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Cicero on the hatred of the many

44 BCE, written later. His own words.

Where and when

44 BCE, written laterRome and its world

2,069 years ago

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In plain words, ours

We just learned that no amount of power can survive the hatred of the many. This tyrant's death shows it, though the state still obeys him.

And we recently discovered, if it was not known before, that no amount of power can withstand the hatred of the many. The death of this tyrant, whose yoke the state endured under the constraint of armed force and whom it still obeys more humbly than ever, though he is dead, illustrates the deadly effects of popular hatred;

Cicero, On Duties 2.23Translated by Walter Miller (1913)Read the full passage (Cicero, On Duties 2.23, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Cicero writes this in 44 BCE, the year senators stabbed Caesar to death in the Senate. He has just listed the reasons people submit to someone's power, and argues that love holds power fast while fear only breeds hate.

Checked claim by claim against: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate

The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.

Based on Wikipedia: Assassination of Julius Caesar

The assassination failed to achieve its immediate objective of restoring the Republic's institutions.

Instead, it precipitated Caesar's posthumous deification and was followed by the Liberators' civil war (43–42 BC) between his supporters and the conspirators, which became a stage in the collapse of the Republic.

Wikipedia, Assassination of Julius Caesar (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-29. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 50 BCEabout 6 years earlier Cato warns the Senate about Caesar, in Plutarch Also about tyrants and the Thirty
  2. 46 BCE2 years earlier Cato kills himself rather than accept Caesar's pardon Same years
  3. 44 BCESame year Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate The event behind it
  4. 44 BCE, written laterThis momentCicero on the hatred of the many
  5. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on arms yielding to the toga More from Cicero
  6. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on the fox and the lion More from Cicero
  7. 44 BCE, written laterSame year Cicero on what we owe our country More from Cicero
  8. 43 BCE1 year later Cicero is killed on Antony's orders Same years
  9. 42 BCE2 years later Antony and Octavian defeat Caesar's killers at Philippi Same years
  10. 62 CE105 years later Tacitus on Nero's answer to Seneca Also about tyrants and the Thirty

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Now, it is by various motives that people are led to submit to another's authority and power: they may be influenced (1) by good-will; (2) by gratitude for generous favours conferred upon them; (3) by the eminence of that other's social position or by the hope that their submission will turn to their own account; (4) by fear that they may be compelled perforce to submit; (5) they may be captivated by the hope of gifts of money and by liberal promises; or, finally, (6) they may be bribed with money, as we have frequently seen in our own country. But, of all motives, none is better adapted to secure influence and hold it fast than love; nothing is more foreign to that end than fear. For Ennius says admirably: Whom they fear they hate. And whom one hates, one hopes to see him dead.

The quote: And we recently discovered, if it was not known before, that no amount of power can withstand the hatred of the many. The death of this tyrant, whose yoke the state endured under the constraint of armed force and whom it still obeys more humbly than ever, though he is dead, illustrates the deadly effects of popular hatred;

and the same lesson is taught by the similar fate of all other despots, of whom practically no one has ever escaped such a death. For fear is but a poor safeguard of lasting power; while affection, on the other hand, may be trusted to keep it safe for ever. But those who keep subjects in check by force would of course have to employ severity—masters, for example, toward their servants, when these cannot be held in control in any other way. But those who in a free state deliberately put themselves in a position to be feared are the maddest of the mad.

Cicero, On Duties 2.22–24Translated by Walter Miller (1913)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
44 BCE, written later. On Duties was written in the autumn of 44 BCE, months after Caesar was killed.
Whose words
His own words.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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