Cruz trades 'Green Eggs' for Cicero

• Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, quoted Cicero in the Senate on Thursday


• Cruz cited the 2,000 year old speech as relevant to President Barack Obama


• Cruz is known for his literary references, which in the past have included Dr. Seuss

Washington (CNN) -- Sen. Ted Cruz has traded "Green Eggs and Ham" for Cicero.

The loquacious Texas Republican, with a penchant for memorable speeches, criticized President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration Thursday by adapting an address from the orator Cicero, warning of the demise of the Roman Republic.

"The words of Cicero, powerfully relevant 2077 years later," the conservative said on the Senate floor.

"When President Obama do you mean to cease abusing our patience. How long is that madness of yours still to mock us. When is there to be an end to that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now," Cruz intoned.

"What shall we who are the Senate tolerate, President Obama openly desirous to destroy the Constitution and this republic?" he added.

A Cruz spokeswoman explained the events Cicero warned of two millennia ago -- when the aristocrat Cataline, a champion of the poor, was attempting a coup -- apply to the current dispute over whether the President has the right to change immigration laws without the consent of Congress. She said the speech, which ran about four minutes, is "almost verbatim" to how Cicero delivered it.

"It is incredible how accurately this narrative applies to today," Catherin Frazier said. "The President once said he could not take such action on immigration because he was not an emperor, yet today he is acting just as such."

"For we have a resolution of the Senate, a formidable and authoritative decree against you, Mr. President. The wisdom of the republic is not at fault, nor the dignity of this senatorial body," Cruz said. "We alone, I say it openly, we the Senate are waiting in our duty to stop this lawless administration and its unconstitutional amnesty."

The historically themed speech clearly won points for creativity. But it might not have been surprising coming from the Princeton and Harvard trained lawyer. His most memorable words from the floor prior to this were when, during a lengthy filibuster-type speech related to President's health care reform law, he read Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" as bedtime story for his children watching on C-SPAN.