Welcome to the Forum for Cicero's De re publica! Take a look at Using this Forum for hints if you are not familiar with this environment.

In this forum, we will discuss what survives of Cicero’s De re publica (54-51 BCE)—a treatise on the ideal commonwealth which had been, for Cicero, under construction since Rome’s earliest history and throughout its evolution into a mixed and balanced constitution. This ideal, however, cannot be realized without the active, political life of virtue which combats moral decay, uncovers and acts in accord with unchanging, natural law, summons to duty, and prevents transgression. Such a moral agent aims at the advantage (utilitas) rather than desire (voluntas) of his people. As we pay close attention to Cicero’s prose, we will discuss his use of the past to comment on the late Republic, connections with Plato’s ideal, the dramatic form, and the coherence of this mixed constitutional model. Our discussions will also tend towards resonance with modern politics and culture.

Participants:

James Collins (Instructor)

Eleri Hopkins Cousins