Content
Apart from the Greek philosophers mentioned above, Polybius was also an important source of inspiration for Cicero's political views.
Since not all of the work survives, some of the content is surmised from references by other ancient authors.
Book one: Contains a discussion between the protagonists of the political situation of their time. The theme of the work is given and some comments are made about the theory of constitutions.
Book two: An outline of Roman history and the development of the constitution.
Book three: The role of justice in government is examined, as are the different types of constitutions.
Book four: A discourse about education.
Book five: The characters converse about the qualities of the ideal citizen in government.
Book Six: Little of this book survives except the Somnium Scipionis, which functions as the conclusion to the work.
Read more about this topic: De Re Publica
Famous quotes containing the word content:
“Yet the New Testament treats of man and man’s so-called spiritual affairs too exclusively, and is too constantly moral and personal, to alone content me, who am not interested solely in man’s religious or moral nature, or in man even.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How many persons must there be who cannot worship alone since they are content with so little.”
—Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)
“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)