Cicero on and after the Res Publica

Undergraduate / Graduate

Much of what is known about the final years of the Res publica has been shaped by Cicero. In addition to making claims about what this form of state is and what it could achieve in works such as De re publica, his 914 letters and 58 extant speeches constitute critical testimony on its eventual social and political collapse. This course will explore four aspects related to the story of Cicero and the Res publica: (1) his appreciation of it as a form of governance; (2) his efforts to work within it and ultimately to preserve it throughout his political career; (3) his death in 43 BC and its later collapse in 27 BC; and (4) the ways in which the story of the one has become inextricable from the story of the other in its later reception. Readings will include letters and speeches of Cicero, as well as selections from his philosophical works. The final two weeks will focus on the reception of Cicero broadly conceived across various later periods of Latin. Secondary scholarship will be integrated throughout the course.