Cicero, de Republica

ToposText · Cicero · 230 sections

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§ 2.28 At this point in Scipio's discourse Manilius said: Is there really a tradition, Africanus, that this King Numa was a pupil, or at least a follower, of Pythagoras? For we have often heard this statement made by our elders and are aware that it is commonly believed, and yet we are quite certain that it cannot be definitely proved by reference to our official records. Scipio: This story is entirely false, Manilius, and not merely an invention, but an ignorant and absurd one as well. For falsehoods are indeed intolerable which are not merely obvious inventions, but even relate what we know could not possibly have happened. For it has been ascertained that, in the fourth year of the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, Pythagoras visited Sybaris and Croton and the neighbouring parts of Italy; for the accession of Superbus and the arrival of Pythagoras are both recorded to have fallen in the same Olympiad, the sixty-second.
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§ 2.29 From this fact, by adding up the reigns of all the kings, we can see that Pythagoras came to Italy for the first time about one hundred and forty years after Numa's death; and there never has been any doubt about this in the minds of those who have made a careful study of the chronological records. Manilius: Ye immortal gods! What a blunder to pass current so long! Yet I am not sorry that we Romans got our culture, not from arts imported from overseas, but from the native excellence of our own people
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§ 2.30 Scipio: Yet you will be able to realize this more easily if you watch our commonwealth as it advances, and, by a route which we may call Nature's road, finally reaches the ideal condition. Nay more, you will deem our ancestors' wisdom worthy of praise for the very reason that, as you will learn, even of those institutions that have been bon owed from abroad, many have been improved by us until they are much better than they were in the countries from which we obtained them and where they had their origin. And you will learn that the Roman People has grown great, not by chance, but by good counsel and discipline, though to be sure fortune has favoured us also.
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§ 2.31 After the death of King Pompilius the people, in their curiate assembly presided over by an interrex, chose Tullus Hostilius as their king, and he followed the example of Pompilius by consulting the people, in the same curiate assembly, in regard to his possession of the royal power. This king excelled in military skill and mighty deeds of war; he built and walled in, from the proceeds of the sale of his spoils, a meeting-place for the popular assemblies and one for the senate; and he formulated rules for the declaration of war. He consecrated this eminently just code, which he himself had originated, by means of the fetial rites, so that any war which had not been declared and announced should be considered unjust and impious. And that you may take note how wisely even our early kings perceived that certain rights should be granted to the people (a subject on which I shall have a deal to say later), observe that Tullus did not venture to assume even the insignia of royalty without the permission of the people. For, that he might be allowed to be preceded by twelve lictors carrying the rods... [ About fifteen lines are lost. According to St Augustine ( De Civ Dei III, 15) the lost passage included the statement that, though Tullus Hostilius was killed by a stroke of lightning, it was not rumoured, as in the case of Romulus, that he had been taken up into heaven, perhaps because the Romans were unwilling that their first king should share this honour with another. ]
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§ 2.33... for the commonwealth, according to the account you have begun to give of it, is not creeping but flying toward the ideal condition. Scipio: To succeed him Ancus Martius, grandson of Numa Pompilius through his daughter, was chosen king by the people, and he too caused a curiate law to be passed confirming his royal authority After conquering the Latins in war he incorporated them in the Roman State; he also added the Aventine and Caelian Hills to the city, divided among the citizens the territory he had conquered, made all the forests along the sea-coast, which he had obtained by conquest, public property, built a city at the mouth of the Tiber, and settled it with colonists. And so, after a reign of twenty-three years, he died. Laelius: Truly a praiseworthy king! But the history of Rome is indeed obscure if we know who this king's mother was, but are ignorant of his father's name! Scipio: That is true, but of that period very little more than the names of the kings has been handed down to us with any definiteness.
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§ 2.34 Still it was at this time that the commonwealth appeals first to have become familiar with an alien system of education. For it was indeed no little rivulet that flowed from Greece into our city, but a mighty river of culture and learning. For we are told that a certain Demaratus of Corinth, easily pre-eminent in his own city in rank, influence, and wealth, fled with his great riches, not being able to endure the tyranny of Cypselus at Corinth, and came to Tarquinii, the most prosperous city of Etruria. And when he heard that the despotism of Cypselus was firmly established, this bold lover of liberty became a permanent exile from his country, and, being received as a citizen at Tarquinii, made his home there. When his Tarquinian wife had borne him two sons, he educated them in all the arts in accordance with the Greek system... [ About ten lines are lost. In what follows Lucius Tarquinius, the son of Demaratus, is referred to. ]
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§ 2.35... having easily obtained citizenship, [Lucius] became the friend of King Ancus on account of his geniality and great learning, and they were so intimate that he was believed to share all the king's counsels and to be almost a sharer in the throne In addition, he possessed gieat personal charm, and he showed the greatest kindness in granting help and assistance, protection, and even pecuniary aid, to all the citizens. Therefore, when Marcius died, the people by a unanimous vote elected Lucius Tarquinius king (for he had in this manner modified his Greek name, that he might appear to he adopting the customs of his new country in every respect). After having caused a law to be passed confirming his royal authority, he first of all doubled the original number of senators, and gave to those who had previously been called “Fathers” the title of “senators of the greater families” (these were always asked for their opinion first), and those whom he himself had added he designated “senators of the lesser families.”
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§ 2.36 Then he established that organization of the knights which we still retain; but though he desired to change the names of the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, he was unable to do so, because the celebrated augur Attus Navius would not consent to it. I understand that the Corinthians also were given to the practice of supplying their knights with horses owned by the State, and feeding them, from contributions exacted from widows and orphan. At any rate Lucius added new cavalry organizations to the old ones, making a total of 1800 horse, thus doubling the original number. Later he conquered the Aequi, a powerful and warlike nation which threatened the welfare of the Roman people, and also drove the Sabines from the walls of the city, routed them with his cavalry, and finally conquered them completely. Tradition also informs us that he instituted those great games called “Roman”; that, in the war with the Sabines, he made a vow during a battle to build a temple to Jupiter the Greatest and Best on the Capitoline Hill; and that he died after a reign of thirty-eight years.
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§ 2.37 Laelius: Now we have further proof of the accuracy of Cato's statement that the foundation of our State was the work neither of one period nor of one man; for it is quite clear that every king contributed many good and useful institutions But the one who comes next, in my opinion, had a better understanding of the government of a State than any of the rest. Scipio: Quite true; for Servius Tullius followed Tarquinius; he, according to tradition, was the first to hold the royal power without being chosen by the people. They say that his mother was a slave in the household of Tarquinius, and his father one of the king's dependents. Though he was brought up as a slave, and served the king's table, yet the spark of genius, which shone even then in the boy, did not remain unnoticed, so capable was he in every duty and in every word he spoke. On this account Tarquinius, whose children were still very young, became so fond of Servius that the latter was popularly regarded as his son; and the king took the greatest care to have him educated in all the branches which he himself had studied, in accordance with the most careful practice of the Greeks.
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§ 2.38 But when Tarquinius was killed by a plot formed by the sons of Ancus, Servius began to rule, as I have said, without being formally chosen by the people, but with their goodwill and consent. For the false report was given out that Tarquinius, though ill from his wound, was still alive; and Servius, assuming the royal garb, pronounced judgments, freed debtors at his own expense, and acting with great affability, convinced the people that he was administering justice by the orders of Tarquinius. He did not put himself in the senate's power, but, after the burial of Tarquinius, consulted the people himself in regard to his own power, and, when they had bidden him to be king, caused a curiate law to be passed confirming his royal authority. At the very beginning of his reign he made war on the Etruscans and avenged the wrongs of which they were guilty. From this [war]... [ About fifteen lines are lost After the gap we find Scipio describing the reforms of King Servius, particularly the institution of the centuriate assembly. ]
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§ 2.39... eighteen of the greatest wealth. Then after choosing a large number of knights out of the whole people, Servius divided the rest of the citizens into five classes, and separated the older from the younger. He made this division in such a way that the greatest number of votes belonged, not to the common people, but to the rich, and put into effect the principle which ought always to be adhered to in the commonwealth, that the greatest number should not have the greatest power. If his system were not well known to you, I should describe it, but you are already aware that the arrangement is such that the centuries of knights with their six votes, and the first class, with the addition of the century composed of the carpenters on account of their great usefulness to the city, make up a total of 89 centuries. Now if, out of a total of 104 centuries - for that is the number left - only eight centuries should adhere to the 89, the whole power of the people would be exerted. And the remaining 96 centuries, which contain a large majority of the citizens, would neither be deprived of the suffrage, for that would be tyrannical, nor be given too much power, for that would be dangerous.
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§ 2.40 In this arrangement Servius was careful even in his use of titles and names, for he called the rich “money-givers,” because they paid the expenses of the State, and named those who had less than 1500 denarii or nothing at all except their own persons, “child-givers,” to give the impression that offspring, that is to say, the progeny of the State, were to be expected from them. A number of individuals which was almost larger than that contained in the whole first class was placed in every one of the 96 centuries of this proletarian class. Thus, while no one was deprived of the suffrage, the majority of votes was in the hands of those to whom the highest welfare of the State was the most important. And indeed the official messengers, the auxiliary troops, the trumpeters and buglers, the proletarians.., [ About thirty lines are lost, of which the following fragment may be a part. At the end of the gap Carthage is referred to. ]
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§ 2.41... [I consider] the best constitution for a State to be that which is a balanced combination of the three forms mentioned, kingship, aristocracy, and democracy, and does not irritate by punishment a rude and savage heart..
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§ 2.42... sixty-five years older, for it was founded in the thirty-ninth year before the first Olympiad. And Lycurgus, who lived in very ancient times, had almost the same idea. This equalized system, this combination of three constitutions, is in my opinion common to those nations and to ours. But the unique characteristic of our own commonwealth - the most splendid conceivable - I shall describe more completely and accurately, if I can, because nothing like it is to be found in any other State. For those elements which I have mentioned were combined in our State as it was then, and in those of the Spartans and Carthaginians, in such a way that there was no balance among them whatever.
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§ 2.43 For in a State where there is one official who holds office for life, particularly if he be a king, even if there is a senate, such as existed at Rome under the monarchy and at Sparta under the code of Lycurgus, and even if the people possess some power, as they did under our kings - in spite of these facts the royal power is bound to be supreme, and such a government is inevitably a monarchy and will inevitably be so called. And this form of government is the most liable of all to change, because one man's vices can overthrow it and turn it easily toward utter destruction. For not only is the kingship in itself not at all reprehensible, but I am inclined to consider it by far the best of the simple forms of government - if I could approve any of the simple forms - but only so long as it retains its true character. But it does that only when the safety, equal lights, and tranquillity of the citizens are guarded by the life-long authority, the justice, and the perfect wisdom of a single ruler. To be sure a nation ruled by a king is deprived of many things, and particularly of liberty, which does not consist in serving a just master, but in [serving] no [master at all]... [ About fifteen lines are lost. At the end of the gap the reign of Tarquinius Superbus is being cited as an example of the degeneration of monarchy. ]
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§ 2.44...They bore [the tyranny of Tarquinius nevertheless;] for even that unjust and cruel master occasionally enjoyed good fortune in his undertakings. Indeed, he conquered the whole of Latium and took the prosperous city of Suessa Pometia with its vast wealth, winning thereby an enormous store of gold and silver, with which he paid his father's vow by building the Capitol; he also planted colonies, and, following the example of his ancestors, sent magnificent gifts - an offering of the first-fruits, as it were, of his booty - to Apollo at Delphi
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§ 2.45 At this point begins that orbit of development with whose natural motion and circular course you must become acquainted from its beginning. For the foundation of that political wisdom which is the aim of our whole discourse is an understanding of the regular curving path through which governments travel, in order that, when you know what direction any commonwealth tends to take, you may be able to hold it back or take measures to meet the change Now this king of whom I am speaking, his hands being stained with the blood of a most excellent king, did not begin his reign with a clear conscience, and as he was himself in fear of suffering the extreme penalty for his crime, he wished to make himself feared by others. Later, relying upon his victories and his wealth, he became swollen with pride and was unable to control either his own conduct or the lustful desires of his family.
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§ 2.46 Wherefore, when his elder son violated Lucretia, the daughter of Tricipitinus and wife of Collatinus, and this noble and virtuous woman inflicted the death penalty upon herself as a result of the outrage, Lucius Brutus, a man pre-eminent for wisdom and bravery, freed his fellow-citizens from the unjust yoke of cruel servitude. And though Brutus was only a private citizen, he sustained the whole burden of the government, and was the first in our State demonstrate that no one is a mere private citizen when the liberty of his fellows needs protection. On his initiative and under his leadership the people, aroused not only by the bitter complaints, still fresh in their memories, of Lucretia's father and kinsmen, but also by their own recollection of the pride of Tarquinius and the many acts of injustice committed by him and his sons, banished the king himself, his children, and the whole race of the Tarquinii.
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§ 2.47 Do you not see, therefore, how a king was transformed into a despot, and how a good form of government was changed into the worst possible form through the fault of one man? For here we have a master over the people, whom the Greeks call a tyrant; for they maintain that the title of king should be given only to a ruler who is as solicitous for the welfare of his people as is a father for his children, and maintains in the best possible conditions of life those over whom he is set. Such a government is truly a good one, as I have said, but nevertheless it inclines, and, I may almost say, naturally tends, toward the condition which is the most depraved of all.
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§ 2.48 For as soon as this king turned to a mastery less just than before, he instantly became a tyrant, and no creature more vile or horrible than a tyrant, or more hateful to gods and men, can be imagined; for, though he bears a human form, yet he surpasses the most monstrous of the wild beasts in the cruelty of his nature. For how could the name of human being rightly be given to a creature who desires no community of justice, no partnership in human life with his fellow-citizens - aye, even with any part of the human race? But we shall find a more suitable point in our discourse for the consideration of this subject; when the very course of events constrains us to condemn those who, even after the liberation of the State, have sought despotic power.
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§ 2.49 Here, then, you have the origin of the tyrant; for that is the title given by the Greeks to an unjust king, while we Romans have always given the name of king to all who exercise for life sole authority over a nation. Thus, for example, it has been said that Spurius Cassius, Marcus Manlius, and Spurius Maelius attempted to win the kingship, and recently [ Tiberius Gracchus ]... [ About fifteen lines are lost. Lycurgus is evidently the subject of the sentence which follows. ]
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§ 2.50 [ Lycurgus ] called [this body gerontes ] at Sparta; but it was a very small number of men, twenty-eight in fact, who according to his plan were to have the supreme authority in counsel, while the king held the supreme executive power. And our ancestors, imitating his example and translating the title he used, gave the name of “senate” to the body which he had called “old men”; this was done by Romulus himself, as we have said, after he had chosen the Fathers Yet the power, authority, and very title of the king stand out supreme in such a State. Grant some power to the people also, as did both Lycurgus and Romulus; you will not give them their fill of liberty, but merely excite their appetite for it, when you permit them to do no more than taste its flavour. And all the while there weighs heavily upon their hearts the fear that an unjust king may arise, as indeed often happens. The fortune of any people is therefore a fragile thing, as I have explained already, when it depends on the will or the character of one man.
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§ 2.51 Therefore we may consider that the first form and variety of tyranny, and its way of coming into being, have come to light in this State of ours which Romulus founded after taking the auspices, and not in the commonwealth described by Socrates, as Plato tells us in his famous peripatetic discourse. For, just as happened in the case of Tarquinius, the tyrant overthrows the whole monarchical constitution, not by seizing any new powers, but by his misuse of the powers he already possesses. With him we may place in contrast that other type of ruler, the good, wise, and skilful guardian and protector, as one may say, of the practical interests and of the self-respect of the citizens of the State; for these are titles which will be granted to one who is truly the guide and pilot of a nation. See to it that you are able to recognize such a man, for he is one who can maintain the safety of the State both by counsel and by action. As, however, this subject has not been very fully treated so far in our conversation, and as this type of man will have to be considered rather often later in our discourse, [we shall say no more of him at the present time.] [ About four pages are lost. Plato is the subject of the sentence which follows. ]
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§ 2.52... has sought for... and has created a State of a kind that is to be desired rather than hoped for - one of the smallest size, not such as to be actually possible, but in which it might be possible to see the workings, of his theory of the State. As for me, however, I shall endeavour, if I am able to accomplish my purpose, employing the same principles which Plato discerned, yet taking no shadowy commonwealth of the imagination, but a real and very powerful State, to seem to you to be pointing out, as with a demonstrating rod, the causes of every political good and ill. Now after these two hundred and forty years of monarchy (or a little longer, if one included the periods of interregnum), when Tarquinius had been banished, the title of king came to be as bitterly hated by the Romans as it had been longingly desired after the death, or rather the departure, of Romulus. Hence, just as then they could not bear to be without a king, so now, after the banishment of Tarquinius, they could not bear even to hear the title of king mentioned. [ About five pages are lost, of which the following fragment may be a part; a further clue to the contents of the lost passage may possibly be found in St Augustine, De Civ. Dei V, 12. According to this passage Cicero perhaps went on to say that the Romans substituted two supreme magistrates with annual tenure of office, and with an inoffensive title { consul, here derived from consulere, to consult ] for the king [ rex, here connected with regno, to reign ]. }
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§ 2.53... Thus that excellent constitution of Romulus, after maintaining itself firmly for about two hundred and twenty years...... that law was entirely abolished. It was on account of this feeling that our ancestors banished the unoffending Collatinus at that time, on account of the suspicion caused by his relationship, and all the other Tarquinii, on account of the hatred felt for the name. Another manifestation of the same spirit was the institution by Publius Valerius of the custom of ordering the rods to be lowered when he began to speak before the people; also the fact that he moved the site of his house to the foot of the Velian Hill when he noticed that popular suspicion was aroused because he had begun to build on the very spot on the top of that hill where King Tullius had resided. It was the same man who, by an act whereby he shows himself in the highest sense “the people's friend,” proposed to the citizens that first law passed by the centuriate assembly, which forbade any magistrate to execute or scourge a Roman citizen in the face of an appeal.
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§ 2.54 The records of the pontiffs, however, state that the right of appeal, even against a king's sentence, had been previously recognized, and our augural books confirm the statement. Besides, many laws of the Twelve Tables show that an appeal from any judgment or sentence was allowed, and the tradition that the decemvirs who wrote the laws were elected with the provision that there should be no appeal from their decision shows clearly enough that other officials were subject to this right of appeal. And a law proposed by the consuls Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus [449 BCE], men who wisely favoured popular measures to preserve peace, provides that no magistrate not subject to appeal shall be elected. Nor indeed did the Porcian laws, which, as you know, are three in number and were proposed by three different members of the Porcian family, add anything new to previous statutes except the provision of a penalty for violations.
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§ 2.55 Thus Publicola, as soon as that law of his in regard to the right of appeal was passed, ordered the axes to be removed from the bundle of rods; and the next day he caused Spurius Lucretius to be elected as his colleague and ordered his own lictors to be transferred to Spurius as his senior in age. Publicola also introduced the rule that the lictors should precede each consul alternately for one month, so that the insignia of executive power might not be more numerous in the free State than they had been under the monarchy. In my opinion, it was a man of no ordinary talents who, by granting the people a moderate amount of liberty, the more easily maintained the power of the leaders of the State. Now it is not without a definite purpose that I am reviewing events so ancient and remote, but I am taking my standards of character and action, to which the rest of my discourse must conform, from distinguished men and famous periods of om own history.
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§ 2.56 Well then, at the period of which I have been speaking, the government was so administered by the senate that, though the people were free, few political acts were performed by them, practically everything being done by the authority of the senate and in accordance with its established customs, and that the consuls held a power which, though only of one year's duration, was truly regal in general character and in legal sanction. Another principle that was most important to the retention of the power by the aristocracy was also strictly maintained, namely, that no act of a popular assembly should be valid unless ratified by the Fathers. It was in the same period that the dictatorship was also instituted, Titus Larcius, the first dictator, being appointed about ten years after the election of the first consuls. This office was looked upon as embodying an entirely new sort of executive power which was very close to that of a king. Yet the whole government was kept, with the people's consent, in the strong hands of the aristocracy, and in those times mighty deeds of war were done by the brave men who held the supreme power either as dictators or as consuls.
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§ 2.57 But after a short period, in about the sixteenth year of the republic, in the consulship of Postumus Cominius and Spurius Cassius [493 BCE], an event occurred which in the nature of things was bound to happen: the people, freed from the domination of kings, claimed a somewhat greater measure of rights. Such a claim may have been unreasonable, but the essential nature of the commonwealth often defeats reason. For you must keep in mind a fact which I mentioned at the beginning: unless there is in the State an even balance of rights, duties, and functions, so that the magistrates have enough power, the counsels of the eminent citizens enough influence, and the people enough liberty, this kind of government cannot be safe from revolution.
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§ 2.58 For at a time when the State was troubled by debt, the plebeians seized first the Sacred Mount, and then the Aventine Hill. And indeed not even the disciplinary system of Lycurgus was able to hold his subjects, though they were Greeks, under bridle and bit; for, in Sparta also, in the reign of Theopompus, the five officials called ephors, and in Crete the ten so-called kosmoi, were set up in opposition to the royal authority, just as at Rome the plebeian tribunes were chosen to counterbalance the power of the consuls.
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§ 2.59 Perhaps our ancestors, to relieve the pressure of debt, might have used some such method as that which Solon the Athenian, who lived only a short time before, had not failed to discover, and which came to our own senate's notice some time later; for then, on account of one man's lust, all those citizens who had been enslaved for debt were released, and such enslavement was no longer permitted, and always, when the plebeians have been so weakened by the expenditures brought on by a public calamity that they give way under their burden, some relief or remedy has been sought for the difficulties of this class, for the sake of the safety of the whole body of citizens. But at the time of which I have been speaking such measures had not been taken, and thus the people were given an occasion, through the creation of two plebeian tribunes by means of an insurrection, for curtailing the power and influence of the senate. This power, however, remained great and respected, because the wisest and bravest still guided the State by arms and counsel, and their influence continued to be supreme because, while they surpassed the masses in preferment, they had a smaller share of the pleasures of life, and in property were not, as a rule, better off than their fellows. And the public services of every patrician were the more highly esteemed because they scrupulously made it their practice to aid individual citizens most liberally in their private difficulties by action, advice, and financial support.
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§ 2.60 When the State was in this situation, Spurius Cassius, who enjoyed the greatest popularity, plotted to make himself king. The quaestor accused him of the crime (you have heard the story), and, when the father of Spurius testified that he knew him to be guilty, put him to death with the approval of the people. Later, about the fifty-fourth year after the election of the first consuls, the centuriate assembly passed that popular law regulating fines and amounts deposited in court, this law having been proposed by the consuls Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aternius [454 BCE]. Twenty years later, because the censors Lucius Papirius and Publius Pinarius had transferred, by the imposition of fines, a large number of cattle from private to public ownership, a method of appraising cattle that lightened the fines was introduced, in a law proposed by the consuls Gaius Julius and Publius Papirius.
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§ 2.61 But several years before this, when the senate held supreme authority with the compliance and consent of the people, a plan was adopted whereby both the consuls and the plebeian tribunes should resign their offices, and a board of ten, possessing very great powers and not subject to the right of appeal, should be elected; and they were not only to exercise the supreme executive power but also to draw up a code of law. When these men had composed, with the greatest justice and wisdom, ten tables of the law, they caused another board of ten to be elected in their stead for the following year, but the honour and justice of these latter have not been praised so highly. One member of this college, however, Gaius Julius, deserves the highest praise, for, after stating that he himself had seen a corpse dug up in the chamber of Lucius Sestius, a man of high rank, although Julius himself held the supreme power, because no appeal was permitted from the sentence of any decemvir, he merely demanded that Lucius give bail for his appearance, explaining that he would not violate that excellent law which forbade a Roman citizen to be tried for his life except before the centuriate assembly.
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§ 2.62 A third year of the decemvirate followed, the same decemvirs continuing in office, and being unwilling to have others elected in their stead. While the government was in this situation (which, as I have stated repeatedly, can never last long, because it is not fair to all classes in the State), the whole commonwealth was in the hands of the leading citizens, there being ten eminent men in command, with no plebeian tribunes to oppose them, no other magistrates whatever in office, and not even any right of appeal to the people against execution or scourging.
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§ 2.63 Consequently, as a result of the injustice of these rulers, there was a great insurrection, followed by a complete change in the government. For the decemvirs had added two tables of unjust laws, among which was one that most cruelly prohibited intermarriage between plebeians and patricians, though this privilege is usually permitted even between citizens of different States; this was later repealed by the Canuleian Law, a decree of the plebeian assembly. These decemvirs also indulged in licence in all their governmental acts, and in cruelty and greed toward the people. The story of Decimus Verginius is of course well known, being recorded in many of the greatest works of our literature: how, after killing his virgin daughter with his own hand in the forum on account of the mad lust of one of these decemvirs, he fled weeping to the army, then encamped on Mount Algidus; whereupon the soldiers abandoned the war in which they were engaged and [occupied under arms] at first the Sacred Mount, as they had done before for a similar reason, and later the Aventine Hill... [ About three pages are lost, of which the following short fragment may be a part. ]... Lucius Quinctius being appointed dictator...... [which,] in my opinion, [our ancestors] approved most fully and retained most wisely.
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§ 2.64 After Scipio had spoken thus, everyone was silent in expectation that he would continue. Finally Tubero said: Since my elders here make no further demands on you, Africanus, I will tell you what I should like you to add to your discourse. Scipio: Certainly, I shall be glad to hear. Tubero: It seems to me that you have praised our own commonwealth, though Laelius asked you to discuss, not our own State, but the State in general. And yet I have not learned from your discourse by what training, customs, or laws we shall be able to establish or to preserve the kind of commonwealth you yourself recommend.
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§ 2.65 Scipio: I think, Tubero, we shall soon find a more suitable point in our conversation at which to consider the formation and preservation of States; but as far as the ideal State is concerned, I thought I had given an adequate response to the inquiry of Laelius. For in the first place I defined the three commendable types of States and the three bad types which are their opposites. Next I demonstrated that no single one of these types is the ideal, but that a form of government which is an equal mixture of the three good forms is superior to any of them by itself.
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§ 2.66 As for my using our own State as a pattern, I did so, not to help me to define the ideal constitution (for that could be done without using any pattern at all), but in order to show, by illustrations from the actual history of the greatest State of all, what it was that reason and speech were striving to make clear. But if you inquire as to the nature of the ideal State in itself, without reference to a pattern furnished by any people, we must make use of a model supplied by nature, since you [are not satisfied with] our present model for a city and a people... [ A passage of considerable but uncertain length is lost. After the gap Scipio appears to be discussing the ideal statesman. ]
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§ 2.67 Scipio:... whom I have long been seeking and am anxious to discover. Laelius: Perhaps it is a man of good sense that you seek? Scipio: Exactly. Laelius: You have a goodly supply of such among those now present; you might begin with yourself, for example, Scipio: And indeed I only wish there were as high an average of good sense in the senate as a whole! However, that is also a man of good sense who rides upon a huge and monstrous beast (a sight we have often met with in Africa) and guides this animal in whatever direction he wishes by gentle word or touch. Laelius: I remember seeing this frequently when I was an officer under your command Scipio: Well, that Indian or Carthaginian governs a single animal which is gentle and accustomed to the ways of man, but that power which is hidden in men's minds and forms a part of them, and is called reason, controls and subdues not merely one animal, or one which is easily mastered - that is, if it ever does accomplish that which is rarely possible; for that fierce [beast] also must be held in check...? [ A page or more is lost, from which the short fragments in 41 may be quoted. Scipio continues his description of the ideal statesman in 42. ]
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§ 2.68... [a beast] which feeds on blood; which takes such delight in every sort of cruelty that it can hardly be sated even by the merciless slaughter of men...... but to one who is greedy and acquisitive and lustful, and who wallows in sensual pleasure...... and, in the fourth place, anxiety, prone to sorrow, ever grieving and torturing itself...... to have been afflicted by anguish and suffering, or degraded by fear and cowardice...... as an untrained charioteer is dragged from his chariot, trampled, lacerated, crushed...
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§ 2.69 Scipio:... might be said. Laelius: I now understand what duty and function you would entrust to the sort of man I was seeking. Scipio: Of course he should be given almost no other duties than this one (for it comprises most of the others) - of improving and examining himself continually, urging others to imitate him, and furnishing in himself, as it were, a mirror to his fellow-citizens by reason of the supreme excellence of his life and character. For just as in the music of harps and flutes or in the voices of singers a certain harmony of the different tones must be preserved, the interruption or violation of which is intolerable to trained ears, and as this perfect agreement and harmony is produced by the proportionate blending of unlike tones, so also is a State made harmonious by agreement among dissimilar elements, brought about by a fair and reasonable blending together of the upper, middle, and lower classes, just as if they were musical tones. What the musicians call harmony in song is concord in a State, the strongest and best bond of permanent union in any commonwealth, and such concord can never be brought about without the aid of justice. [ A passage of uncertain length is lost. In it, according to St Augustine (De Civ. Dei II, 21), when Scipio had spoken further of the importance of justice in a State and the unfortunate results of its absence, Philus asked that this question be considered more fully, and that justice be taken up at greater length, because it was a common opinion that the government of a State cannot be carried on without injustice. ]
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§ 2.70... to be full of justice. Scipio: I agree with you, and wish to assure you that we must consider all the statements we have made so far about the commonwealth as amounting to nothing, and must admit that we have no basis whatever for further progress, unless we cannot merely disprove the contention that a government cannot be earned on without injustice, but are also able to prove positively that it cannot be carried on without the strictest justice. However, with your permission, we shall go no further today, but shall put off what remains (for that is a considerable amount) until tomorrow. This proposal being agreed to, they made an end of the conversation for that day.
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§ 3.1 Book 3 [ Cicero prefaces the second day's discussion with an introduction of considerable length, of which sections 3-7 form a part. St Augustine (De Civ. Dei II, 21) has given us a brief outline of the discussion itself. Philus is prevailed upon to undertake the defence of the thesis that the government cannot be carried on without injustice (sections 8-28). Laelius then takes up the defence of justice, maintaining that nothing is so harmful to a State as injustice, and that a State cannot be preserved without justice (sections 32-41). Scipio then resumes his discourse, and argues that his commonwealth as previously defined cannot be said to exist at all except where the government is just (sections 42-48). ] [ A page or more is lost at the beginning of the book. According to St Augustine (Contra Iulianum Pelag. IV, 12, 60), the book begins with some reflections on man's weakness at birth, and how it is overcome by the divine spirit planted within him. ]
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§ 3.3... and by vehicles [to remedy] his slowness of motion... and [reason] likewise, when it found men uttering unformed and confused sounds with unpractised voices, separated these sounds into distinct classes, imprinting names upon things just as distinguishing marks are sometimes placed upon them, thus uniting the race of men, solitary before, by the pleasant bond of communication by speech. Reason also marked and represented all the sounds of the voice, which seemed innumerable, by a few characters which it invented, so that conversation could be carried on with persons at a distance, and indications of our desires and records of past events could be set down. To this art was added that of numbers, which is not only necessary for human life but also unique in being unchangeable and eternal in itself. And acquaintance with this art first encouraged men to look up at the sky and to gaze, no longer idly, upon the motions of the stars, and by the numbering of nights and days... [ About three pages are lost. The account of the development of civilization is concluded in what follows, with the rise of philosophy and the art of statesmanship as its climax. ]
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§ 3.4... whose thoughts rose to an even higher plane, and they were able to achieve, by action or reflection, things worthy of the gift they had received, as I have said, from the gods. Wherefore let us admit that those who discuss the principles of living are great men, which is indeed the truth; let us recognize them as learned, and as teachers of truth and virtue, if only we do not forget that another science is by no means to be scorned, whether it was discovered by men who had had actual experience with various kinds of States, or was developed through the quiet study of these same learned men - I mean the art of government and the training of peoples, which, in men of ability and good character, calls into being, as it has very often done in the past, an almost incredible and divine virtue.
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§ 3.5 But if anyone has believed, as these men do who are carrying on the discussion recorded in the present treatise, that learning and a richer knowledge should be added to those faculties which the mind possesses by nature and has acquired by experience in public affairs, then everyone ought to consider a man who combines these attainments superior to all others. For what can be more admirable than the union of experience in the management of great affairs with the study and mastery of those other arts? Or who can be considered closer to the ideal than Publius Scipio, Gaius Laelius, and Lucius Philus, who, for fear of omitting something that might be necessary to the complete excellence of eminent men, added the foreign learning which originated with Socrates to the traditional customs of their own country and their ancestors?
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§ 3.6 Therefore those who have had the desire and ability to attain both these objects - who, that is, have perfected themselves by acquiring learning as well as by the observance of their ancestral customs, deserve from every point of view, in my opinion, the highest honour. But if only one of these two paths to wisdom can be chosen, even though a quiet life devoted to the study of the noblest arts will seem happier to some, surely the life of a statesman is more deserving of praise and more conducive to fame; by such a life the greatest men win honour; as for example, Manius Curius, Whom none could overcome with sword or gold, or... [ About two pages appear to be lost. ]
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§ 3.7 [We must admit that both these types of learning] deserved the name of wisdom, yet the difference between these two classes of men has consisted in the fact that one nourished Nature's first gifts to man by admonition and instruction, while the other did so by institutions and laws. Indeed, our own country alone has produced many men, who, if they have not been “wise,” since that name is so carefully restricted, have surely deserved the highest praise, since they have fostered the precepts and the discoveries of the wise. And if we consider how many praiseworthy commonwealths exist now and have existed in the past, and remember that the establishment of a State which is stable enough to endure for ages requires by far the highest intellectual powers that nature can produce, what a multitude of great geniuses there must have been, even if we suppose that every such State possessed only one! But if we survey the nations of Italy; the Latins, Sabines, Volscians, Samnites, or Etruscans, if we examine Magna Graecia; and then if [we consider] the Assyrians, the Persians, the Punic peoples, if... these... [ About four pages are lost. At the end of the gap we find that the dialogue has been resumed, and that Philus has evidently just been asked to defend the cause of injustice. ]
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§ 3.8 Philus: It is indeed an excellent cause that you are handing over to me, when you request me to undertake the defence of wickedness! Laelius: I suppose you have great reason to fear that, if you repeat the usual arguments against justice, you may be thought also to approve them, when you are yourself an almost incomparable example of our old-fashioned probity and honour, and when we are quite familiar with your habit of arguing on the other side, because you think that it is the easiest means of reaching the truth! Philus: Very well, then, I will humour you and cover myself with mud with a full realization of what I am doing. For just as those who seek gold do not hesitate to do this, so we who seek Justice, which is much more valuable than all the gold in the world, surely ought not to shrink from any hardship And I wish, just as I am going to present another's argument, that I could also make use of another's tongue! For Lucius Furius Philus must now report what the Greek Carneades, who was accustomed... whatever suited him... in words... [ About thirty lines appear to be lost, of which the three short fragments which follow are perhaps part. Lactantius (Inst. Div. V, 14, 3-5; Epitom. 55, 5-8 ) tells us that the disputation of Carneades, as quoted by Philus, began with a review of the arguments of Plato and Aristotle in favour of justice and then turned to a refutation of them. ]
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§ 3.9... [do not] reply [to me but] to Carneades, whose way it is frequently to make the best causes appear ridiculous by his talent for sophistry.
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§ 3.11... justice looks out of doors and is completely prominent and conspicuous...... a virtue which, beyond all others, is entirely devoted and applied to the advantage of others...
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§ 3.12 Philus:... should both discover and preserve... but the other filled four very large volumes with a treatise on justice itself. For I expected nothing great or remarkable from Chrysippus, who has his own peculiar method of discussion, examining everything on the basis of the meaning of words rather than by the weighing of facts. It was appropriate for those heroes to raise up this fallen virtue (which, where it really exists, is the most generous and liberal of them all, loving as it does all others more than itself, and existing for others' advantage rather than its own), and to seat it upon that divine throne not far from Wisdom herself.
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§ 3.13 Nor indeed did they lack the desire to exalt it (for what other reason had they for writing? What was their purpose if not this? ), nor the ability, in which they surpassed all others; but the weakness of their case defeated both their enthusiasm and their eloquence. For the justice which we are investigating is a product of government, not of nature at all, for if it were natural, then, like heat and cold, or bitter and sweet, justice and injustice would be the same thing to all men.
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§ 3.14 But in actual fact, if one could visit many diverse nations and cities and examine them, travelling about in Pacuvius' famous “chariot of winged snakes ” he would see first of all that in Egypt, famed as ever changeless, which preserves written records of the events of countless ages, a bull, which the Egyptians call Apis, is deemed a god, and many other monsters and animals of every sort are held sacred as divine. Then, too, he would see in Greece, just as with us Romans, magnificent shrines, adorned with sacred statues in human form, a custom which the Persians considered wicked. And in fact Xerxes is said to have ordered the Athenian temples to be burned for the sole reason that he thought it sacrilege to keep the gods whose home is the whole universe shut up within walls.
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§ 3.15 But later Philip, who planned an attack on the Persians, and Alexander, who actually made one, gave as their excuse for war the desire to avenge the temples of Greece, which the Greeks had thought it proper never to rebuild, so that posterity might have ever before its eyes a monument of Persian impiety. How many peoples, such as the Taurians on the shores of the Euxine, the Egyptian king Busiris, the Gauls, and the Carthaginians, have believed human sacrifice both pious and most pleasing to the immortal gods! Indeed, men's principles of life are so different that the Cretans and Aetolians consider piracy and brigandage honourable, and the Spartans used to claim as their own all the territory they could touch with their spears. The Athenians also used actually to take public oaths that all lands which produced olives or grain were then own. The Gauls think it disgraceful to grow grain by manual labour; and consequently they go forth armed and reap other men's fields.
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§ 3.16 We ourselves, indeed, the most just of men, who forbid the races beyond the Alps to plant the olive or the vine, so that our own olive groves and vineyards may be the more valuable, are said to act with prudence in doing so, but not with justice, so that you can easily understand that wisdom and equity do not agree. Indeed, Lycurgus, famed as the author of excellent laws and a most equitable system of justice, provided that the lands of the rich should be cultivated by the poor as if the latter were slaves.
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§ 3.17 But if I wished to describe the conceptions of justice, and the principles, customs, and habits which have existed, I could show you, not merely differences in all the different nations, but that there have been a thousand changes in a single city, even in our own, in regard to these things. For example, our friend Manilius here, being an interpreter of the law, would give you different advice about the rights of women in regard to legacies and inheritances from that which he used to give in his youth, before the passage of the Voconian law. In fact that law, passed for men's advantage, is full of injustice to women For why should a woman not have money of her own? Why may a Vestal Virgin have an heir, while her mother may not? Why, on the other hand, if it was necessary to limit the amount of property a woman could own, should the daughter of Publius Crassus, if she were her father's only child, be permitted by law to have a hundred million sesterces, while mine is not even allowed three million?... [ About fifteen lines appear to be lost. ]
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§ 3.18... [if the supreme God] had provided laws for us, then all men would obey the same laws, and the same men would not have different laws at different times. But, I ask, if it is the duty of a just and good man to obey the laws, what laws is he to obey? All the different laws that exist? But virtue does not allow inconsistency, nor does nature permit variation; and laws are imposed upon us by fear of punishment, not by our sense of justice. Therefore there is no such thing as natural justice, and from this it follows that neither are men just by nature. Or will they tell us that, though laws vary, good men naturally follow what is truly just, not what is thought to be so? For, they say, it is the duty of a good and just man to give everyone that which is his due.
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§ 3.19 Well then, first of all, what is it, if anything, that we are to grant to dumb animals as their due? For it is not men of mediocre talents, but those who are eminent and learned, such as Pythagoras and Empedocles, who declare that the same principles of justice apply to all living creatures, and insist that inevitable penalties threaten those who injure an animal. It is a crime, therefore, to harm a brute beast, and this crime... who wishes... [ A passage of considerable, but uncertain, length is lost Some information as to its contents is supplied by Lactantius (Inst. Div. V, 16, 2-4, VI, 9, 2-4, and VI. 6 19 and 23) and Tertullian ( Apolog. 25, p. 164 Oehl.). The outlines of the argument appear to have been as follows: The variety of laws in different States proves that these codes must be based on utility, which differs in different places, not on justice. Changes in the laws of a single State prove the same thing. There is no natural justice or law, but men as well as all other living creatures are governed naturally by utility. There is therefore no such thing as justice, or, if it exists, it is the height of folly, inasmuch as it leads us to injure ourselves to the advantage of others. The best proof of this is found in history, particularly in that of Rome. She has won her empire by injustice both to gods and men; a policy of justice would make her again what she was originally, a miserable poverty-stricken village. What is commonly called justice in States is nothing but an agreement for mutual self-restraint, which is a result of weakness, and is based on nothing whatever but utility. Rulers of all sorts rule for their own advantage solely, not in the interest of the governed. ]
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§ 3.23 Philus:... for all who have the power of life and death over a people are tyrants, but they prefer to be called kings, the title given to Jupiter the Best. But when a certain number of men, by means of riches or noble birth or some other advantage, hold a commonwealth in their power, that is a ruling faction, but the rulers are called aristocrats. But if the people hold the supreme power and everything is administered according to their desires, that is called liberty, but is really licence. But when there is mutual fear, man fearing man and class fearing class, when, because no one is confident in his own strength, a sort of bargain is made between the common people and the powerful; this results in that mixed form of government which Scipio has been recommending; and thus, not nature or desire, but weakness, is the mother of justice. For we must choose one of three things - to do injustice and not to suffer it, or both to do it and to suffer it, or else neither to do it nor to suffer it. The happiest choice is to do it with impunity, if you can; the second best is neither to do it nor to suffer it; and the worst fate of all is to engage in the everlasting struggle of doing and suffering injustice. Thus he who first... to accomplish that... [ A passage of considerable length is lost, of which the following fragment may be a part. ]
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§ 3.24... for when he was asked what wickedness drove him to harass the sea with his one pirate galley, he replied, “The same wickedness that drives you to harass the whole world.” Philus:... Wisdom urges us to increase our resources, to multiply our wealth, to extend our boundaries, for what is the meaning of those words of praise inscribed on the monuments of our greatest generals, “He extended the boundaries of the empire,” except that an addition was made out of the territory of others? Wisdom urges us also to rule over as many subjects as possible, to enjoy pleasures, to become rich, to be rulers and masters; justice, on the other hand, instructs us to spare all men, to consider the interests of the whole human race, to give everyone his due, and not to touch sacred or public property, or that which belongs to others. What, then, is the result if you obey wisdom? Wealth, power, riches, public office, military commands, and royal authority, whether we are speaking of individuals or of nations But, as we are discussing the State at present, what is done by a State is more important for our purpose, and, since the same facts in reference to justice are applicable in both cases, I think it better to discuss the wisdom of a people. Not to mention others, did our own people, whose record Africanus traced from the beginning in yesterday's discussion, and whose empire now embraces the whole world, [grow] from the smallest [to the greatest] through justice or through wisdom?... [ Thirty lines or more are lost. ]
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§ 3.25 Philus:... except the Arcadians and Athenians, who, I suppose, feared that this provision dictated by justice might at some time be put into effect, and therefore invented the story that they had sprung from the earth, as field-mice come out of ploughed ground.
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§ 3.26 To such arguments as these the following are usually the replies first given by those who are not unskilful in disputation, and whose discussions of this subject have all the greater weight because, in the search for the good man, whom we require to be open and frank, they do not themselves use crafty and rascally tricks of argument - these men say first of all that a wise man is not good because goodness and justice of or in themselves give him pleasure, but because the life of a good man is free from fear, anxiety, worry, and danger, while on the other hand the minds of the wicked are always troubled by one thing or another, and trial and punishment always stand before their eyes. They add, on the other hand, that no advantage or reward won by injustice is great enough to offset constant fear, or the ever-present thought that some punishment is near, or is threatening... losses... [ About one page appears to be lost. ]
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§ 3.27 Philus:... Suppose there are two men, one a pattern of virtue, fairness, justice, and honour, and the other an example of extreme wickedness and audacity; and suppose a nation is so mistaken as to believe the good man a wicked, treacherous criminal, and the wicked man on the other hand a model of probity and honour. Then let us imagine that, in accordance with this opinion, held by all his fellow-citizens, the good man is harassed, attacked, and arrested, blinded, sentenced, bound, branded, banished, and reduced to beggary, and finally is also most justly deemed by all men to be most miserable. Then let the wicked man, on the contrary, be praised, courted, and universally loved; let him receive all sorts of public offices, military commands, wealth and riches from every source; and finally, let him have the universal reputation of being the best man in the world and most worthy of all the favours of fortune. Now I ask you, who could be so insane as to doubt which of the two he would prefer to be?
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§ 3.28 The same thing is true of States as of persons; no people would be so foolish as not to prefer to be unjust masters rather than just slaves. I do not need to go far for an example: during my consulship, with you as my advisers, I had under consideration the treaty with Numantia. Who was not aware that Quintus Pompeius had made a treaty and that Mancinus was in the same situation? But the latter, an excellent man, went so far as to favour the bill which I proposed in accordance with a resolution of the senate, while the former defended himself with energy. If we are seeking modesty, probity, and honour, these qualities belong to Mancinus, but if we look for reason, wisdom, and prudence, then Pompeius is superior. [ The rest of Philus' report of the defence of injustice made by Carneades is lost, but we are given some idea of its contents by Lactantius (Inst. Div. V, 16,5-13) Toward the end he seems to have turned to men's personal relations for further proofs that justice is equivalent to folly, and to have given, among others, the following illustrations: If a man knows of serious faults in something he has for sale and reveals them to a prospective purchaser, he is a just man but a fool, if he conceals them, he is unjust, but wise! Similarly if there is a shipwreck, and two men are clutching a plank which can support only one, what is the stronger of the two to do? If he lets go, he will be a just man and he will drown! If he is wise, he will be unjust and send the other man to his death. Only the following fragments (sections 32-41) of the reply of Laelius remain, but some further information about its contents can be obtained from Cicero's own references to it in other works. See De Fin. 18, 59; Ep. ad Att. X, 4, 4; VII, 2, 4. ]
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§ 3.32... I should not hesitate, Laelius, if I did not think that our friends here desired exactly what l am eager for myself, namely, that you should take some part in our discussion, especially since you told us yesterday that you would talk at even too great length. But that indeed is impossible; we all beg you not to fail us.... Laelius:... But he certainly ought not to have our young men as his audience. For if he really believes what he says, he is a villain; but if not, as I prefer to think, what he says is at any rate pernicious...
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§ 3.33... True law is right reason in agreement with nature, it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. And it does not lay its commands or prohibitions upon good men in vain, though neither have any effect on the wicked. It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment....
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§ 3.34... a war is never undertaken by the ideal State, except in defence of its honour or its safety....... But private citizens often escape those punishments which even the most stupid can feel - poverty, exile, imprisonment and stripes - by taking refuge in a swift death. But in the case of a State, death itself is a punishment, though it seems to offer individuals an escape from punishment; for a State ought to be so firmly founded that it will live for ever. Hence death is not natural for a State as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable. On the other hand, there is some similarity, if we may compare small things with great, between the overthrow, destruction, and extinction of a State, and the decay and dissolution of the whole universe.
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§ 3.35... Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just....... No war is considered just unless it has been proclaimed and declared, or unless reparation has first been demanded....... But our people by defending their allies have gained dominion over the whole world... [ The following fragments, as St Augustine explains ( De Civ. Dei XIX, 21), are part of the argument for the justice of slavery and imperialism, in which it is maintained that certain nations and individuals are naturally fitted for and benefited by subjection to others. ]
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§ 3.37... Do we not observe that dominion has been granted by Nature to everything that is best, to the great advantage of what is weak? For why else does God rule over man, the mind over the body, and reason over lust and anger and the other evil elements of the mind?...... But we must distinguish different kinds of domination and subjection. For the mind is said to rule over the body, and also over lust; but it rules over the body as a king governs his subjects, or a father his children, whereas it rules over lust as a master rules his slaves, restraining it and breaking its power. So kings, commanders, magistrates, senators, and popular assemblies govern citizens as the mind governs the body; but the master's restraint of his slaves is like the restraint exercised by the best part of the mind, the reason, over its own evil and weak elements, such as the lustful desires, anger, and the other disquieting emotions....... the parts of the body are ruled like sons on account of their ready obedience, but the evil parts of the mind are restrained with a stricter curb, like slaves...... For there is a kind of unjust slavery, when those who are capable of governing themselves are under the domination of another; but when such men are slaves...
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§ 3.39... In which I agree that an anxious and hazardous justice is not appropriate to a wise man...
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§ 3.40... Virtue clearly desires honour, and has no other reward... yet though she receives it gladly, she does not exact it rigorously What riches, what power, what kingdoms can you offer such a man? For he thinks these things are human, but deems his own possessions divine.... But if universal ingratitude, or the envy of many, or the hostility of the powerful, deprive virtue of its proper rewards, yet it is soothed by many consolations, and firmly upheld by its own excellence....... Their bodies were not taken up to heaven, for Nature would not allow that which comes from the earth to be removed from earth....... The bravest men never... of bravery, energy, endurance....... Fabricius, I suppose, felt the lack of the wealth of Pyrrhus, and Curius of the riches of the Samnites!...... Our glorious Cato, when he went out to his farm in the Sabine country, as we have heard him say, often visited the hearth of this man, sitting in whose home he had declined the gifts of the Samnites, once his enemies, but then under his protection...
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§ 3.41... Asia... Tiberius Gracchus...he kept faith with his fellow-citizens, but violated the treaty lights of our allies and the Latins. If this habit of lawlessness begins to spread and changes our rule from one of justice to one of force, so that those who up to the present have obeyed us willingly are held faithful by fear alone, then, though our own generation has perhaps been vigilant enough to be safe, yet I am anxious for our descendants, and for the permanent stability of our commonwealth, which might live on for ever if the principles and customs of our ancestors were maintained.
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§ 3.42 After these words from Laelius, all expressed their great pleasure in his remarks; but Scipio, whose delight went beyond that of the rest, was almost carried away with enthusiasm. Scipio: Laelius, you have often defended cases so eloquently that I believed that neither our colleague Servius Galba, whom you, during his lifetime, always considered unrivalled, nor even any of the Attic orators [could equal] you either in charm?... [ About four pages are lost, the two following fragments may perhaps be from this passage. ]... that his lack of two qualities, self-confidence and vocal powers, prevented him from speaking to the people or in the forum...... the bull roared with the groans of imprisoned men...
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§ 3.43 Scipio:... to bring back.... Therefore how could that be called “the property of the people,” which is what “commonwealth” means? For all were oppressed by the cruelty of one, and there was no bond of justice whatever, nor any agreement of partnership amongst those gathered together, though that is part of the definition of a people. And the same was true of Syracuse: that famous city, which Timaeus calls both the largest of the Greek towns and the most beautiful city in the world, with its admirable citadel, its harbours, whose waters penetrated to the very heart of the town and to the foundations of its buildings, its broad streets, its porticoes, temples, and walls, could not be a commonwealth in spite of all these things while Dionysius was its ruler, for nothing belonged to the people, and the people itself was the property of one man. Therefore, wherever a tyrant rules, we ought not to say that we have a bad form of commonwealth, as I said yesterday, but, as logic now demonstrates, that we really have no commonwealth at all.
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§ 3.44 Laelius: Excellently said, and now I understand the purport of your remarks. Scipio: You understand, then, that not even a State which is entirely in the control of a faction can truly be called a commonwealth? Laelius: That is indeed my opinion. Scipio: And you are absolutely right, for where was there any “property of the Athenian people,” when, after the great Peloponnesian War, the notorious Thirty most unjustly governed their city? Did the ancient glory of that State, the transcendent beauty of its buildings, its theatre, its gymnasiums, its porticoes, its famous Propylaea, its citadel, the exquisite works of Phidias, or the splendid Piraeus, make it a commonwealth? Laelius: By no means, since nothing was the “property of the people.” Scipio: What of the period when the decemvirs ruled Rome without being subject to appeal, in that third year of their power, when liberty had lost all her legal bulwarks? Laelius: There was no “property of the people”; indeed the people rose in revolt to recover their property.
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§ 3.45 Scipio: I come now to the third form of government, in regard to which we may appear to be in difficulty. For when everything is said to be administered by the people, and to be in the people's power; when the multitude inflicts punishment on whomsoever it will, when it seizes, plunders, retains, and wastes whatever it will, can you deny, Laelius, that we have a commonwealth then, when everything belongs to the people, and we have defined a commonwealth as the “property of a people”? Laelius: There is no government to which I should more quickly deny the title of commonwealth than one in which everything is subject to the power of the multitude. For as we have decided that there was no commonwealth at Syracuse or at Agrigentum or at Athens when those cities were ruled by tyrants, or here at Rome when the decemvirs were in power, I cannot see how the name of commonwealth would be any more applicable to the despotism of the multitude. For in the first place a people exists only when the individuals who form it are held together by a partnership in justice, according to your excellent definition, Scipio. But such a gathering as you have mentioned is just as surely a tyrant as if it were a single person, and an even more cruel tyrant, because there can be nothing more horrible than that monster which falsely assumes the name and appearance of a people. Nor indeed is it right, when the property of the insane is entrusted by law to their relatives in the male line, because [they are unable to manage it properly themselves, that an insane multitude should be left in uncontrolled possession of the “property of the people.” ]... [ About three pages are lost. ]
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§ 3.46... [And indeed many of the arguments] cited to prove that a kingdom is a commonwealth, “the property of a people,” could be applied [with equal justice to an aristocratic government.] Mummius: And with even greater justice, for a king is more like a master, because he is a single individual, while nothing could be more advantageous for a State than to be ruled by a select number of good men. Nevertheless I prefer even a kingship to a free popular government, for that third possibility is the worst of all governments.
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§ 3.47 Scipio: I am aware, Spurius, that you are always opposed to the power of the people; and, though that power might be borne with less resentment than you are accustomed to show, I agree with you that none of these three constitutions deserves less approbation But I cannot assent to your statement that aristocratic government is superior to kingship; for if wisdom rules the State, what difference does it make whether that wisdom is the possession of one person or of several? But we are being misled in our present argument by certain deceptive terms, for when we speak of “the best men” nothing can possibly seem preferable; for what can be deemed better than the best? But when we mention a king we immediately think of an unjust king, yet at present we are not referring to unjust kings at all in our consideration of the kingship itself. Therefore, if you will only imagine that the king we are referring to is Romulus or Pompilius or Tullus, perhaps you will not think so unfavourably of that form of government
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§ 3.48 Mummius: What praise do you reserve, then, for popular government? Scipio: What of Rhodes, Spurius, which we visited together? Does that seem to you no commonwealth at all? Mummius: I certainly consider it a commonwealth, and one by no means deserving of our scorn. Scipio: You are quite right. But, you may remember, all the people were senators and common citizens alternately, and they had a regular system of rotation in accordance with which they acted as senators for certain months of the year, and as private citizens during certain other months. They received payment for attending meetings in both capacities, and, both in the theatre and the senate-house, the same men decided capital cases and those of every other sort. The senate possessed as much power and influence as the multitude... [ The rest of the book is lost. The length of the missing passage is unknown. ] FRAGMENTS OF BOOK III [fr.1] There is therefore a certain restless element in individuals which is exalted by pleasure and broken by tribulation. [fr.2]... they see what they think they will do. [fr.3] The Phoenicians with their traffic in merchandise were the first to introduce into Greece greed, luxurious living, and insatiable desires of all sorts. [fr.4]... the notorious Sardanapalus, far more ugly in his vices than in his name... [fr.5]... unless someone wished to use the whole of Mount Athos as a monument. For what Athos or Olympus is so great...?
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§ 4.1 Book 4 [ The Vatican manuscript contains only two short passages from this book, sections 2-3 and section 4. The order of the other fragments printed here is of course uncertain. The social classification of citizens, the maintenance of high moral standards in the State, the physical and mental training of the young, and the influence of drama, lyric poetry, and music, are evidently among the subjects discussed. ]... and the same mind that foresees the future also remembers the past...... And indeed, if there is no one who would not prefer death to transformation into an animal of any sort, even if he could retain the mind of a man, how much more wretched is it to have the mind of a beast while retaining human form! As much more so, in my opinion, as the mind is superior to the body...... he does not think the good of a ram and the good of Publius Africanus are the same....... and the same body, by its interposition, makes darkness and night, useful both for the reckoning of the days and for rest from labour...... and when in the autumn the earth has opened to receive the seed of her produce, in winter has rested so that she may [transform] this seed, and in the maturity of summer has softened some and parched others...... when they employ shepherds for the flocks...
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§ 4.2... How conveniently the orders are arranged, the ages, the classes, the knights, among whom the votes of the senators also are included! Too many foolishly desire to abolish this useful system in their search for a new distribution of money through some resolution of the plebs providing for the return of the horses.
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§ 4.3 Now consider the other wise provisions for that association of the citizens in a happy and honourable life; for that is the original purpose of men's coming together, and it should be accomplished for them in their commonwealth partly by established customs and partly by laws. Now in the first place our people have never wished to have any system of education for the free-born youth which is either definitely fixed by law, or officially established, or uniform in all cases, though the Greeks have expended much vain labour on this problem, and it is the only point which our guest Polybius finds neglected in our institutions. For... [ At least thirty lines are lost between this passage and section 4. The following three fragments may be quoted from the lost passage. ]... it is the custom to assign guardians to those who are entering upon military service, in order to direct them during their first year...... not only as at Sparta, where the boys learn to steal and thieve...... it was [considered] a disgrace to youths if they did not have lovers...
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§ 4.4 Scipio:... that a young man should go naked. From such ancient sources are derived what we may call the foundation-stones of modesty! And how absurd their system of exercise for young men in gymnasiums! How far from rigorous is their system of military training for the ephebes! How free and easy are their contacts and love relations! To say nothing of the Eleans and Thebans, among whom lust is actually given free rein in the relations of free men, the Spartans themselves, who give every freedom to love relations with young men except that of actual defilement, protect only by a very thin wall this one exception, for, providing only that cloaks be interposed, they allow embraces and the sharing of the bed. Laelius: I see clearly, Scipio, that in regard to the Greek systems of training which you criticize, you prefer to attack the most famous States rather than your beloved Plato, whom you do not even mention, especially as...
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§ 4.5 And our beloved Plato went even further than Lycurgus, for he actually provided that all property should be owned in common, so that no citizen might be able to say of anything that it was his very own...... But I... in the same way as [ Plato ] sends Homer out of the city which he invented, buying him off with wreaths and anointing him with perfumes...
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§ 4.6... The censor's judgment imposes almost no penalty except a blush, upon the man he condemns. Therefore, as his decision affects nothing but the reputation, his condemnation is called “ignominy”...... The State is said at first to have been terrified by their severity...... Nor indeed should there be a governor placed over women, as is usually done among the Greeks, but there should be a censor to teach men to rule their wives...... Thus training in modesty has great effect; all women abstain from intoxicating drinks...... And besides, if any woman had a bad reputation, her relatives refused to kiss her...... Thus impudence is derived from seeking, and shamelessness from demanding...
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§ 4.7... For I do not approve of the same nation being the ruler of the world and also its tax-gatherer; on the other hand, I consider frugality the best revenue both for private families and for States... Credit seems to me to get its very name from the fact that what is promised is performed...... In a citizen of high rank or a man of high reputation, [I judge] flattery, ingratiation, and canvassing to be [indications] of shallowness...
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§ 4.8... I admire the excellence, not only of the subject matter, but also of the style. “If they disagree,” it says. A contest between friends, not a quarrel between enemies, is called a disagreement... Therefore the law considers that neighbours disagree rather than quarrel...... the boundaries of men's care and men's life [to be] the same; thus by the pontifical law the sanctity of burial...... because they had left unburied those whom they could not rescue from the sea on account of the severity of the storm, they put innocent men to death...... and in this controversy I sided not with the people but with the good...... It is not easy to resist the people in their might if you give them no legal rights or only a few...... Would that I might prophesy honestly to him....
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§ 4.9... When the applause and approval of the people, as of some great and wise master, have been granted to them, what darkness they produce! What fears they cause! What desires they inflame!...
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§ 4.10... Since they considered the dramatic art and the theatre in general disgraceful, they desired that all persons connected with such things should not only be deprived of the privileges of other citizens, but should even be removed from their tribes by sentence of the censors....
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§ 4.11 Scipio:... Nor would comedy, unless the customs of daily life had so permitted, ever have been able to make its disgraceful exhibitions acceptable to the spectators. Whom has [comedy] not attacked, or rather persecuted? Whom has it spared? It is true that it has wounded wicked demagogues and men who stirred up sedition in the State, like Cleon, Cleophon, and Hyperbolus. This we might allow, though it is preferable for such citizens to suffer disgrace from a censor rather than from a poet. But it was no more proper that Pericles, who by reason of his commanding influence had already governed his commonwealth for many years, both in peace and war, should be insulted in verse, and that such verses should be recited on the stage, than it would have been for our own Plautus or Naevius to have selected Publius and Gnaeus Scipio for abuse, or for Caecilius to have vilified Marcus Cato...
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§ 4.12 On the other hand, our Twelve Tables, though they provided the death penalty for only a few crimes, did provide it for any person who sang or composed a song which contained a slander or insult to anyone else This was an excellent rule; for our mode of life ought to be liable to judgment by the magistrates and the courts of law, but not by clever poets; nor ought we to be subject to disgrace unless we have an opportunity to answer and defend ourselves in a court of law.... The early Romans did not desire that any living man should either be praised or blamed on the stage...
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§ 4.13... Aeschines of Athens, a most eloquent orator, took part in affairs of State though he had been a tragic actor in his youth, and the Athenians frequently sent Aristodemus, also a tragic actor, as ambassador to Philip in regard to the most important questions of peace and war...
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§ 5.1 Book 5 [ The Vatican manuscript contains only three short passages from this book: sections 3, 5, and 6-7. The order of the other fragments given is uncertain. St Augustine (De Civ. Dei II, 21) states that section 1 is quoted from Cicero's preface to the book, and not from the dialogue. The qualifications and functions of the ideal statesman are evidently the main subject of the book. ] “The commonwealth of Rome is founded firm | On ancient customs and on men of might.” Our poet seems to have obtained these words, so brief and true, from an oracle. For neither men alone, unless a State is supplied with customs too, nor customs alone, unless there have also been men to defend them, could ever have been sufficient to found or to preserve so long a commonwealth whose dominion extends so far and wide. Thus, before our own time, the customs of our ancestors produced excellent men, and eminent men preserved our ancient customs and the institutions of their forefathers.
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§ 5.2 But though the republic, when it came to us, was like a beautiful painting, whose colours, however, were already fading with age, our own time not only has neglected to freshen it by renewing the original colours, but has not even taken the trouble to preserve its configuration and, so to speak, its general outlines. For what is now left of the “ancient customs” on which he said “the commonwealth of Rome ” was “founded firm”? They have been, as we see, so completely buried in oblivion that they are not only no longer practised, but are already unknown. And what shall I say of the men? For the loss of our customs is due to our lack of men, and for, this great evil we must not only give an account, but must even defend ourselves in every way possible, as if we were accused of capital crime. For it is through our own faults, not by any accident, that we retain only the form of the commonwealth, but have long since lost its substance.
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§ 5.3... [that nothing was so] kingly as the administration of justice, which included the interpretation of the law, for subjects used to seek legal decisions from their kings. And for these reasons, broad and rich lands and fields, suitable both for cultivation and pasturage, were set aside as the property of the king, and were cultivated for him without any labour or attention on his part, so that he might not be distracted from the people's business by any need of attention to his own private affairs. Nor did any private citizen act as judge or arbitrator in any suit, but every suit was decided by the king himself. And in my opinion our own king Numa followed most closely this ancient custom of the Greek kings. For our other kings, though they performed this duty also, spent a great deal of their time in waging war, and therefore paid attention to the laws of war, while the long period of peace under Numa was the mother of justice and religion in our city. This king even composed laws which are still in force, as you know. Such indeed are the proper concerns of this citizen of whom we are speaking....
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§ 5.4... but nevertheless, as in the case of an efficient head of a family, some experience in the cultivation of the land, the construction of buildings, and the keeping of accounts is necessary...
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§ 5.5 Scipio:... it would not displease you to know... of roots and seeds, would it? Mummius: Not at all, if any necessity for it should arise. Scipio: Then you do not think that such knowledge is suitable only for the superintendent of a farm? Mummius: By no means; since lack of careful attention is the most frequent fault in farming. Scipio: The field-superintendent, then, knows the nature of the land, the household-superintendent knows how to read and write, and both are interested in the practical utility of their knowledge rather than in the pleasure they take in its possession. In the same way, then, this governing statesman of ours should surely have taken the pains to become familiar with justice and law, and should have examined their origins. But he should not allow his time constantly to be taken up with consultations or by reading and writing on these subjects, for he must be able, as we may say, to act as both field-superintendent and household-superintendent of the commonwealth; he must be fully conversant with justice in its highest aspects, for without that no one can be just; and he must not be ignorant of the civil law, but his knowledge of it should be like the pilot's knowledge of the stars, or a physician's knowledge of physics, for each uses his knowledge in his own art, but does not allow it to keep him from his own special duties. But this man will see to it...
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§ 5.6... states in which the best men seek praise and glory, and avoid disgrace and dishonour. Nor indeed are they deterred from crime so much by the fear of the penalties ordained by law as by the sense of shame which Nature has given to man in the form of a certain fear of justified censure. The governing statesman strengthens this feeling in commonwealths by the force of public opinion and perfects it by the inculcation of principles and by systematic training, so that shame deters the citizens from crime no less effectively than fear. And these remarks have to do with praise, and might have been stated more broadly and developed more fully.
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§ 5.7 But, as regards the practical conduct of life, this system provides for legal marriage, legitimate children, and the consecration of homes to the Lares and Penates of families, so that all may make use of the common property and of their own personal possessions. It is impossible to live well except in a good commonwealth, and nothing can produce greater happiness than a well-constituted State. Therefore it always seems very remarkable to me, [that] what is so important...

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Clinton Walker Keyes (1888–1943). Composed ca. 51 BCE. Licence: public domain. Source.