De Re Publica

By Cicero

Published in 1822

Reference #0770

First Edition with folding engraved frontispiece portrait of Pius VII and a large folding manuscript facsimile. A Socratic dialogue written in six books between 54 B.C. and 51 B.C. “Not all of the work has survived to modernity and it was not published until 1822. The ‘De Re Publica’ is purportedly the record of a three day debate on the state. Two books are assigned to each day. Cicero prefaces the narrative of each day with an introduction in which he speaks for himself.

The surviving text begins in mid-sentence from the first introductory passage, in which Cicero argues, with illustrations from Roman history, that practical statesmen are morally superior to, and of more benefit to mankind than the political theorist of the philosophical schools.”

Works By Cicero