In this volume A. gives a compelling reappraisal of Cicero's political philosophy in two of his treatises from the 50s b.c.. Republic and Laws. This is a book about political philosophy that should have broad appeal because A. situates Cicero's writings first within ancient philosophy and then in subsequent traditions from late antiquity to the twentieth century. The scope of the book is suggested by its attractive jacket, which features a painting of Cicero with Scipio and Decius from the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, home to another famous republic and to Niccolò Macchiavelli, one of A.'s guides in interpreting Cicero.
Refreshingly, A. proceeds from the assumption that Cicero had something original and of genuine importance to say, departing from the common view that Cicero was at best an (in)adequate populariser of the ideas of smarter Greek philosophers. Here is a real advance in the interpretation of Cicero's philosophical works, since A. establishes Cicero as a serious intellectual with an informed, consistent philosophical argument. Cicero's philosophy is at once theoretical and practical, constructed with robust philosophical concepts and oriented towards the challenges of political practice in the Roman republic. A.'s interpretation persuades because it is grounded in careful analysis of both the philosophical arguments and the literary structure of Cicero's treatises.
The introduction outlines A.'s overall interpretation of Republic and Laws. In both treatises, ‘Cicero explores the possible grounds for a good and lasting political society given the limitations placed on perfectly just and rational rule by chance, necessity, historical contingency, and human nature’ (p. 4). This idea unifies each dialogue individually and the two together in a joint project of establishing an intellectual framework for politics in the real world. In pairing these treatises, Cicero follows Plato's model in his dialogues of the same names, but Cicero is not simply a mouthpiece for the New Academy nor any other ancient philosophical school.
In A.'s interpretation, Cicero's originality emerges in his selective appropriation of ideas from Plato, Aristotle, Polybius and the Stoics. Although A. engages with Cicero's models and predecessors throughout the book, this is not source criticism for its own sake but to draw out Cicero's shaping of the material and his own distinctive position. A. also introduces later philosophers to unpack Cicero's arguments, notably in his discussion of the mixed constitution in Chapter 3 where he uses Macchiavelli to tease out the relationship between Cicero's and Polybius' version of this political concept. Cicero's use of his sources operates like a literary allusion where reference to previous versions illuminates and contextualises his own presentation.
In Chapter 1, ‘Reading the Republic’, A. begins his interpretation of Republic and at the same time demonstrates his interpretative method. In a literary dialogue, sorting out the voices is often difficult, always critical, and A. tackles the task head on. He shows how Cicero constructs his own authoritative argument through his authorial voice in the prefaces, through Scipio's role as his representative and through the interaction of the interlocutors. Through the dramatic dialogue Cicero's audience is invited and indeed required to question the interlocutors' assertions, reading them against one another and reflecting on their philosophical implications in the context of the dialogue as a whole. In insisting on the dialogic nature of these treatises, A. positions his work among the best of the recent literary studies of Cicero's treatises, for example, J. Dugan, Making a New Man: Ciceronian Self-Fashioning in the Rhetorical Works (2005) and Y. Baraz, A Written Republic: Cicero's Philosophical Politics (2012).
Five more chapters follow: two on Republic, two on Laws, with one intervening on the concept of rights that draws on both treatises. In Chapter 2, A. argues from a close reading of the ‘Dream of Scipio’ that astronomy was a key point of reference throughout the dialogue. The dream itself performs philosophical work, establishing the Platonic–Aristotelian framework within which Cicero has constructed his own views on the state. Cicero's treatise, it appears, participated in the same intellectual discourses and cultural imagery as Virgil's Georgics, with their cosmic and political reverberations. Chapter 3, as noted above, explores Cicero's treatment of the mixed constitution while Chapter 4 investigates the concept of rights. Chapter 5, on Cicero's treatment of natural law, makes a difficult topic accessible, though legal historians may find the scholarly apparatus a bit thin. The title of Chapter 6, ‘Legislation for the Best Practicable Regime’, says it all; this chapter presents the last piece in A.'s complex and neatly argued interpretation of Cicero's political philosophy.
In Chapter 4 and the conclusion, A. directly addresses the relevance of Cicero for later philosophical traditions. In Chapter 4, A. challenges the accepted history of citizens' rights. ‘Rights’ in this context are defined as powers that transcend state control, and the concept is generally agreed to have arisen in the modern or the early modern era. Instead, A. discovers rights in Cicero's treatises at the intersection of the terms ius and potestas and in the metaphorical legal language of property ownership (res, vindicare) and partnership (societas). The conclusion contextualises Cicero's ideas within modern political philosophy and explains how they can help to frame the inquiry into politics. Cicero mediates the modern philosophical debate about whether philosophy should focus on utopian ideals or on actual political behaviour and institutions. Here, as in the other chapters, A. demonstrates broad vision and an openness to debate, two qualities that also drive Cicero's philosophical method.
Throughout, A. gives admirably clear exposition of the philosophical arguments, with apt analogies and jargon-free language. All Latin and Greek sources are translated, ensuring that the volume will be accessible to audiences outside Classical Studies. And this book has a message for readers outside the academy. For, in A.'s reading, Cicero's treatises insist on a role for philosophy in the real world where political ideals are meant to be more than an unachievable philosophical goal: these ideals are an essential model that can and should be adapted to contingent reality. If this makes Cicero's philosophy more at home among politicians than philosophers, it may not be a bad thing, because a thinking politician (even one who falls short of being a Stoic sage) is better than the alternative.
