Who is Marcus Tullius Cicero from Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician and what is their importance?

Cicero was one of classical antiquity's greatest statesmen, intellectuals, philosophers and politicians. Born in 106 B.C., just prior to the birth of Julius Caesar, Cicero grew up in an aristocratic family in Arpinum, a town outside of Rome. As he grew up, he received an elite education in Rome, studying philosophy and rhetoric. Cicero soon thereafter began his career as a lawyer, gaining fame for his work as a defense attorney and an excellent orator after winning a series of high profile cases. He was then elected to the Senate in 76 B.C., quite a rise for a man not from a family of Roman patricians. In 63 B.C., Cicero became Consul. While Consul, Cicero became named "the father of his country" for uncovering and thwarting the Catalinarian conspiracy. Cicero was also well-known for defending the Republican government of Rome and its constitution against revolution and autocracy.