Against "Little Caesars"

Why Cicero Matters Today

​The book draws parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and current political challenges, presenting Cicero as a guide for defending democracy against modern "little Caesars" and authoritarians. 

"Why Cicero Matters shows us how the Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius, better known as Cicero, can help realize a new political world. His impact on humanitarianism, the Enlightenment and the Founding Fathers of America is immense. Yet we give Julius Caesar all our attention. Why? What does this say about modern politics and political culture?

This book gives us Cicero as an antidote to the myth of the strong man of history. Reading Cicero's On Duties alongside two more introspective philosophical texts, On Friendship and On Old Age, we see how Cicero turned politics into a higher, intellectual form of art, believing in education, in culture and above all in the power of philosophy to instil morality. Cicero has reassuring words on the indispensable work philosophers make, and why the common good needs philosophy.

In an age when anti-intellectualism runs rampant, Why Cicero Matters introduces us to an ancient thinker who argues culture is, or ought to be, the foundation of any modern democracy, and books its building blocks."

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Interview with the Author
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Key arguments in the book:
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• Cicero vs. Caesar: 
  The book champions Cicero as a more relevant figure than Julius Caesar, arguing that Cicero's focus on philosophy and law provides a better model for modern politics than Caesar's authoritarianism. 
• Philosophy as a political tool: 
  Bufacchi shows how Cicero turned politics into an intellectual art, believing philosophy could instill morality and guide citizens to prioritize the common good. 
• Ethics and politics are inseparable: 
  The book explores Cicero's ethical treatise On Duties to argue that politics and ethics must be intertwined. 
• Culture as a foundation: 
  It posits that culture and education, not just military might, are the building blocks of a strong democracy, a concept central to Cicero's thought. 
• Relevance to today: 
  The book draws parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and current political challenges, presenting Cicero as a guide for defending democracy against modern "little Caesars" and authoritarians. 
• Focus on specific works: 
  It analyzes key texts like On Duties, On Friendship, and On Old Age to illustrate these points, highlighting the importance of social connection and virtue. 

Review of Book by Raphael Woolf, King’s College London, Click here.

​Why Cicero Matters Today: Five Reasons

1. Because Culture Is the Foundation of Democracy

Cicero believed that a republic rests not first on procedures but on moeurs—shared moral formation. In works such as De Re Publica and De Legibus, he argued that law is sustained by cultivated character. A people without habits of justice, restraint, and civic friendship cannot preserve constitutional order.

Democracy, in this sense, is not self-sustaining. It depends on education, virtue, and reverence for what transcends factional interest. When culture decays into spectacle or tribal animus, the constitutional shell becomes brittle.

2. Because Oratory Counts—for Good or Ill

Cicero was Rome’s greatest orator and theorist of rhetoric (De Oratore). He knew that speech does not merely communicate; it forms public reality. Words can stabilize institutions—or inflame crowds.

In an age of mass media and digital amplification, his warning is acute: eloquence divorced from ethical formation becomes manipulation. Demagogues weaponize grievance. Responsible orators cultivate prudence (prudentia) and a sense of the common good.

Rhetoric is not optional in public life. The question is whether it will be tethered to truth and constitutional order.

3. Because Democracy Must Be Constitutional, Not Caesarian

Cicero lived through the Republic’s collapse and opposed the concentration of power in figures such as Julius Caesar. He feared the rise of a “little Caesar”—a charismatic strongman who claims to embody the will of the people while hollowing out institutions.
For Cicero, liberty meant life under laws, not under the arbitrary will of a ruler. A mixed constitution—balancing popular participation, aristocratic deliberation, and magistrate authority—was the best safeguard against tyranny. When citizens grow impatient with institutional constraints, they may invite precisely the domination they claim to resist.

4. Because Dialogue Is More Valuable Than Monologue

Cicero wrote in dialogue form not as literary ornament but as political pedagogy. A republic requires deliberation—an exchange in which interlocutors seek truth together.
Monologue is the mode of tyranny. Dialogue is the mode of republican citizenship.
For Cicero, disagreement was not an existential threat but an opportunity for reasoned persuasion. He believed in argument, not annihilation; persuasion, not coercion.
In polarized societies, this commitment to shared inquiry is radical.

5. Because Public Life Is a Moral Vocation

Cicero did not see politics as mere technique. It was a form of moral action aimed at justice and the common good. He integrated philosophy—especially Stoic natural law—with statesmanship. Law, in his view, participates in a deeper moral order accessible to reason. Without some orientation toward justice beyond power, politics degenerates into factional struggle.