The Macedonian Empire had been destroyed.

The kingdoms of the East--whether conquered, or even when conquering, as was Parthia for awhile--were barbaric, outside the circle of cultivation, and to be brought into it only by the arms and influence of Rome.

During Caesar's career Gaul was conquered; and Britain, with what was known of Germany, supposed to be partly conquered.

The subjugation of Africa and Spain was all but completed.
Letters, too, had been or were being introduced.

Cicero's use of language was so perfect that it seems to us to have been almost necessarily the result of a long established art of Latin literature.
But, in truth, he is the earliest of the prose writers of his country with whose works we are familiar.