Name: The Republic and The Laws
Rating: 3.875 (8 reviews)
ISBN: 9780199540112

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Niall Rudd

Cicero's The Republic is an impassioned plea for responsible government, based on Greek political theory, and written just before the civil war that ended the Roman Republic. Its sequel, The Laws, expounds the influential doctrine of Natural Law, setting out an ideal code for a reformed Roman Republic that is half in the realm of Utopia. This is the first complete English translation of both works since 1928.

The Republic and The Laws

`My present intention is to clear myself of any suspicion of partiality by presenting the views of the generality of philosophers concerning the nature of the gods.' Cicero's philosophical works are now exciting renewed interest, in part because he provides vital evidence of the views of the (largely lost) Greek philosophers of the Hellenistic age, and partly because of the light he casts on the intellectual life of first century Rome. The Nature of the Gods is a text of central significance, presenting a detailed account of the theologies of the Epicureans and of the Stoics, together with the critical objections to these doctrines raised by the Academic school. When these Greek theories of deity are translated into the Roman context, a fascinating clash of ideologies results. This fine translation by P. G. Walsh includes a summary of the Text, and an Index and Glossary of Names.

The Republic and The Laws

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