This book, originally published in 1967, is a critical description of Cicero's political life and influence during the last years of the Roman Republic. The author explains the important issues which confronted the Republic at the time and shows how it moved to civil war and its own destruction. He reveals the difficulties which a man without background and newly come to political power had to face. Professor Smith assesses Cicero's aims and his contribution to the politics and policies of the last years of the Republic, and explains how his influence in Rome and Italy enabled him, in the months from the end of 44 BC to his own death, to rally the country's forces against Antony.