Cicero on Imperialism and the Soul
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23403290 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Malcolm Schofield (0000-0001-9676-0896, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Pages | 107-124 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Selfhood and the Soul (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198777250.003.0007 |
| OpenAlex | W2603341545 |
| ISBN | 9780198777250 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
It is often claimed that Cicero advocates a view of empire as enslavement in the speech he put in the mouth of Laelius in Book 3 of De Re Publica. This chapter examines afresh the key passages of the text, mostly known to us from summaries or quotations in two late works of St Augustine. It argues on the contrary that Laelius is made to rebut that view, which is actually the proposal of his opponent Philus, by adapting Aristotle’s exploitation of a soul–political system analogy to distinguish different forms of rule. This enables him to assimilate rule over allies with a magistrate’s rule over citizens or a parent’s over his children, as distinct from a master’s relationship with his slave. Thus, Cicero effectively proposes the same paternalistic model of empire as he later develops in a famous passage of Book 2 of De Officiis.
Analogy · Art · Cicero · Empire · Epistemology · Literature · Magistrate · Political science · Politics · Soul · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Law · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2023 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |