Stirring up Political Scandal Could be Dangerous

After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Cicero made and published a series of speeches against Mark Antony which came to be known as the Philippics. With his usual wit and brilliance, Cicero used these speeches to stir up every kind of scandal against Antony. For example, he insinuated that Antony had been forging Caesar's handwriting and signature: "Are you talking about handwriting? Of course in that area your knowledge has been very lucrative!" (An chirographo? in quo habes scientiam quaestuosam. Philippics 2.8). And he didn't hesitate to include sexual scandal, going so far as to attack Antony's manhood:

You donned the manly toga, which you immediately turned into a womanly toga. At first you were a common prostitute, earning a high price for your disgrace, but soon Curio intervened. He seduced you away from public prostitution and set you up in a stable marriage, just as if he had given you the matron's gown.

Sumpsisti virilem, quam statim muliebrem togam reddidisti. Primo vulgare scortum, certa flagitii merces, nec ea parva; sed cito Curio intervenit, qui te a meretricio quaestu abduxit et, tamquam stolam dedisset, in matrimonio stabili et certo collocavit. (Philippics 2.44)

This statement is full of puns, particularly about Roman clothing,: the toga virilis was assumed on the day that a boy came of age, but the only women who wore togas were common prostitutes. The stola was a long gown worn only by legally married women.

Cicero paid a steep price for his wit, however. Antony was enraged by these speeches and ordered Cicero's execution in 43 BCE, as soon as he had consolidated his power. This is how Plutarch's biography of Cicero describes the great orator's end:

And thus was Cicero murdered, stretching forth his neck out of the litter, being now in his sixty-fourth year. Herennius cut off his head, and, by Antony's command, his hands also, by which his Philippics were written. . . . Antony commanded his head and hands to be fastened up over the rostra, where the orators spoke; a sight which the Roman people shuddered to behold, and they believed they saw there, not the face of Cicero, but the image of Antony's own soul.
(translated by John Dryden)