How to Run a Country: An Ancient Guide for Modern Leaders (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers) - Hardcover

Cicero

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691156573 ISBN 13: 9780691156576

Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

This brief book, a sequel to How to Win an Election, gathers Cicero's most perceptive thoughts on topics such as leadership, corruption, the balance of power, taxes, war, immigration, and the importance of compromise. These writings have influenced great leaders--including America's Founding Fathers--for two thousand years, and they are just as instructive today as when they were first written.

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Philip Freeman is the editor and translator of How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians (Princeton) and the author of Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar (all Simon & Schuster). He received his PhD from Harvard University and holds the Qualley Chair of Classical Languages at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

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"How to Win an Election was a delight--and How to Run a Country is even better. Cicero's acute observations about how to govern will resonate with everyone who recognizes that the tribalism, ideological extremism, and coarsened culture of politics today urgently need to change."--Norman J. Ornstein, coauthor of It's Even Worse Than It Looks

"Cicero's words live forever. In these carefully chosen and well-translated selections on leadership, classicist Philip Freeman offers an astute introduction to one of history's noblest minds."--Barry Strauss, author ofMasters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership

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HOW TO RUN A COUNTRY

An Ancient Guide for Modern LeadersBy Marcus Tullius Cicero

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2013 Philip Freeman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-15657-6

Contents

Introduction............................................viiHow to Run a Country....................................1Natural Law.............................................1Balance of Power........................................4Leadership..............................................6Friends and Enemies.....................................16Persuasion..............................................24Compromise..............................................30Money and Power.........................................36Immigration.............................................43War.....................................................46Corruption..............................................49Tyranny.................................................56Cicero's Epilogue: The Fallen State.....................66Latin Texts.............................................68Passages Translated.....................................115Glossary................................................121Further Reading.........................................131

Chapter One

HOW TO RUN A COUNTRY

Natural Law

In the surviving passages of his book on the State, Cicero provides a systematic discussion of political theory, including a famous passage on the idea that divine law underlies the universe and is the foundation on which government should be built. Cicero follows the Greek philosopher Aristotle and earlier Stoic teachers in upholding the idea of natural law—an idea fundamental to the founders of the American Republic regardless of their religious beliefs.

True law is a harmony of right reasoning and nature. It applies to everyone in all places and times, for it is unchanging and everlasting. It commands each of us to do our duty and forbids us from doing wrong. Its commands and prohibitions guide good and prudent people, but those who are wicked will listen to neither. It is not right to try to alter this law. We cannot repeal any part of it, much less do away with it altogether. No senate or assembly of the people can free us from its obligations. we do not need anyone to explain or interpret it for us.

There is no such thing as one true law at Rome and another at Athens. There is no change of such law over time. It applies to all people everywhere—past, present, and future. There is one divine master and ruler over all of us who is creator, judge, and enforcer of this law. Those who disobey him are fleeing from themselves and are rejecting their own humanity. Even if they escape human judgment for their wrongdoing, they will pay a terrible price in the end.

In his book On Laws, Cicero invents a dialogue between himself, his brother, and his best friend, Atticus, to lay out his plans for an ideal government. In the following selection, Cicero discusses why government is necessary and how it should function in accord with natural law.

You realize, of course, that the job of a leader is to govern and to issue commands that are just, advantageous to the country, and in keeping with the law. The laws of a state rule over a leader just as he rules over the people. Indeed, we could say that a leader is the voice of the law and the law is a silent leader.

The rule of government should be in harmony with justice and the fundamental principles of nature, by which I mean it is in agreement with law. Without such government, no home or city or country nor indeed the human race, the natural world, or the universe itself could exist. For the universe obeys God just as the seas and lands obey the universe, so that all humanity is subject to this supreme law.

Balance of Power

To Cicero, the ideal government was one that combined the best qualities of a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy—as was the case in the Roman Republic. The influence of his writings on the subject features prominently in the mixed constitution created by the American Founding Fathers.

Of the three main types of government, monarchy is in my opinion by far the most preferable. But a moderate and balanced form of government combining all three is even better than kingship. This sort of state would have an executive with preeminent and royal qualities, but also grant certain powers both to the leading citizens and to the people according to their wishes and judgment. This kind of constitution first of all offers a great degree of equality to citizens, something free people can scarcely do without for long, but it also provides stability. When one type of government alone rules, it frequently decays into the corresponding degenerate form—the king becomes a tyrant, the aristocracy turns into a factional oligarchy, and democracy becomes mob rule and anarchy. But while a single form of government often turns into something else, a mixed and balanced system remains stable, unless the leaders are unusually wicked. For there is no reason for a government to change when each citizen is guaranteed his own role and there is no underlying debased form into which it might slip and fall.

Leadership

Marcus Cicero loved to give advice, especially to his relatives and particularly to his younger brother Quintus. When Quintus was appointed governor of the important Roman province of Asia (on the western coast of modern Turkey) in 61 BC, Marcus couldn't resist sending him not one but two lengthy letters telling him how to do his job. Quintus was a perfectly capable administrator who would later serve bravely in Gaul under Julius Caesar, but he did have something of a temper and was prone to fits of melancholy. Although Quintus may not have welcomed the unsolicited advice from his brother, the first letter contains wise counsel for anyone facing the trials of public office.

So then, what I ask of you most of all is that you don't give in to despair or become discouraged. Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by a great flood of responsibilities. Rise up and face the difficulties that come your way or even go out to meet them. Fortune does not rule over your leadership in government. For the most part, your success depends on your own intelligence and hard work.

If you were thrown into some great, dangerous war and your term of office were extended, I might worry more that the winds of fortune could blow you about. But as I said, chance has nothing or at least very little to do with how you carry out your duties to your country. It depends much more on your own courage and thoughtful moderation. I don't think you need to worry about an ambush by enemies, fierce battles, being abandoned by our allies, running out of money or food for the troops, or that the army is going to mutiny against you. Such things do happen occasionally even to the wisest men, who are no more able to overcome misfortune than the best helmsmen can master a violent storm. Your job is to steer the ship of state smoothly and steadily. Remember that a helmsman who falls asleep can wreck a craft. Still, if you stay awake, you might enjoy the voyage.

Five years after Cicero's consulship in 63 BC, he was exiled from Italy by his political enemies on trumped-up charges. One of the few friends who stood by him was Publius Sestius, who was later unjustly charged by these same enemies with inciting public violence. Cicero defended him on his return to Rome and took the opportunity of the trial to outline his...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0691156573
• ISBN 13: 9780691156576
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 152
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar