A written republic : Cicero's philosophical politics / Yelena Baraz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baraz, Yelena, 1975-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, Ancient.

Rome--Politics and government--265-30 B.C.

Rome.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius--Political and social views.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the 40s BCE, during his forced retirement from politics under Caesar's dictatorship, Cicero turned to philosophy, producing a massive and important body of work. As he was acutely aware, this was an unusual undertaking for a Roman statesman because Romans were often hostile to philosophy, perceiving it as foreign and incompatible with fulfilling one's duty as a citizen. How, then, are we to understand Cicero's decision to pursue philosophy in the context of the political, intellectual, and cultural life of the late Roman republic? In A Written Republic, Yelena Baraz takes up this question and makes the case that philosophy for Cicero was not a retreat from politics but a continuation of politics by other means, an alternative way of living a political life and serving the state under newly restricted conditions. Baraz examines the rhetorical battle that Cicero stages in his philosophical prefaces--a battle between the forces that would oppose or support his project. He presents his philosophy as intimately connected to the new political circumstances and his exclusion from politics. His goal--to benefit the state by providing new moral resources for the Roman elite--was traditional, even if his method of translating Greek philosophical knowledge into Latin and combining Greek sources with Roman heritage was unorthodox. A Written Republic provides a new perspective on Cicero's conception of his philosophical project while also adding to the broader picture of late-Roman political, intellectual, and cultural life.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations and Translations

Introduction

Chapter 1. Otiose Otium: The Status of Intellectual Activity in Late Republican Prefaces

Chapter 2. On a More Personal Note

Chapter 3. The Gift of Philosophy : The Treatises as Translations

Chapter 4. With the Same Voice: Oratory as a Transitional Space

Chapter 5. Reading a Ciceronian Preface: Strategies of Reader Management

Chapter 6. Philosophy after Caesar: The New Direction

Bibliography

Index Locorum

General Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613589743

9781280494512

1280494514

9781400842162

1400842166

OCLC:

779828666