The Roman Republic in Political Thought

The Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures

by Fergus Millar

It is a fact that the very long-lived Roman Republic has consistently played a surprisingly slight role in political theory and discussions about the nature of democracy, forms of government, and other matters, particularly when compared to the enormous attention paid to fifth-century BCE Athenian democracy. Fergus Millar re-opens the issue of how the Roman Republic was understood and used by political thinkers from the Ancient World to the present. Describing both the reality of the late Roman Republic and showing how its nature was distorted even by contemporary sources, he tracks its treatment (or absence) in political discourse from Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, and in debates surrounding the creation of the American constitution, particularly in the Federalist papers.
In brief, clear prose, with quotations in English from important works, and economical use of endnotes, he reinforces his unconventional thesis about the significance of direct democracy in the late Roman Republic. In the process, he also provides an unprecedented tour through 2000 years of Western political theory from the point of view of the Roman Republic, in general, and theories of direct democracy and the balance of power, in particular.

Genres: Politics, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Sir Fergus Millar was a British historian and Camden Professor of Ancient History Emeritus, Oxford University. Millar numbers among the most influential ancient historians of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book - particularly from a historiographical perspective, i.e. how representations of the Roman Republic were used. However, it was a little dry in places and one could not help the feeling that the book was a lamentation that the Roman Republic had not played a greater role in the history of political thought or that people had not had access to authors contemporaneous with the Republic (e.g. Polybius).