Cicero adored his daughter

Cicero adored his daughter Tullia, despite the fact that his marriage to Terentia was purely for convenience. In a letter to his brother Quintus, he praises her as follows: "How affectionate, how modest, how clever! The express image of my face, my speech, my very soul." Cicero was taken aback when she suddenly fell ill in February 45 BC and died after appearing to have recovered from giving birth to a son in January. "I have lost the one thing that bound me to life," he wrote to Atticus.

Atticus invited him to pay him a visit during the first few weeks of his bereavement so that he could console him when his pain was the most intense. Cicero read what the Greek philosophers had written on overcoming sadness in Atticus' huge library, but "but my sorrow defeats all consolation." Caesar and Brutus both wrote him condolence letters. Servius Sulpicius Rufus, an old friend, and colleague agreed. He wrote a beautiful letter that has been widely acclaimed by posterity, full of nuanced, sorrowful thoughts on the transiency of all things. After a while, he retreated from all company to spend time alone in his recently purchased property near Astura. It was in a remote location, although not far from Neapolis (modern Naples). He also intended to build a tiny temple in honor of Tullia, "his incomparable daughter." But, for unclear reasons, he abandoned this plan after a year.