<P> In the 50s BC, Cicero's letters to Terentia became shorter and colder . He complained to his friends that Terentia had betrayed him but did not specify in which sense . Perhaps the marriage simply could not outlast the strain of the political upheaval in Rome, Cicero's involvement in it, and various other disputes between the two . The divorce appears to have taken place in 51 BC or shortly before . In 46 or 45 BC, Cicero married a young girl, Publilia, who had been his ward . It is thought that Cicero needed her money, particularly after having to repay the dowry of Terentia, who came from a wealthy family . This marriage did not last long . </P> <P> Although his marriage to Terentia was one of convenience, it is commonly known that Cicero held great love for his daughter Tullia . When she suddenly became ill in February 45 BC and died after having seemingly recovered from giving birth to a son in January, Cicero was stunned . "I have lost the one thing that bound me to life" he wrote to Atticus . Atticus told him to come for a visit during the first weeks of his bereavement, so that he could comfort him when his pain was at its greatest . In Atticus's large library, Cicero read everything that the Greek philosophers had written about overcoming grief, "but my sorrow defeats all consolation ." Caesar and Brutus as well as Servius Sulpicius Rufus sent him letters of condolence . </P> <P> Cicero hoped that his son Marcus would become a philosopher like him, but Marcus himself wished for a military career . He joined the army of Pompey in 49 BC and after Pompey's defeat at Pharsalus 48 BC, he was pardoned by Caesar . Cicero sent him to Athens to study as a disciple of the peripatetic philosopher Kratippos in 48 BC, but he used this absence from "his father's vigilant eye" to "eat, drink and be merry ." After Cicero's murder he joined the army of the Liberatores but was later pardoned by Augustus . Augustus's bad conscience for not having objected to Cicero's being put on the proscription list during the Second Triumvirate led him to aid considerably Marcus Minor's career . He became an augur, and was nominated consul in 30 BC together with Augustus . As such, he was responsible for revoking the honors of Mark Antony, who was responsible for the proscription, and could in this way take revenge . Later he was appointed proconsul of Syria and the province of Asia . </P> <P> His first office was as one of the twenty annual quaestors, a training post for serious public administration in a diversity of areas, but with a traditional emphasis on administration and rigorous accounting of public monies under the guidance of a senior magistrate or provincial commander . Cicero served as quaestor in western Sicily in 75 BC and demonstrated honesty and integrity in his dealings with the inhabitants . As a result, the grateful Sicilians asked Cicero to prosecute Gaius Verres, a governor of Sicily, who had badly plundered the province . His prosecution of Gaius Verres was a great forensic success for Cicero . Governor Gaius Verres hired the prominent lawyer of a noble family Quintus Hortensius Hortalus . After a lengthy period in Sicily collecting testimonials and evidence and persuading witnesses to come forward, Cicero returned to Rome and won the case in a series of dramatic court battles . His unique style of oratory set him apart from the flamboyant Hortensius . On the conclusion of this case, Cicero came to be considered the greatest orator in Rome . The view that Cicero may have taken the case for reasons of his own is viable . Hortensius was, at this point, known as the best lawyer in Rome; to beat him would guarantee much success and the prestige that Cicero needed to start his career . Cicero's oratorical skill is shown in his character assassination of Verres and various other techniques of persuasion used on the jury . One such example is found in the speech Against Verres I, where he states "with you on this bench, gentlemen, with Marcus Acilius Glabrio as your president, I do not understand what Verres can hope to achieve". Oratory was considered a great art in ancient Rome and an important tool for disseminating knowledge and promoting oneself in elections, in part because there were no regular newspapers or mass media . Cicero was neither a patrician nor a plebeian noble; his rise to political office despite his relatively humble origins has traditionally been attributed to his brilliance as an orator . </P>

The name rome may be taken from a greek word meaning strong