Did the father of modern politics, the greatest Roman orator ever visit the Mediterranean island he wrote so much about?

The island of Malta was a jewel in the Roman Mediterranean. Its connection to Marcus Tullius Cicero remains one of history’s most fascinating puzzles. The story of Cicero and Malta involves political exile, and a desperate search for a safe haven. The real question I have today is simple: did the man who prosecuted a corrupt governor for stealing Maltese treasures ever walk its shores?

This article separates myth from the historical reality.

Cicero – Man and orator

Marcus Tullius Cicero was not born into the Roman aristocracy. Born in 106 BCE¹ in the hill town of Arpinum², south-east of Rome, he came from a wealthy³ but non-noble family. Romans called him a novus homo, or “new man”⁴. He climbed to the highest office in Rome through sheer brilliance. He became consul in 63 BCE⁵, the youngest man of his background ever to do so⁶. During that consulship, he uncovered and crushed the Catilinarian conspiracy⁷, a plot to overthrow the Roman government. The Senate rewarded him with the title pater patriae “father of the country”⁸.

His influence stretched far beyond his own lifetime. The philosopher and theologian St. Augustine wrote that Cicero’s lost work Hortensius turned him toward philosophy and toward God⁹. When the Italian poet Petrarch rediscovered Cicero’s private letters in 1345, it sparked an intellectual revolution that many historians consider the opening of the Renaissance¹⁰. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Montesquieu, and David Hume all drew on his ideas about natural law and the common good.

Yet for all his greatness, Cicero’s life ended in tragedy. He made powerful enemies, including Mark Antony, against whom he delivered a series of devastating speeches called the Philippics¹¹. When Antony and Octavian formed a political alliance in 43 BCE, Cicero’s name was on their list of enemies. On 7 December 43 BCE¹², soldiers caught up with him as he fled. They cut off his head¹³ and his hands¹⁴ and nailed them to the speaker’s platform¹⁵ in the Roman Forum as a warning to others. The greatest orator Rome ever produced died because he refused to stay silent.

This is where the island of Malta enters his story.

Malta in Roman times

Malta’s story under Rome begins in 218 BCE, during the Second Punic War¹⁶. The Roman general Tiberius Sempronius Longus¹⁷ conquered the island from the Carthaginians¹⁸. The island surrendered peacefully¹⁹, and the Romans treated it accordingly²⁰. Rather than crushing the local population, Rome incorporated Malta into the province of Sicily^{21 22}. They allowed it to keep its own local senate and a degree of self-governance.²³ Malta was not a fully independent state, but it was far from a mere outpost. In the narrow channel between eastern and western Mediterranean, it was a strategic point for Roman trade routes.

The island was also prosperous in many ways^{24 25}:

• Malta produced fine textiles like linen and wool, famous across the Mediterranean.
• The first-century CE poet Silius Italicus described the island as “Melita, proud of her woollen fabrics.”
• Cicero himself called it prosperous in his court speeches.
• Malta exported honey, olive oil, and minted its own bronze coins, some bearing both Punic and Greek inscriptions.
• The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus remarked on the elegance of Maltese houses.
• Archaeological excavations have uncovered about 50 Roman sites across the islands, including luxurious villas with heated baths.

All this is a clear reflection of the island’s rich multicultural heritage²⁶. ²⁷. This was not a remote backwater; it was a thriving community.

Religiously and culturally, Malta held genuine significance for Rome. The island was home to a famous and ancient temple dedicated to Juno²⁸; the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods. This temple was so revered that even foreign kings respected it. Cicero tells the story of King Massinissa of Numidia²⁹, whose admiral removed enormous ivory tusks from the temple during a visit³⁰. When Massinissa heard about it, he ordered them returned immediately, with an apology³¹. The story was well known in Rome, which is precisely why Cicero later used it in court to shame the man who had done far worse as Rome’s own representative.

The Romans built temples themselves too, like the Temple of Proserpina.

But what has this trial, and the nobility of an ancient king have to do with Malta?

The Verres Trial — Knowing Malta Without Visiting It

In 70 BCE, Cicero took on the most important case of his career: the prosecution of Gaius Verres³², the former governor of Sicily³³. Verres had spent three years, from 73 to 71 BCE, systematically looting the province³⁴. He stole statues, extorted local citizens, and ran Sicily like his personal treasure chest³⁵. Cicero had served as quaestor in western Sicily in 75 BCE³⁶ and knew the province intimately. He was granted 110 days to travel to Sicily and gather evidence. Verres, sensing defeat, went into exile before the verdict, but Cicero published his speeches anyway³⁷.

Malta featured prominently in those speeches. Cicero accused Verres of turning the entire town of Melite, the main settlement on Malta, into a personal textile factory. “What could you want with so many Maltese garments?” Cicero demanded in court, “as if you were going to dress all your friends’ wives”³⁸. He also accused Verres of demanding “four hundred jars of honey”³⁹ and “fifty cushions for sofas”⁴⁰ from the island, and of plundering the Temple of Juno⁴¹. In one of the most striking passages, Cicero describes the temple as being of “the greatest sanctity and the greatest antiquity.” He used the story of King Massinissa to make Verres look not merely corrupt, but worse than a foreign enemy⁴². The detail and precision of these accusations led many to assume Cicero must have visited Malta himself to gather this evidence.

He did not.

The key lies in a single phrase Cicero used in the same speech. Describing Verres’s activities on Malta, he notes that the town of Melite was one “which Verres never visited”⁴³, and yet Verres still managed to exploit it for three years through agents and intermediaries⁴⁴. This phrase is significant in two directions:

• It confirms Verres himself never went to Malta.
• It implies Cicero’s own knowledge came not from a personal visit but from testimony of Maltese witnesses and from the evidence he gathered during his time in Sicily.

Cicero also maintained personal friendships with Maltese citizens. In around 46 BCE, he wrote a letter on behalf of a man named Aulus Licinius Aristoteles of Melita, describing him as a long-standing guest-friend. These connections gave him detailed knowledge of the island without requiring him to cross that “wide and dangerous stretch of sea.”

Which suggest Cicero didn’t make it to the island; or did he?

The Two Times Cicero Almost Made It to Malta

The first time Cicero seriously considered going to Malta was in 58 BCE⁴⁵, when his enemy Clodius engineered his exile from Rome. Clodius used the earlier execution of the Catilinarian conspirators⁴⁶ as a legal pretext to drive Cicero out of Italy⁴⁷. Cicero initially hoped to find refuge in Sicily, where he had friends from his time as quaestor, and then in Malta. He contacted the propraetor of Sicily, a man named Vergilius⁴⁸, to ask for shelter. Vergilius refused, unwilling to risk Clodius’s anger⁴⁹. Cicero then turned his thoughts to Malta.

The plan collapsed almost immediately. The terms of Cicero’s exile were amended to forbid him from living within 400 miles of the Italian mainland. This put Malta firmly out of reach^{50 51}. On 3 April 58 BCE, writing to Atticus⁵² from the Italian town of Brundisium⁵³, Cicero stated plainly: “I am not permitted to stay in Malta”⁵⁴. The letter is one of his most personal. Cicero describes himself as “heartily sick of life” and tells Atticus that only his friendship keeps him going. He made his way to Thessalonica^{55 56} in northern Greece, far from the island he had hoped would shelter him. He was recalled from exile in 57 BCE after a public campaign by his supporters.

The second attempt came eleven years later, in 49 BCE, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and plunged Rome into civil war. Cicero found himself caught between two sides he distrusted^{57 58}:

• Caesar, whom he feared would become a tyrant
• Pompey, whose military recklessness worried him.

He spent months at his villa in Formiae, writing anguished letters to Atticus⁵⁹, trying to decide what to do. In May 49 BCE, he floated the idea of Malta as a neutral refuge: “Melitam igitur, opinor, capessamus” (“Let us make for Malta, I think”⁶⁰ ). He had even spoken to Curio⁶¹, one of Caesar’s men, who seemed agreeable to the idea. But to leave Italy, Cicero needed permission from Mark Antony⁶², who refused. Caesar had expressly forbidden anyone to leave Italy without his approval^{63 64}. The Malta plan died there, and Cicero eventually sailed to join Pompey’s forces in Greece instead⁶⁵.

The greatest orator of Rome dreamed twice of the Maltese shores as a sanctuary. Twice history slammed the door in his face.

Cicero knew Malta intimately, but never visited

The evidence is clear and consistent. Cicero wrote about Malta more vividly than almost any other ancient author. He knew its geography, its economy, its temples, and its people. He had Maltese friends, informants, and deep knowledge of the island from his work on the Verres case. He wanted to go there, twice, and circumstances prevented him from doing so both times.

What makes this story so compelling is not the absence of a visit, but the presence of so much longing. Malta represented something to Cicero: distance from his enemies. The island appears in his writing at the moments of his greatest vulnerability. He never made it but the fact he kept trying tells you something important about the man. Even at his lowest, Cicero was always looking for a way to survive, to endure, and to fight another day.

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Remember: links were correct at time of publication.