Quintus Tullius Cicero

Quintus Tullius Cicero was the younger brother of Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was born in 102 BC in Arpinum, a town near Rome. His rich father arranged for him to be educated with his brother in Rome, Athens and probably Rhodes. He married Pomponia (sister of his brother's friend Atticus), a dominant woman of strong personality. He divorced her some time later.

He was an aedile in 66 BC and praetor in 62 BC, legatus of Caesar's during the Gallic Wars from 54 BC to 52 BC, and of his brother in Cilicia in 51 BC. During the civil wars he supported the Pompeian faction, obtaining the pardon of Caesar later. Then, he was declared to be an enemy of Mark Antony and fled from Tuscullum to escape Antony's revenge. He went back home to Arpinum; a peasant denounced him and he gave himself up, to save his son who was being tortured. Both of them were put to death by the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC.

As an author he wrote four tragedies in Greek style. Three of them had as titles Tiroas, Erigones, and Electra; all of them are lost. He also wrote several poems on the second expedition of Caesar to Britannia, three epistles to Tiro (extant) and a fourth one to his brother, and also a long letter: Commentariolum Petitionis (Little handbook on electioneering, extant).

For more detail, see Cicero.