The Republic and The Laws (Oxford World's Classics)

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Translation © Niall Rudd 1998
Editorial Matter ©Jonathan Powell and Niall Rudd 1998

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First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 1998

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Cicero, Marcus Tullius.
[De republica. English]
The republic; and, The laws/Cicero; translated by Niall Rudd;
with an introduction and notes by Jonathan Powell and Niall Rudd.
(Oxford world’s classics)

Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Political science—Early works to 1800. 2. State, The—Early
works to 1800. 3. Rome—Politics and government—265–30 B.C.
I. Rudd, Niall. II. Powell, J. G. E III. Cicero, Marcus Tullius,
De legibus, English. IV Title: Laws. V. Series.
JC81.C613 1998 320.1—dc21 97–23394
ISBN 0–19–283236–0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
5 7 9 10 8 6 4

Typeset by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong
Printed in Great Britain by
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Reading, Berkshire

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Table of Contents
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OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

CICERO

Translated by
NIALL RUDD

With an Introduction and Notes by
JONATHAN POWELL
and
NIALL RUDD

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

THE REPUBLIC AND THE LAWS

M
ARCUS
T
ULLIUS
C
ICERO
(106–43
BC
) was the son of a Roman knight from Arpinum, some 70 miles (112 km.) south-east of Rome. He rose to prominence through his eloquence at the bar and in the Senate; but, without hereditary connections or military achievements, he lacked a solid power-base; and so, in spite of strenuous manoeuvres, he failed to reconcile Pompey and later Octavian (Augustus) to the Senate. He could have joined Caesar, but he refused and was eventually murdered at the insistence of Antony, whom he had castigated in his
Philippics.
But although Cicero was ultimately a political failure, he became for long periods of Europe’s history a symbol not only of constitutional government but also of literary style. More important still, he is recognized as the main vehicle for the transmission of Hellenistic philosophy to the West. As a historian of thought, his lack of personal commitment in the main served him well. But in his political theory, where he purported to be describing a constitution or framing laws, his conservatism tended to outweigh his intellectual open-mindedness. Hence, in his vision of political life, he remained above all an old-fashioned Roman.

J
ONATHAN
P
OWELL
is Professor of Latin, Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published commentaries on Cicero’s
De Senectute
(
1988)
and
De Amicitia
and
Somnium Scipionis
(
1990)
and has edited a volume of papers on Cicero’s philosophy
(Cicero the Philosopher,
Oxford University Press, 1995). He is preparing a new text of
De Republica
and
De Legibus
for the Oxford Classical Texts series.

N
IALL
R
UDD
is Emeritus Professor of Latin, Bristol University. His books include an edition of Horace,
Epistles 2
and
Ars Poetica
(Cambridge, 1989), a verse translation of Juvenal’s
Satires
(Oxford, World’s Classics 1992), and a study of certain English poems and their Latin forerunners, entitled
The Classical Tradition in Operation
(Toronto and London, 1994).

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Note on the Text

Note on the Translation

Bibliography

Table of Dates

THE REPUBLIC

THE LAWS

Appendix: Notes on the Roman Constitution

Explanatory Notes

The Republic

The Laws

Index of Names

Although parts of the
Republic
have been translated fairly recently, and a full version has been published by Bréguet in the Budé series, this is the first English translation of the whole work since that of Sabine and Smith (1929). It is also the first English translation of the
Laws
since Keyes’s Loeb edition (1928). Students of Latin have Zetzel’s commentary on selections from the
Republic
(1995) and the elementary edition of
Laws
1 by Rudd and Wiedemann (1987). But most of the scholarship on these two works has come from the Continent, especially Germany, as may be seen from the bibliographies of Schmidt (1973) and Suerbaum (1978). A particularly relevant example is Büchner’s edition of the
Republic.

This translation is based on an eclectic text, but special mention should be made of Ziegler’s text of the
Republic
(5th edn. 1960) and Ziegler and Görler’s text of the
Laws
(1979). Where other readings have been adopted their sources can usually be found in the apparatus criticus supplied by those editors. In addition, several of Professor Watt’s conjectures have been gratefully accepted. Many of the decisions taken will be reflected in the Oxford Classical Text which Jonathan Powell is preparing. In the present work the division of labour has been roughly as follows: J.P. wrote the introduction to the
Republic,
the section on the text of both works, and the notes on the
Republic.
He also helped with the revision of the volume as a whole, including the translation. The rest of the work is by N.R.

As we are dealing with incomplete texts, the sequence of ideas is not always clear. Headings have therefore been supplied to the main sections, and where possible some indication has been given of the contents of the lost passages.

J.P.; N.R.

January 1997