glory of the righteous is in God](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiv) Cited for the saying that things generally discredited are neglected. ### [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xviii) Not directly mentioned, but the discussion of Roman history and virtues aligns with his writings. ### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvi) Cicero (Tully) is quoted regarding the misery of being at liberty to sin. ### [What we are to believe that Varro thought concerning the gods of the nations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Cited for his testimony to Varro's learning and acuteness, and for his own Academic philosophy of doubt. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-v) Alluded to for his Tusculan questions, where he mentions principal gods without naming them. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xix) Referenced for noting the Twelve Tables' law against transferring crops by magic. ### [Book IX: The Mediation of Demons and the Unique Mediation of Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-book-ix) Quoted for his praise of Caesar's compassion, contrasting Stoic condemnation of pity. ### [Chapter IV: The Opinion of the Peripatetics and Stoics About Mental Emotions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-iv) Cited for his work 'De Finibus' showing the Stoics differ from Platonists and Peripatetics more in words than reality. ### [That the passions which assail the souls of Christians do not seduce them to vice, but exercise their virtue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-v) Quoted for his praise of Caesar's compassion, which Augustine uses to argue against Stoic condemnation of compassion. ### [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xvi) Translator of Plato's words quoted by Augustine. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-v) Referenced for his classification of the four perturbations (desire, fear, joy, sorrow). ### [Chapter VIII: Of the Three Perturbations and the Stoic View of the Wise Man's Emotions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-viii) Cited for his terminology and usage of 'constantiae' and 'perturbationes', and for a quote expressing desire. ### [Chapter XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxiii) Cited for his simile in De Republica comparing bodily members to obedient children and vicious parts of the soul to slaves. ### [XXIV That the seven sages flourished in the reign of Romulus, when the ten tribes which were called Israel were led into captivity by the Chaldeans, and Romulus, when dead, had divine honours conferred on him.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxiv) Cicero is cited as ascribing great praises to Romulus for meriting divine honors in polished and learned times. ### [Book XIX: The Ends of the Two Cities](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-book-xix) Mentioned for his Consolation on the death of his daughter, lamenting the miseries of life. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-iii) Cicero is mentioned as the master of Antiochus, though Varro asserts Antiochus was more in line with the Old Academy than the Stoics. ### [Chapter IV: The Christian View of Supreme Good and Evil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-iv) Mentioned for his lamentation on the miseries of life in his Consolation. ### [Of the social life, which, though most desirable, is frequently disturbed by many distresses.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-v) Quoted on the dangers of hidden treachery under the guise of duty or relationship. ### [Whether There Ever Was a Roman Republic Answering to the Definitions of Scipio in Cicero's Dialogue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxi) His dialogue De Republica provides the definition of a republic that Augustine examines and challenges. ### [Whether it is just that the punishments of sins last longer than the sins themselves lasted](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xi) Cited as the source for the eight kinds of legal penalties. ### [Book XXII: The Eternal Blessedness of the City of God and the Resurrection of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-book-xxii) Quoted from 'De Republica' to illustrate pagan arguments against the resurrection of the body. ### [Against the Wise Men Who Deny the Resurrection of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-iv) Cited for his statement in De Republica that earthly bodies cannot be taken up into heaven. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-vi) Roman orator and philosopher, cited for his arguments on war for safety or honor and the eternal nature of the state. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-vii) Referenced as a figure from an enlightened age that would have rejected Christ's resurrection without divine proof. ### [The Resurrection of the Body: Reunion and Restoration](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xx) Quoted as a pagan authority defining God as a mind perceiving and moving all things. ### [Of the Miseries and Ills to Which the Human Race Is Justly Exposed Through the First Sin, and from Which None Can Be Delivered Save by Christ’s Grace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxii) Quoted for his statement that philosophy is the greatest gift of the gods, which Augustine uses to show pagan acknowledgment of the need for divine grace. ### [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxviii) Referenced for his allusion to Plato's view on resurrection in his 'Republic'. ### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/endnotes) Referenced for philosophical and rhetorical works, including Tusculanae Disputationes and De Amicitia. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/cicero - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters