De re publica
De re publica (On the Commonwealth; see below) is a
The work examines the type of government that had been established in Rome since the kings, and that was challenged by, amongst others, Julius Caesar. The development of the constitution is explained, and Cicero explores the different types of constitutions and the roles played by citizens in government. The work is also known for the Dream of Scipio, a fictional dream vision from the sixth book.
Title
While already the Latin version of the title of this work is given in two versions (De re publica and De Republica), depending on source, the translation of the title of this work show even more variants, often based on the choice of the translator: the expression "
Setting and dramatis personæ
De re publica is in the format of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Aemilianus (who had died over twenty years before Cicero was born, 270 years after Socrates' death) takes the role of a wise old man — a typical feature of the genre. Cicero's treatise was politically controversial: by choosing the format of a philosophical dialogue he avoided naming his political adversaries directly. By employing various speakers to raise differing opinions, Cicero not only remained true to his favoured sceptical method of setting opposing arguments against one another (see, e.g., Carneades), but also made it more difficult for his adversaries to take him to task for what he had written.
Setting
The dialogue is portrayed as taking place in Scipio's estate, during three consecutive days. Each day is described in two books, with an introduction by Cicero preceding the dialogue of each book. A large part of the last book (the sixth) is taken by Scipio telling a dream he had: this passage is known as
Participants
In alphabetical order:
- . Son-in-law to Laelius.
- Laelius, Gaius: Close friend and associate of Scipio, Consul in 140 BC, promoter of the study of literature and Philosophy.
- legal scholar.
- patronof the young Cicero. Son-in-law to Laelius.
- Lucius Mummius.
- Philus, Lucius Furius: Consul 136 BC, orator
- Rutilius Rufus, Publius: Politician admired for his honesty, dedicated to Stoicism.
- Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, P. Cornelius: Famous military and political leader 149–129 BC. Captured and destroyed Carthage in 146 BC. Restored order after assassination of Tiberius Gracchusin 133 BC and mediated between the political factions. Died suddenly and mysteriously in 129 BC.
- Tubero, Quintus Aelius: Scipio's nephew, tribune c. 129 BC. Legal scholar dedicated to Stoicism.
As a letter to his brother
Content
Apart from the Greek philosophers mentioned above, Polybius was also an important source of inspiration for Cicero's political views.
Since not all of the work survives, some of the content is surmised from references by other ancient authors.
Book One: Contains a discussion between the protagonists of the political situation of their time. The theme of the work is given and some comments are made about the theory of
Book Two: An outline of
Book Three: The role of justice in
Book Four: A discourse about education.
Book Five: The characters converse about the qualities of the ideal
Book Six: Little of this book survives except the Somnium Scipionis, which functions as the conclusion to the work.
Style
Cicero carefully edited De re publica in order to achieve exalted style.
History of the text
Large parts of the text are missing: especially from the 4th and the 5th book only minor fragments survived. All other books have at least some passages missing.
The largest part of the surviving text was uncovered as a palimpsest in 1819 in a Vatican Library manuscript (Vat Lat 5757) of a work by Augustine and published in 1822. Before that date Scipio's dream was the only larger excerpt of the text that was known to have survived the Middle Ages. The other fragments are mainly quotes found in the work of other authors (for example Augustine and Nonius Marcellus). Through these other authors' discussion of Cicero's treatise, the main topics of each book can be surmised.
The discovery in 1819 by Cardinal Angelo Mai was one of the first major recoveries of an ancient text from a palimpsest, and although Mai's techniques were crude by comparison with later scholars', his discovery of De Republica heralded a new era of rediscovery and inspired him and other scholars of his time to seek more palimpsests.
A copy was published in the 19th century by the Vatican library, and a transcript is available in the 1908 Supplementary Proceedings of the American School of Rome. Uncertainty continues over several corruptions in the text that affect key data, such as the structure and size of the Comitia Centuriata in early Rome as described by Scipio in Book II. Another key area of debate is the one corrective hand present in Vat Lat 5757; some scholars believe the corrective hand was a more skilled copyist, perhaps a supervisor, who had access to the same text as the copyist and was correcting the first work; others have concluded that the corrective hand had access to a different version of the text.
It is worth noting that in one letter to his friend Atticus, Cicero asks him to make a correction to the copy of De Republica Cicero has sent him. This correction is not present in the Vat Lat 5757 version of the text.
Quotes
- This excessive liberty soon brings the people, collectively and individually, to an excessive servitude. (Latin: Nimiaque illa libertas et populis et privatis in nimiam servitutem cadit) (I, 68)
Text and translations
Text
- Cicero: On Friendship and The Dream of Scipio by J. Powell (1990) Wiltshire: Aris & Phillips Ltd
- Cicero: De Re Publica ed. J. E. G. Zetzel (1995) Cambridge: Cambridge UP
- Cicero: On the Commonwealth and On the Laws ed. and trans. J. E. G. Zetzel (1999) Cambridge: Cambridge UP
- Cicero: The Republic and The Laws ed. and trans. N. Rudd (1998) New York: Oxford UP
Translations
- Republic - a translation neglecting the first word of the Latin title (De), which is the equivalent of On or Of; other translations of the title include On the republic or Treatise on the republic.
- Although "republic" can appear a neutral translation of "res publica", it is infected by the many interpretations given to the word republic afterwards, as mentioned above. So, the translation of "Res publica" (literally the "public thing" or the public cause) has many variants:
- Sometimes "Res publica" is translated into Commonwealth, hence Treatise on the Commonwealth is a possible translation of the title (the major translation by G.H. Sabine & S.B. Smith, 1929, is, thus, On the Commonwealth).
- On Government or On the State – Cicero's intention was however probably more specific, the type of government that had been established in Rome since the kings, and that was challenged by amongst others Julius Caesar, by the time Cicero wrote his De re publica. (see: Roman Republic)
References
- ^ Cicero, Ad Quintum Fratrem III.5 (= SB 25)
- ^ Cicero, Ad Quintum Fratrem III.5.1
- ^ a b Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 31.
- ^ Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 45.
- ^ Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 92.
- ^ Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 86-87.
- ^ Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 115.
- ^ Albrecht, M. Cicero's Style: a synopsis, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 42.
Bibliography
- Fott, David, Marcus Tullius Cicero: On the Republic and On the Laws (Agora Editions), Cornell University Press (December 19, 2013).
- How, W. W. (1930) "Cicero's Ideal in his De re publica". Journal of Roman Studies, 20: 24–42.
- Keyes, C. W. (1921) "Original Elements in Cicero's Ideal Constitution". American Journal of Philology 42: 309–323.
- Powell, J. G. F. (1994) "The rector rei publicae of Cicero's De Republica". Scripta Classica Israelica 13: 19–29.
- Sharples, R. (1986). "Cicero's Republic and Greek Political Theory". Polis. 5 (2): 30–50. .
- Wood, N. Cicero's Social and Political Thought. (1988) Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Hamza, G. Il potere (lo Stato) nel pensiero di Cicerone e la sua attualità. Revista Internacional de Derecho Romano (RIDROM) 10 (2013) 1-25. http://www.ridrom.uclm.es
External links
- Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: De re publica
- On the Republic, translated by C.W.Keyes at attalus.org
- Latin original at The Latin Library