A Federal Case

NATIONAL REVIEW/OCTOBER 28, 2002 49

What Everitt shows us in this biography, without the tedium of purposeless, over-researched digression, is that history will always have the last word. Idealized depictions of the past will fade and a more accurate picture emerge. The Roman Republic was a noble experiment—however imperfect—in broader popular rule. But we know what that means: Politics, the practice of finagling results, became serious business. A man of privilege, Cicero was no democrat, yet he abhorred tyranny. He knew when to compromise (too often, according to his critics). When acting the role of the able statesman, he built his fearsome effectiveness from cunning and guile as much as the next guy did; he was just better at it. As the skillful advocate, he could make the weaker case appear the stronger; as a politician, he forged unlikely alliances of expediency to get what he wanted. He targeted Mark Antony and was implicated in a spirited campaign of obfuscation and smear of a kind that would make the U.S. Congress look no more threatening than Romper Room. He even stared down Julius Caesar himself. Of course all these shenanigans would seal his own fate one day.

About the Author

Richard A. Epstein

Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law.

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NATIONAL REVIEW/OCTOBER 28, 2002 49

What Everitt shows us in this biography, without the tedium of purposeless, over-researched digression, is that history will always have the last word. Idealized depictions of the past will fade and a more accurate picture emerge. The Roman Republic was a noble experiment—however imperfect—in broader popular rule. But we know what that means: Politics, the practice of finagling results, became serious business. A man of privilege, Cicero was no democrat, yet he abhorred tyranny. He knew when to compromise (too often, according to his critics). When acting the role of the able statesman, he built his fearsome effectiveness from cunning and guile as much as the next guy did; he was just better at it. As the skillful advocate, he could make the weaker case appear the stronger; as a politician, he forged unlikely alliances of expediency to get what he wanted. He targeted Mark Antony and was implicated in a spirited campaign of obfuscation and smear of a kind that would make the U.S. Congress look no more threatening than Romper Room. He even stared down Julius Caesar himself. Of course all these shenanigans would seal his own fate one day.

About the Author

Richard A. Epstein

Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law.