{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54161/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54161","id":"gutenberg_54161","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54161","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Political science -- Early works to 1800","State, The -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"[Illustration:\n\n  _Specimen palimpsesti vaticani._\n\n  _Imbert\u2019s Lithographic Facsimile._\n]\n\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                          REPUBLIC OF CICERO,\n                       TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN;\n                         AND ACCOMPANIED WITH A\n                 CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.\n\n\n                                    BY\n\n                       G. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH, ESQ.\n\n       FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; OF THE AMERICAN\n PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW-YORK, &C.\n                                 &C. &C.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               NEW-YORK:\n              PUBLISHED BY G. & C. CARVILL, 108 BROADWAY.\n                                 1829.\n\n\n\n\n                   SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, ss.\n\n\nBe it remembered, that on the 23d day of January, A. D. 1829, in the\nfifty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, G.\n& C. Carvill, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the\ntitle of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the\nwords following, to wit:\n\n\u201cThe Republic of Cicero, translated from the Latin; and accompanied with\na Critical and Historical Introduction. By G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq.,\nFellow of the Geological Society of London; of the American\nPhilosophical Society; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New-York, &c.\n&c. &c.\u201d\n\nIn conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled, \u201cAn\nAct for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps,\ncharts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during\nthe times therein mentioned;\u201d and also, to an Act, entitled, \u201cAn Act,\nsupplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of\nlearning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the\nauthors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein\nmentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing,\nengraving, and etching historical and other prints.\u201d\n\n                                                         FRED. I. BETTS,\n                       _Clerk of the Southern District of New-York_.\n\n\n                                ERRATA.\n\n     INTRODUCTION, p. 22, line 12, dele \u201cthen.\u201d\n          DO.      p. 27, line 16, for \u201crequires,\u201d read \u201crequire.\u201d\n\n               Sleight & George, Printers, Jamaica, L. I.\n\n\n\n\n                                   TO\n                     RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, ESQ.\n                    F. R. S., F. G. S., &c. &c. &c.\n\n\nI dedicate these pages to you, my dear MURCHISON, that you may have a\nrenewed assurance of my great esteem and friendship for you. I should\nhave had a livelier satisfaction in doing so, if the part I have had in\nthe production of them, were more worthy of your refined taste. I hope\nto offer some compensation, however, in the assurance, that you will\nfind in them many congenial opinions and principles.\n\n                                                 G. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH.\n\n New-York, January 21, 1829.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\nI am not aware that any translation of the Republic of Cicero into the\nEnglish tongue has been made.\n\nBelieving that it cannot but excite a deep interest with generous minds,\nas well on account of the high nature of the subject, the illustrious\nname of Cicero, as of the great motives which led him to compose this\nwork, I venture to offer a translation of it to the public.\n\nIn this extensive republic, where every individual reads, it appears\npeculiarly proper, that an English dress should be given to a work, of\nwhich almost every page teaches that public happiness depends upon\nindividual virtue.\n\nCicero\u2019s definition of a republic, that it is an association of the\npeople for the defence and advancement of the common interest; will be\nunderstood here, which may be doubtingly said of any other republics now\nin existence.\n\nA bare translation of the fragments of this mutilated work, unassisted\nby any commentary, could not but have been unsatisfactory. The\ndeficiencies of the original are somewhat compensated to us, not alone\nin the grandeur of thought which pervades it, but in the majesty of\ndiction, precise, elevated, as it frequently is, and always governed by\nthe most refined taste. It would be a vain effort to attempt the dignity\nof the Latin tongue, when adorned with the elegancies of the Ciceronian\nstyle. Humbly as the translation may deserve to be considered, it will\nperhaps be deemed sufficiently faithful: and that the translator has not\naltogether failed in pointing out to grave and reflecting minds, the\nimmediate cause of the ruin of a noble Republic.\n\nHe has therefore prefixed a brief historical introduction; the which,\nwhether it will be thought too long, or not sufficiently detailed, will\nprobably depend upon the reader\u2019s historical recollections. The motive\nfor drawing it up was to render the work more generally useful and\nacceptable.\n\n\n\n\n                             INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThe imperfect manuscript, a translation of which is now presented to the\nAmerican public, was discovered in the Library of the Vatican, by\nProfessor Angelo Mai; a person of singular ingenuity in the detection of\nthose Palimpsests whose contents were written upon ancient writings\npartially erased. A fac simile of part of the MSS. accompanies this\nwork. The Republic of Cicero was greatly cherished by those who lived in\nand near his times; of which occasional evidences are found in the\nwritings of antiquity. But the tyranny of the emperors bridled the\nRomans so soon after its appearance, that Horace, Virgil, Seneca,\nQuintilian, Pliny, and even Tacitus, have not dared to praise it, lest\nthey should bring down vengeance upon themselves. It is remarkable that\nwhile despotism was rapidly extinguishing philosophy and letters, and\nthe very existence of these precious monuments of better times was\nscarcely thought of; the Christian religion was gradually raising up\namidst the persecutions of the primitive church, new champions for truth\nand justice; to whose works we are indebted for many valuable fragments\nof the best writers of antiquity, and for almost all the passages of\nCicero\u2019s Republic which we were acquainted with, until the late\ndiscovery of professor Mai. It is in the works of St. Augustin and of\nLactantius that these passages most abound; and they are appealed to by\nthem as most eloquent arguments, in support of just government, and\nvirtuous conduct. Scipio\u2019s Dream, forming the only part of the sixth\nbook which has been preserved, and which is one of the most splendid\npassages that has been saved from antiquity, has long had a place in the\nworks of Macrobius, a writer at the beginning of the fifth century,\naddicted to the Pythagorean mysticisms; and who has preserved it\nprobably on account of the occult astronomical relation of numbers\ncontained in it. Notwithstanding the mutilated state of the MSS., the\norder of the books is distinctly preserved, the general plan of the work\nis obvious, and we have much greater reason to rejoice at what we\npossess, than to regret what is wanting. The disordered state of the\ngovernment and the republic at large, evidently suggested to Cicero this\npatriotic and bold attempt to stem the influence of bad men, and raise\nthe falling liberties of his country. In this highly philosophical\ndiscourse he sought to recall the Romans from the interests of ambitious\nindividuals, and fix their attention upon the greater interests of the\ncountry, where each man had a stake: to revive their veneration for the\nsimplicity of the early institutions of Rome, and for the men who had\nmade themselves illustrious by their virtues: and to guard the people\nmore effectually against the innovations and factions now succeeding\neach other with so much rapidity, he invests those ancient times with a\nperfection, that the attractions of his eloquence alone can excuse.\n\nOf the original simplicity of the government, some evidences are\nafforded by this work; as where it is stated that lands were assigned to\nthe sovereign, and cultivated for him by the people, that he might have\nnothing to do but administer justice. The principal men too of the state\nin those early times lived in the vicinity of Rome, cultivating a small\npossession. The illustrious names of Fabius, Lentulus, Cicero, &c., were\nperhaps given to those husbandmen who excelled in the cultivation of\nthose vegetables; such was the opinion of Pliny.[1]\n\nThe censor had the power of reprimanding those whose fields were\nslovenly cultivated. Many customs of those antique times are found in\nCato\u2019s curious Treatise on Rural Affairs. \u201cOur ancestors constituted and\nordained thus in their Laws: A thief was condemned to double\nrestitution; an usurer to quadruple. You may judge from this how much\nworse a citizen they deemed the usurer to be than the thief. And when\nthey praised a worthy man, they spoke thus of him: \u2018that he was a good\nfarmer, an excellent husbandman.\u2019 He that was commended in these terms,\nwas thought to be praised enough.\u201d[2] And again speaking of a good\nhusbandman, he says, \u201cHe should part with his old cattle, his weaned\ncalves and lambs, his wool, his skins, his old carts and worn out irons,\nhis old slaves, and his sick ones; and if he has got any thing else he\ndoes not want, let him sell it. A father of a family ought always to\nsell and never to buy.\u201d Dion says that a messenger summoned the\npatricians by name, but that the people were convened _by the blowing of\na horn_.[3] But the splendid military government which soon grew up,\ngave both state employment and riches to that class once distinguished\nfor their industry and frugality. Agriculture was abandoned to slaves,\nand men branded for crimes: it was no longer deemed an honourable\nemployment. Luxury and habits of profusion made it necessary for\nconspicuous men to acquire the means of indulging in them, at the\nexpense of principle and patriotism. At length when sensual\ngratifications became dearer to a majority of the Romans than liberty,\nthe republic was overthrown, and military despotism accomplished the\ncircle of military influence; extinguished every spark of light and\nliberty; stripped the empire of its moral and physical power, and left\nit unmindful of its past glorious existence, to perish in a blind and\nhelpless old age.\n\nMarcus Tullius Cicero was born at Arpinum, a city of the Samnites, which\nhad long enjoyed the freedom of Rome. His family was an ancient one, and\nof the equestrian order; which comprehended the most respectable gentry\nof the empire, who were only inferior in rank to the patricians. Having\nassumed the manly gown at his sixteenth year, he immediately began to\nacquire a knowledge of the laws of his country, under the two Sc\u00e6volas,\neminent persons of that day. The Marsian war, and the civil broils of\nMarius and Sylla, the former of whom was also a native of Arpinum,\noccurred during the prosecution of his civil studies; and although they\ngave some interruption to them, yet these violent contentions falling\nimmediately under his observation, he became at an early period\naccustomed to consider the political situation of his country. These\ncircumstances no doubt had some influence in deciding his future career;\nalthough the rare natural activity of his mind would perhaps have led\nhim under any situation to the investigation of all moral and physical\nrelations. Prompted by this impulse, he now began the study of Grecian\nphilosophy under the learned Athenians who fled to Rome from the\npersecutions of Mithridates, and afterwards perfected himself in it\nunder Molo the Rhodian; a man so distinguished, that he was permitted to\naddress the Roman Senate in the Greek tongue without an interpreter.\nAbout the age of twenty-six, with his mind filled with all the knowledge\ntaught at that period, he first began to plead at the Forum. His\ncelebrated successful defence of S. Roscius was made soon after, in\nwhich he braved, what the other Roman orators had not dared to do, the\nresentment of Sylla. By this bold measure, the generosity of his\ncharacter, as well as the force of his talents, were developed, and his\nreputation established as the most powerful orator of Rome. He visited\nAthens not long after this period, partly to avoid the displeasure of\nSylla, and partly to renew the study of philosophy, which he here\npursued with great ardour. His friend Atticus, who was at Athens at the\nsame time, had embraced the Epicurean doctrines; but Cicero appears at\nthis early period to have believed in a future state; a doctrine which\nat a later period he has most eloquently recorded in his celebrated\nDream of Scipio. At the end of two years, he returned to Rome, greatly\nimproved by his intercourse with the philosophers and orators of Greece\nand Asia.\n\nIn his thirty-first year, and not long after his marriage, he was\nelected to the qu\u00e6storship, which opened his way to the Senate. One of\nthe provinces of Sicily fell to him by lot, and he exercised his\nqu\u00e6storial functions with such moderation and ability, as to induce the\nSicilians to confer extraordinary honours upon him at the termination of\nhis year; when he returned to Rome, determined henceforward to withdraw\nhimself as little as possible from the eyes of the Roman people. In his\nthirty-seventh year he received the unanimous suffrages of all the\ntribes for the edileship, which introduced him into the magistracy. The\nexhibition of the shows and games, which was the province of the ediles,\nwas conducted by Cicero with great satisfaction to the people, and\nwithout injuring materially his own private fortune. In this he achieved\na difficult point, which marks his great prudence and address. So great\nhad the affection of the people now become for him, that at three\ndifferent elections for pr\u00e6tor, he was each time placed at the head of\nthe list by the unanimous vote of all the centuries. In his forty-third\nyear, having been very diligent in strengthening his interest, he became\na candidate for the consulship with others; among whom were L. Sergius\nCataline: but such was his popularity that he was saluted consul by\nacclamation of the people before the votes were counted. He received\nalso a strong support from the patricians, who had uniformly been\nopposed to his advancement; but Cicero\u2019s reputation for knowledge and\nprobity was so great, and the times were becoming so critical, that they\ndeemed the government safe in his hands. The patricians at this time\nwere of the faction of Sylla, to which also Cataline belonged: and the\nTribunes and the people were of the Marian faction; at the head of which\nwas Julius C\u00e6sar, a near relation to Marius. Although C\u00e6sar, and Cicero\nwere both on the popular side, yet they were not united upon any common\nprinciples of order. C\u00e6sar was always individually opposed to him: and\nwhen Cicero being consul, was endeavouring in the senate to bring the\nassociates of Cataline to punishment; C\u00e6sar defended them, and even\nindirectly encouraged their cause, by declaring his disbelief in the\nimmortality of the soul. The suppression of this conspiracy of Cataline,\nCethegus, Lentulus and many others, among whom C\u00e6sar was generally\nnumbered, raised the reputation of Cicero to the greatest height. By his\nincessant vigilance, Rome was saved from the horrors of a general\nmassacre and pillage. The greatest honours were paid him by the senate\nand equestrian order: and for the first time the sublime epithet of\n\u201cFather of his Country\u201d was addressed to a Roman citizen in the senate,\nin the person of Cicero.[4] This great action of his life he most\nfeelingly alludes to in the introduction to his first book of the\nRepublic. \u201cNor is my name forgotten,\u201d &c. The feelings too which the\ncircumstances attending the very last act of his consulship excited in\nhim, are eloquently pourtrayed in a passage immediately following. It\nwas the custom for the consul at the expiration of his office, to make a\nspeech in the assembly of the people, and to swear that he had executed\nhis duties with fidelity. When he was already in the rostra, and was\nabout to address the whole people assembled on this interesting\noccasion; Metellus, a new tribune, prompted by the officious spirit of\npopular authority, which often delights to mortify the great and good,\nforbade the consul to address the people, alleging that Cicero having\ncaused Lentulus and the rest to suffer death without being heard in\ntheir defence, did not deserve to be heard himself. Whereat with an\nenthusiastic presence of mind peculiar to himself, he swore with a loud\nvoice that he had saved the republic: and the multitude moved by a\ngenerous feeling which the demagogues had no time to tamper with, more\nthan atoned to him for the intended affront from their tribune, by a\nsimultaneous shout that he had sworn nothing but the truth,[5] and by\naccompanying him from the Forum to his own house.\n\nIn this most glorious year of his life, and at the very time when he was\noccupied in saving his country, Octavius C\u00e6sar was born; by whose arts\nand influence Cicero, as well as the republic, were not more than twenty\nyears after destroyed. And although he had acted so noble a part toward\nhis country, which under his government had been saved from the most\nprofligate attempt that had yet been made upon its liberties; and\nenjoyed the highest rank in the senate, and the first consideration from\nall good men; corruption had now reached such a height, that\npre-eminence in virtue, shining forth in so active a citizen as Cicero,\nwho was constantly thwarting the designs of bad men, served but to unite\ntheir efforts against him. He became henceforward the object of their\nhatred and vengeance. C\u00e6sar, who did not believe in a future state, and\nwho consequently had no principle to restrain him, was constantly\nplotting means to usurp the government. Pompey, in whose interest Cicero\nhad always been, and who at the close of the Mithridatic war had become\nthe most powerful man in the Republic, was afraid to disoblige the\nnumerous enemies of Cicero, and declined even to strengthen him by a\npublic approbation of the measures he had taken to suppress the\nconspiracy of Catiline. The luxurious and the corrupt, who far\noutnumbered the rest, were willing to sell the republic and themselves\nto the highest bidders. The people were as usual the tools of\ndemagogues. Every thing conspired to accelerate the downfall of the\nrepublic. In the face of these fearful odds stood Cicero, a large\nmajority of the senate, and of the equestrian order, which comprehended\nthe independent landholders and gentry of the Roman nation: and with but\nlittle other support than the satisfaction of being engaged in the\nnoblest of causes, the maintenance of regular government. It is most\npainful to look back upon the history of the degradation of such a\npeople; corrupted and ruined by their blind admiration of that falsest\nof all idols, military glory.\n\nAn event occurred the year after his consulate, which brought him into a\nnew conflict with some of the worst of these men. P. Clodius, at this\ntime a qu\u00e6stor, a vicious and debauched young man of family, and who\npossessed many personal advantages, had an intrigue with C\u00e6sar\u2019s wife\nPompeia. Satiated with ordinary voluptuousness, he disguised himself as\na woman, and entered the house of Pompeia in the night time, when she\nwith other distinguished Roman matrons, was celebrating the mysteries of\nthe Bona Dea, or Patroness of Chastity. He was discovered and fled. Such\nwas the respect in which these mysteries, at which women alone\nofficiated, were held, that the profanation excited the utmost\nindignation throughout the city. Even C\u00e6sar found it necessary to put\naway his wife. The senate directed the consuls to prepare a law for the\ntrial of Clodius before the people, which was resisted by one of the\ntribunes friendly to Clodius. At length it was agreed that a law should\nbe passed to try him before the pr\u00e6tor and a select number of judges.\nClodius rested his defence upon an alibi, which he endeavoured to\nsustain by witnesses. When Cicero was called to give his deposition, he\nwas insulted by the mob which adhered to Clodius; but such was the\nveneration in which he was held, that the judges stood up, and received\nhim with great honour. He testified that Clodius had been with him in\nhis house in Rome on the very day of the pollution. C\u00e6sar who was also\ncalled, said that he was ignorant of the whole affair; although it\noccurred in his own house, and in the presence of his mother and sister,\nwho had deposed to the truth of the accusation. Being asked, why then he\nhad put away his wife? he answered, \u201cBecause those who are connected\nwith me, must be as free from suspicion as from crime.\u201d[6]\n\nThat the wife of C\u00e6sar must be free even from suspicion, is a saying\nthat has passed down to our days: yet too many who have heard it are\nignorant of the circumstances attending its origin. We read the\ncommentaries of C\u00e6sar at school, and are fired with admiration at his\ntalents and successes. We are thus prepared to pity his death and the\nmanner of it. But the military and political glories of C\u00e6sar, can never\nfurnish an apology for a profligate private life; and a memorable saying\nis stripped of every attraction, when we know that it was uttered by the\nlips of a perjured atheist.\n\nIn a letter to Atticus, Cicero draws a curious picture of the judges\nselected to try this famous cause; a majority of whom appears to have\nbeen packed from the outcasts of all the orders, and to have been paid\nfor the occasion. Clodius was acquitted by a majority of thirty-one\nvoices over twenty-five. Upon their appointment some of them had\nrequested a guard from the senate to protect them from the mob. Upon\nwhich occasion, Catulus a distinguished member of the senate, very\nfacetiously asked one of the judges, \u201cwhy they wanted a guard, and\nwhether it was to protect the money which Clodius had bribed them with?\u201d\n\nAfter his acquittal, Clodius was wont to attempt to throw ridicule upon\nCicero in the senate, finding it vain to encounter him in argument, and\nhoping to divert in some degree the force of his attacks. \u201cSo the\njudges\u201d said Clodius, \u201cwould give no credit to your oath.\u201d \u201cTwenty-five\nof them did,\u201d replied Cicero: \u201cthe rest would give you none it seems,\nbut made you pay beforehand.\u201d\n\nAfter the return of Pompey to Rome, as well as of C\u00e6sar from Spain, a\ntriumvirate of interests was formed between these two and Crassus: each\nhaving his own ascendancy in view. C\u00e6sar, to make the interest it was\nthus intended to direct against the independence of the republic, still\nstronger, made overtures to Cicero, who declined connecting himself with\nthem. At length C\u00e6sar openly declared against him, and favoured the\nelection of Clodius to the tribunate, in the which he succeeded. Being\nnow in authority, he brought forward the law, that whoever had taken\naway the life of a Roman citizen, uncondemned, should be interdicted\nbread and water. This was directed against Cicero, in relation to his\nconsular acts respecting the conspirators; and affected him so much,\nthat although the law was in general terms, and his name was not\nmentioned in it, he changed his garments, and appeared abroad sordidly\ndressed to attract the compassion of the people. The young Romans of\nliberal character, to the number of twenty thousand also changed their\ndress, and accompanied him; soliciting the favour of all in authority,\nand of the people, against the passage of this law. But the combination\nof bad men proved too strong against him, and Pompey having refused his\nprotection, Cicero was induced by the advice of his friends, to withdraw\nhimself into a temporary exile from Rome. This humiliating event took\nplace in his forty-ninth year. During his absence his residences both in\ntown and country, which were upon a scale commensurate with his dignity,\nwere despoiled; and together with the furniture appropriated by the\nconsuls and by Clodius. At length the daring insolence of that tribune,\nand the perpetual broils he occasioned, began to indispose all men\nagainst him, except his immediate profligate retainers. Advantage was\ntaken of this to propose in the senate the recall of Cicero; which\nfinally prevailed at a very numerous convocation of the senators and\nmagistrates; Clodius alone giving a dissenting voice. At its final\npassage into a law by the Roman people, the field of Mars was crowded\nwith their assembled centuries. Such was the public veneration for him,\nthat voters from every town in Italy were present to insure the passage\nof a law which restored so great a benefactor to his country. All the\ncenturies concurred in an act thus most solemnly passed by the whole\nRoman people. In anticipation of the event, he left Dyrrhachium in\nMacedonia, and soon after his arrival at Brundisium, where his daughter\nTullia had come to meet him, he received the welcome news from Rome. His\njourney was a continued triumph, and he was received on his arrival at\nthe city in the most enthusiastic manner. An insufficient sum of money\nwas voted to him to rebuild his mansions. When he had almost finished\nhis palatine house, it was attacked by one of Clodius\u2019 mobs, and\ndestroyed. Broils and slaughters were now so common in the streets of\nRome, that gladiators were retained to assist in these feuds; in which\nthe consuls of the same year were sometimes opposed to each other.\nCicero who had now reached his fifty-first year, was again made to feel\nhow unremitting is the hatred of enemies, and uncertain the support of\nfriends. Public virtue appeared to him to have no longer any value in\nthe eyes of the Romans. He saw that every man attended more to his\nprivate safety and advancement, than to the public peace and dignity of\nthe city; and perceiving the necessity of a powerful protector for\nhimself and family in his old age, he appears from one of his letters to\nhave determined to conform himself in every thing to the pleasure of\nPompey. We also see him from time to time engaged in agreeable services\nto C\u00e6sar, with whom Pompey was yet connected. Experience and persecution\nappear to have induced him to adopt a course foreign to the character of\nthe perfect citizen he has pourtrayed in his republic. In his fourth\nepistle to Atticus, he says[7] \u201cIf they will not be friendly to me who\npossess no power, I must endeavour to make those like me who have the\npower of being useful. \u2018I told you so long ago,\u2019 you will say; I know\nthat you did, and I was an ass for not taking your advice.\u201d The opinion\ntoo of his friend C\u00e6lius, would have great weight with most men, in such\ndisturbed times. \u201cIt cannot have escaped you, that the duty of men\namidst domestic dissensions, is to espouse the honestest side, as long\nas the contention is of a civil nature, and force is not used. But when\nit comes to wars and camps, they should take the strongest side, and\nconsider that the best which is the most safe.\u201d[8]\n\nThe influence of C\u00e6sar was now becoming very conspicuous. His military\ncareer in Gaul, his generosity, and the universality of his talents,\ngave him at length a pre-eminence over Pompey in the public estimation.\nPompey and Crassus had entered into the consulship with little\nobservance of constitutional forms; and, with as little deference to the\nsenate, had caused provinces to be assigned to them for five years.\nSpain and Africa to Pompey. Syria and the fatal Parthian war to Crassus.\nThis triumvirate had now almost the whole Roman military force at their\ncommand.\n\nIt was in the spring of the next year, that Cicero at his Cuman villa,\nbegan his famous work on government. He was now advancing into his\nfifty-fourth year, and it appears that he had completed his work before\nhe entered upon his command in Cilicia. His military career was\ndistinguished by great activity and judgment. He was saluted emperor by\nthe army upon one of his military successes, and returned gladly to Rome\nat the end of the year. During the remainder of his eventful life, he\nappears to have found comfort only in the cultivation of philosophy and\nletters. The corruption of the Romans, the ruin of the republic, the\ndeath of his beloved daughter, and his separation from the wife he had\nlived with thirty years, embittered his days. He was too conspicuous a\nman not to be affected by all the political changes which took place.\nCrassus perished in the Parthian war; and C\u00e6sar, as soon as he felt\nhimself strong enough, crossed the Rubicon, which was the limit of his\nmilitary command, and marched upon Rome, from which Pompey and the\nsenate ingloriously fled. Cicero at length felt himself also constrained\nto follow the fortunes of Pompey, because he believed the dignity of the\nRoman name was alone to be found under his banners. And when the battle\nof Pharsalia left C\u00e6sar sole master of the Roman world, he submitted to\nC\u00e6sar, because there was no other government to submit to. But he\nrejoiced in his death, of which he was a spectator, and to the last,\ngave all the aid in his power to the patriots who sought to raise the\nliberties of his country. In his latter days, he showed an invincible\nspirit, defying the profligate Anthony in the plenitude of his power.\nAnd when the assassins of the second and more bloody triumvirate\nsurprised him, he ordered his servants to set down the litter in which\nthey were carrying him, and forbade them to defend him. Then undauntedly\nstretching out his neck, he bade his executioners do their pleasure;\nhappy to escape from so much misery, to the immortality he had always\nbelieved in. This occurred when he was just entering his\nsixty-fourth-year.\n\nThis rapid sketch of the transactions of Cicero\u2019s times, will, it is\nhoped, not be deemed impertinent, but may rather be considered as\nassisting the general reader to form an adequate estimate of the great\nobject which Cicero had in view, when he drew up this celebrated\ntreatise, which was to revive the veneration of the Roman people for\ntheir ancient institutions, now in danger from the machinations of\nlawless men, at the head of whom was C\u00e6sar, who denying in the senate a\nfuture existence, expressed his contempt for all religion. But it has\nbeen objected to Cicero that he was insincere, and that he called upon\nhis countrymen to venerate what was often the object of his ridicule.\nThe leading men of Rome who formed the sacerdotal order, from the\nearliest periods and under all circumstances maintained their influence\nover the people, chiefly by that religion they had been brought up in\nthe veneration of, and especially by the observance of auspices. But in\ntime the credulity of the Romans began to relax. Men like Cicero had for\ntheir religion the glorious doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and\na great majority of his enlightened equals no doubt entertained his\nopinions. Others, and among them was his brother Quintus, from various\nmotives, as has always been the case in the history of superstitions,\npersevered in the prejudices they had received from education.\nPrejudices acquired in infancy from our earliest and dearest protectors,\nand to relinquish which, seems to require the relinquishment of all\nreverence for those we most venerate. When therefore Cicero ridicules\nthe religious observances of his times, it is to enlightened men he\nsometimes addresses himself; just as men have in all times laughed at\nabsurdities they do not care publicly to assail: and at other times he\nmay have used his ridicule to expose the most stupid superstitions\nindiscriminately to all. When in his Republic he praises the institution\nof auspices, however he may be charged with inconsistency, it was done\nfrom great and public motives, and not from selfish ones. There is no\nhypocrisy in this conduct, as we understand the word; and if we examine\nthe whole bearing of Cicero\u2019s life, the policy which the circumstances\nof it, sometimes obliged him to, will not offend liberal minds. In\nestimating therefore the character of Cicero, it is well to remember Dr.\nMiddleton\u2019s remark in his preface \u201cand in every thing especially that\nrelates to Cicero, I would recommend the reader to contemplate the whole\ncharacter, before he thinks himself qualified to judge of its separate\nparts, on which the whole will always be found the surest comment.\u201d\n\nThe first book is the most complete of the whole six: the opening\nhowever is imperfect. Cicero in his own person enters into a discussion\nwhether governments should be administered by contemplative\nphilosophers, or by active practical men. He recapitulates the arguments\non both sides of the question, often discussed by the ancients, and\ndecides the question in consonance with those feelings which had\ngoverned his very active life. The eloquence and force of some of the\npassages are inimitable. They will be applicable to all times as long as\ncivil government exists among men. But in this country where the\nexperiment of a popular government is trying upon so comprehensive a\nscale, the grandeur of the sentiments deserves the attention of every\nman. As where he states as an argument of those who shun active\noccupations, that it is dangerous to meddle with public affairs in\nturbulent times, and disgraceful to associate with the low and\ndisreputable men who are conspicuous at those periods; that it is vain\nto hope to restrain the mad violence of the vulgar, or to withdraw from\nsuch a contest without injury; \u201cAs if,\u201d he adds with a generous\nenthusiasm, \u201cthere could be a more just cause for good and firm men,\nendowed with noble minds, to stand forth in aid of their country, than\nthat they may not be subject to bad men; nor suffer the republic to be\nlacerated by them, before the desire of saving it may come too late.\u201d\n\nAfter disposing of this question, he proceeds with great address to open\nthe plan of his work, and presents in all the beautiful simplicity of\nthe times, Scipio, his friend L\u00e6lius, with some of their most\naccomplished cotemporaries, seated, not in the gorgeous saloon of a\nLucullus or Crassus, but in the sunny part, because it was the winter\nseason, of the lawn of Scipio\u2019s country place; where they had convened\nto pass the Latin holidays in discussing philosophical questions. Here,\nupon an inquiry being instituted into the cause of two suns reported to\nhave been seen in the heavens, occasion is found to introduce in a very\npleasing manner, the astronomical knowledge of the day, which Cicero was\nwell versed in. Scipio is made here to deliver a magnificent passage,\nbeginning at the 17th section. \u201cWho can perceive any grandeur in human\naffairs,\u201d &c.[9] This inquiry about celestial phenomena, which appeared\nso foreign to a philosophical investigation on the principles of\ngovernment, is admirably closed and without the abruptness being\nperceived, by L\u00e6lius asking how it can interest him that Scipio should\nbe solicitous about the two suns, \u201cwhen he does not inquire the cause\nwhy two senates, and almost two people exist in one republic.\u201d At the\ngeneral request Scipio consents to deliver his opinion of government. He\ndefines a republic to be the \u201cpublic thing,\u201d or common interest of all:\nand he shews most satisfactorily that human beings congregate not on\naccount of their weakness, but that they are led thereto by the social\nprinciple, which is innate in man, and leads him even in the midst of\nthe greatest abundance to seek his fellow. He successively examines the\ndespotic, the aristocratic, and democratic forms of government: their\nadvantages and disadvantages; and concludes that a fourth kind of\ngovernment, moderated and compounded from those three is most to be\napproved. This is subsequently recurred to and enlarged upon. Many\npersons will be surprised that the balanced representative form of\ngovernment, which has but in modern times received the sanction of the\nwisest nations, should have been shadowed forth in an apparently\nspeculative opinion, two thousand years ago. We must however remember,\nthat in the numerous small independent states of Greece; their various\nforms of government, the tyranny of their kings, the oppression of the\naristocracies, and the violence of the people, had produced many\ndiscussions among their writers. Few of these have come down to us. Yet\nCicero was familiar with them, and it is evident that his plan of a\nmixed government was drawn from this source. There is a passage to this\neffect preserved in the Anthology of Stob\u00e6us, of Hyppodamus. He says\nthat royalty, which is a copy of divinity, is insufficient, on account\nof the degeneracy of human nature. That it must be limited by an\naristocracy, where the principle of emulation leads men to excel each\nother: and that the citizen also should be admitted into that mixed\ngovernment as of right: but cautiously, as the people are apt to fall\ninto disorders. These opinions also flattered the Romans, for in fact it\nwas substantially their own form of government, which consisted of\nconsuls, patricians, and the people and their tribunes.\n\nScipio in the 43d section, gives an eloquent passage from Plato, where\nthe excesses of the multitude are painted in the strongest language; a\npassage which might well have been inspired by the French revolution.\n\nScipio opens the second book with the origin of the Roman people,\nadopting the received opinions concerning the early history of Rome, of\nRomulus, and the succeeding kings. These opinions have of late, been\nmuch controverted. Niebuhr whose erudition appears to be inimitable,\nwhatever success he may be thought to have had in shaking them, has\nsubstituted nothing satisfactory in their place, at least as far as we\nmay gather from his first volume. One thing may be safely asserted, that\nCicero might well present in his republic, those traditions of the\ntimes, as the real history of his country, because the Roman people were\nacquainted with no other. He could not call upon them to venerate the\nfounders of Rome and their institutions, and tell them at the same time\nthey had never existed. Niebuhr himself strengthens the account given at\nsection 19, Book II., of the Greek descent of the first Tarquin, by\nobserving that the clay vases made at Tarquinii were painted, and\nresembled in colour and drawing some discovered near Corinth. He says\nthey are found only in the district of Tarquinii, and that the\ncircumstance implies a peculiar intercourse between Corinth and\nTarquinii.\n\nIn the 22d section of the 2d Book, is another passage with which Niebuhr\nis not satisfied, and which even Professor Mai terms \u201cvexatissimum\nlocum.\u201d Cicero says the Roman people were distributed by Servius into\nsix classes, whose entire elective force was one hundred and\nninety-three centuries. To give the landed proprietors who were rated in\nthe first class, a majority of this number, or ninety-seven votes, three\ncenturies of horse with six suffrages, meaning those inscribed in the\ngreat census or register, in contradistinction to the horsemen set apart\nfrom the mass of the whole people; the century of carpenters, and the\nfirst class, constituted together eighty-nine centuries. Eight more\ncenturies taken from the other five classes and added to this number,\nmade ninety-seven, being a majority of one over ninety-six, and thus in\nCicero\u2019s words \u201cConfecta est vis, populi universa.\u201d The unwearied\nerudition of Niebuhr, to which great deference is due, is not satisfied\nwith the simplicity of this statement of the Roman Constitution, but\nassails it with an unusual bitterness of critical spirit. He supposes\nthe passage from its genuine state to have been corrupted by successive\ntranscribers and commentators, to the order in which Professor Mai has\nthought proper to give it to the public, and that in its original state\nit stood thus. \u201cNunc rationem videtis esse talem ut prima classis,\naddita centuria qu\u00e6 ad summum usum urbis fabris tignariis est data:\nLXXXI centurias habeat; quibus ex CXIV centuriis, tot enim reliqu\u00e6 sunt,\nequitum centuri\u00e6 cum sex suffragiis sol\u00e6 si accesserunt,\u201d &c.\n\n\u201cNow you will perceive the plan was such, that the first class, a\ncentury being added from the carpenters on account of their great\nutility to the city, consisted of eighty-one centuries; to which if from\nthe one hundred and fourteen centuries, for so many remain, only the\ncenturies of horse with six suffrages are added,\u201d &c. I forbear to add\nhis very curious reasons for this proposed restoration, and which, not\nto be deemed extravagant, require to be judged by those familiar with\nthe emendations of ancient MSS. It will be perceived, however, that he\nmakes the whole number of centuries to consist of one hundred and\nninety-five; and that he gives the landed proprietors a majority of\nninety-nine over the ninety-six centuries belonging to the other five\nclasses, which appears superfluous in a system which aimed at the\nappearance of moderation, \u201cne superbum esset.\u201d Substantially the system\nappears to have been this. The Roman people were distributed into six\nclasses, having one hundred and ninety-three centuries or votes. The\nfirst class consisting of men of rank and property, with the centuries\nof horse, had ninety-six votes; leaving ninety-seven votes to the other\nfive classes. In order, however, to give the ascendancy to the first\nclass in the least offensive way, the century of blacksmiths and\ncarpenters was added to the first class, under pretence of their great\nutility to the city; but really because they were dependent upon the\nfirst class and the cavalry for employment, and could be relied upon. In\nthis manner the first class secured a majority of ninety-seven votes.\nThe second book closes with a declaration from Scipio, that unless the\nmost perfect justice is observed, no government can prosper.\n\nThe third book opens with a philosophical analysis of the faculties of\nman, introductory to the great principle of the immutable nature of\njustice, which it appears was fully discussed in this book, of which so\nsmall a portion is preserved. A splendid picture is drawn in the second\nsection of an accomplished statesman, such as Cicero himself had aimed\nto be, and which from a passage in one of his letters to Atticus,\nappears to have been farther elaborated in the sixth book. It relates to\na triumph about which he felt some anxiety after his government of\nCilicia. \u201cIf this idea of a triumph which even you approve, had not been\ninfused into me, you would not have had to look far for the perfect\ncitizen described in the sixth book.\u201d[10] Philus is called upon to\ndefend the cause of injustice after the manner of Carneades the Greek\nsophist. The powerful passage contained in the seventeenth section is\ndelivered by him. It was reserved for L\u00e6lius to close the discussion as\nthe advocate of justice. Scarce any part of his discourse is preserved.\nSome fragments have, however, been collected by Professor Mai, preserved\nby Nonius the Philologist, and by Lactantius. In the one, L\u00e6lius is made\nto declare, that the Roman youth ought not to be permitted to listen to\nCarneades, who if he thought as he spoke, was a bad man; and if he was\nnot, as he preferred to believe, his discourse was nevertheless\ndetestable. One of the passages from Lanctantius is that well known\nexposition of eternal right, or natural law of justice of which\nconscience is the voice.\n\n\u201cThere is indeed a law, right reason, which is in accordance with\nnature; existing in all, unchangeable, eternal. Commanding us to do what\nis right, forbidding us to do what is wrong. It has dominion over good\nmen, but possesses no influence over bad ones. No other law can be\nsubstituted for it, no part of it can be taken away, nor can it be\nabrogated altogether. Neither the people or the senate can absolve us\nfrom it. It wants no commentator or interpreter. It is not one thing at\nRome, and another thing at Athens: one thing to-day, and another thing\nto-morrow; but it is a law eternal and immutable for all nations and for\nall time. God, the sole Ruler, and universal Lord, has framed and\nproclaimed this law. He who does not obey it, renounces himself, and is\nfalse to his own nature: he brings upon himself the direst tortures,\neven when he escapes human punishments.\u201d[11]\n\nThe fourth book of which a mere fragment is preserved, appears to have\ntreated of domestic manners, the education of youth, and of Roman life,\npublic and private. We have lost here many fine pictures of the\nsimplicity of Roman manners, at that flourishing period of the republic,\nas well as of the progress of luxury, which was not inconsiderable. A\nfragment of this book is preserved in Nonius, where Scipio opposes the\ncollection of a revenue, necessary perhaps to make good those\ndeficiencies which extravagance had produced. \u201cNolo enim eundem populum\nimperatorem et portitorem esse terrarum. Optimum autem et in privatis\nfamiliis et in republica vectigal duco esse parsimoniam.\u201d \u201cI am not\nwilling that the same people should be the sovereigns and the\ntoll-gatherers of the world. I look upon economy to be the best revenue\nfor the republic, and for private individuals.\u201d\n\nThe fifth book is also a mere fragment. St. Augustin has preserved some\nnotices of it, from which it appears that it treated very much of the\nancient Roman institutions, with a view to show the degeneracy of the\ntimes in which Cicero wrote. In the fifth section of this book, he\nspeaks of the comfortable enjoyment of life depending upon legal\nmarriages and lawful children; from whence perhaps we may gather the\nobligation which the dissolute manners of the times had laid him under,\nof asserting the value of these ties, as well as his own veneration for\nthem.\n\nOf the sixth book no part whatever has come down to us with this MSS:\nbut the important fragment on a future state preserved in Macrobius,\nwarrants our supposing that he was naturally led in a treatise so highly\nphilosophical, to pass from the consideration of human morals, to the\ngreat object which moral conduct has in view: the resisting of human\nweakness, for the sake of fitting the immortal part of our nature for a\nhigher condition of being. The dream of Scipio, encumbered as it is by\nsome of the pedantry of the schools, is a production of the highest\norder, upon this most sublime of all subjects.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  His. Nat. 18. 3. 1.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  Cato de Re Rustica. Majores enim nostri, &c.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  Dio. 11. 8. Gellius xv. 27.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  Roma patrem patri\u00e6 Ciceronem libera dixit. Juv. 8.\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  Magna Voce me vere jurasse juravit. Ep. fam. 5. 2.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  Quoniam, inquit, meos tam suspicione quam crimine judico carere\n  oportere. Suet. J. C\u00e6s. 74.\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  Sed quoniam qui nihil possunt, &c.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  Ep. fam. 8. 14.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  \u201cQuid porro aut pr\u00e6clarum putet in rebus humanis.\u201d Lib. 1. xvii.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n  Let. to Att. vii. 3.\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n  Lact. Inst. vi. 8.\n\n\n\n\n                           CICERO\u2019S REPUBLIC.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                BOOK I.\n\n\nI. For without the strong feeling of patriotism, neither had G. Duelius,\nAulus Atilius or L. Metellus freed us from the terror of Carthage; or\nthe two Scipios extinguished with their blood the rising flame of the\nsecond punic war. Quintus Maximus would not have weakened, nor M.\nMarcellus have crushed the one which was springing up with still greater\nstrength: or P. Africanus turning it from the gates of this city, have\nborne it amid the walls of our enemies. Yet it was not thought\nunbecoming in M. Cato, an unknown and a new man, by whom all of us who\nemulate his course are led as a bright example of industry and virtue,\nto enjoy the repose of Tusculum, that healthy and convenient situation.\nThat insane man, however, as some have considered him, preferred when\nurged by no necessity, to contend amid those waves and tempests to\nextreme old age; rather than pass his days in the most agreeable manner,\namid so much ease and tranquillity. Men without number I omit, each of\nwhom were benefactors to the State, and who are not far removed from the\nremembrance of this generation. I forbear to commemorate them, lest any\none should reproach me with neglecting to speak of himself or his\nimmediate friends. This one truth I would mark, that nature has so\nstrongly implanted in man the necessity of virtue, and so powerful an\ninclination to defend the common welfare, that this principle overcomes\nall the blandishments of voluptuousness and ease.\n\nII. Yet to possess virtue, like some art, without exercising it, is\ninsufficient. Art indeed, when not effective, is still comprehended in\nscience. The efficacy of all virtue consists in its use. Its greatest\nend is the government of states, and the perfection not in words but in\ndeeds, of those very things which are taught in the halls. For nothing\nis propounded by philosophers, concerning what is esteemed to be just\nand proper, that is not confirmed and assured by those who have\nlegislated for states. For from whence springs piety, or from whom\nreligion? Whence the law, either of nations, or that which is called\ncivil? Whence justice, faith, equity? Whence modesty, continence, the\ndread of turpitude, the love of praise and esteem? Whence fortitude in\ntrouble and dangers? From those who having laid a foundation for these\nthings in early education, have strengthened some of them by the\ninfluence of manners, and sanctioned others by the influence of laws. Of\nXenocrates, one of the noblest of philosophers, it is said, that when he\nwas asked what his disciples learnt of him, he replied \u201cto do that of\ntheir own choice, which the laws enjoined them to do,\u201d therefore the\ncitizen who obliges every one by the authority and fear of the law to do\nthat, which philosophers by reasoning, with difficulty persuade a few to\ndo, is to be preferred to those learned men who only dispute about these\nthings. For which of their orations, however exquisite, can be compared\nin value to a well constituted state, to public right and to morals.\nTruly as great and powerful cities, as Ennius says, are as I think, to\nbe preferred to villages and castles; so those who stand pre-eminent in\nthose cities, in authority and counsel, are to be esteemed far before\nthose in wisdom, who are altogether ignorant of the conduct of public\naffairs. And since we are chiefly urged by a desire to increase the\npossessions of the human race, and seek by our counsels and labours, to\nsurround the life of man with gratification and security, and are\nincited by the instincts of nature to these enjoyments; let us hold the\ncourse which was always that of the best men: nor attend to those\nsignals which speculative philosophers make from their retirement, to\nallure back those who are already far advanced.\n\nIII. Against these reasons so certain and so clear, it is urged by those\nwho are opposed to us: first, the labour to be undergone in preserving\nthe public welfare; a slight impediment to the zealous and industrious,\nnot alone in matters of such high import, but in inferior things:\nwhether in studies or in official stations; and to be despised even in\naffairs of business. To this they add the dangers to which life is\nexposed, and the dread of death, which brave men scorn; being wont to\nview it as more wretched to waste away by infirmity and old age, than to\nseize an occasion to devote that life to the advantage of their country,\nwhich one day must be rendered to nature. It is here however they deem\nthemselves most successful and eloquent, when they bring forward the\ncalamities of eminent men, and the injuries heaped upon them by their\nungrateful countrymen. Here come the instances in Grecian history.\nMiltiades, the conqueror and subduer of the Persians, with those wounds\nyet streaming, which he received in front, in the height of victory:\npreserved from the weapons of the enemy, to waste away his life in the\nchains of his countrymen. And Themistocles proscribed and driven from\nthe country he had freed, flying, not to the harbours of that Greece he\nhad preserved, but to the barbarous shores he had harrassed. Nor indeed\nare instances wanting among the Athenians of levity and cruelty towards\ngreat numbers of their citizens; instances which springing up repeatedly\namong them, are said also to have abounded too conspicuously in our\ncity. For either the exile of Camillus, the misfortune of Ahala, the ill\nwill towards Nasica, or the expulsion of Lenas, or the condemnation of\nOpimus is remembered: or the flight of Metellus, the sad overthrow of C.\nMarius, the cutting off of the most eminent citizens, or the destruction\nof many of them, which soon after followed. Nor indeed is my name\nforgotten. And I judge that deeming themselves to owe both life and ease\nto my peril and counsel, they have a more deep and tender remembrance of\nme. But it is not easy to explain how they who cross the seas for the\nsake of observing or describing * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nIV. * * * * At the expiration of my consulship, when in the assembly of\nthe Roman people, I swore that the republic had been saved by my\nexertions, which they confirmed by universal acclamation, I was requited\nfor the cares and vexations of every injury. Albeit my reverses had more\nhonour than pain attached to them, and less disquietude than glory.\nGreater was my pleasure at receiving the approbation of good men, than\nmy regret at observing the satisfaction of the bad. But had it happened\notherwise, as I said, what complaint could I make? Nothing unforeseen\ncould have occurred, nor more grievous than I might have expected for so\nmany of my deeds. For I was one who could well have gathered greater\nfruits from ease than others, on account of the agreeable variety of the\nstudies I had pursued from my childhood; and if any disaster had\novertaken the republic, I need not have sustained a greater share of it,\nbut have divided it equally with the rest. I hesitated not to oppose\nmyself to those stormy tempests, and almost raging waves, for the sake\nof preserving my fellow citizens, and of accomplishing at my own risk\nthe common safety of all. For our country has not produced us, or\neducated us under a law, that she is entitled to no support on our part,\nlending herself as it were to our convenience only; furnishing a secure\nrefuge, and a tranquil and peaceful asylum to our indolence: but rather\nholds as pledges to her, to be employed for her benefit, the many and\ngreat faculties of our mind, genius, and reason; and only permits us to\nappropriate to our private purposes, that portion of them, of which she\nstands in no need.\n\nV. The pretences which are urged for the enjoyment of indolence are not\nto be listened to. As when it is stated that the public affairs are\nmeddled with by men worthy of no confidence, with whom it is disgraceful\nto associate: yet to contend against whom is a miserable and dangerous\neffort, especially when the multitude is excited. For which reason a\nprudent man ought not to take the reins, when he is not able to restrain\nthe mad and untameable violence of the vulgar: or a generous man expose\nhimself to the lashes of contumely in a strife with low and outrageous\nadversaries: or a wise man hope to withdraw from such a contest without\ninjury. As if there could well be a more just cause for good and firm\nmen, endowed with noble minds, to stand forth in aid of their country,\nthan that they may not be subject to bad men; nor suffer the republic to\nbe lacerated by them, before the desire of saving it may come too late.\n\nVI. But who can approve of their exception, that a wise man ought not to\ntake upon him any part of the public affairs, unless an occasion of\nextraordinary need should drive him to it? as if indeed a greater\nnecessity could ever have happened to any one, than occurred to myself.\nHow could I have been useful then, had I not been consul? and how could\nI have been consul, had I not pursued that course of life from my youth,\nwhich belonging to the equestrian rank, in which I was born, enabled me\nto attain the first honours of the state? No man therefore can assume at\npleasure the ability of aiding in the public service, however urgent the\ndanger may be, unless he stands in that relation to his country, which\nfits him for the occasion. And it appears to me most marvellous, that in\nthe discourse of learned men, they who declare themselves unable to\nsteer in a calm sea, because they have never been taught, nor have ever\nstudied the subject, talk of taking the helm in the midst of the\ngreatest storms. For these very men openly declare, and pride themselves\ngreatly upon it, that they have never studied or taught the mode of\nestablishing or protecting the public interest; which they think the\nexclusive province, not of learned and erudite men, but of those who are\npractised in these matters. What consistency is there then in promising\nto aid the republic in times of peril, when they are incapable of the\neasier task of directing it in the calmest moments? And although, in\ntruth, the philosopher is not wont of his own accord, to consider the\ndetails of state affairs, unless called upon by the times to do it, when\nindeed he will not decline what duty imposes on him; nevertheless, I\njudge the knowledge of state affairs is least to be neglected by a wise\nman; that every thing may be familiar to him, for he cannot tell the\nmoment, when it may be necessary for him to avail himself of his\nknowledge.\n\nVII. These things I have somewhat enlarged upon, because the discussion\nproposed and undertaken by me in this work, was on government: and in\norder to prevent its being without effect, it was necessary in the first\ninstance, to remove every doubt as to the duty of engaging in the public\nservice. Nevertheless if there are any who are governed by the opinions\nof philosophers, let them turn their attention for a while, and listen\nto those who enjoy a proud pre-eminence among learned men, even when\nthey have not borne any charge in the republic; still whom I deem from\nthe extent of their studies, and their writings on government, to have\nbeen invested with functions appertaining to the public interest. But\nthose seven, whom the Greeks call wise, I perceive have almost all been\ngreatly engaged in public affairs. For there is no one thing in which\nhuman worth is more nearly allied to the power of the gods, than to\nfound new states, or to preserve those already founded.\n\nVIII. Concerning which matters, since it hath happened to me, to be\ndeemed something worthy of memory in my administration of public\naffairs, and to possess some talent for unfolding them; not only in\npractice, but being versed too in the art of speaking and teaching:\nwhile of those before me, some were perfect in debate, yet unknown by\ntheir deeds; others of respectable parts for business, without the\ntalent of oratory. Still it is not my intention here to bring forward\nany new system invented by myself, but to repeat a discussion, that took\nplace at a certain period of our history, among our most illustrious and\nwise men, which was related to me a long time ago in my youth, by P.\nRutilius Rufus, when we were at Smyrna together: in the which I think\nscarce any point was omitted that belongs to the consideration of these\ngreat matters.\n\nIX. When P. Africanus, the son of Paulus, established Latin holidays in\nhis gardens, during the consulate of Tuditanus, and Aquilius; and his\nmost intimate friends had promised to visit him frequently at that\nseason. On the morning of the first day, Q. Tubero, the eldest son of\nhis sister, came. Pleased with his visit, and kindly addressing him\n\u201cWhat! Tubero,\u201d said he, \u201cis it you so early? I should have thought\nthese holidays would have given you a favourable opportunity of pursuing\nyour literary inquiries.\u201d \u201cWhy in truth,\u201d replied he, \u201cI can apply all\nmy leisure to my books, for they are always disengaged. But to find you\nat leisure, is very remarkable; especially at this time so critical for\nthe republic.\u201d \u201cSo help me Hercules,\u201d said Scipio, \u201chowever you find me,\nit is more idle in appearance than in truth.\u201d \u201cYou must now,\u201d said\nTubero, \u201crelax your mind a little also, for several of us have\ndetermined if it is not inconvenient to you, to spend some of our\nleisure with you.\u201d \u201cWith all my heart,\u201d replied Scipio, \u201cprovided we may\nacquire some information thereby on philosophical subjects.\u201d\n\nX. \u201cSince you invite and encourage me to it yourself,\u201d said Tubero, \u201clet\nus first converse, Africanus, before the others come, about the meaning\nof this double sun which has been spoken of in the senate. For those who\ndeclare that they have seen two suns, are neither few in number, nor\ninsignificant persons: so that it appears to be of less importance to\ndoubt the fact, than to inquire into the cause of it.\u201d \u201cWould that we\nhad with us our excellent Pan\u00e6tius,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cwho among other\nobjects of knowledge, was so diligent an inquirer about celestial\nphenomena. As to myself, Tubero\u2014for to you I will freely declare what I\nthink; I am not drawn in to adopt in matters of this sort, the opinions\nof our friend, who pronounces things which are scarcely within the reach\nof conjecture, to be as manifest, as if he beheld them with his eyes, or\ncould lay his hands upon them. On which account I am accustomed to\nconsider Socrates much wiser, who leaves the consideration of such\nthings aside, and teaches that the phenomena about which nature may be\ninterrogated, are either beyond the force of human reason, or irrelevant\nto the conduct of human affairs.\u201d \u201cI know not,\u201d rejoined Tubero, \u201cwhat\nauthority there is for the fact, that Socrates rejected all discussion\nupon such matters, and confined himself to the moral conduct of human\nlife. For what author is to be commended, as more ample on that head\nthan Plato; in whose writings, in many places, it is the custom of\nSocrates in discussing morals, the virtues, and finally public affairs;\nto allude studiously to the science of numbers, to geometry, and to\nharmony, after the Pythagorean mode.\u201d Scipio answered, \u201cthese things are\nas you say; but I dare say you have heard, Tubero, that Plato after the\ndeath of Socrates, was carried by the love of knowledge first into\nEgypt, afterwards into Italy and Sicily, that he might obtain an insight\ninto the discoveries of Pythagoras. That he associated much with\nArchytas the Tarentine, and with Tim\u00e6us of Locram. That he acquired the\ncommentaries of Philolaus, and perceiving that the name of Pythagoras\nwas at that time in great reputation in those places, he dedicated his\ntime to the disciples of Pythagoras and to their opinions. But as he had\nloved Socrates alone, and wished to make all things conducive to his\nreputation, he interwove very skilfully the subtlety and humour of the\nSocratic style with the mysteries of Pythagoras, and with many branches\nof the arts.\u201d\n\nAs Scipio ceased to speak, he suddenly saw L. Furius approaching, and as\nsoon as he had kindly saluted him, he took him by the hand, and placed\nhim on his couch. And as P. Rutilius the accomplished preserver of this\nconversation appeared at the same time, saluting him also in the same\nmanner, he bade him be seated near to Tubero. \u201cWhat are you engaged in,\u201d\nsaid Furius; \u201chath our arrival broken in upon your conversation?\u201d \u201cNot\nin the least,\u201d replied Africanus, \u201cfor it is precisely about matters,\nsuch as Tubero has just been introducing, that thou art wont diligently\nto inquire into, and to investigate. And indeed our friend Rutilius was\nin the habit occasionally of discussing things of this kind with me,\nwhen we were under the walls of Numantia.\u201d \u201cWhat is the subject you have\nfallen upon?\u201d said Philus. \u201cThese two suns,\u201d replied he, \u201crespecting\nwhich I am desirous of hearing your opinion.\u201d\n\nXII. As he spoke this, a boy announced that L\u00e6lius was approaching,\nhaving already left his house; upon which Scipio having dressed himself,\nleft his chamber, and had made but a few paces in the portico, when he\nsaluted L\u00e6lius who was approaching, and those who were with him: Spurius\nMummius, to whom he was particularly attached; Fannius, and Quintus\nSc\u00e6vola, sons-in-law of L\u00e6lius, highly gifted young men of the\nqu\u00e6storial age. And having welcomed them all, he made another turn on\nthe portico, placing L\u00e6lius in the middle; for in their friendship it\nwas a sort of law between them, that L\u00e6lius did homage to Scipio as to a\ngod, on account of his glorious pre-eminence in war; while in his turn\nScipio, in private life, paid to L\u00e6lius all the reverence due to a\nparent, on account of his superior years. And having chatted a little\ntogether in various places, Scipio, who was very much enlivened and\ngratified with their arrival, was pleased to have them seated in a sunny\nplace in a little meadow, on account of its being the winter season;\nwhich as they were about to do, M. Manilius came, a prudent and\nagreeable person, and very dear to them all; who being cordially saluted\nby Scipio and the rest, took his seat next to L\u00e6lius.\n\nXIII. \u201cIt does not seem to me necessary,\u201d said Philus \u201cthat we should\nseek another subject of conversation on account of those who are\narrived, but that we should observe more accuracy, and say something\nworthy of their ears.\u201d \u201cWhat subject were you upon,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cand\nwhat discussion are we come to be present at?\u201d \u201cScipio was inquiring of\nme,\u201d replied Philus, \u201cwhat my opinion was respecting the fact of two\nsuns having been seen.\u201d\n\nL\u00e6lius. \u201cWhy truly Philus, is there no longer any thing left for us to\ninquire about, touching our own domestic affairs, or those appertaining\nto the republic, that we must be exploring the things that are passing\nin the heavens?\u201d \u201cDost thou then think,\u201d replied he, \u201cthat it does not\nconcern our own mansions, to know what is passing, and what is done in\nthat vast one, not the one surrounded by our walls, but that which\nconstitutes the universe, and which the gods have given to us for a\ndomicile, and a common country with themselves. Especially when if we\nare ignorant of them, many and very high matters will be hidden from us.\nAs to myself, the contemplation and knowledge of these things delight\nme, as certainly as it does you, L\u00e6lius, and all who are eager in the\npursuit of knowledge.\u201d \u201cI offer no impediment,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, especially\nat this holiday time; but shall we hear any thing, or are we come too\nlate?\u201d\n\nPhilus. \u201cNothing has been discussed yet, and as the subject is entire, I\nfreely concede to you, L\u00e6lius, the right of expressing your sentiments\nfirst.\u201d\n\nL\u00e6lius. \u201cLet us rather hear you, unless Manilius thinks, that some\ndecree by way of compromise between these two suns may be adjusted; so\nthat each may keep possession of its own part of the firmament.\u201d \u201cYou\nlove still to banter that science, L\u00e6lius, in which I am proud to\nexcel,\u201d replied Manilius, \u201cand without which no one could know his own\npossession from anothers. But of that by and by. Let us now listen to\nPhilus, who I perceive has a case of greater difficulty referred to him,\nthan ever came before me or P. Mucius.\u201d\n\nXIV. \u201cI shall lay nothing new before you,\u201d said Philus, \u201cnor any thing\ndiscovered or thought of by myself. I remember, however, that C.\nSulpicius Gallus, a very learned man as you know; when this same\nphenomenon was stated to have been seen, being by chance in the house of\nM. Marcellus, who had been in the consulate with him; ordered a sphere\nto be placed before him, which the ancestor of M. Marcellus had taken\nfrom the conquered Syracusans, and brought out of their wealthy and\nembellished city; the only thing he had possessed himself of among so\ngreat a spoil. I had heard a great deal of this sphere, on account of\nthe fame of Archimedes, but did not admire the construction of it so\nmuch; for another which Archimedes also had made, and which the same\nMarcellus had placed in the temple of virtue, was more elegant and\nremarkable in the general opinion. But subsequently, when Gallus began\nvery scientifically to explain the nature of the mechanism; the Sicilian\nappeared to me to possess more genius, than human nature would seem to\nbe capable of. Gallus said, that the other solid and full sphere was an\nold invention, and was first wrought by Thales of Miletas: but\nafterwards was delineated over with the fixed stars in the heavens by\nEudoxus, the Cnidian, a disciple of Plato. The which adorned and\nembellished as it was by Eudoxus, Aratus who had no knowledge of\nastronomy, but a certain poetical faculty, many years afterwards\nextolled in his verses. The mechanism of this sphere, however, on which\nthe motions of the sun, moon, and those five stars which are called\nwandering and irregular, are shown; could not be illustrated on that\nsolid sphere. But what appeared very admirable in this invention of\nArchimedes was, that he had discovered a method of producing the unequal\nand various courses, with their dissimilar velocities, by one\nrevolution. When Gallus put this sphere in motion, the moon was made to\nsucceed the sun by as many revolutions of the brass circle, as it\nactually took days to do in the heavens. From which the same setting of\nthe sun was produced on the sphere as in the heavens: and the moon fell\non the very point, where it met the shadow of the earth, when the sun\nfrom the region * * * *\n\n                       [About ten pages wanting.]\n\nXV. * * * * * for he was a man I was very much attached to, and I know\nthat my father Paulus esteemed and placed the highest value on him. I\nremember when I was but a boy, being with my father, who was then consul\nin Macedonia; that while we were encamped, our army was struck with a\nreligious dread, because the full and splendid moon in the serenity of\nthe night, was suddenly eclipsed. He being then our lieutenant, the year\njust before that in which he was declared consul, did not hesitate the\nfollowing day, to pronounce openly in the camp, that it was no prodigy.\nAnd that what had then taken place, would always occur in future at\nthose particular periods, when the position of the sun was such, that\nits rays could not fall upon the moon. \u201cBut how could he,\u201d asked Tubero,\n\u201cmake men half wild, comprehend such matters, or venture to speak of\nthem before the unenlightened?\u201d\n\nScipio. \u201cIndeed he did, and with great * * * *\n\n                       [About two pages wanting.]\n\n* * * * * there was neither a haughty ostentation, nor any thing in his\nspeech unbecoming a grave personage; and he accomplished a point of\ngreat importance, in removing from the disturbed minds of the men, the\ninfluence of an idle and fearful superstition.\n\nXVI. There was an occurrence similar to this during the great war, which\nthe Athenians and Lacedemonians waged against each other with so much\ninveteracy. Darkness being suddenly produced by the obscuration of the\nsun, and a prodigious fear taking possession of the minds of the\nAthenians. Pericles, the first man in the city, in authority, in\neloquence, and in council; taught the citizens what he had himself\nlearnt from Anaxagoras, whose pupil he had been: that it was an\nunavoidable appearance at the particular period, when the moon had\nplaced herself immediately before the orb of the sun: and although it\ndid not take place every lunar period; it could nevertheless be\noccasioned only by the moon\u2019s motion. Having convinced them by\nreasoning, he delivered the people from their apprehension. For it was\nthen a strange and unknown reason to give for an eclipse, that the sun\nand moon were in opposition to each other, which it is said, was first\nobserved by Thales the Milesian. At a later period, this had not escaped\nour Ennius, who wrote about the year 350 of the building of Rome, in the\nnones of June; that \u201c_the moon and night stood before the sun_.\u201d So\ngreat, however, is the advancement of knowledge in these matters, that\nfrom this day, which we find noted in the principal annals, and by\nEnnius; the previous occultations of the sun are fixed up to that which\ntook place in the reign of Romulus, in the nones of the fifth month.\nDuring which darkness, Romulus, whom the laws of nature indeed would\nhave carried to the tomb, is said to have been borne by his virtue to\nheaven.\n\nXVII. Then Tubero, \u201cDost thou not perceive Africanus, that what appeared\notherwise to thee a while ago * * * * * *\n\n                       [About two pages wanting.]\n\n* * * * * * \u201cWho can perceive any grandeur in human affairs, whose eyes\nare accustomed to survey the empire of the gods? What are temporal\nthings in the eyes of those conversant with eternal ones? What is there\nglorious to the contemplation of him, who looks at the small size of the\nearth; first as to its whole extent, then to that part of it which men\ninhabit? And yet we, confined to so small a portion of it, unknown to\nmost nations, hope our name will be diffused to its utmost limits. What\nare lands, and houses, and flocks, and immense masses of gold and silver\nto him who neither considers them desirable nor calls them so: the\nfruition of which appears to him trifling, the use unsatisfactory, the\npossession uncertain: and which are often in the hands of the most\ncontemptible of men? How fortunate may that man be esteemed, who alone\nclaims a share in all things, not as the privilege of a citizen, but of\na philosopher: not by civil rights, but by the common law of nature,\nwhich forbids any one to be the proprietor of aught, of the proper use\nof which he is ignorant! Who considers our consulships and high offices,\nnot to be sought after for the sake of personal advantage or glory; not\nas things to be coveted, but to be undertaken as duties. The man finally\nwho can say that of himself which my ancestor Africanus, as Cato writes,\nwas wont to say, \u201cthat he never was more busy than when he was doing\nnothing; and that he never was less alone, than when nobody was with\nhim.\u201d\n\nFor who can deem Dionysius to have accomplished a greater thing, when by\nthe greatest exertion he snatched their liberties from the citizens,\nthan Archimedes his countryman, who appearing to be occupied in nothing,\nproduced this sphere of which we were but now conversing? Are they not\nmore alone, who find no one in the forum or in the crowd who chooses to\ntalk with them, than those who without any witness can converse with\nthemselves; or as it were, be present at the councils of the most\nlearned men, when they solace themselves with their discoveries and\nwritings? Who in truth can imagine any one to be more rich, than the man\nwho has no wants, beyond the simple calls of nature; or more powerful\nthan him, who has attained the possession of al that he desires; or more\nblessed than him who is freed from all anxiety of mind? or what man\u2019s\nfortune is better established than his, who can carry along with him, or\nout of a shipwreck as men are wont to say, all his possessions? What\ncommand, what office, what kingdom can be preferred to that condition of\nmind, which looking down upon all things human, and esteeming them to be\nthe objects of an inferior wisdom, turns ever to the contemplation of\nthose things that are divine and eternal: persuaded that they only\ndeserve to be called men, who are refined by the sciences of humanity?\nThat which has been said of Plato, or of some other sage, appears to me\ntherefore very excellent. Who being borne by a tempest to unknown lands,\nand cast on a desert shore, while his companions were apprehensive on\naccount of their ignorance of the place, is said to have perceived\ngeometrical figures described on the sand. Which when he saw, he bade\nthem all be of good heart, for he had seen vestiges of men. Not that he\njudged so from the cultivation of the fields which he beheld, but from\nthese indications of science. For all these reasons, Tubero, learning,\nand learned men, and these thy studies have always been pleasing to me.\n\nXVIII. Then said L\u00e6lius, \u201cI am not bold enough, Scipio, to speak of\nthese things: nor even to thee, or Philus, or Manilius * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting]\n\n* * * * in his paternal house we have had a friend, worthy to be\nimitated by him.\n\n\u201c\u00c6lius Sextus, conspicuously discreet and wise.\u201d That he was\nconspicuously discreet and wise, is said by Ennius, not because he\nsought after what he was not able to discover, but because he answered\nthose who made inquiries of him, in a manner to solve their difficulties\nand anxieties, in whose mouth when arguing against the studies of\nGallus, were always these words of Achilles, in Iphigenia.\n\n        \u201cAstrology, its signs; how are they read in heaven?\n        When goat or scorpion, or ferocious names arise,\n        The obvious earth is shunned, to scrutinize the skies.\u201d\n\nHe also said, for many times and willingly I listened to him, that\nZethus the author of Pacuvius, was too great an enemy to science. The\nNeoptolemus of Ennius pleased him more; who says that he likes to\nphilosophize but only with a few; not willing to give himself up to it\naltogether. But if the studies of the Greeks delight you so much, there\nare others freer and more easily diffused, which we may bring to the use\nof life, or even to that of the republic. As for these arts, their value\nconsists, if in any thing, in stimulating and sharpening the genius of\nyoung boys; enabling them in this manner the better to comprehend\ngreater things.\n\nXIX. \u201cI do not dissent from you, L\u00e6lius,\u201d said Tubero, \u201cbut ask what you\nunderstand by greater things?\u201d\n\nL\u00e6lius. \u201cI will tell you in good faith, although you may somewhat\ndespise me for it; since it is you who are asking Scipio about these\ncelestial matters. As for myself, I think those things most worthy of\nour attention, which lay immediately before our eyes. How can it\ninterest me that the grandson of L. Paulus by the mother\u2019s side, born of\nsuch a noble and illustrious family in this republic, should seek for\nreasons why two suns have been seen, when he does not inquire the cause\nwhy two senates, and almost two people exist in one republic? For as you\nperceive the death of Tiberius Gracchus, and even before that event, the\nwhole proceedings of his tribunate were dividing one people into two\nparties: those who are the detractors of Scipio also, and are envious of\nhim, urged on at first by P. Crassus and Appius Claudius, keep up\nnotwithstanding their death, an opposition to us in the senate, through\nthe influence of Metellus and P. Mucius. Nor will they suffer him to\ncome forward, who is alone equal to so dangerous a crisis, amidst the\nfactious and dangerous associations made under the Roman name: amidst\nviolated compacts, and the new matters daily stirring by the seditious\ntriumvirs, to the consternation of good and respectable men. Wherefore\nyoung men, if you will listen to me, entertain no apprehensions about\nthis double sun: for either it is nothing at all, or if it is a reality,\nas far as it has been observed, there is nothing injurious in it. Either\nwe can know nothing about such matters, or even if we could know all\nabout them, we should not be better or happier for that knowledge. But\none senate and one people we may have; that is practicable. And if it is\nnot done, we shall suffer for it. And we know it is otherwise, and that\nif it were effected, we should have more stability, and be happier and\nbetter.\u201d\n\nXX. Then Mucius. \u201cWhat is it we have to learn, in your opinion, L\u00e6lius,\nthat we may be able to effect what you require of us?\u201d\n\nL\u00e6lius. \u201cThose sciences whose tendency is to enable us to be useful to\nthe state; for I deem that to be the most pre-eminent gift of wisdom, as\nwell as the noblest fruit of virtue and duty. Wherefore that these\nholidays may be productive of conversations in an especial manner useful\nto the republic, let us entreat Scipio to impart to us, what he deems to\nbe the happiest condition of a state. Afterwards we can consider other\nmatters, the knowledge of which I hope will bring us to the subject\nbefore us, and will unfold the causes of the present condition of\nthings.\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXI. * * * * * not for that cause alone I wished it, but because I\nthought it proper that the first person in the republic should first\nspeak on public affairs; and because I remembered that you were\naccustomed frequently to discuss with Pan\u00e6tius before Polybius, two\nGreeks extremely versed in civil affairs; and that you had proved by\nvarious reasonings the excellence of that form of government, which our\nancestors had transmitted to us from so distant a period. In the which\nmatter, you, being more competent to it, will do an agreeable thing to\nus all, (for I speak also for the rest,) if you will unfold to us your\nopinion of the commonwealth.\u201d\n\nXXII. \u201cI cannot,\u201d he began, \u201csay that I have been in the habit of\nturning my mind more intensely and diligently to the consideration of\nany subject, than the very one which you now propose to me, L\u00e6lius. For\nwhen I perceive that every artificer who truly excels in his vocation,\nis filled with anxiety, care, and zeal, lest any one should surpass him\nin his art. I, whose chief duty, bequeathed to me by my parents and\nancestors, is the conduct and administration of the republic, must\nconfess myself more indolent than any artisan, if I bestowed less\nattention on the greatest of arts, than he does on the most\ninsignificant. But neither am I satisfied with the writings on this\nsubject which the first and wisest among the Greeks have left to us;\nwhile I hesitate to establish my own conclusions in preference to\ntheirs. Wherefore I intreat you, not to listen to me as one entirely\nignorant of the affairs of the Greeks, nor as one who gives them the\npreference to our own writers, particularly in matters of this kind; but\nas one liberally brought up by the diligence of distinguished parents,\nand ardent in the love of knowledge from his youth; yet nevertheless\nmuch more formed by domestic experience, than by literary studies.\u201d\n\nXXIII. \u201cI doubt,\u201d said Philus here, \u201cwhether any one has ever excelled\nyou in genius. We know to what studies you have always been partial, and\nthat in your acquaintance with the great affairs of the state, you have\nsurpassed every one: wherefore if as you say, your mind has been\nparticularly turned to matters which have now become almost a science: I\nfeel very much indebted to L\u00e6lius, feeling a hope that what you will say\nwill be more instructive, than all those things which the Greeks have\nwritten for us.\u201d \u201cYou are creating\u201d replied he, \u201cmuch expectation from\nmy discourse, which is a very great weight upon one, who is about to\nspeak of matters of importance.\u201d \u201cHowever great it may be,\u201d said Philus,\n\u201cyou will throw it off as you are accustomed to do; nor is there any\ndanger that a dissertation from you on government will be deficient in\nany requisite.\u201d\n\nXXIV. \u201cI will do what you desire, as well as I am able,\u201d rejoined\nScipio, \u201cand will begin the discussion in conformity with the rule which\nI think ought to be observed in the examination of all things, if you\nwould avoid error. That the name of the subject in discussion being\nagreed upon, the meaning of the name shall be defined. If this be found\nto be appropriate, the matter can be entered upon at once; for unless\nthis be perfectly understood at first, we never can understand what we\nare disputing about. Wherefore since it is of the republic we are\ninquiring, let us first examine what that is we are inquiring about.\u201d\nL\u00e6lius having shown his acquiescence. \u201cI do not intend, however,\u201d said\nAfricanus, \u201cin a matter so clear and familiar, to begin with the very\norigin of things; the first conjunction of the sexes; then their progeny\nand descendants, as some of our learned men are accustomed to do: nor\nshall I go into continual definitions of terms\u2014what they are\u2014and how\nmany varieties of them. When I address wise men, who in war and in\npeace, have taken a glorious part in the affairs of a great republic, I\nshall not expose myself in such a manner, that the very thing under\ndiscussion shall be more intelligible, than my own explanation of it.\nNeither do I take upon me to pursue the subject in every direction, as a\nmaster would: nor can I promise to do it so effectually, that no\nomission whatever shall escape me.\u201d \u201cIt is exactly such a discourse as\nyou promise, that I am in expectation of,\u201d said L\u00e6lius.\n\nXXV. \u201cA republic or commonwealth then,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cis the wealth or\ncommon interest of the people. Every assemblage of men however, gathered\ntogether without an object, is not the people, but only an assemblage of\nthe multitude associated by common consent, for reciprocal rights, and\nreciprocal usefulness. The leading cause of this congregating, is not to\nbe ascribed so much to his weakness, as to the social principle innate\nwith man. Our species is not a solitary and wandering one, but is so\ncreated that even when enjoying the greatest affluence * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXVI. * * * * rather intuitive; for no original institution of the\nsocial state has been found, nor of the other moral virtues. These\ncongregations therefore made for the purposes I have explained,\nestablished their first seat in some particular place for a residence.\nWhich after being fortified by their labours and by its position, and\nfitted with temples and public squares, the re-union of dwellings\nconstructed after this manner, they called a town or city. Every people\ntherefore, formed by the assemblage of such a multitude as I have\ndescribed, every city which is the settlement of a people, every\ncommonwealth which as I have said, is the wealth of the people, must in\norder to be permanent, be governed by some authority. That authority\nhowever must always have a strong relation to the causes from whence the\ncommonwealth derived its origin. It may then be delegated to one, or to\nsome selected persons; or it may be borne by the whole multitude of the\npeople. When therefore authority over all things, is in the control of\none man, we call him king; and a commonwealth so ordered, his kingdom.\nWhen the authority is exercised by selected persons, then such a state\nis said to be under the government of the better class. But there is\nalso a popular form of government, for so it is called, where all things\nare ruled by the people. And of any of these three modes, if the chain\nis in any manner kept together, which at first united men into the\nsocial pact for the sake of the common interest, I would not indeed call\nthe mode perfect, nor say that in my opinion it was the best, but that\nit was to be tolerated, and that one might be preferable to another. For\nwhether under a just and wise king, or chosen eminent citizens, or the\npeople themselves, although this last is least to be approved of,\nsetting aside the irregularities occasioned by the bad passions of some\nmen, any one may see that a steady government might be preserved.\n\nXXVII. In kingdoms however, the governed are too much deprived of common\nrights, and of power. Under the better class, the multitude can scarcely\nbe partakers of liberty, as they are not admitted either to the public\ncouncils or offices: and when the government is conducted by the people,\nalthough it be justly and moderately administered, yet equality itself\nbecomes injustice, seeing that it admits of no degrees of rank.\nTherefore, although Cyrus the Persian, was a most just and wise king,\nyet such a commonwealth, (for as I said before, it is the common\nproperty,) governed by the nod of one man, does not appear to me very\ndesirable. And although the Massilians our clients are governed with\ngreat justice, by their chosen chief men, nevertheless in that condition\nof a people, there is something resembling slavery. And the Athenians at\na certain period having abolished the Areopagus, conducted every thing\nby ordinances, and decrees of the people; yet as they had no\ndistinctions in dignity, their state was without its ornament.\n\nXXVIII. And this I say of these three kinds of government, not of the\nagitations and disturbances incidental to them, but of their tranquil\nand regular state. Those varieties are principally remarkable for the\ndefects I have alluded to. Then they have other pernicious failings, for\nevery one of these governments is travelling a dangerous road, bordering\non a slippery and precipitous path. To a king so commendable, or if you\nchoose, since I especially name him; to the amiable Cyrus; a parallel\nsprings up in the cruel Phalaris, with all his capricious tyranny; into\nwhose similitude the government of one man so easily slides with a\ndownward course. To the administration of the city of the Massilians by\ntheir select chiefs, may be opposed the plot and faction of the Thirty,\nwhich took place at a certain period among the Athenians. Nor need we\nlook farther; the very Athenian people having assumed the power over all\nthings, and giving license to the fury of the multitude * * * * * *\n\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXIX. * * * * * * and this great mischief arises whether under the rule\nof the better class, or under a tyrannical faction, or under the regal\ngovernment; and even frequently under the popular form. At the same time\nfrom the various forms of government of which I have spoken, something\nexcellent is wont to emanate. For the changes and vicissitudes in public\naffairs, appear to move in a circle of revolutions; which when\nrecognized by a wise man, as soon as he beholds them impending, if he\ncan moderate their course in the administration of affairs, and restrain\nthem under his control; he acts truly the part of a great citizen, and\nalmost of a divine man. Therefore I think a fourth kind of government,\nmoderated and mixed from those three of which I first spoke, is most to\nbe approved.\u201d\n\nXXX. \u201cI know\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cthat such is your opinion Africanus, for I\nhave often heard you say so. Nevertheless, unless it is troublesome to\nyou, I should be glad to learn which you judge best of these three kinds\nof government. For either it will throw some light upon * * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXXI. * * * * * * every government partakes of the nature and will of\nhim who administers it. So that in no other state, save where the power\nof the people predominates, has liberty any home. Liberty the sweetest\nof all blessings, and which if it is not equal for all, is not liberty.\nFor what equality can there be, I do not mean in kingdoms where slavery\nhas no doubtful character: but in those states where all are nominally\nfree: there indeed they give their votes, confer commands, magistracies\nand are solicited and intreated. But in truth they only part with that,\nhowever repugnant it may be to them, which must be conferred: things\nwhich they cannot retain, which is the reason why others seek to possess\nthem. For they are invested with no command, have no public authority,\nnor are called to be judges in the tribunals: privileges which belong\neither to ancient families, or are purchased by money. Among a free\npeople however, as at Rhodes or Athens, there is no citizen\nwho * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXXII. Some assert, that when one or more in a state becomes conspicuous\nby his opulence or riches, disdain and pride soon break out: and the\nweak and indolent yield and bend under the arrogance of riches. But if\nthe people are able to preserve their rights, they think no condition of\nthings could be more excellent, more free, or more happy. For in their\nhands would be the laws, the tribunals, war, peace, treaties, and the\nproperties and lives of all the citizens. This sort of government they\nthink is properly called one republic, that is the common interest of\nthe people. Wherefore it is, that the people are wont to restore\ncommonwealths to liberty from the domination of kings, and patricians;\nnot that kings are believed to be necessary to a free people, or that\nthe better class are the source of power and wealth. And they deny that\nthese advantages should not be conceded to a free people on account of\nthe excesses of uncivilized nations: for where the people are unanimous,\nand every thing tends to the public safety and liberty, nothing can be\nmore unchangeable, nothing more firm. Unanimity in such a commonwealth\nis very easy, where the common effort is for the public good. But from\nopposing interests, where one man clashes with another, discord arises.\nWherefore when the senate had possession of the government, the\ncondition of the state was never sound. In kingdoms the disadvantages\nare still greater; of them Ennius said\n\n            \u201cNo holy confidence or fellowship reigns there.\u201d\n\nWherefore as the law is the bond of civil society, and equal rights form\nthat of the law, by what power can a community of citizens be\nmaintained, where their condition is not an equal one? If therefore it\nis not expedient to equalize fortunes; if the powers of mind cannot be\nequalized in all, certainly then an equality of rights ought to exist,\namong those who are citizens of the same republic. For what is a state\nbut a community of rights? * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXXIII. * * other governments however are deemed by them not to deserve\nthose names, which they have chosen to arrogate to themselves. For why\nshould I call a man who is greedy of rule, or of the sole command, and\nwho is trampling upon an oppressed people, king, which is the title of\nthe good Jupiter, rather than tyrant? A tyrant may be clement as well as\na king may be oppressive; the matter really interesting to the people\nis, whether they are to serve under a gentle or a severe master: for as\nto being any thing but servants, that is not to be avoided. How could\nLacedemon, when she was thought to excel in the science of government,\npossess only good and just kings, when she was obliged to take any king\nwho was sprung from the royal blood? And the better class, who can\nendure them, who have arrogated to themselves in their own assemblies, a\nname not conceded to them by the people? For who is the man to be\npronounced best, in learning, in the arts, in studies? * * * * *\n\n                         [Four pages wanting.]\n\nXXXIV. * * * * If it was done by lot, the government would be\noverthrown; like a ship, at whose helm, some passenger taken at hazard\nwas placed. A nation can entrust its affairs to whom it may choose; and\nif it wishes to remain free, it will choose from among the best. For\ncertainly the security of states is found in the counsels of the best\ncitizens; especially as nature has not only ordained that they should\npreserve an influence over the weak by their conspicuous virtue and\ncourage, but also that the weak should resign themselves to the\ngovernment of great minds. This most desirable state of things, they\nsay, is prevented by the erroneous opinions of men who, through\nignorance of that virtue, which belongs to but few, and is seen and\nappreciated only by few, deem those who are sprung from a noble race, or\nwho are opulent and wealthy, to be the best men. Under this vulgar\nerror, when the power, not the virtues of a few, have got possession of\nthe government; those chiefs tenaciously preserve the title of better\nclass; a name however to which the substance is wanting. For riches,\ntitles, and power, devoid of wisdom, of the knowledge of\nself-government, and that of the government of others, exhibit nothing\nbut insolent and disgraceful pride. Nor can the condition of any city be\nmore deplorable, than where the richest men pass for the best. But what\ncan be more delightful than a state virtuously governed? What more\nillustrious than the man, who while he governs others, is himself the\nslave of no bad passions? Who, while he calls upon the citizens to\nobserve the regulations he has formed, lives up to them all himself? Nor\nimposes any laws upon the people, which he himself obeys not, but who\npresents his whole life to his fellow citizens as one unbroken law. If\none man could suffice to all things, there would be no need of many; and\nif all men could perceive what is best, and consent to it, no one would\nrequire any chiefs to be elected. The difficulty of coming to wise\ndeterminations, has transferred the rule from one king to many persons;\nand the error and rashness of the people, from the multitude to a few.\nThus between the obstinacy of one, and the temerity of many, the better\nclass have possessed themselves of the middle and least turbulent of all\nthe situations: by whom if the commonwealth is well administered, the\npeople relieved from all care and thought, must necessarily be happy:\nenjoying their independence through the labours of those, whose duty it\nis to preserve it to them; and who ought never to permit the people to\nthink that their interests are neglected by their rulers. As to that\nexact equality of rights, which is held so dear by a free people; it\ncannot be preserved: for the people themselves, however free and\nunrestrained they may be, are remarkable for their deference to many\npersons; and exercise a great preference as it respects men and\ndignities. That which is called equality also, is a most unjust thing in\nitself: for when the same honour is enjoyed by the high and by the low,\nthrough a whole people, that very equality must be unjust; and in those\nstates which are governed by the better class, it can never happen.\nThese, L\u00e6lius, and some other reasons resembling them, are wont to be\nurged by those who chiefly praise that form of government.\n\nXXXV. \u201cBut which, Scipio, among those three, do you chiefly approve of?\u201d\nsaid L\u00e6lius.\n\nScipio. \u201cYou do well to ask, which chiefly of the three, since\nseparately I do not approve of any of them; but should prefer to every\none of them, a government constituted out of all three. But if one of\nthem for its simplicity may be admired, I should approve of the kingly\nform, and give it the highest praise. For the name of king calls up at\nonce the idea of a father, consulting with his citizens as if they were\nhis own children; and more anxious to preserve them, than to reduce them\nto slavery: it being a great advantage to the weak to be sustained by\nthe exertions and by the foresight of one pre-eminent and good man. Here\nhowever the better class profess to do the same thing to more advantage,\nand say there is more wisdom with numbers than with one, and at the same\ntime equal justice and faith. But the people call out with a loud voice,\nthat they choose neither to obey one nor many; that nothing is sweeter\nto the beasts of the field than liberty, which is wanting to all who\nserve either under the better class or under a king. Thus on the score\nof personal attachment, kings attract us. The better class by their\nwisdom; and liberty on the side of the people. So that in making the\ncomparison, it is difficult to say which is preferable.\u201d\n\nL. \u201cI believe it,\u201d said he, \u201cbut if you leave this point unfinished, the\nother parts of the subject can scarcely be cleared up.\u201d\n\nXXXVI. S. \u201cLet us imitate therefore Aratus, who in his introduction to a\ndiscourse upon high matters, thought it best to begin with Jupiter.\u201d\n\nL. \u201cWhy with Jupiter? and what has this discussion to do with the verses\nof Aratus?\u201d\n\nS. \u201cInsomuch, that the opening of our debate may be honoured with the\nname of him, whom all, learned and unlearned, consent with one voice, to\nbe the one king of all the gods and men.\u201d \u201cWhat then!\u201d said L\u00e6lius.\n\u201cWhat do you believe in but the things which are before your eyes?\u201d\nreplied he. \u201cThis opinion has been established for the conduct of life,\nby those who have had the direction of public affairs; that the belief\nmight prevail, that one king ruled in heaven, who with his nod, as Homer\nsays, could tumble down Olympus; and that he should be considered as the\nKing and Father of all. Great is the authority for it, and many the\nwitnesses, inasmuch as all have concurred in it. Nations too have\nagreed, as we find in the decrees of princes, that the regal form of\ngovernment was most excellent, since they imagine the gods themselves to\nbe under the government of one king. And if we have been told that this\nand similar opinions have sprung from fables and the errors of the\nignorant, let us listen to those who may be considered almost the common\nteachers of erudite men; who as it were, saw these very things with\ntheir eyes, which we scarcely are acquainted with, when we hear of\nthem.\u201d \u201cAnd who are they?\u201d said L\u00e6lius. \u201cThey,\u201d replied he, who in their\ninvestigations of the nature of all things, have perceived a design in\nthe universal structure of this world * * * * * *\n\n                         [Four pages wanting.]\n\nXXXVII. * * * * * * \u201cBut if you desire it L\u00e6lius, I can give you\nauthorities in no wise barbarous, nor of too remote an antiquity.\u201d\n\nL. I should be glad to have them.\n\nS. You are aware that it is now somewhat less than four hundred years\nsince this city has been governed without kings.\n\nL. That is true; rather less.\n\nS. What then are four hundred years, for the age of a city or state; is\nit such a long period?\n\nL. It can hardly be called an adult age.\n\nS. Then there was a king in Rome four hundred years ago?\n\nL. And a very superb one.\n\nS. Who before him?\n\nL. A most just one; and from that period up to Romulus, who reigned six\nhundred years from the present time.\n\nS. Then he is not so very remote.\n\nL. Not at all. The institutions of Greece were already on the wane.\n\nS. I submit to you now, whether Romulus was the king of a barbarous\npeople?\n\nL. If as the Greeks say, all men were either Greeks or Barbarians; then\nI am afraid he must be esteemed a king of a barbarous people. But if\nthat epithet is appropriate to a difference of manners, rather than to\nlanguages, I think the Greeks not less barbarians than the Romans.\u201d \u201cIn\nrelation to the matter of which we speak,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cit is\nintelligence we are looking for, rather than men. If a discreet people\ntherefore, not of a very ancient period, have preferred the government\nof kings, I am availing myself of testimony which cannot be deemed\nsavage, uncivilized, or of a barbarous antiquity.\u201d\n\nXXXVIII. \u201cI perceive Scipio,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cthat you are sufficiently\nprovided with testimony. But with me, as with good judges, sound\nargument prevails more than witnesses.\u201d \u201cMake use of an argument then,\u201d\nreplied Scipio, \u201cwhich your knowledge of yourself can suggest to you.\u201d\n\u201cWhat knowledge,\u201d said he.\n\nS. Why as when by chance it happens to you to be angry with some one.\n\nL. That occurs oftener than I could wish.\n\nS. What! when you are in anger, do you suffer your mind to fall under\nthe domination of that passion?\n\nL. No, so help me Hercules. I rather imitate Archytas, the Tarentine;\nwho on arriving at his country house, and being greatly offended at\nperceiving his orders had been disobeyed, \u201cYou are a miserable wretch,\u201d\nsaid he to his farmer, \u201cand I would have you flogged to death if I were\nnot angry.\u201d \u201cExcellent,\u201d said Scipio. \u201cArchytas wished to calm his anger\nby reflection, considering that degree of it which was not under the\ncontrol of reason, to be leading on to a sort of sedition of the mind.\nTo it add avarice, ambition, the passion for glory, and for sensual\npleasures; and it will appear that there exists in the minds of men, a\nsort of regal controlling power, to wit, reflection. For that is the\nbest part of the mind, and where its authority prevails, there is no\nroom for sensuality, for anger, or for rashness.\n\nL. So it is.\n\nS. Do you approve therefore of a mind so disposed?\n\nL. There is nothing I admire more.\n\nS. Then you really do not think, reflection being driven away; that\nvoluptuousness or the angry passions, which are without end, should have\nthe mastery in all things.\n\nL. Indeed I can conceive of nothing more wretched, than such a state of\nmind; nor of a man more debased than when under such government.\n\nS. You prefer then all parts of the mind, to be under some government,\nthe government of reflection?\n\nL. I certainly prefer it.\n\nS. Why therefore do you hesitate in your opinion about public affairs;\nwhere if the administration is transferred to many, there will be no\none, as I now understand it, to take the command. And it seems that if\nauthority is not one thing, it is nothing at all.\n\nXXXIX. \u201cI would ask,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cof what consequence it is to us,\nwhether one or many, if justice is dispensed by the latter.\u201d \u201cSince I\nfind L\u00e6lius,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cthat my witnesses have made no great\nimpression on you, I shall not desist from making use of yourself as a\nwitness to prove what I say.\u201d \u201cMe,\u201d said he, \u201cin what way?\u201d\n\nS. Why adverting to the directions you so earnestly gave to your family,\nwhen we were lately at Formianum; to obey only the orders of one person.\n\nL. Oh! my farmer!\n\nS. Well, at home, I suppose, several are entrusted with the management\nof your affairs?\n\nL. No, only one.\n\nS. What, your whole establishment! does no one but yourself manage it?\n\nL. Just so.\n\nS. Do not you therefore accede to the same conclusion in public affairs:\nthat the government of a single person, if it is a just one, is the\nbest?\n\nL. I am brought to the conclusion, and must almost assent to it.\n\nXL. You will be more inclined to that opinion, said Scipio, when\nomitting the analogies of one pilot, one physician, who if they are any\nway skilled in their arts, ought one to have the control of the ship;\nthe other of the patient, in preference to many; I come to the\nconsideration of greater matters.\n\nL. What are they?\n\nS. Are you not aware that the name of king became odious to this people,\non account of the oppression and pride of one man, Tarquin?\n\nL. Yes, I am aware.\n\nS. Then you are aware of what haply in the course of this discussion, I\nmay find occasion to speak. Tarquin being driven out, the people exulted\nwith a marvellous sort of insolence of freedom. At one time driving\ninnocent people into exile; at another, confiscating the property of\nmany. Next came annual consuls. Then the fasces prostrated before the\npeople\u2014appeals in all cases. Then the mutiny of the plebeians\u2014then a\ncomplete revolution in every thing, placing all things in the power of\nthe people.\n\nL. It is as you say. \u201cIt is true,\u201d said Scipio\u2014\u201cin peace and\ntranquillity, some license may be permitted when there is nothing to\nfear, as at sea sometimes, or in a slight fever: but like him who is at\nsea, when suddenly the ocean puts on its terrors, or the sick man, when\nhis complaint oppresses him, and the assistance of one is implored: so\nour people in time of peace, interfere in internal affairs, threaten the\nmagistrates, refuse submission to them, denounce them and provoke them;\nyet in war obey them as they would a king, preferring their safety to\nthe indulgence of their passions. Also in our more important wars, our\ncountrymen have constantly preferred the command to be in the hands of\none, without any colleague; the extent of whose power is indicated by\nhis name. For a dictator is so called on account of every thing being\ndictated by him. But in our books, L\u00e6lius, you see also that he is\ncalled master of the people.\u201d\n\nL. It is so. \u201cWisely therefore did those ancients,\u201d said Scipio * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXLI. * * * When a people is deprived of a just king, as Ennius says,\nafter the death of one of the best of kings,\n\n            \u201cLong were their bosoms moved with deep regret;\n            Oft they together call upon his manes.\n            Oh, godlike Romulus! the bounteous gods\n            What a protector did they give in thee?\n            Oh father, parent, blood derived from heaven!\u201d\n\nThose whom the laws enjoined them to obey, they did not call lords or\nmasters; finally, not even kings, but guardians of the country, fathers\nand gods. Nor without cause, for what is added,\n\n             \u201cThou broughtest us into the realms of light!\u201d\n\nThey thought that life, honour, and every comfort was given to them by\nthe justice of a king. And the same inclinations would have remained\nwith their posterity, if the character of their kings had not changed.\nBut you perceive that kind of government was ruined by the injustice of\none man.\n\nL. I do perceive it, and I am desirous of knowing the course of these\nchanges, not only in our own country, but in all governments.\n\nXLII. \u201cIt will be for you,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cwhen I shall have given my\nopinion of that kind of government which I prefer, to give a more\naccurate account of the mutations in governments; although I do not\nthink them much to be apprehended in the form I am inclined to. But a\nregal form of government is particularly and most certainly exposed to\nchange. When a king begins to be unjust, that form of government\nperishes at once. The tyrant is, at the same time, the worst of all\nconditions of government, and the nearest to the best. Whom, if the\nbetter class have overturned, which for the most part happens, the\ncommonwealth possesses that second class of the three. And this is a\nsort of royalty; a paternal government of the principal people, for the\nbenefit of the rest. But if the people cast out or slay the tyrant;\nrejoicing in their own deed, they are more moderate, as long as they\nknow and feel the value of being so, in their endeavour to protect the\ncommonwealth constituted by themselves. But when the populace have bent\ntheir force against a just king, and have stripped him of his kingdom;\nor even, as it happens very often, have tasted the blood of the better\nclass, and have prostrated the whole republic in their madness; think\nnot that the vexed ocean or the wildest conflagration, can be more\neasily kept down, than the unbridled insolence of the multitude.\n\nXLIII. Then is produced what in Plato is so clearly described, if I can\nin any manner express it in Latin, a thing difficult to be done, but I\nwill endeavour. \u201cIt is then,\u201d he says, \u201cwhen the insatiable throats of\nthe people, parched with the thirst of liberty, and led on by rash\ndemagogues, have greedily drank, not temperate but too unalloyed\ndraughts of freedom. Then the magistrates and chiefs, unless they are\ntoo lenient and indulgent, permitting them every excess of liberty; are\npursued, impeached, insulted, and called oppressors, kings, and\ntyrants.\u201d I think this part of his works is known to you.\n\nL. I am well acquainted with it.\n\nS. Then follows, \u201cThose who pay obedience to the magistrates, are\ntormented by the people, are called voluntary slaves. But those\nmagistrates who affect to be on an equality with the lowest; and other\nindividuals who strive to abolish all distinction between citizens and\nmagistrates, are exalted with praises, and overwhelmed with honours. And\nin this condition of things, it follows, of course, that there is an\nunrestrained license in a government of this kind; so that every private\nfamily is without any government: and this evil extends even to the\nbeasts. At length the father fears the son\u2014the son disregards the\nfather: every sort of decency is extinguished, that an open license may\nprevail. Nothing distinguishes the citizen from the stranger. The master\npays court to his scholars, that he may be flattered by them. Teachers\nare despised by their disciples. Young persons take upon themselves the\nauthority of aged ones, who abase themselves to mingle in their games,\nlest they become odious and burdensome to them. At last slaves give\nthemselves all sorts of liberties. Wives assume the privileges of their\nhusbands. Nay the dogs, the horses, the asses at length are so infected\nwith liberty, and run kicking about so, that it is absolutely necessary\nto get out of their way. Wherefore from this infinite license these\nthings result, that the minds of the citizens become so scornful and\nimpatient, that if the least power of government is exercised, they\nbecome exasperated and will not endure it; whence they come to despise\nevery kind of law, that they may be without the least restraint\nwhatever.\u201d\n\nXLIV. \u201cYou have,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cprecisely expressed Plato\u2019s sentiments.\u201d\n\nS. Returning therefore to the subject of my discourse. \u201cIt is from this\nvery license,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich they deem to be liberty itself, that a\ntyrant springs up as a sapling from a root. For as the destruction of\nthe better class arises from their overweening power, so this excess of\nliberty, effects the slavery of this free people. Thus all extremes of\nan agreeable nature, whether in the seasons, or in the fertility of the\nfields, or in our natural feelings, are often converted into their\nopposites. Especially it occurs in public affairs, where excess of\nliberty degenerates into public and individual slavery. Out of such\nlicentious freedom a tyrant arises, and the most unjust and severe\nbondage. For by a people so untameable, or rather so outrageous, some\nleader is chosen out of the multitude, in opposition to the better\nclass, now persecuted and driven from their offices: bold and dishonest,\nperversely persecuting those who have frequently deserved well of their\ncountry, and gratifying the people from his own means and from those of\nothers. To whom, that he may be freed from all apprehensions on account\nof his private condition, authority is given and continued to him.\nSurrounded too by guards, as was the case with Pisistratus at Athens, at\nlength he becomes the tyrant of the very citizens who brought him\nforward. Who, if he is subdued by the good, as often happens, the state\nis regenerated. If by the bad, then a faction is established, another\nkind of tyranny. The same state of things too frequently occurs in that\ngoodly form of government of the better class, when the vices of the\nchiefs have caused them to deviate from their integrity. Thus do they\nsnatch the government of the commonwealth from each other like a\nball\u2014tyrants from kings\u2014chiefs or the people from tyrants; and factions\nor tyrants from them, nor does the same mode of government ever last a\nlong time.\n\nXLV. These things being so, the regal form of government is in my\nopinion much to be preferred of those three kinds. Nevertheless one\nwhich shall be well tempered and balanced out of all those three kinds\nof government, is better than that; yet there should be always something\nroyal and pre-eminent in a government, at the same time that some power\nshould be placed in the hands of the better class, and other things\nreserved for the judgment and will of the multitude. Now we are struck\nfirst with the great equability of such a constitution, without which a\npeople cannot be free long; next with its stability. The three other\nkinds of government easily fall into the contrary extremes: as a master\ngrows out of a king; factions from the better class; and mobs and\nconfusion from the people. The changes too are perpetual which are\ntaking place. This cannot well happen in such a combined and moderately\nbalanced government, unless by the great vices of the chief persons. For\nthere is no cause for change, where every one is firmly placed in his\nproper station, and never gives way, whatever may fall down or be\ndisplaced.\n\nXLVI. But I am afraid, L\u00e6lius, and you too my very discreet and\nrespected friends, if I continue long in this strain, my discourse will\nappear more like that of a master or teacher to you, than as a\nconversation with you. Wherefore I will speak of matters known to us\nall, and which we have all inquired into long ago. For I am convinced,\nand believe, and declare, that no kind of government, either in the\nconstitution, the planning, or the practice, is to be compared with that\nwhich our fathers have left to us, and which was adopted by our\nancestors. Which if you please, since you have been desirous that I\nshould repeat things known to yourselves, I will shew not only what it\nis, but that it is the best. And with our own government in view, I will\nif I can, have a reference to it, in whatever I may say respecting the\nbest form of government. The which if I can follow up and effect, I\nshall, as I think, amply fulfil the task which L\u00e6lius has imposed on me.\n\nXLVII. \u201cIt is your task indeed, Scipio,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cmost truly yours.\nFor who in preference to yourself may speak of the institutions of our\nforefathers; you being sprung from such illustrious ancestors; or of the\nbest form of government. The which if we now possess it, would hardly be\nso, if any one stood in a more conspicuous situation than yourself. Or\nwho may venture to advise measures for posterity, when thou, having\ndelivered the city from its greatest terrors, hast foreseen for the\nlatest times?\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                           CICERO\u2019S REPUBLIC.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                BOOK II.\n\n\nI. Perceiving them all now eager to listen to him, Scipio thus began to\nspeak. \u201cIt was old Cato, to whom as you know I was singularly attached,\nand whom I admired in the highest degree: to whom, either through the\nadvice of both my parents, or from my own prepossession, I devoted\nmyself entirely from my youth; whose conversation never could satiate\nme. Such was the experience of the man in public affairs, which he had\nfor a long time successfully conducted in peace and war. His manner of\nspeaking too, a facetiousness mixed with gravity: his constant desire\nalso to improve himself and others; indeed his whole life in harmony\nwith his maxims. He was wont to say, that the condition of our country\nwas pre-eminent above all others for this cause. That among other\npeople, individuals generally had respectively constituted the\ngovernment by their laws and by their institutes, as Minos in Crete,\nLycurgus in Lacedemon. At Athens, where the changes were frequent, at\nfirst Theseus, then Draco, then Solon, then Clisthenes; afterwards many\nothers. Finally exhausted and prostrated, it had been upheld by that\nlearned man Demetrius, of Phalera. But that the constitution of our\nrepublic was not the work of one, but of many; and had not been\nestablished in the life of one man, but during several generations and\nages. For he said so powerful a mind had never existed; from which\nnothing had escaped; nor that all minds collected into one, could\nforesee so much at one time, as to comprehend all things without the aid\nof practice and time. For which reason, as he was wont, so shall my\ndiscourse now repeat the origin of the people; for I have a pleasure in\nusing the very words of Cato. But I shall more easily follow up my\nproposition in describing our own republic to you, in its infancy, its\ngrowth, in its adult, and its present firm and robust state; than if I\nwere to create an imaginary one, as Socrates is made to do in Plato.\n\nII. When all had approved of this, he proceeded. \u201cWhat beginning,\ntherefore, have we of the establishment of a republic so illustrious and\nso known to you all, as the origin of the building of this city by\nRomulus, born of his father Mars? For let us concede to the common\nopinion of men, especially as it is not only well established, but also\nwisely recorded by our ancestors, that those who have deserved well of\nus on account of our common interest, be deemed not only to have\npossessed a divine genius, but also a divine origin. He therefore after\nhis birth, with Remus his brother, is said to have been ordered to be\nexposed on the Tiber, by the Alban king, Amulius, apprehensive lest his\nkingdom should be shaken. In which place, having been sustained by the\nteats of a wild beast, the shepherds took him, and brought him up in the\nlabour and cultivation of the fields. It is said, that when he had grown\nup, he was distinguished above the rest by his corporeal strength, and\nthe daringness of his mind. So that all who then inhabited the fields,\nwhere at this day stands the city, obeyed him willingly and without\ndissent. And being constituted their leader, that we may now come from\nfables to facts, with a strong force he took Alba-longa, a powerful and\nwell constructed city in those times, and put the king Amulius to death.\n\nIII. Having acquired which glory, he is said first to have auspiciously\nthought of building a city, and of establishing a government. In regard\nto the situation of the city, a circumstance which is most carefully to\nbe considered by him, who endeavours to establish a permanent\ngovernment; he chose it with incredible skill. For neither did he remove\nto the sea, although it was a very easy thing for him with his forces,\nto march through the territory of the Rutulians and Aborigines; neither\nwould he build a city at the mouth of the Tiber, to which place the king\nAncus led a colony many years after. For he perceived, with an admirable\nforesight, that maritime situations were not proper for those cities\nwhich were founded in the hope of continuance, or with a view to empire.\nFirst, because maritime towns were not only exposed to many dangers, but\nto unseen ones. For the ground over which an expected enemy moves, as\nwell as an unexpected one, announces his approach beforehand by many\nindications: by sound itself of a peculiarly tumultuous kind. No enemy\ncan make a march, however forced, without our not only knowing him to be\nthere, but even who he is, and whence he comes. But a maritime enemy and\na naval force may be before you, ere any one can suspect him to be come.\nNor even when he does come, does he carry before him any indication of\nwho he is, or from whence he comes, or even what he wants. Finally by no\nkind of sign can it be discerned or determined whether he is a friend or\nan enemy.\n\nIV. In maritime cities, too, a sort of debasing and changeable manners\nprevail. New languages and new customs are mingled together, and not\nonly productions but manners are imported from abroad; so that nothing\nremains entire of the pristine institutions. Even they who inhabit those\ncities are not faithful to their homes, but with capricious inclinations\nand longings are carried far from them; and although their persons\nremain, their minds are rambling and wandering abroad. Nor did Carthage\nor Corinth, long before shaken, owe their ruin to any thing more than to\nthe unsettled scattering of the citizens, who abandoned the study of\nagriculture and arms through their cupidity of gain and love of roaming.\nMany pernicious excitements too to luxury, are brought over the sea to\ncities by commercial importation or by conquest. Even the very amenity\nof the situation suggests many costly and enervating allurements. What I\nhave said of Corinth, I know not if I may as truly say of all Greece;\nfor almost all Peloponnessus lies on the sea, and except the\nPhliuntians, there are none whose lands do not extend to the coast.\nBeyond Peloponnessus, the Enianes, the Dorians, and the Dolopians are\nthe only people in the interior. What shall I say of the islands of\nGreece? which surrounded with billows, float about as it were with the\ninstitutions and manners of their cities. These things as I said before,\nrelate to ancient Greece; but of the colonies brought by the Greeks into\nAsia, Thrace, Italy, Sicily, and Africa, except Magnesia alone, which of\nthem is not washed by the ocean? Thus a part of the Grecian shores\nseemed to be joined to the lands of the barbarians. For among the\nbarbarians themselves, none were a maritime people, except the Etruscans\nand the Carthagenians; the one for the sake of commerce, the other for\nthe sake of piracy. A most obvious cause of the evils and revolutions of\nGreece, arising from the vices of these maritime cities, which awhile\nago I slightly touched upon. Nevertheless among these evils there is a\ngreat convenience. The products of every distant nation can be wafted to\nthe city you inhabit; and in return the productions of your own lands\ncan be sent or carried into whatever countries you choose.\n\nV. Who then more inspiredly than Romulus could secure all the maritime\nconveniences, and avoid all the defects? placing the city on the banks\nof a perennial river, broadly flowing with an equal course to the sea.\nBy which the city might receive what it wanted from the ocean, and\nreturn whatever was superfluous. Receiving by the same channel all\nthings essential to the wants and the refinements of life, not only from\nthe sea, but likewise from the interior. So that it appears to me, he\nhad foreseen this city, at some period, would be the seat and capital of\na mighty empire: for a city placed in any other part of Italy would not\neasily have been able to acquire such a powerful influence.\n\nVI. As to the native defences of the city, who is so unobservant as not\nto have them marked and fixed in his mind? Such is the alignment and\ndirection of the wall, which by the wisdom of Romulus, as well of\nsucceeding kings, was bounded on every part by lofty and craggy hills:\nso that the only entrance, which was between the Esquiline and the\nQuirinal hills, was defended by a huge mound, and a very wide ditch. The\ncitadel, surrounded by this craggy and seemingly hewn rock, had such a\ngallant position, that in that furious invasion of the terrible Gauls,\nit remained safe and intact. He choose also a place abounding in\nsprings, and salubrious even in a pestilent region. For there are hills\nwhich while they enjoy the breezes, at the same time throw a cool shade\nupon the vallies.\n\nVII. These things were done too with great celerity. For he not only\nfounded a city, which he ordered to be called Rome, from his own name;\nbut to establish it, and strengthen the power of the people and his\nkingdom, he adopted a strange and somewhat clownish plan, but worthy of\na great man, whose providence extended far into futurity. When the\nSabine virgins, descended from respectable families, were come to Rome\nto see the games, whose first anniversary he had then ordered to be\ncelebrated in the circus, he ordered them to be seized during the\nsports, and gave them in marriage to the most honourable families. For\nwhich cause, when the Sabines had made war upon the Romans, and when the\nsuccess of the battle was various and doubtful, he struck a league with\nTatius, king of the Sabines, at the entreaty of the very matrons who had\nbeen seized: in consequence of which he admitted the Sabines into the\ncity: and mutually having embraced each others sacred rites, he\nassociated their king with him in the government.\n\nVIII. After the death however of Tatius, all the power came back into\nhis hands: although he had admitted some chiefs into the royal council\nwith Tatius, who were called fathers, on account of the affection borne\nto them. He also divided the people into three tribes, named after\nhimself, after Tatius, and after Lucumon, a companion of Romulus, who\nhad been slain in the Sabine war: and into thirty curia, which curia he\ncalled by the names of those from among the Sabine virgins seized, at\nwhose entreaties the peace and league had been formed. But although\nthese things were done before the death of Tatius, yet after that event,\nhis government became much better established, aided by the authority\nand counsel of the fathers.\n\nIX. In the which he saw and judged as Lycurgus at Sparta had done, a\nlittle while before him: that states were better governed by individual\ncommand and royal power, if the authority of some of the better class\nwere added to the energy of that kind of government. Thus sustained, and\nas it were propped up by the senatorial authority, he carried on many\nwars very successfully with his neighbours; and appropriating to himself\nno part of the spoil, he never ceased to enrich the citizens. At that\ntime Romulus paid in most things attention to auspices, a custom we\nstill retain, and greatly advantageous to the republic. For he built the\ncity under the observance of auspices at the very beginning of the\nrepublic; and in the establishment of all public affairs, he chose an\naugur from each of the tribes to assist him in the auspices. He also had\nthe common people assigned as clients to the principal men, the utility\nof which measure I will afterwards consider. Fines were paid in sheep\nand cattle: for then all property consisted in flocks, and in\npossessions of lands, whence the terms pecuniary[12] and landholders[13]\nwere derived. He did not attempt to govern by severity or the infliction\nof punishments.\n\nX. When Romulus had reigned thirty-seven years, and had established\nthose two excellent foundations of the state, the auspices and the\nsenate, he obtained this great meed: for when he had disappeared upon a\nsudden obscuration of the sun, he was deemed to have been placed among\nthe number of the gods. A belief which no mortal had ever inspired\nwithout the greatest pre-eminence in virtue. And this is most to be\nadmired in Romulus, that others who are said to have been deified out of\nthe mortal state, lived in the less civilized ages of man, when the\nproneness to fiction was great, and the unenlightened were easily led to\nbelieve in it. But during the period of Romulus, not quite six hundred\nyears ago, we know that learning and literature existed, and that the\nancient errors peculiar to the uncultivated ages of mankind were\nremoved. For if Rome, according to an investigation of the annals of the\nGreeks, was built in the second year of the seventh olympiad; the reign\nof Romulus occurred at that period when Greece was full of poets and\nmusicians; and when but little faith would be given to fabulous stories,\nunless they were concerning very ancient things. For one hundred and\neight years after Lycurgus ordained laws to be written, the first\nolympiad was established: which through a mistake in the name, some have\nthought to be founded by Lycurgus. Homer, however, by those who take the\nlowest period, is made to precede Lycurgus about thirty years. From\nwhich it may be gathered that Homer flourished many years before\nRomulus. So that there was scarce room in so intelligent an age, and\namid so many learned men, for any one to establish fictions. Antiquity\nsometimes has received fables crudely devised, but that age already\nrefined, and especially deriding improbable events, has rejected * * *\n\n                      [About 230 letters wanting.]\n\n* * * * Simonides was born in the fifty-sixth olympiad, by which the\ncredit given to the immortality of Romulus may be more easily\nunderstood, seeing that the institutions of society were then so well\nestablished, organized, and known. But really so great was the force of\nhis genius and virtue, that what men would have given no credit to for\nmany ages in favour of any other man, was believed of Romulus upon the\nevidence of Proculus Julius, a countryman, who at the instigation of the\nfathers, in order to repel from themselves every suspicion of the death\nof Romulus, is said to have declared in the assembly, that he had seen\nRomulus on that mount which is now called Quirinal; and that he had\ncommanded him to request the people to erect a temple for him upon that\nhill; that he was a god, and was called Quirinus.\n\nXI. \u201cDo not you perceive therefore a new people not only sprung from the\nwisdom of one man, and not left crying in leading strings, but already\ngrown up, and almost an adult?\u201d \u201cIndeed we perceive it,\u201d said L\u00e6lius,\n\u201cand that you have entered upon a new method of discussion, which is no\nwhere to be found in the writings of the Greeks. For that pre-eminent\nperson,[14] whom no one has excelled in writing, has imagined to himself\na situation, in which he might construct his city after his own\npleasure: admirable enough perhaps, but foreign to the conduct and the\nmanners of men. Others have discussed the subject in relation to the\nkinds and causes of governments, but not under any particular example of\na form of government. You seem to me to be about to do both, for\naccording to your method, you appear to prefer to attribute to others\nwhat you yourself have observed, than to imagine a state of things, as\nSocrates is made to do in Plato. And these matters respecting the\nfoundation of the city, you suppose to be part of a system, which were\nonly adopted by Romulus through necessity or chance. And your discourse\nis not of a desultory kind, but concerning a particular commonwealth.\nWherefore proceed as you have begun, for already I perceive you are\nabout to follow on with the other kings, as perfecting the government.\u201d\n\nXII. \u201cWherefore,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cwhen the senate, which Romulus had\ninstituted out of the better class, and which had been so much favoured\nby the king, as to cause them to be called fathers, and their children\npatricians; endeavoured after the death of Romulus, to carry on the\ngovernment itself without any king; the people would not endure it, and\nin their regret for Romulus did not cease to demand a king. Upon which\nthe leading men prudently imagined a mode of interregnum, new and\nunknown to other nations. So that until a regular king was proclaimed,\nneither the city should be without a king, nor with one too long a\nperiod. Fearing lest from too long an enjoyment of the government, the\ninterrex should be reluctant to lay it down, or strong enough to\nmaintain himself in it. Even in these times, this new people perceived\nwhat had escaped the Lacedemonian Lycurgus; who esteemed it best not to\nchoose a king, if this were indeed in the power of Lycurgus to do, but\nrather to be governed by any one whatever descended from the race of\nHercules. But our ancestors, rude as they appear to have been, thought\nit behoved them rather to look to royal wisdom and virtue, than to\ndescent.\n\nXIII. When the great fame of Numa Pompilius had reached them, the\npeople, leaving aside their own citizens, called in by the authority of\nthe fathers, a king not born among them, and sent to the Curians for a\nSabine to reign over Rome. When he arrived, although the people had\ndecided that he should be king in the conventions of the curia,\nnevertheless he himself had a law passed in the curia concerning his own\npower; and as he saw the Romans through the institutions of Romulus were\neager after warlike pursuits, he deemed it proper to wean them somewhat\nfrom that propensity.\n\nXIV. And first, the lands which Romulus had acquired in war, he divided\nequally among the citizens; and pointed out to them, that without\ndepopulating and pillaging, they might possess all the necessaries of\nlife, by the cultivation of their lands. He inspired them also with the\nlove of peace and repose, under which justice and good faith most kindly\nflourish; and under the protection of which, the cultivation of the\nfields, and the gathering of the harvest are most secure. The same\nPompilius having established auspices of a superior kind, added two\naugurs to the ancient number, and placed five priests over sacred things\nfrom the class of the chief men. And having established those laws which\nwe possess in our monuments, he softened, by the ceremonies of religion,\nminds which were inflamed by the habit and inclination of making war. He\nadded also Flamens, Salii, and Vestal Virgins; and established with\ngreat solemnity all the branches of religion: ordaining many ceremonies\nto be learnt and observed, but without any expense. Thus he increased\nthe duty of religious observances and diminished the cost of them. In\nlike manner he established markets, games, and all the stated occasions\nof assembling the people together. Under which institutions, he recalled\nthe minds of men become fierce and wild in warlike pursuits, to humanity\nand gentleness. When he had reigned thirty-nine years in the most\nperfect peace and concord, (in this we follow principally our friend\nPolybius, than whom no one was more accurate in ascertaining periods,)\nhe departed from life; having strengthened every thing for the endurance\nof the government, by those two conspicuous virtues, religion and\nclemency.\n\nXV. When Scipio had spoken these words. \u201cIs it true, Africanus,\u201d said\nManilius, \u201cwhat tradition has brought down to us, that this king Numa\nwas a disciple of Pythagoras, or is it certain he was a Pythagorean? For\noften we have heard this, as having been declared by old people, and\nunderstand it also to be the common opinion; yet we do not see it\nsufficiently proved by the authority of the public annals.\u201d \u201cIt is\nfalse,\u201d replied Scipio, \u201centirely so Manilius! Not false alone, but\nignorantly and absurdly false; for the mendacity of those assertions is\nnot to be endured, which we not only see are not true, but which could\nnever have been so. It was in the fourth year of the reign of Lucius\nTarquinius Superbus, that Pythagoras is ascertained to have come to\nSybaris and Crotona, and those parts of Italy. For the sixty-second\nOlympiad announces that very arrival of Pythagoras, and the beginning of\nthe reign of Superbus. From which it may be understood by a calculation\nof the reigns, that Pythagoras touched first at Italy about a hundred\nand forty years after the death of Numa. Nor has this fact, by those who\nhave very diligently investigated the annals of the times, ever been\nthrown into any doubt.\u201d \u201cImmortal gods,\u201d said Manilius, \u201chow inveterate\nand great is the error of men! Nevertheless, I can be very well pleased\nin the belief, that our intelligence has not been derived from abroad,\nand through foreign arts, but from natural and domestic virtues.\u201d\n\nXVI. \u201cYou will distinguish that more clearly,\u201d said Africanus, \u201cwhen you\nperceive how the commonwealth advances and comes to the greatest\nperfection by a straight forward and natural course. For in this also\nthe wisdom of our ancestors is to be praised; that many things derived\nfrom abroad, have been rendered much more perfect by us, than they were\nfrom whence they were brought, and where they first had existence. You\nwill see also that the greatness of the Roman people has not been\nconfirmed by chance, but by wisdom and discipline. Fortune indeed being\npropitious to us.\n\nXVII. King Pompilius being dead, the people upon the proposition of an\ninterrex, created Tullus Hostilius king, in the conventions of the\ncuria; and he, after the example of Pompilius, consulted the people in\nthe curia, concerning his power. His military glory was great, and\nimportant warlike affairs took place. He constructed edifices for the\nsenate and the curia, and surrounded them with military trophies. He\nestablished a law also for the declaration of war, which most justly\ndecreed by him, he made more sacred by the solemnity of Heralds: so that\nevery war which was not proclaimed and declared, was deemed to be\nimpious and unjust. And observe how wisely our kings saw that some sort\nof deference must be paid to the people. I might say many things on that\nhead. Tullus indeed did not venture to appear with royal insignia unless\nat the command of the people. For in order that it might be lawful for\nhim to be preceded by twelve lictors with their fasces * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXVIII. * * * * * \u201cThe government which your discourse is establishing,\ndoes not creep, but rather flies towards perfection.\u201d S. \u201cAfter him,\nAncus Martius, grandson to Numa Pompilius by his daughter, was made king\nby the people, who had his elevation sanctioned by a law of the curia.\nWho having conquered the Latins in a war, incorporated them into the\nstate. He also added the Aventine and C\u00e6lian Mounts to the city. The\nlands too which he had conquered he distributed, and made a public\ndomain of all the forests he had taken on the sea coast. He built a city\nat the mouth of the Tiber, and planted a colony there. When he had thus\nreigned twenty-three years, he died. \u201cThis king also is to be praised,\u201d\nsaid L\u00e6lius, \u201cbut the Roman history is obscure: for although we know who\nwas the mother of this king, we do not know who was his father.\u201d S. \u201cSo\nit is\u201d said he, \u201cbut generally the names of the kings only of those\ntimes are conspicuous.\u201d\n\nXIX. \u201cBut it is here that we first perceive the city to have become more\nintelligent by extrinsic information. For not a gentle stream flowed\nfrom Greece into this city, but an abundant flood of arts and knowledge.\nIt is stated that one Demaratus, a Corinthian, a principal man, and of\nmuch honour and authority in his own city, and of an easy fortune, not\nbeing able to endure Cypselus, the tyrant of the Corinthians, fled with\na great deal of money, and betook himself to a flourishing city of\nEtruria, among the Tarquinians. When he had heard that the domination of\nCypselus was confirmed, being an independent and powerful man, he\nrenounced his country, and was received a citizen by the Tarquinians:\nand in that city he fixed his home and establishment. Where when he had\nbegotten two sons from one of the Tarquinian matrons, he instructed them\nin all the arts after the manner of the Greeks * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXX. * * * * * He was well received in the city, and became intimate with\nking Ancus on account of his learning and liberal knowledge. So much so\nthat he shared all his counsels, and might be deemed even a partner in\nhis kingdom. For there was a great affability in him, and an extreme\nreadiness in aiding, protecting, and doing liberal acts to every\ncitizen. Martius therefore being dead, L. Tarquinius was created king by\nthe united suffrages of the people; for thus he had changed his name\nfrom his Grecian one, that in every thing he might be seen to imitate\nthe manners of the people. Having caused his accession to be confirmed\nby a law, he doubled the pristine number of the fathers; calling those\nwhose opinions he first asked, ancient fathers of the greater families;\nand those whom he had admitted, he called the lesser families. Then he\nestablished the knights; after the manner that has obtained unto our\nday. He could not change the names of the Titienses, of the\nRhamnensians, or the Luceres, when he wished to do so; because Attus\nN\u00e6vius being then Augur in great reputation, would not consent to it. We\nsee the Corinthians chose formerly to assign cavalry for the public\nservice, and to have their expenses defrayed by taxes on orphans and\nwidows. But to the old troops of horse he added others, and made twelve\nhundred knights. He doubled this number after he had subdued the Equi in\nwar, a powerful and ferocious race, which threatened the affairs of the\nRoman people. And when he had driven the Sabines from the walls of the\ncity, he scattered them with his horse and conquered them. It is he whom\nwe understand to have instituted the great games, which we call Roman,\nand to have made a vow during the Sabine war, while in battle, that he\nwould raise a temple on the capitol to the great and good Jupiter. He\ndied when he had reigned thirty-eight years.\n\nXXI. \u201cNow,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cis that saying of Cato very certain, that the\nconstitution of the state is not the work of one moment or one man: for\nit is evident how great an accession of good and useful institutions\noccurred under each reign. But he comes next, who appears to me to have\nlooked farther than them all into the nature of government.\u201d \u201cSo it is,\u201d\nsaid Scipio, \u201cfor after him Servius Sulpicius is stated first to have\nreigned without the command of the people. He is said to have been born\nof a Tarquinian slave: she having conceived him by some client of the\nking. Brought up among the number of the servants, when he attended at\nthe royal table, he did not suppress those sparks of genius, which even\nthen shone forth in the boy: so shrewd was he in every thing, whether in\nbusiness or conversation. Wherefore Tarquin, who at that time had only\nyoung children, became so attached to Servius, that he was generally\nthought to be his son; and with great pains instructed him in all those\narts, which he himself had been taught, after the very superior manner\nof the Greeks. But when Tarquin had perished by the plots of the sons of\nAncus, Servius, as I before said, began to reign, not by the command,\nbut by the assent and sufferance of the people. For when Tarquin was\nfalsely said to be alive, and sick from the effects of his wound; he\ndeclared the law in royal pomp, and discharged debtors with his own\nmoney. Conducting himself with much courtesy, he declared that he\npronounced the law at the command of Tarquin. He did not commit himself\nto the fathers, but Tarquin being buried, he conferred with the people\nabout himself, and being authorised to reign, he had his accession\nconfirmed by a law of the curia. And first he avenged himself by war,\nfor injuries received from the Etruscans, * * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXII. * * he inscribed eighteen centuries of horse in the great\nregister. Afterwards having set apart a great number of equestrians\nfrom the mass of the whole people, he distributed the rest of the\ncitizens into five classes, and divided the old from the young: and\nclassed them in such a manner, that the suffrages were not in the\npower of the multitude, but of the landed proprietors. He was careful\nof what ought always to be observed in government; that numbers alone\nshould not have the ascendency. Which classification if it were\nunknown to you, should be explained by me. You will perceive the plan\nwas such, that the centuries of horse with six suffrages, (a century\nbeing added from the carpenters on account of their great utility to\nthe city,) and the first class, make eighty-nine centuries: to which\nfrom the one hundred and four centuries, for so many remain; if only\neight are added, the whole power of the people is obtained: and the\nmuch greater multitude comprehended in the ninety-six centuries\nremaining, is neither excluded from voting, lest it should seem\ndisdainful; nor is it made too effective, lest it should be dangerous.\nIn the which matter he was very circumspect even as to terms and\nnames. Those from among the wealthy he called \u201cassiduos\u201d[15] from\npaying their taxes in money. Those who possessed no more than one\nthousand five hundred pieces of brass, or those who were polled in the\nregister without any possessions whatever, he called proletaries; as\nif progeny only; that is, as if nothing but population might be\nexpected from them. But of those ninety six centuries, more were\nenumerated in one century, than almost in the whole first class. Thus\nthe right of suffrage was not prohibited to any one by law, and that\nclass had a greater weight of suffrage, which had most at stake in the\npreservation of good government. As to public criers, men hired for\nparade, clarion players, horn players, and proletaries, * * * *\n\n                         [Four pages wanting.]\n\nXXIII. * * * * * Was[16] sixty-five years more ancient, being built\nthirty-nine years before the first olympiad. And the very ancient\nLycurgus had the same thing in view. This equality therefore, and this\ntriple nature of public affairs appears to me to have been common to us\nand to those people. But what is peculiar in our republic, and than\nwhich nothing can be more admirable, I will look very critically into if\nI am able; as nothing similar is to be found in any government. For\nthese things which I have adverted to, were so mingled in this state,\nand among the Lacedemonians, and the Carthagenians, that they were not\nproperly balanced. For in whatever government any one man enjoys\nperpetual power, especially royalty, although even a Senate may exist in\nit, as was the case at Rome under the kings, and in the laws of Lycurgus\nat Sparta; and even granting the people some share in the government, as\nwas the fact under our kings: still that royal name will stand\npre-eminent, nor can a government of that kind be any thing but a\nkingdom, or be called otherwise. But such a form of government is\nespecially subject to change for this reason; that it easily falls into\nthe most unprofitable courses, precipitated thereunto by the vices of\none man. For the royal form of government itself, not only is not to be\ncondemned, but I know not whether it is not greatly to be preferred to\nthe other simple forms, if I could approve of any simple form of\ngovernment. But only as long as it preserves its proper character, which\nis that the safety, the equality, and tranquillity of the citizens, are\nto be preserved by the justice, the wisdom, and the perpetual power of\none man. Many things however are altogether wanting to a people subject\nto a king. Liberty among the first: which is not that we may live under\na just master, but under none at all. * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXIV. For some time fortune prosperously accompanied this unjust and\ncruel master in the administration of affairs. He subdued all Latium in\nwar, and took Suessa, an opulent and well stored Pometian city. Enriched\nwith great spoils of gold and silver, he accomplished the vow of his\nancestor in the building of the capitol. He established colonies, and\naccording to the institutions of those from whom he had derived his\norigin, he sent magnificent gifts, as offerings of his spoils, to Apollo\nat Delphos.\n\nXXV. Here the very circle is set in motion, whose natural movement and\nrevolution you learn to distinguish from the beginning. For the very\nhead of discretion in civil matters, upon which all our discourse turns,\nis to observe the ways and bendings of public affairs; so that when you\nperceive what way any thing inclines, you may either keep it back, or\nmeet it by opposing other things to it. For the king of whom I speak,\nhaving stained himself first with the murder of a good king, no longer\npreserved his integrity of mind, and wished to inspire fear himself,\nbecause he dreaded every sort of punishment for his wickedness.\nAfterwards borne up with his victories and riches, he exulted with\ninsolence, and imposed no restraint on his own conduct, or the\nlicentiousness of his followers. Wherefore when his eldest son had used\nviolence with Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, and daughter of\nTricipitinus, and the noble and chaste woman had inflicted death upon\nherself on account of that injury; L. Brutus, a man pre-eminent in mind\nand courage, released his fellow citizens from that unjust yoke of a\ncruel slavery: who, although he was a private citizen, sustained the\nwhole government, and was the first who taught in this city, that no man\nwas to be considered insignificant, when the public liberties were to be\npreserved. Under which leader and head, the whole city being in\ncommotion, as well with the recent complaints of the family and kindred\nof Lucretia, as with the remembrance of the many wrongs done by the\nhaughtiness of Tarquin himself, and his sons; the banishment of the\nking, his children, and his whole race was pronounced.\n\nXXVI. Do not you perceive then how a master may spring out of a king,\nand how a form of government from being good, may become the very worst,\nthrough the vice of one man. This is that master over the people, whom\nthe Greeks call tyrant; him only they esteem a king, who consults like a\nparent with the people, and preserves those over whom he is placed, in\nthe most prosperous condition of life. A sort of government very good as\nI have said, but bordering upon and inclining to a very pernicious one.\nFor when this king deviates into unjust rule, at once he becomes a\ntyrant, and an animal more hideous, more destructive, and more odious,\nin the eyes of gods and men cannot be conceived: surpassing, although in\nthe human form, the most monstrous wild beasts in cruelty. How can he be\nrightly called a man, who observes no fellowship of humanity with his\nfellow citizens, no communion of law with the whole race of man? But a\nmore proper place to speak of this will occur, when circumstances will\nsuggest to us to speak of those, who have sought to usurp the Government\nover free cities.\n\nXXVII. You have here then the origin of a tyrant, for the Greeks would\nhave this to be the name of an unjust king. Our ancestors indeed have\ncalled all who have had an exclusive and perpetual dominion over the\npeople, kings. Thus Spurius Cassius, M. Manilius, and Spurius M\u00e6lius,\nare said to have wished to establish a kingdom, and even * * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXXVIII. Lycurgus gave the name of ancients[17] at Lacedemon, to that too\nsmall number of twenty-eight, to whom he wished the whole authority of\ncounsel to be confided, while the sole command should be held by the\nking. Wherefore our ancestors translating and adopting that term, those\nwhom he called ancients, they called a senate: as we have already stated\nRomulus to have done with the select fathers. Nevertheless, the royal\ntitle, and its strength and power were always pre-eminent. Impart too\nsomething of power to the people, as was done by Lycurgus and Romulus,\nand you will not satisfy them with freedom, but you will inflame them\nwith the passion of liberty, when you have only permitted them to taste\nof power. The fear indeed will always hang over them, lest they should\nhave an unjust king, which generally happens. The fortune therefore of a\npeople is, as I said before, very uncertain, which is placed in the will\nor conduct of one man.\n\nXXIX. Wherefore this first form, example, and origin of a tyrant, is\nfound by us in that very government which Romulus instituted with\nauspices, and not in that, which Plato says Socrates imagined to himself\nin that peripatetic discourse. And as Tarquin subverted the whole fabric\nof royalty, not because he grasped a new sort of authority, but because\nhe made a bad use of it; so let us oppose to him another; a good man,\nwise and expert in every thing useful and dignified in civil life: a\ntutor and steward as it were of the commonwealth, for so may be called\nwhoever is the ruler and governor of a state. Imagine to yourselves that\nyou recognise such a man; one who can protect the state, both by his\ncounsel and conduct. And since the name of such a man has not been\nalluded to in this discourse, and that a character of this kind will be\nfrequently treated of in what remains to be said * * * * * *\n\n                        [Twelve pages wanting.]\n\nXXX. * * * * * * Plato described a state more to be desired, than to be\nhoped for upon the smallest scale. He did not constitute things as they\nmight exist, but in such a manner as the nature of civil affairs might\nbe considered. As to myself, if in any way I am able to accomplish it,\nwith the same principles which he had in view, I will look, not into the\npicture and shadow of a state, but into a most powerful republic; that I\nmay appear to touch, as it were, the true cause of every public good and\nevil. After these two hundred and forty years of regal government, and\nindeed a little more, including the interregnums, Tarquin being\nbanished, the royal title was as odious to the Roman people, as it had\nbeen regretted after the death, or rather the disappearance of Romulus,\nand as much as they wanted a king then, in like manner, after the\nexpulsion of Tarquin, they could not endure the name of one.\n\nXXXI. Under this feeling our ancestors then expelled Collatinus, who was\ninnocent, through apprehension of his family connexions, and the other\nTarquins from disgust at their names. From the same cause too P.\nValerius ordered the fasces to be lowered when he began to speak before\nthe people; and had his building materials taken to the foot of the\nVelia, as soon as he perceived the suspicions of the people to be raised\non account of his having begun to build in a more conspicuous part of\nthe Velia, the very place where King Tullus had dwelt. He also, in the\nwhich he greatly deserved the name of Publicola, had that law passed for\nthe people, which was first carried in the meetings of the centuries,\nthat no unfriendly magistrate should put to death, or flog any Roman\ncitizen for appealing. The pontifical books however declare appeals to\nhave existed under the kings; the augural records show it also. The\ntwelve tables too in many laws indicate that it was lawful to appeal\nfrom every judgment and punishment. What is brought down to us by\ntradition, of the Decemvirs who wrote the laws, being created without\nany appeal, sufficiently shows that the other magistrates had not the\npower of judging without appeal. The law, too, which for the sake of\nconcord passed in the consulate of Lucius Valerius Potitus, and M.\nHoratius Barbatus, men very justly popular; sanctioned the principle,\nthat no magistrate should be created without appeal. Nor did the Portian\nlaws, which are three as you know of the three Portii, contain any thing\nnew except the confirmation of it. Publicola therefore, upon the law in\nfavour of appeal being published, immediately ordered the axes to be\ntaken from off the fasces, and the next day had Sp. Lucretius appointed\nto him as his colleague: being his superior in age, he ordered his own\nlictors to go to him; and first established the custom that lictors\nshould precede each of the consuls, alternate months, lest the ensigns\nof command among a free people, should be as numerous as in a kingdom.\nThere was something more than mediocrity in this man, as I consider him:\nwho having given a moderate liberty to the people, preserved more easily\nthe authority of the chiefs. Nor do I repeat these things, now so old\nand obsolete to you, without cause. I select examples of men and things\ndrawn from illustrious persons and times, to which the remainder of my\ndiscourse shall be applied.\n\nXXXII. In such a manner the senate governed the commonwealth in those\ndays, that though the people were free, still they interfered in but few\nthings. Public affairs were principally managed under the authority, and\nby the rules and customs of the senate. And although the consuls\npossessed their power only for a year, it was royal in its nature and\neffect. And this was strenuously preserved, as necessary to the\npreservation of the influence of the nobles and principal chiefs, that\nnothing should be established in the meetings of the people, which was\nnot sanctioned by the authority of the fathers. In these very times too,\nT. Larcius was appointed dictator, about ten years after the first\nconsuls. A new kind of authority, very much resembling, as we perceive,\nthe royal power. But all great matters were conducted by the authority\nof the principal men, the people submitting to it. And great events took\nplace in those times in war, under renowned men in the supreme command,\nfrom among those very dictators and consuls.\n\nXXXIII. But what belongs to the very nature of things, as that a people\nemancipated from kings, should take a little more power to themselves;\nwas brought about not long after, about the sixteenth year, in the\nconsulate of Postumus Cominus, and Sp. Cassius. Not in the right way\nperhaps, but it is of the nature of public affairs frequently to deviate\nfrom what is right. For observe what I said in the beginning, that\nunless an equable compensation prevails in a state, in the laws, in\noffices, in emoluments; so that the magistrates enjoy their proper\ndegree of power; the chief men their authority in council, and the\npeople their liberties, such a state of the government cannot remain\nunchanged. For when the city was in commotion on account of the pressure\nof their debts, the people first occupied the Sacred Mount, then the\nAventine. Nor could the discipline even of Lycurgus keep the Greeks\nwithin those restraints. In the reign of Theopompus, at Sparta, those\nfive whom they call Ephori; the ten too in Crete, who are called Cosmoi;\narose against the royal power, as the tribunes of the people did against\nthe consular authority.\n\nXXXIV. Perhaps there was a mode by which our ancestors might have\nrelieved the pressure of the law of debt, which had not escaped Solon,\nthe Athenian, some short time before, and which our senate adopted not\nlong after, when on account of the infamous conduct of a creditor, the\ncitizens were liberated from the general oppression, and voluntary\nbondage on account of debt abolished in future.[18] And always at such\nperiods, when the common people are exhausted by contributions in times\nof public calamity, some relief and remedy is to be devised for the\ncommon safety. Which the senate having neglected to do, sufficient cause\nwas given to the people to create two tribunes during a sedition of the\nplebeians, with intent to weaken the power and authority of the senate;\nwhich nevertheless remained a grave and great body, bringing forward in\nthe service of the state the wisest and bravest men, and strengthening\nit by arms and counsel. And their authority was the greater, because far\nexcelling all others in honour, they were less conspicuous for\nvoluptuousness, and not much signalized by their wealth. Their high\nworth also was the more esteemed in the state, because in private life\nthey diligently assisted individuals by their advice, and by substantial\nservices.\n\nXXXV. In which situation of the republic, the qu\u00e6stor accused Sp.\nCassius, who enjoyed the highest degree of favour with the people, and\nwas contriving a usurpation of the government; and as you have heard,\nwhen his own father stated himself to be satisfied of his guilt, the\npeople assenting to it, he put him to death. It was a grateful thing\nalso to the people, when Sp. Tarpeius, and A. Aternius, consuls, about\nfifty-four years after the first consuls, carried a law in the meetings\nof the centuries concerning fines. Twenty years afterwards when L.\nPapirius, and P. Pinarius, censors, by pronouncing fines, converted the\nstrength of the flocks of many private individuals to the public use; a\nlight valuation of cattle was ordained in the law on fines, during the\nconsulate of C. Julius and P. Papirius.\n\nXXXVI. But some years before, when the senate enjoyed the greatest\nauthority, the people being very patient and obedient, a new plan was\ninstituted. The consuls and the tribunes of the people abdicated the\nmagistracy, and ten men were created with the greatest authority, and\nwithout appeal, who were to possess the supreme power, and to inscribe\nthe laws. Who when they with great equity and prudence, had written ten\ntables of laws, appointed ten other decemvirs for the following year,\nwhose faith and justice are not in like manner praised. From which\ncollege, however, comes that praiseworthy act of C. Julius, who stated\nthat in his presence a body had been dug out of the chamber of a\npatrician, L. Sestius. Although he had supreme power, and as decemvir\nwas without appeal, he admitted him to bail, refusing to lose sight of\nthat most excellent law, which forbids sentence to be pronounced on the\nhead of a Roman citizen, unless in the meetings of the centuries.\n\nXXXVII. A third decemviral year followed under the same men, they being\nunwilling to appoint others. In this condition of the commonwealth,\nwhich I have often already stated not to be lasting, because it is not\nequable to all the orders of the state, the chief men had the whole\ngovernment in their hands; the most noble decemvirs being always\npreferred. No tribunes of plebeians opposed to them, no other\nmagistrates associated with them, and no appeal left to the people\nagainst death and stripes. Wherefore on account of the injustice of\nthese men, a great disturbance suddenly arose, and a revolution took\nplace in the whole commonwealth. They added two tables of iniquitous\nlaws, in which the very marriages which were even permitted to\nstrangers, were forbidden by an inhuman law, lest the plebeians should\nconnect themselves with the fathers; which law was afterwards abrogated\nby the plebicist Canuleius. In all things they conducted themselves\nlibidinously, cruelly, and avariciously towards the people. Upon that\ncelebrated and well known affair contained in many literary records, in\nwhich one Decimus Virginius on account of the outrage of one of the\ndecemvirs, slew his virgin daughter with his own hand in the Forum, and\nfled lamenting to the army which was then on Mount Algide; the soldiers\nabandoned the war they were then engaged in, and as was before done for\na similar cause, first came to the sacred mount, and next to the\nAventine * * * * *\n\n                         [Eight pages wanting.]\n\nXXXVIII. When Scipio had spoken these things, and all by their silence\nwere expecting the remainder.\u2014\u201cSince my seniors here, Africanus,\u201d said\nTubero, \u201cask you no questions, hear from me what I still find wanting in\nyour discourse.\u201d \u201cMost cheerfully,\u201d replied Scipio. \u201cYou appear to me,\u201d\nsaid he \u201cto have been pronouncing the eulogium of our republic, when\nL\u00e6lius was inquiring not respecting ours, but of government in general.\nNor have I learnt from your discourse, by what discipline, or by what\ncustoms or laws, a republic like the one you praise, can be constituted\nor preserved.\u201d\n\nXXXIX. \u201cI think,\u201d said Africanus, \u201cwe shall by and by have a more\nappropriate occasion, Tubero, of discussing the establishment and\npreservation of states. In respect to the best kind of government, I\ndeem myself to have sufficiently answered the inquiries which L\u00e6lius\nmade. First I pointed out three kinds of government that might be\nendured, and to these three their very pernicious opposites: that no one\namong them was the best, but that one moderately balanced from all\nthree, was preferable to either of them. That I have availed myself of\nour state for an example, was not with a view to define the best form of\ngovernment, for that could be done without an example. But in truth,\nthat a great state might present the very picture, such as reason and\nlanguage might describe it to be. But if without going to the example of\nany people, you are desirous of finding that perfect condition of\ngovernment, then look at the image which nature presents to us * * *\n\n                [A great number of pages wanting here.]\n\nXL. S. * * * a character I have been looking for, and have been desirous\nof arriving at.\n\nL. The discreet statesman, perhaps?\n\nS. The very same.\n\nL. You have all those present who are so numerous: or you can begin with\nyourself. \u201cI wish,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cit was proportionally so in the whole\nsenate. However, he is a discreet man, who as we have frequently seen in\nAfrica, seated on a monstrous wild and ferocious animal, governs and\ndirects him; making him kneel down, not with blows, but with a slight\nsign.\u201d\n\nL. I know, and have often seen it when I was Lieutenant to you.\n\nS. So the Indian or Carthagenian governs a wild beast, and renders it\ndocile and gentle with humane conduct. But that intellectual principle\nwhich is hidden in the souls of men, and which is called a part of the\nsoul, does not bridle or tame one easily subdued, whenever it\naccomplishes it, which rarely happens. For that ferocious animal must be\nrestrained[19] * * * *\n\n             [Either four or eight pages are wanting here.]\n\nXLII. \u201cAlready,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cI see the man I expected, so greatly\nendowed, and charged with such duties.\u201d \u201cWith this duty only,\u201d replied\nAfricanus, \u201cfor in this one almost all the rest are included. That in\nhis thoughts and actions he never deviate from himself, so that he may\ncall upon others to imitate him, and that he may offer himself in the\npurity of his mind and his life, as a mirror to his fellow citizens. For\nas in stringed instruments or pipes, as well as in singing with voices,\na certain harmony is to be formed with distinct sounds, an interruption\nto which cannot be borne by refined ears; this kindred and harmonious\nconcert being produced by the modification of dissimilar voices. So a\ngovernment temperately organized from the upper, the lower and middle\norders blended together, harmonizes like music by the agreement of\ndissimilar sounds. And that which in song is called by musicians,\nharmony, is concord in a state; the strongest and best bond of safety in\nevery republic; yet which without justice cannot be preserved.[20]\n\n                         [Many pages wanting.]\n\nXLIV. \u201cI assent entirely to it,\u201d said Scipio, \u201cand declare freely to\nyou, that we must esteem in nothing all that we have said upon\ngovernment, or that may remain farther to be said, unless it be\nestablished, not only that it is false, that injustice is necessary, but\nthat this is most true; that without the most perfect justice, no\ngovernment can prosper in any manner. But if you please, thus far for to\nday. The remainder, for many things remain yet to be said, we will defer\nuntil to-morrow.\u201d When this was approved, an end was put to the\ndiscussion for that day.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n  Pecuniosi.\n\nFootnote 13:\n\n  Locupletes.\n\nFootnote 14:\n\n  Plato.\n\nFootnote 15:\n\n  Asses dare.\n\nFootnote 16:\n\n  Carthage.\n\nFootnote 17:\n\n  \u03b3\u1f72\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 in the MSS.\n\nFootnote 18:\n\n  This passage appears to deserve a note. The words \u201cnexa\u201d and \u201cnectier\u201d\n  are used in the original. And at the first glance, the passage,\n  connecting it with the well known custom of keeping debtors in chains,\n  as well as the memorable occasion which produced this insurrectionary\n  movement, would appear to declare, that all kinds of bondage for debt\n  were abolished in future. In early periods, whoever was unable to pay\n  his debts, was adjudged by a decree of the pr\u00e6tor, to discharge them\n  in personal services: for which purpose his person was delivered to\n  his creditor; whose slave in every sense of the word he thus became,\n  until the debt was discharged. A debtor thus situated was termed\n  \u201caddictus\u201d or sentenced. Livy, vi. 36., relates \u201cthat those against\n  whom judgments had been given, (addictos) were led out daily in herds\n  from the Forum, to the mansions of the patricians, which were filled\n  with enchained debtors: and that wherever a patrician dwelt, there was\n  a private prison.\u201d That all debtors were subject to actual bonds,\n  appears from every indebted person under voluntary judgment, being\n  called \u201cnexus,\u201d meaning linked or chained; and probably when judgment\n  was passed, debtors were delivered in that condition to the creditors.\n  But \u201cnexus\u201d changed its meaning, as the word \u201cbond\u201d has done in our\n  language, where we bind ourselves only with forms. The urgent\n  necessity of the plebeians, arising out of the exactions of the\n  patricians, obliged them to borrow money at usury; and upon such\n  occasions, for money weighed out to him \u201cper \u00e6s et libram,\u201d before\n  witnesses, the borrower pledged his person and liberty to the lender\n  as security for the debt. This voluntary act, which was equivalent to\n  a modern confession of judgment, constituted the debtor a \u201cnexus;\u201d\n  before the period of payment had expired, at which time only he was\n  liable to fetters. Upon the occasion of the insurrection mentioned in\n  the passage; a young man of respectable plebeian family, C. Publilius,\n  surrendered himself to Papirius, a patrician usurer, in the place of\n  his father who had failed to redeem himself from his \u201cnexus.\u201d\n  Rejecting the infamous propositions made to him, Papirius caused him\n  to be cruelly scourged. This transaction having roused the people, the\n  senate was obliged to consent to the liberation of all persons who had\n  become \u201cnexi\u201d by their voluntary act, and to order the practice to be\n  discontinued in future.\n\n  I have translated the passage in accordance with this view of the\n  subject. Niebuhr, vol. i. 506. Livy, vi. 36. viii. 28. &c.\n\nFootnote 19:\n\n  The continuation of this passage is, perhaps, found in Nonius Voc.\n  Exsultare, \u201cwhich nourishes itself with blood, and which so delights\n  in every kind of cruelty, that it scarcely can be satiated with the\n  sad destruction of human beings.\u201d\n\nFootnote 20:\n\n  Professor Mai quotes the following passage from St. Augustin, De. Civ.\n  Dei, as containing a summary of that part of the discussion\n  interrupted here. \u201cAnd when Scipio had in a more comprehensive and\n  diffuse way, shown how advantageous justice was to a state, and how\n  injurious the absence of it was: Philus, who was one of those present\n  at the discussion, took it up, and proposed that that subject should\n  be very carefully investigated, on account of the opinion which was\n  obtaining, that governments could not be administered without\n  injustice.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                           CICERO\u2019S REPUBLIC.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               BOOK III.\n\n\n                     [Four or eight pages wanting.]\n\nII. * * * * The intelligent principle having found man endowed with the\nfaculty of uttering rude and imperfect sounds, enabled him to separate\nand distinguish them into articulations. Thus words were affixed to\nthings as signs of them, and man, once solitary, became united to man,\nby the sweet bond of conversation. By the same intelligence, the\ninflexions of the voice, which we find to be infinite in number, are all\ndistinguished and expressed, by the invention of a few marks, which\nenable us to hold a correspondence with the absent, to indicate our\ninclinations, and to preserve a record of things past. To this the\nknowledge of numbers was added, a thing not only necessary to life, but\nat once immutable and eternal. Which first led us to consider the\nheavens, to look upon the motion of the planets with interest, and the\nnumbering of the nights and days * * * *\n\n                     [Eight or ten pages wanting.]\n\nIII. * * * * Whose minds rose to a loftier pitch as I before said, that\nthey might execute or discover something worthy of the gift they had\nreceived from the gods. Wherefore let those who have treated upon the\nmoral conduct of life, be deemed by us, great men, as they are; learned\nmen; masters of truth and virtue. Yet let it be admitted that civil\nrights, and the government of a people, whether they are the fruits of\nmen experienced in the management of public affairs, or, as the fact has\nbeen, the result of their literary leisure, be least despised; causing\nas they do to spring up in great minds, as we have often seen, an\nincredible and divine virtue. For if any one to those faculties which\nthe mind has from nature, and to those talents which civil institutions\nproduce, hath added also the learning, and the more various knowledge of\nthings, in which men engaged in the discussion of those books are\nversed, there is no one who ought not to prefer such a man to all\nothers. For what can be more excellent, than when the practice and habit\nof great affairs is joined to a perfect knowledge of the theory of the\nscience of them? Or what more perfect can be imagined than P. Scipio, C.\nL\u00e6lius, and L. Philus; who that they might omit nothing appertaining to\nthe high character of enlightened men, to the knowledge of our domestic\nand ancient customs, united the learning received from Socrates?\nWherefore he who determined and effected both, that is, instructed\nhimself as well in the institutions, as in the philosophy of the\nancients, I think has accomplished every thing with praise. But if a\nchoice must be made between those two paths to excellence, and if to any\none, that tranquil way of life passed in the best studies and sciences\nmay appear happier, still certainly an active, civil life is more\nillustrious and more laudable. The greatest men derive their glory from\nsuch a life, as M. Curius * * * *\n\n             \u201cWhom none could overcome with arms or gold.\u201d\n\n                          [Six pages wanting.]\n\nIV. * * * Nevertheless this difference existed in their two different\nmodes: the one unfolded the principles of nature by their studies and by\ntheir eloquence; the others by their institutions and by their laws.\nThis commonwealth alone has produced many, if not altogether to be\ndeemed sages, since that title is so cautiously bestowed, yet worthy of\nthe greatest praise; for they cultivated the precepts and discoveries of\nsages. Wherefore civil governments are to be extolled and ever will be,\nsince in the nature of things, to constitute a commonwealth which shall\nbe lasting, is one of the greatest efforts of mind: and thus if we only\nenumerate one for every country, what a multitude of excellent men do we\nfind. For if we permit our minds to take a survey of that famous Greece,\nof Italy, Latium, or the Sabine and Volscian people; the Samnites, the\nEtrurians; next the Assyrians, the Persians, the Carthagenians. If\nthese * * *\n\n                        [Twelve pages wanting.]\n\nV. * * * \u201cTruly,\u201d said Philus, \u201cyou have imposed a fine task upon me,\nwishing me to undertake the justification of what is wrong.\u201d \u201cSurely,\u201d\nsaid L\u00e6lius, \u201cyou are afraid lest in using the same arguments which are\nwont to be brought forward against justice, you may appear to hold such\nopinions yourself; you who are almost the only example left of ancient\nprobity and faith. But your habit of discussing both sides of the\nquestion, in order more easily to get at the truth, is very well known.\u201d\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d said Philus, \u201cI will do as you wish, and defile myself\nwith my eyes open: for since those who search for gold do not refuse to\ndo it; we who are looking for what is right, a thing much more precious\nthan gold, assuredly ought not to avoid any thing that is disagreeable.\nAnd I wish, since I am about to make use of another man\u2019s opinions, it\nwas possible for me to make use of his tongue also. Now, however, L.\nFurius Philus, must say what Carneades, a Greek in the habit of saying\nwhatever he pleased * * *\n\n                         [Four pages wanting.]\n\nVIII. * * * But the other has filled four pretty large books with the\nsubject of justice. From Chrysippus I have never looked for any thing\nvery great or magnificent; since he reasons in a particular way of his\nown, and examines things rather by the force of words, than the weight\nof facts. It was for those distinguished men, to raise up that prostrate\nvirtue, and elevate it to the divine heights of wisdom. A virtue which\nstands alone as it were, greatly munificent and liberal; which loves\nevery thing better than itself, and is born more for others, than for\nits own interests. Nor was the inclination wanting to them: for what\nother cause had they for writing, or what motive soever? In genius they\nexcelled all. But the cause was greater even than their inclination and\nstrength. The right indeed concerning which we inquire, is something\ncivil, not natural: if it were, justice and injustice would be the same\nthings to all men, as hot and cold, bitter and sweet things are.\n\nIX. Now however, if any one borne upon the chariot with winged serpents,\nof which Pacuvius speaks, could survey with his eyes, and look down upon\nthe many and various nations and cities; he might see chiefly among that\nunchanging race of the Egyptians, which preserves in its records the\nmemory of so many events and ages, an ox esteemed as a god, which the\nEgyptians call Apis; and many other strange things among them, among\nwhich wild beasts consecrated into the number of the gods. Then in\nGreece, where as with us, magnificent temples are consecrated containing\nhuman images, which the Persians considered impious. For which cause\nalone, Xerxes is said to have ordered the temples of the Athenians to be\nburnt; considering it to be wicked to shut the gods up within walls,\nwhose residence was the whole universe. Afterwards Philip who had it in\ncontemplation, and Alexander who carried it into effect, gave as reasons\nfor making war against the Persians, that they avenged the temples of\nGreece; which the Greeks did not think of repairing, that the\ndevastation might be an eternal monument to posterity of the infamy of\nthe Persians. How many, as the Taurians in Axinum, as Busiris the king\nof Egypt, as the Gauls, the Carthagenians, have thought it a grateful\nand pious duty to the gods, to immolate men. But the institutions of\nlife differ so much, that the Cretans and Etolians esteem it honourable\nto steal: the Lacedemonians used to say that all lands were theirs which\nthey could reach with a shaft. The Athenians were wont to swear even\npublicly, that every soil was theirs, which produced oil and corn. The\nGauls consider it shameful to produce grain by labour, and therefore go\narmed to harvest other people\u2019s lands. But we, the most just of men, to\nmake our own olive and vineyards more valuable, do not permit the\ntransalpine nations to plant them: in doing which we are said to act\nprudently; it is not called acting justly. By which you may understand\nthere is a wide distance between prudence and equity. Lycurgus, the\nfounder of the best laws, and the most equal rights, gave the lands of\nthe wealthy to be cultivated by the lower class in the state of\nservitude.\n\nX. But if I were to describe the various kinds of laws, of institutions,\nof customs and manners, not only so different among such divers nations,\nbut even in a single city, or in this, I could demonstrate them to have\nbeen changed a thousand times. Our friend Manilius here, an interpreter\nof laws, will tell you that other laws exist now concerning the legacies\nand inheritances of women, than those he was wont to speak of in his\nyouth, before the Voconian law was passed; which very law, indeed\nproposed for the advantage of the men, is full of injustice towards the\nwomen. For why should a woman not have possessions? Why should a vestal\nappoint an heir, and her mother not? Why if limits were to be put to the\npossessions of women, should the daughter of Crassus, if she were an\nonly daughter, possess thousands legally, when mine could not possess\ntwo or three hundred * * * * * *\n\n                          [Two pages wanting.]\n\nXI. * * * * * * If these rights were thus sanctioned in us, all men\nwould have the same rights, and would not have different rights at\ndifferent periods. But if it is the duty of a just and good man to obey\nthe laws, I would ask which are they to be? Or shall he obey all\nindiscriminately? But virtue does not admit of uncertainty, nor nature\nendure inconstancy. The strength of law consists in punishment, not in\nour natural justice. Natural right therefore does not exist. Whence it\nfollows, that men are not made just by nature. But it is said, although\nthere are various laws, still good men, by natural inclination, pursue\nwhat is just in itself, and not what is assumed to be so; because it is\nthe part of a good and just man, to render that justice to every one\nwhich he is deserving of. Now, first, are we in any wise just to the\ndumb beasts? For men, not of mediocrity, but great and learned;\nPythagoras and Empedocles, declare that all animals possess the same\ndegree of right, and denounce unatoning punishments to hang over those\nby whom any animal is outraged. It is wicked therefore to injure the\nbrutes. * * * * * *\n\n                         [Eight pages wanting.]\n\nXII. * * * * * * what we call wisdom, urges us to increase our wealth,\nour riches, and to extend our possessions. How could that great\ncommander[21] who formerly carried the limits of his empire into Asia;\nhow could he govern, bear sway, reign, have dominion, and the full\nenjoyment of voluptuousness, unless he took something from others? But\njustice orders us to spare all, to consult the welfare of mankind, to\ngive to every one his own, and to abstain from every thing that is\nsacred, every thing that is public, every thing which is not our own.\nWhat therefore is to be done? If wisdom is consulted, riches, power,\nwealth, honours, authority, empire, are open to individuals and nations.\nBut since it is the public interest we are discussing, instances of a\npublic nature will illustrate better; and as the same degree of right is\nin both, I shall advert to the wisdom of a nation, and I shall omit the\nrest. Our own nation, which Africanus in his discourse yesterday, traced\nto its origin, whose empire already extends over the earth, has it, once\nleast of them all, become so by justice or wisdom? * * * * * *\n\n                     [Four or eight pages wanting.]\n\nXIV. For all who possess the power of life and death over a people are\ntyrants, yet they prefer to be called kings by the name of the good\nJupiter. When certain persons through the influence of their riches,\ntheir class, or other circumstances, possess themselves of the\ngovernment, it is a faction. Yet they call themselves, the better class.\nIf the people however are uppermost and rule every thing at their own\npleasure, that is called liberty; nevertheless it is licentiousness. But\nwhen one fears another, man mistrusting man, and one class another, then\nbecause no one confides, a sort of pact is made between the people and\nthe great, from whence that combined form of government springs, which\nScipio has praised. So that neither nature, or the will is the mother of\njustice, but weakness. For when one thing is to be chosen out of three,\neither to do injustice without permitting it to be done to you; or to do\nit and permit it also; or neither one or the other: the best is to do it\nwith impunity[22] if you can; the second best is neither to do it, nor\nsuffer it to be done to you: the worst of all is to be eternally\nfighting now on account of your own aggressions, now on account of those\nof others * * * * *\n\n                 [An unknown number of pages wanting.]\n\n* * * Except the Arcadians and the Athenians, who, I suppose, fearing\nlest at some period this decree[23] of justice might appear, have\nfeigned themselves to be sprung from the earth, like the little mice we\nsee in the fields.\n\nXVI. To these things, others are wont to be added principally by those,\ndistinguished for their honesty in discussion, and having more weight\nfor that reason. Who when engaged in the inquiry of what constitutes a\ngood man, frank and plain as we wish to find him, are not themselves\ncrafty, hardened, and malicious in argument. They deny that the wise man\nis good only because goodness and justice are pleasing to him from their\nnature; but because the lives of good men are free from apprehension,\ncare, solicitude and danger. Whereas bad men have always a sting goading\ntheir souls, and judgment and punishment are always present to their\neyes. That there is no emolument, no advantage arising from injustice,\nso great as to compensate the fear, and the constant thought that some\npunishment is impending * * * * *\n\n                     [Four or eight pages wanting.]\n\nXVII. I ask if there be two men, one of them of the very best kind;\nequitable, perfectly just, of exemplary faith: the other singular for\nhis wickedness and audacity: and suppose the community in such an error,\nthat the good man passes for a wicked and dishonest one; while the bad\none has the reputation of perfect probity and good faith. And through\nthis general delusion of the citizens, the good man is harassed,\narrested, bound, his eyes put out, condemned, thrown in chains, tortured\nin the fire, banished. Wanting every thing, at last he appears to all to\nbe deservedly the most wretched of men. On the other hand, the bad man\nis praised, sought after, caressed by all. Honours of every kind,\nauthority, power, and every advantage conferred upon him from all sides.\nA man, finally, in the estimation of all deemed the very best, and\nworthy of the highest gifts of fortune. Who would be so insane as to\nhesitate which of these two he would choose to be?\n\nXVIII. As it is with individuals, so it is with nations. No community is\nso stupid, as not to prefer commanding by injustice, to serving\naccording to justice. I shall not go far back for examples. Being\nconsul, you assisting me in council; I had to examine the Numantine\ntreaty. Who is ignorant that Pompey made that treaty, and that Mancinus\nwas concerned in the same affair? This last most excellent man supported\nthe proposition I carried from the consultation in the senate; the other\nmost earnestly opposed it. Those who valued modesty, integrity, and good\nfaith preferred Mancinus: yet for his reasoning, counsel, and policy,\nPompey took the lead of him * * * *\n\n                 [An unknown number of pages wanting.]\n\nXXIX. * * * * * Ti. Gracchus was vigilant for the interests of the\npeople, but neglected the rights of the Latins and the treaties with the\nallies. If such customs and license should spread themselves wider, and\nour empire be changed from right to force, so that those who until now\nvoluntarily obey us, should be ruled only by terror; although it has\nbeen vigilantly preserved for us, who are of the present age; yet I\nshould be very solicitous about our posterity, and about the immortality\nof the republic, which might be perpetual, if the institutions and\nmanners of our forefathers were preserved.\n\nXXX. When L\u00e6lius had thus spoken, all present expressed themselves to\nhave been very much delighted by him, but Scipio, among the rest, as if\nquite elated with pleasure, \u201cmany causes,\u201d said he, \u201cindeed L\u00e6lius, hast\nthou often defended, in such a manner that I can by no means compare our\ncolleague Servius Galba to thee; whom when he lived thou preferredest to\nall; nor in truth any of the attic orators * * *\n\n                        [Twelve pages wanting.]\n\nXXXI. * * * * * Therefore that common interest, that is the\ncommonwealth, who can recognize it when all are oppressed by the cruelty\nof one; when no bond of Law exists, nor that consent of congregated\nsociety, which constitutes a people. And this very condition of the\nSyracusans: a celebrated city, as Tim\u00e6us says, the first among the\nGreeks, and the most beautiful of them all: its harbour embosomed within\nthe walls, its canals running through the city: its broad streets, its\nporticoes, temples, fortifications, all these did not help to constitute\na commonwealth, while Dionysius reigned. The people had no part in them,\nfor the very people belonged to one man. Therefore where there is a\ntyrant, it is not a vitiated commonwealth, as I said yesterday, but\nreason compels us to declare plainly that no commonwealth at all exists.\n\nXXXII. \u201cIndeed\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cyou speak very clearly, and I already\nperceive the drift of your discourse.\n\nS. You see therefore, that when every thing is in the power of a\nfaction, neither can that be properly called a commonwealth.\n\nL. I judge it plainly so.\n\nS. And most rightly do you judge, for what was the condition of the\nAthenians, when after that great Pelopponesian war, thirty men were most\nunjustly placed in the command of that city? Did the ancient glory of\nthe city, the admirable nature of its buildings, its theatre, gymnasia,\nits noble porticoes, its citadel, or the admirable works of Phidias, or\nthe magnificent port of Pir\u00e6us, did they constitute a commonwealth? \u201cNot\nin the least\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cbecause indeed the common interest was not\nthought of.\u201d\n\nS. How was it at Rome, when the Decemvirs existed without appeal, in\nthat third year, when liberty itself had parted with its privileges?\n\nL. Nothing was left to the people, and truly it was necessary to bring\nthem to that point, that they might recover their rights.\n\nXXXIII. S. I come now to the third kind, that in which some\ninconsistency will perhaps be perceived, where all things are said to be\ndone by the people, and to be in the power of the people. When the\nmultitude orders punishments to be inflicted in any manner that it\npleases, ordering, seizing, keeping, dissipating every thing whatever\nthey choose, can you then L\u00e6lius, deny that to be a republic, where all\nthings belong to the people, and when indeed we define a republic to be\na commonwealth?\u201d \u201cThere is nothing,\u201d said L\u00e6lius, \u201cI would sooner deny\nto be a republic, than where all things are in the power of the\nmultitude. We did not consider that they had a republic among the\nSyracusans, or at Agrigentum, or at Athens when they were under tyrants,\nor at Rome when under the decemvirs. Nor do I see how the name of\nrepublic is appropriate when the multitude rules. Because first, as you\nhave happily defined it to me, Scipio, a people does not exist, but\nwhere it is held together by consent of law; and this sort of mob, is as\nmuch a tyrant as if it were one man. Indeed it is more mischievous, for\nnothing is more ferocious than the wild beast which assumes the name and\nform of the people. Nor is it right, when the property of maniacs is\nplaced by law under the guardianship of kindred, that * * *\n\n                         [Eight pages wanting.]\n\nXXXIV. * * * of it,[24] it may with as much propriety be said that it is\na republic and a commonwealth, as it may be said of a kingdom. \u201cAnd much\nmore,\u201d said Mummius, \u201cfor a king being one, is more like a master; but\nwhere many good men are at the head of affairs in a republic, nothing\ncan be more happily constituted. But I certainly prefer a kingdom to the\nsway of a democracy; which third and most vicious kind of government\nremains for you to explain.\u201d\n\nXXXV. To this Scipio replied, \u201cI recognize well Spurius, your steady\naversion to the popular mode, and although it might be treated with less\naversion than you are wont to do, nevertheless I agree, that of all\nthese three kinds, no one is less to be approved of. I do not however\nagree with you that the better class are to be preferred to a king; for\nif it is wisdom which governs a state, of what consequence is it,\nwhether it resides in one, or in many? But in our discussion we are led\ninto a sort of error. When we call them the better class, nothing can be\nconceived more excellent, for what can be imagined more desirable than\nthe best? When however a king is mentioned, an unjust king occurs to our\nminds. We do not nevertheless intend to speak of an unjust king, in our\nexamination of this royal kind of government. Think of Romulus,\nPompilius, and Tullus as kings, and perhaps you will not be so\ndispleased with that kind of government.\n\nM. What sort of praise then is left for a democratic government?\n\nS. What did you think, Spurius, of the Rhodians, with whom we were\ntogether; did you see nothing like a commonwealth there?\n\nM. Indeed I did, and least of all to be blamed.\n\nS. You say well. But if you remember all were alike; sometimes\nplebeians, sometimes senators; and by turns discharging during certain\nmonths their functions as senators; the other months they remained in\nthe ranks of the people. In both capacities however they had the\nprivilege of being present at the meetings for deliberation, and equally\nin the theatres and in the courts, great matters and all others were\njudged; so numerous was the multitude and so great its power\nthat * * * * *\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 21:\n\n  Alexander.\n\nFootnote 22:\n\n  These are sophisms brought forward in favour of injustice.\n\n                                                     Vide Lact. Inst. 5.\n\nFootnote 23:\n\n  To restore things unjustly acquired.\n\nFootnote 24:\n\n  The better class.\n\n\n\n\n                           CICERO\u2019S REPUBLIC.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                BOOK IV.\n\n\nII. * * * * * * How conveniently the orders are set down; the ages, the\nclasses. The equestrian order where the senate votes. Too many foolishly\nseek to abolish that useful institution, hoping that through some\nPlebecists procuring the sale of the horses, they may get a largess.\n\nIII. Look now at the other provisions so wisely made, that the citizens\nmay enjoy a happy and honest state of society, for that is the very\nmotive for their union; and which government ought to secure to men, by\ninstitutions and laws. In the first place, as to puerile discipline for\nfree-born young men, respecting which the Greeks have laboured so much\nin vain; and the only matter about which our guest Polybius reproaches\nthe negligence of our institutions. No defined system, or of a public\nnature, or uniform for all, was decreed by the laws.\n\n                     [Four or eight pages wanting.]\n\nIV. * * * * * * nor naked when at an age of puberty. So deep did they\nseek as it were to lay the foundations of modesty. But how absurd the\nexercises of youth in the Grecian Gymnasia; how trifling that drilling\nof young boys: what loose and unrestrained manners permitted to them. I\nsay nothing of the Eleans and Thebans, among whom free license and\npermission was given to the young people to indulge in sensuality. The\nLacedemonians too, when they allowed every sensual indulgence short of\nviolence, among their youth, were destroying what they were granting\nsuch a slight protection to. \u201cI clearly understand, Scipio,\u201d said\nL\u00e6lius, \u201cthat in these practices of the Greeks, which you reprehend, you\nhad rather attack the most illustrious people, than your favourite\nPlato, whom you do not assail at all, especially * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n                           CICERO\u2019S REPUBLIC.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                BOOK V.\n\n\nII. * * * * * * No prerogative more royal than the administration of\njustice, in which was comprehended the expounding of rights, for\nindividuals were accustomed to seek justice from kings. On which account\nthe lands, the fields, the groves, the extensive and rich grazing\ndistricts were defined, which belonged to the sovereign, and were all\nmanaged without any care or labour on his part; that none of the cares\nof private business, might abstract him from the affairs of the public.\nNor was any man an umpire or arbitrator of any legal contention, but all\nthings were decided by royal judgments. And it seems to me, that our\nNuma chiefly adopted this ancient custom from the kings of Greece. For\nthe others, although they also discharged this function, yet a great\nmany of them waged wars, and occupied themselves in establishing the\nrules of war. But that long peace of Numa, was the parent of law and\nreligion to this city. He also was the writer of those laws which you\nknow to be extant: all which is appropriate to the very citizen whose\ncharacter we are drawing * * * * * *\n\n                 [An unknown number of pages wanting.]\n\nIII. S. Do you think there is any harm in his being acquainted with the\nnature of roots and seeds?\n\nM. None, if only his work is not neglected.\n\nS. But do you think it to be properly the study of a farmer?\n\nM. Not in the least; for the cultivation of the land would often be\nunattended to.\n\nS. Therefore, as a farmer is acquainted with the nature of his soil, a\nsteward with the nature of letters, and each can turn from the amusement\nof theory to the greater utility of practice; so this our ruler may be\nthoroughly conversant with the knowledge of rights and of laws; he may\nhave looked even into the very fountains of them: but let not his\nconsultations, his constant readings, and his writings occupy him too\nmuch; but let him be as it were both steward and farmer to the\ncommonwealth. Let him be skilled in the principles of law without which\nno man can be just; let him not be ignorant of civil law: but let it be\nas the pilot who studies the stars; the physician who studies the nature\nof plants and minerals; each turning his knowledge to the benefit of his\nart, without permitting it to impede the practical use of his\nvocation * * *\n\n                 [An unknown number of pages wanting.]\n\nIV. * * * * In those states where the good look for praise and honour,\nand fly from ignominy and disgrace. Not so much restrained by\napprehension of the penalties established by law, but by a sentiment of\nself-respect, which nature has planted in man, a sort of dread of\ndeserved censure. This sentiment the ruler of a state strengthens by\npublic opinion, and confirms by education, and by institutions, that\nshame may deter the citizen from crime as much as fear. But these\nconsiderations properly belong to renown, and shall be more abundantly\nconsidered.\n\nV. Life, however, and the comfortable enjoyment of it, are constituted\nby legal marriages, lawful children; the keeping hallowed the seats of\nthe penate gods, and the domestic lares; that all may enjoy public and\nprivate comforts. Without good government, private life cannot be\nagreeable, nor can any one be more happy than in a well regulated\nstate * * * *\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Corrected items noted in the Errata.\n 2. Silently corrected typographical errors in the Preface,\n      Introduction, and footnotes.\n 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed in the\n      Preface, Introduction, and footnotes.\n 4. Did not alter punctuation or spellings in the Translation with the\n      exception of joining words split by pages.\n 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"The republic of Cicero: Translated from the Latin; and Accompanied With a Critical and Historical Introduction.","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":34714}