Most people have probably heard the phrase “Let the facts speak for themselves,” but few have heard the extraordinary story of its creation.

You might even be surprised to learn that the idea is more than 2,000 years old.

The honor in this case goes to the giant of politics, philosophy, rhetoric, and democracy - Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Cicero lived in perhaps the most extraordinary political period in history - with the possible exception of our own - when the Roman Republic had conquered the entire Mediterranean and the lands around it, but the very political system and culture that brought about this success had now become its own victim.

The founders of the Roman Republic and writers of its constitution had simply never anticipated the inflow of immeasurable wealth and international power that its foremost citizens could now attain through conquest and provincial government.

It had never made a contingency to deal with the importation of millions of slaves and super-rich landowners who pushed out the citizen farmers that had been the backbone of the legions for centuries.

Romulus and Brutus did not contemplate that the herder settlement they founded on the seven hills around the Tiber would one day be home to a million people, all of whom would require shelter and food on an unprecedented scale.

As a result of all this upheaval and transformation, by the final century BC, Rome’s previously sacrosanct political institutions had begun to buckle, and corruption and violence became ever more common and widespread.

One of the most egregious practitioners of political violence was Publius Clodius Pulcher, who formed gangs of plebeian working-class citizens to intimidate and harass rival political candidates and officials.

Rome had no formal police force at this time, and bringing serving military units into the city was considered sacrilege - so there was no immediate solution to Clodius’s outrages.

One of the primary targets of Clodius’s rancor was Cicero, who was the champion of the conservative patrician class - and Cicero responded to this opprobrium with his own weapon - speeches and writings.

Cicero publicly announced that Clodius was an effeminate fool who had once been caught entering a sacred women-only religious event dressed as a female.

More shockingly, Cicero amplified the rumors of Clodius having a scandalous relationship with his own sister.

Clodius’ enmity now turned to outright hatred and vendetta.

His attacks on Cicero grew to such an extreme that the elder statesman was forced to exile himself from the city - and Clodius destroyed his home after the flight.

Cicero was eventually saved when his conservative allies, like Gnaeus Pompey, grew tired of Clodius’s antics - and, wishing to avoid a similar fate, they funded a fighter of their own in the form of Titus Annius Milo.

Milo was a veteran of Pompey’s triumphant armies - and he recruited battalions of fellow legionaries, as well as trained gladiators, to confront Clodius.

In their first encounters, the Clodian street gangs stood no chance against trained and disciplined opponents.

Clodius was forced to recruit gladiators in turn - and Rome’s streets were transformed into bloody battlegrounds.

Inevitably, Milo and Clodius met face to face a few miles south of Rome in 52 BC - and Clodius was killed in the fighting - first struck with a javelin and then finished off on Milo’s orders.

Milo was brought to trial in the aftermath - though he claimed that Clodius had set an ambush for him, and the only man who could defend him was Rome’s foremost advocate - Cicero.

Cicero’s speech from the trial - the Pro Milone - has been preserved, even though it is thought that he only wrote it down after the event.

In it, Cicero pointed to Clodius’s known history of violence - the fact that his followers attacked first and Milo then acted in self-defense - and the age-old Roman principle that force could reasonably be met with force.

The speech is notable for two phrases - the first of which is “res loquitur ipsa,” or “the thing itself speaks,” from which we derive “the facts speak for themselves.”

The other is “silent enim leges inter arma,” or “in times of war, the laws fall silent.”

Despite Cicero’s superlative rhetoric and defense, Milo was found guilty on account of the fact that his order to kill Clodius came after the immediate threat had ended - and Clodius no longer posed an existing danger.

Milo’s property was seized - and he was sent into exile, moving to Massilia - modern Marseille.

He took his loss in good humor - for when Cicero sent him a copy of the amended court speech, he wrote back to say that it was for the best that the defense was not successful, as the seafood in Marseille was positively exquisite.

Milo would be recalled to service in the civil war against Julius Caesar - falling in battle in Apulia, southern Italy.

Cicero would survive Caesar’s civil war and assassination - but he eventually met his fate when he embarked on a new vendetta with an enemy far more dangerous than Clodius - Mark Antony.