Cicero the Prognosticator

[Primus Pilus]

A quote attributed to Cicero has been making it's way around email boxes and internet forums for some time. It's relationship to modern social, political and economic conditions cannot be denied, but more importantly, where did it really come from? I'm sure many of you have seen it...

 

The Quote:

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

 

Quite apropos, however, I can find no evidence that M. Tullius Cicero ever said or recorded this in his writings.

 

It seems to have made it's way into the public record via US politics... Any help?

[Nephele]

As with many things circulating in e-mail, etc., the origins are suspect.

 

The following is taken from the book They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions, by Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George:

 

Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 B.C.)

 

BUDGET-BALANCING QUOTE "The budget should be balanced. The Treasury should be filled. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officials should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we ourselves should become bankrupt. The people should be forced to work and not depend on government subsistence."

 

In an editorial on January 15, 1986, the

Kansas City Star

quoted Cicero at length to bolster its own views about government spending. But the editor gave no source for his quotation and, when pressed to do so by skeptics, was unable to come up with any documentation. The Cicero statement sounds more like a disgruntled American critic of the welfare state than the Roman statesman.

 

-- Nephele

[Primus Pilus]

Thanks Neph,

 

Since people know my affiliation with Roman history via this website, I've been inundated by this quote recently. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't pinpoint it's origins. And although generally agreable with it, I can at least tell these folks to stop relating their philosophy to that of Cicero... at least as regards this quote.

[Nephele]

PP, I figured if you couldn't find documentation attributing that quote to Cicero, then it's very likely that was a fake quote. The excerpt I provided from Boller & George's book was just back-up.

 

-- Nephele

[M. Porcius Cato]

Sounds bogus. The tip-off for me is the idea that the Roman treasury was depleted from too much aid to foreign nations and too much assistance to the poor. At least before Caesar got back from murdering Gauls, the treasury was so jam-packed with the gold of other nations that the Romans themselves didn't even pay taxes. The idea that they would have emptied that very treasury to send back the gold they looted is just bizarre.