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De re publica is a work by Cicero, written in six books 54-51 BC, in the "format" of a Socratic dialogue, that is to say: Scipio Africanus Minor (who had died a few decades before Cicero was born) takes the role of "wise old man", that is an obligatory part in the "Socratic dialogue" genre. This dialogue is imagined as taking place between Romans, several centuries after Socrates' death. For other uses see Cicero (disambiguation) Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BC - December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. ...
Socrates Scholasticus; for the Brazilian football player, see Sócrates (football player) Socrates Socrates (June 4, 470 – 399 BC) (Greek Σωκράτης Sōkrátēs) was a Greek (Athenian) philosopher and one of the most important icons of the Western philosophical tradition. ...
Storybook illustration depicting Scipio as the reluctant servant of the Senate as he orchestrated the genocide of the Carthaginians. ...
The term dialogue (or dialog) expresses basically reciprocal conversation between two or more persons. ...
Choosing this "format" of a philosophical dialogue placed in a time before his own for this politically "hot" treatise, allowed Cicero to avoid to name his political adversaries directly, and also, while different opinions were expressed by the various speakers he made it more difficult for these adversaries to pin him down on what he had written.
Setting - dramatis personae
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 is taken by Scipio telling a dream he had: this passage is known as Somnium Scipionis, or "Scipio's dream".
Participants In alphabetical order: - Fannius, C.: Consul in 122 BC. Follower of stoicism, historian and orator. Son-in-law to Laelius.
- Laelius (or: Lœlius), C.: Close friend and associate of Scipio, consul in 140 BC, promoter of the study of literature and philosophy.
- Manilius, M'.: Consul in 149 BC. Historian and legal scholar.
- Mucius Scaevola (or: Scævola), Q.: Legal scholar and patron of the young Cicero. Son-in-law to Laelius.
- Mummius, Sp.: Satirist and extreme defender of optimate interests.
- Philus, L. Furius: Consul 136 BC, orator
- Rutilius Rufus, P.: Politician admired for his honesty, dedicated to stoicism.
- Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, P. Cornelius, 195-129 BC: Famous military and political leader 149-129. Captured and destroyed Carthage in 146 BC. Restored order after assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC and mediated between the political factions. Died suddenly and mysteriously in 129.
- Tubero, Q. Aelius: Scipio's nephew, tribune c. 129 BC. Legal scholar dedicated to stoicism.
For modern diplomatic consuls, see Consulate general. ...
A restored Stoa in Athens, Greece. ...
Generally speaking, a historian is a person who studies history. ...
Orator is a Latin word for speaker (from the Latin verb oro, meaning I speak or I pray). In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. ...
Literature is literally an acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has, however, generally come to identify a collection of texts. ...
Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being and truth. ...
Manius Manilius, consul Marcus Manilius, Roman poet Gaius Manilius, Roman tribune Manlius, New York, The name of a town and a village, possibly named due to the classic references noted above. ...
A jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. ...
In Roman mythology, Mucius (also Gaius Mucius Scaevola) was a hero who saved Rome from the Etruscans, led by Lars Porsena. ...
Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ...
List of satirists below - writers, cartoonists and others known for their involvement in satire - humourous social criticism. ...
Optimates (Good Men) were the aristocratic faction of the later Roman Republic. ...
A politician is an individual involved in politics. ...
Storybook illustration depicting Scipio as the reluctant servant of the Senate as he orchestrated the genocide of the Carthaginians. ...
A map of the central Mediterranean Sea, showing the location of Carthage (near modern Tunis). ...
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (Latin: TI·SEMPRONIVS·TI·F·P·N·GRACCVS) (163 BC-132 BC) was a Roman politician of the 2nd century BC. In his short life he caused a political turmoil in the Republic, by his attempts, as plebeian tribune, to legislate agrarian reforms. ...
What's in a 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 knows even more variants, often indicating the stance of the translator: since the expression "res publica" (appearing in a deflection in the title of this work) later evolved, with some shifts of meaning, to republic, or a similar term in many languages, there is no general consensus over the interpretation of the connotations implied by these expressions. For the Estonian political party, see Union for the Republic - Res Publica. ...
In a broad definition a republic is a state or country that is led by people that dont found their political power on any principle beyond the control of the people living in that state or country. ...
Cicero and Plato Cicero himself is responsible for a part of these translation and interpretation issues: in De re publica he emulates a dialogue by Plato, which since has become known as The Republic. Plato himself did not use the word Republic in the title of his work: his Greek term (politeia) is certainly not a republic in a modern understanding of the word, and hence has sometimes been translated to "polity" (as in Xenophon's Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians) or "politics" (as in Aristotle's Politics). Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle all used the same word politeia in the title of these respective works: only in the title of Plato's work politeia is most often translated to Republic, by Cicero's influence, while his De re publica, in the form of a dialogue, was closest to Plato's model. Statue of a philosopher, presumely Plato, in Delphi. ...
Plato. ...
The Republic is perhaps Platos best-known dialogue and one of his most influential. ...
Xenophon (circa 427-355 B.C.) was an Athenian citizen, an associate of Socrates, a Philodorian and is known for his writings on Hellenic history and culture. ...
Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle ( Greek: Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) ( 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. ...
Politics (or Politica) is a text by Aristotle. ...
English translations of the title of Cicero's De re publica De re publica is referred to as... - (The) Republic - that translation neglects the first word of the Latin title, which is the equivalent of On, so 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 "thing" of the people 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 too - this sounds quite British however.
- 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)
The English noun Commonwealth dates originally from the fifteenth century and in different contexts indicates one of: a nation, state or political unit a state founded on law by agreement of the people for the common good a republic a federated union of constituent states. ...
Painting of Gaius Julius Caesar Bust of Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (Latin: C·IVLIVS·C·F·C·N·CAESAR¹) (July 12 or July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader whose conquest of Gallia Comata extended the Roman world all the way...
See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ...
Content 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. Scipio's dream, which is only a part from the 6th book, is nearly all that survives from that book. The largest part of the surviving text was uncovered as a palimpsest in 1822. The other fragments are mainly quotes found in the work of other authors (for example Augustine). Through these other authors, discussing Cicero's treatise, also the main topics of each book are known. A palimpsest is a manuscript page, scroll, or book that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. ...
Events March 30 - Florida becomes a United States territory. ...
St. ...
Apart from the Greek philosophers mentioned above, also Polybius was an important source of inspiration for Cicero's political views. Polybius (ca 203 BC - 120 BC) was a Greek historian of the Mediterranean world, especially the rise of the Roman Republic, which he attributed to Roman fitness and to the excellence of Roman civic and military institutions. ...
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