As his life and death suggest, Cicero was addicted to Roman politics; he wrote beautifully about the pleasures of a quiet life in the countryside, but hankered for the hurly-burly of the Senate and the courts. His political theory is reflective but far from dispassionate.

On Politics: A History of Political Thought: From Herodotus to the Present (2012) - Ch. 4 : Roman Insights: Polybius and Cicero