The Republic and the Laws

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Book Overview

Cicero's The Republic is an impassioned plea for responsible government written just before the civil war that ended the Roman Republic in a dialogue following Plato. This is the first complete English translation of both works for over sixty years and features a lucid introduction, a table of dates, notes on the Roman constitution, and an index of names.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192832360
• ISBN13: 9780192832368
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Good translation.

This took me weeks to get through, but I can not really fault the translation since this is direct from Cicero himself. I found it very interesting however albeit not exactly exciting but why would it be? I do feel that I have a much broader foundation when it comes to thinking about politics however. It's a gold mine of eye opening thinking immersed in almost parable like story as if a stage play demonstrating the ideas is playing out in your mind. Definitely worth the read.

Good translation of important works

I enjoyed this translation and found it to be quite accessible. The two works go together to discuss the ideal state through a reasonably sophisticated approach though one which is quite trapped by views of Roman superiority. After all, Cicero begins by extolling the virtues of patriotism so we shouldn't be surprised if his ideal state looks exactly like his own state. However, the approach taken by Cicero is rather interesting. Rather than emphasizing a specific structure, he seems to emphasize ongoing synthesis of elements of different structures, emphasizing the importance of what might later be thought to be a "social contract theory of government." Often I think in many areas of political discourse returning to this basic level would be helpful even in our modern age. The second work builds upon this by offering a system of laws for the ideal republic. This helps to clarify Cicero's thinking a great deal by offering more concrete examples of how the Republic should be formed. The introduction and end notes add a great deal to this edition. Anyone interested in theory of government, Roman studies, or Cicero in general, should read this book. Highly recommended.

The book to buy

Great little book, the one I had to buy for my class in college. Sold it back in the spring and bought it agian after graduation... this is the Cicero book to buy.

A different view of the ideal state

From Plato's Republic or before, people have written their ideas of what the ideal state would look like, and especially how it would be governed. Cicero, a citizen of classical Rome adds his thoughts in the first half of this volume. To him, the philosophically ideal state would be very much like Rome itself. Cicero establishes early on (p.16) that, regarding the marvels of the physical world, "that kind of knowledge will not make us better or happier people." Only statecraft is worthy of serious study. That ideal state would be populated by "We Romans, paragons of justice as we are" (p.63-64), who forbid many industries in their outlying states "in order to enhance the value of our own products." He reinforces this idea of the predatory state by saying "No state is so stupid as not to prefer wicked domination to virtuous subjection" (p.67), as if domination and subjection are the only two roles that states may hold with respect to each other. Cicero presents his thoughts in the form of Platonic dialogs, but without the clear direction of Plato's works. Instead, these little plays express Cicero's unfailingly high opinion of himself and of Rome, dismissing all others (both people and states) as unworthy of interest. His "Lasw" follow the same pattern, exploring the ideal by reciting the rules that Rome had in place, with only minor revisions. Mixed in with his smug sense of superiority regarding self and state, Cicero makes a few points of interest. He compares monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government. He notes that each has flaws, and each holds the seeds of its own collapse. Instead of any one, Cicero proposes an ideal government - i.e., Rome's own - that combines all three. I found it interesting that the US constitution creates much the same structure. We have the mono-archic presidency, oligarchic supreme court, and democratic Senate and Congress. Unfortunatley, I found Cicero's discussion too diffuse and too broken by losses through the centuries to get any clear idea of how he would have divided responsibility between the three, so I can not contrast his ideal to our current situation. The translation is lively and modern. Profuse end notes fill in cultural background and ambiguities in translation, adding nicely to the main text. I could only ask for uniform numbering in the references - end notes are numbered by the page to which they refer, but cross reference by section numbers in the text. That, combined with numbers that apparently identify leaves of the original, creating an indexing scheme that fell short in clarity. Those minor problems seem not to interfere with Cicero's presentation, or with Cicero's sense of his own importance and Rome's. //wiredweird

"The Statesman's Handbook"

Niall Rudd's edition of Cicero's two works The Republic and The Laws is the ideal handbook for the aspiring statesman; the accomplished politician should also be referred to use these two dialogues as a sort of political guide to draw from. In these two texts, the reader will find Cicero in all his eloquence artfully dicating the principles of what it means to be a good man and what it takes to create and consolidate states. This book will leave a lasting impression upon anyone who pans through the pages of these two very important works of the great Marcus Tullius Cicero. Also found here are the always insightful explanatory notes contained in the excellent series of Oxford World Classics; and the concise, scholarly introductions will without a doubt throw significant light upon the principles addressed throughout these timeless texts.