Cicero facing the division of the city: Res publica, populus, and violence
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Abstract
In this research, we explore Cicero's political thought in the face of the political division of the city during the final decades of the Roman Republic. In this sense, we address three specific dimensions that contributed to the definition of a prescriptive project regarding the constitution of the res publica, the people as a political subject, and the phenomenon of violence. These three dimensions are argumentatively linked across a series of texts including the treatises De Republica, De Legibus, and De Officiis, in dialogue with the post reditum speeches, wherein the continuity of public debate can be observed at the level of political-philosophical reflection. These works are part of a shift away from the centrality of oratory as a tool for contesting diverse visions of the res publica in the face of the intensification of violent forms of action imposed upon the city. We contend that, although Cicero maintains a critical stance on the political participation of the people—a view common to other classical authors—his project does not solely seek to establish a superior constitutional order based on natural law to counter it; rather, it attempts to subordinate popularis action to the ethical guidance of the elite. The preservation of the res publica operates as the ultimate end to delimit the field of legitimate action in accordance with the realization of virtue in the governance of the city.
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