HORTENSIUS HORTALUS, QUINTUS former consul, for many years the leading advocate at the Roman bar, until displaced by Cicero; brother-in-law of Catulus; a leader of the patrician faction; immensely wealthy; like Cicero, a civilian politician and not a soldier
HYBRIDA, CAIUS ANTONIUS Cicero's colleague as consul, descendant of one of the most illustrious families in Rome, but nevertheless once expelled from the senate for corruption and bankruptcy
ISAURICUS, PUBLIUS SERVILIUS VATIA one of the grand old men of the senate – 70 years old at the time Cicero becomes consul – a tough and highly decorated soldier, having triumphed twice; a former consul and a member of the College of Priests
LABIENUS, TITUS a soldier from Pompey's home region of Picenum; a tribune in Caesar's and Pompey's interests
LUCULLUS, LUCIUS LICINIUS former consul and commander of the Roman army fighting in the East against Mithradates until supplanted by Pompey; haughty, aristocratic and vastly rich, his enemies in the senate have contrived for several years to deny him a triumph and keep him waiting outside Rome; bitterly divorced from one of the sisters of Clodius and Clodia
NEPOS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS brother of Celer and brother-in-law of Pompey, who sends him back from his legateship in the East to stand for the tribuneship and guard his interests in Rome
PIUS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS Pontifex Maximus; sixty-six years old and ailing; the adoptive father of Scipio
POMPEY, GNAEUS born in the same year as Cicero; the most powerful man in the Roman world; a former consul and victorious general who has already triumphed twice, he has been away from Rome fighting in the East – first against the pirates and then against Mithradates – for four years; married to Mucia, the sister of Celer and Nepos
RUFUS, MARCUS CAELIUS Cicero's former pupil, the son of one of his political supporters in the provinces
SERVILIA ambitious and politically shrewd wife of Junius Silanus, a candidate for the consulship; the half-sister of Cato; the long-term mistress of Caesar; the mother of three daughters and a son, Brutus, by her first husband
SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS contemporary and old friend of Cicero; a former praetor, famed as one of the greatest legal experts in Rome; a candidate for the consulship; married to Postumia, a mistress of Caesar
SILANUS, DECIMUS JUNIUS married to Servilia, the long-term mistress of Caesar; a member of the College of Priests; defeated once for the consulship and now planning to stand again
SURA, PUBLIUS CORNELIUS LENTULUS former consul, once expelled from the senate for immorality; married to the widow of Hybrida's brother, and stepfather to the youthful Mark Antony; making a political comeback as urban praetor, and closely allied to Catilina
TERENTIA wife of Cicero; ten years younger than her husband, richer and of nobler birth; devotedly religious, poorly educated, with conservative political views; mother of Cicero's two children, Tullia and Marcus
TIRO Cicero's devoted private secretary, a family slave, three years younger than his master, the inventor of a system of shorthand
TULLIA Cicero's thirteen year-old daughter
VATINIUS, PUBLIUS junior senator, famed for his ugliness; subsequently a tribune and a close ally of Caesar