What does it mean to be a man? In the early 21st century, masculinity is contested and fraught with anxiety; influencers offer models of manliness involving fast cars, sexual conquests, and building up muscle. Before the rise of feminism, they suggest, in some supposed Golden Age, everyone had a shared sense of what it meant to be a man – and being a man was unproblematically good. The Roman Empire, in their view, offers men today an inspirational example of power, hierarchy and achievement, which is why men think about it so much – unlike women, who are too immersed in their feelings…

Manliness certainly was celebrated in the works of Cicero, republican Rome’s most eloquent statesman. In the mid-1st century BCE, his persuasive powers in the law courts and the senate were second to none; his speeches went on to inspire would-be orators well into the 20th century. He is often seen as the very embodiment of the Roman republic.…