Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/747

 the proper sequence of the sheets. Altogether, after a minute calculation, we may estimate that by the palimpsest we have regained about one-fourth of the whole, and if the fragments collected from other sources be added, they will increase the proportion to one-third. The MS. is written in very large well-formed capitals, and from the splendour of its appearance those best skilled in palaeography have pronounced it to be the oldest MS. of a classic in existence, some being disposed to carry it back as far as the second or third century, the superinduced MS. being probably earlier than the tenth century. In the first book, the first 33 pages are wanting, and there are fourteen smaller blanks scattered up and down, amounting to 38 pages more. A few words are wanting at the beginning of the second book, which runs on with occasional blanks, amounting in all to 50 pages, until we approach the close, which is very defective. The third book is a mere collection of disjointed scraps; of the fourth the MS. contains but a few lines, the same is the case with the fifth, and the sixth is totally wanting.

The object of the work was to determine the best form of government, to define the duties of all the members of the body politic, and to investigate those principles of justice and morality which must form the basis of every system under which a nation can expect to enjoy permanent prosperity and happiness. We cannot doubt that Cicero was stimulated to this undertaking by perceiving the destruction which threatened the liberties of his country; and, in the vain hope of awakening those around him to some sense of their danger, he resolved to place before their eyes a lively representation of that constitution by which their forefathers had become masters of the world.

The materials of which this production was formed appear, for we can speak with little certainty of the last four books, to have been distributed in the following manner:—

The greater part of the prologue to the first book is lost, but we gather that it asserted the superiority of an active over a purely contemplative career. After a digression on the uncertainty and worthlessness of physical pursuits, the real business of the piece is opened, the meaning of the word republic is defined, and the three chief forms of government, the monarchical, the aristocratical, and the democratical, are analyzed and compared, Scipio awarding the preference to the first, although, since all in their simple shape are open to corruption and degeneracy, and contain within themselves the seeds of dissolution, the ideal of a perfect constitution would be a compound of all these three elements mixed in due proportions—a combination to which the Roman constitution at one time closely approximated.

The subject being pursued in the second book leads to a history of the origin and progress of the Roman state; and, passing from the particular to the general, the remainder of the book is occupied by an examination of the great moral obligations which serve as the foundation of all political union.

The third book, as we glean from Lactantius and St. Augustin, contained a protracted discussion on the famous paradox of Carneades, that justice was a visionary delusion.

The fourth book entered upon the duties of citizens in public and private life, and enlarged upon general education and moral training.

In the prologue to the fifth book, of which we know less than of any of the preceding, Cicero indulged in lamentations on the general depravity of morals which were becoming rapidly more corrupt. The main topic in what followed was the administration of laws, including a review of the practice of the Roman courts, beginning with the paternal jurisdiction of the kings, who were the sole judges in the infancy of the city.

We can hardly hazard a conjecture on the contents of the sixth book, with the exception of the well-known Somnium Scipionis, in which Scipio relates that he saw in a dream, when, in early youth, he visited Masinissa, in Africa, the form of the first Africanus, which dimly revealed to him his future destiny, and urged him to press steadily forward in the path of virtue and of true renown, by announcing the reward prepared in a future state for those who have served their country in this life with good faith.

The authorities chiefly consulted by Cicero, in composing the De Republica, are concisely enumerated in the first chapter of the second book de Divinatione. "Sex de Republica libros scripsimus—Magnus locus philosophiaeque proprius, a Platone, Aristotele, Theophrasto totaque Peripateticorum familia tractus uberrime." To these we must add Polybius, from whom many of the most important opinions are directly derived (e. g. comp. Polyb. vi. 3, 6, 7).

The Editio Princeps of the recovered De Republica was printed, as we have seen above, at Rome, in 1822, with copious prolegomena and notes by Mai; this was followed by the edition of Creuzer and Moser, Frankf. 1826, 8vo., which is the most complete that has hitherto appeared. The following also contains useful matter, " La République de Ciceron, d'après la texte inedit, recemment découvert et commenté par M. Mai, bibliothécaire de Vatican, avec une traduction française, un discours préliminaire et des dissertations historiques, par M. Villemain, de l' Académie française, ii tomes, Paris, Michaud, 1823."

Literature : — F. C. Wolf, ''Observ. Crit. in M. Tull. Cic. Orat. pro Scauro, et pro Tullio, et librorum De Rep. Fragm. 1824; Zacharia, Staatswissenschaftliche Betrachtungen über Ciceros neu aufgefundenes Werk vom Stadte'', Heidelberg, 1823.

The fragments known before the discovery of Mai are included in all the chief editions of the collected works, and were published with a French translation by Bernardi, ii tomes, Paris, 1807.

2. De Legibus Libri III.

Three dialogues, in a somewhat mutilated condition, on the nature, the origin, and the perfection of laws. These have given rise to a series of controversies respecting the real author of the work, the time at which it was written, its extent when entire, its proper title, the date of publication, the existence of a prologue, or preface, the sources from which the author derived his materials, and the design which he proposed to accomplish. On each of these points it is necessary to say a few words.

1. The opinion that Cicero was not the author, rests solely upon the fact that, contrary to his usual practice in such matters, he nowhere makes mention of these books; no notice of them is taken in the catalogue of his philosophical writings, inserted in the De Divinatione (ii. 1), nor in any part of his correspondence with Atticus, which generally contains