 Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this deprecatory name when he entered politics, but refused, saying that he would make "Cicero" more glorious than "Scaurus" ("Swollen-ankled") and "Catulus" ("Puppy").During this period in Roman history, "cultured" meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek.Cicero was therefore educated in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers, poets and historians; as he obtained much of his understanding of the theory and practice of rhetoric from the Greek poet Archias and from the Greek rhetorician Apollonius.