The year of Tiro's birth is uncertain. Groebe, in the
Realencyclopädie, places it at 103 BC per a statement in
Jerome that Tiro died in his hundredth year; this dating, however, is unlikely given that Cicero's letters imply that he was much younger. Moreover, because valuable slaves usually received their freedom within a few years, Kathryn Tempest in the
Encyclopedia of Ancient History, along with William McDermott in
Historia, place his birth . There is no clear evidence of Tiro's parents or of his status as
verna (slave born into a master's household). That said, he was probably
verna and various scholars have speculated as to his birth parents. Groebe suggested he could have been born into Cicero's grandfather's household by a prisoner; others have suggested he could have been Cicero's son by a slave mistress, but this "should not be taken too seriously". Literary evidence of Tiro's activities grows, due to Cicero's letters, for Tiro's later life. Cicero frequently refers to Tiro in his letters (more than sixty such letters, with the whole 16th book of Cicero's letters to friends included). His duties included taking dictation, deciphering Cicero's handwriting and managing his table, as well as his garden and financial affairs. Tiro's first appearance in the Ciceronean corpus is when Cicero seconded him to his brother
Quintus Tullius Cicero to write political reports in 54 BC. Some date his manumission to this year, but it is more likely that he was
manumitted the next year in April 53 BC. He was probably aged twenty. When Tiro was freed, with much celebration, he adopted Cicero's
praenomen (
Marcus) and
nomen (
Tullius); A letter from Cicero to Quintus describing the ceremony is lost, but letters from Quintus commending Cicero for his decision survive. It is possible that
Pompey was present in an official capacity. Afterwards, he accompanied Cicero to
Cilicia during Cicero's governorship there. On his return from Cilicia in 51 BC, Tiro fell seriously ill; Cicero's letters show the strength of their friendship and how Cicero regularly wrote to check on Tiro's health. Many of Cicero's letters refer with concern to his illnesses. Tiro not only assisted Cicero in secretarial work, but also helped to proofread manuscripts, supervise copyists, and also help in private and financial matters. In 47 BC, for example, Tiro managed the leasing out of Cicero's gardens in
Tusculum, oversaw the provision of water to the villa, catalogued the books at Cicero's estate, and tried to reconcile Cicero's daughter
Tullia with her husband. He also was the point of contact for Cicero's financial matters: when Cicero divorced
Terentia, his friend
Titus Pomponius Atticus wrote to Tiro about repayment of Terentia's
dowry. He also pursued private ventures: letters to that effect describe such ventures in 44 BC, when he also bought a small farm probably near
Puteoli, where Jerome says he died in 4 BC in "his hundredth year". ==Writings==