On 18 February 1788, Edmund Burke was to pronounce one of the most shocking speeches against the first Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings. Convinced that Hastings had committed despicable crimes in India, Burke stressed how his prosecution was necessary “for the sake of justice, humanity, and the honour of Government”. Before disclosing the appalling tortures allegedly perpetrated on Indian peasants in the region of Rangpur, Burke apologized to his audience – the House of Lords, as well as the crème de la crème of British society and foreign representatives in Britain. As he stressed, “it is indeed a most disgraceful scene to human nature that I am going to display to you”. Although Burke’s commitment to universal values such as justice and humanity has been the object of a vast number of studies, the multiple references to Latin authors, especially Cicero, to impeach Hastings have largely escaped scholars. Cicero, it should be stressed, had thoroughly explored humanism and human nature in some illuminating treatises. In this paper, in particular, I would like to show how, by a careful reuse and adaptation of Cicero, Burke successfully portrayed Hastings as a beast and inhuman monster. In this sense, I will suggest how Burke used the Classics as a powerful tool to reflect on and promote the human and humanity against oppression and cruelty.