Marcus Tullius Tiro


Marcus Tullius Tiro was first a slave, then a freedman of Cicero. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death he published his former master's collected works. He also wrote a considerable number of books himself, and possibly invented an early form of shorthand.

Life

The date of Tiro's birth is uncertain. According to Jerome who dates nearly his death and his age of death, it could be 103 BC, which would make him only a little younger than Cicero. However, he was probably born considerably later than that: Cicero refers to him as an "excellent young man" in 50 BC.
It is possible that Tiro was born a slave in Cicero's household in Arpinum and came with his family to Rome. However we do not know for sure that he was a verna. Cicero refers to Tiro frequently in his letters. His duties included taking dictation, deciphering Cicero's handwriting and managing his table, as well as his garden and financial affairs. Cicero remarks on how useful he is to him in his work and studies.
He was freed in 53 BC and accompanied Cicero to Cilicia during Cicero's governorship there, although he was frequently separated from his patron due to poor health, and many of Cicero's letters refer with concern to his illnesses.
By 43 BC, Tiro had bought an estate near Puteoli, where Jerome says he died in 4 BC at the age of ninety-nine.

Writings

He is believed to have collected and published Cicero's work after his death, and, it seems, was a prolific writer himself: several ancient writers refer to works of Tiro, now lost. Aulus Gellius says, " wrote several books on the usage and theory of the Latin language and on miscellaneous questions of various kinds," and quotes him on the difference between Greek and Latin names for certain stars. Asconius Pedianus, in his commentaries on Cicero's speeches, refers to a biography of Cicero by Tiro in at least four books, and Plutarch refers to him as a source for two incidents in Cicero's life.
He is credited with inventing the shorthand system of Tironian notes, later used by Medieval monks, among others. There is no clear evidence that he did, although Plutarch credits Cicero's clerks as the first Romans to record speeches in shorthand.

Tiro in fiction