The Republic and The Laws

`However one defines Man, the same definition applies to us all. This is sufficient proof that there is no essential difference within mankind.’ (Laws l.29-30) Cicero’s The Republic is an impassioned plea for responsible governement written just before the civil war that ended the Roman Republic in a dialogue following Plato. Drawing on Greek political theory, the work embodies the mature reflections of a Roman ex-consul on the nature of political organization, on justice in society, and on the qualities needed in a statesman. Its sequel, The Laws, expounds the influential doctrine of Natural Law, which applies to all mankind, and sets out an ideal code for a reformed Roman Republic, already half in the realm of utopia. This is the first complete English translation of both works for over sixty years and features a lucid Introduction, a Table of Dates, notes on the Roman constitution, and an Index of Names.

Author Biography

Niall Rudd is Emeritus Professor of Latin at Bristol University. He has previously translated Juvenal’s Satires for Oxford World’s Classics. Jonathan Powell is Professor of Latin at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is preparing a new text of De Republica and De Legibus for the Oxford Classical Texts series.