Cicero's Social and Political Thought
Chapter One
Introduction: Cicero's Significance
Why should anyone today be concerned with the social and political ideas of the late Roman republican thinker and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero? Is it not flailing a dead horse? Cicero's merit as philosopher has been so deflated and his popularity as sage and stylist has so declined that the endeavor would appear to be without intellectual or practical merit. Who today troubles to read Cicero, save a handful of Latinists and ancient historians, and an ever-diminishing number of students? Yet despite the many alterations in mentality and literary taste over the last two centuries, there are several good reasons for examining his social and political views and introducing them to an English-speaking audience. He is, after all, the only Roman republican social and political thinker of supreme importance, and if we are to recapture something of the experience of the Roman state, structure of rule, and cast of mind, his many works are a rich source and an indispensable guide. Ancient social and political thought is Roman as well as Greek, including Cic ... read full excerpt from Cicero's Social and Political Thought ebook
