The Lost Republic: Cicero's De oratore and De re publica

Cicero's dialogues De oratore (On the Orator) and De re publica (On the Commonwealth), composed between 55 and 51 BCE, examine two topics central to Roman public life: the role of the orator in society and the importance of honorable statesmanship for the preservation of republican government--which came to an end in Rome with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar only a few years later. The two dialogues are closely related to one another in Cicero's choice of Plato as a literary model, in the selection of Roman public figures of the two generations before Cicero as speakers, and in their intertwined arguments about the values of civic life and political engagement.The Lost Republic provides the first detailed analysis of these two dialogues taken together. It demonstrates how carefully they complement one another and, in addition to explaining their arguments and their place in the history of rhetoric and political theory respectively, reads them as the first examples of literary dialogue in Latin. Cicero, as James Zetzel demonstrates, uses Platonic models as a means to question the value of Platonic ideals, just as he uses an idealized portrait of Roman aristocrats of earlier generations both to praise and to interrogate the virtues of the Roman past. The two dialogues create a complex and subtle argument about the relationship between the traditional values of Rome and the new approaches to both ethics and rhetoric brought by Greek philosophy. By treating these dialogues as masterpieces of literary imagination shaped to present a compelling vision of the intellectual and moral underpinnings of civil society, Zetzel makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of Cicero and of the world in and about which he wrote.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Preface Abbreviations Introduction: Mansuetiores Musae Part I: Orator 1. Genus Dialogorum Meorum 2. Cogitanti Mihi 3. Vetera Repetenti 4. Ratio Dicendi 5. Eloquentem Adhuc Neminem 6. Praepotens et Gloriosa Philosophia 7. Cycnea Vox Part II: Statesman 8. Prequel and Sequel 9. The Lost Republic 10. Dialogue and Dissatisfaction 11. Optimus Status Civitatis 12. Rerum Publicarum Natura 13. Iuris Consensus 14. I Never Died, Said He Conclusion: The Lost Republic Appendix: Speeches and Trials List of Works Cited Index

About the Author :
James E. G. Zetzel is the Anthon Professor Emeritus of the Latin Language and Literature at Columbia University and the author of numerous publications, including, most recently, Critics, Compilers, and Commentators: An Introduction to Roman Philology, 200 BCE-800 CE.

Review :
Cicero's two 'Platonic' dialogues, De oratore and De re publica, represent the summa of his political and moral thought. Now they have found their ideal reader in James Zetzel, whose Lost Republic distills his decades of engagement with Cicero's writings. It is a brilliant work of immense learning, and a triumphant achievement. The knowledge of Cicero's Rome that has gone into this book is extraordinary, but what is exciting is the idea for it. Zetzel reads Cicero's first two dialogs as complementary experiments in which vividly imagined Roman aristocrats of the not too distant past try to reckon with political institutions that are crucial to their way of life but slipping out of their hands. A great book, and one that will quickly become essential reading for Classical scholars. The Lost Republic will be required reading for all students and scholars who are interested not only in the dialogues themselves, but also in Cicero's compositional techniques, the late Roman Republic, its oratory and politics, as well as the relationship of Greek learning (and particularly philosophy) with Roman intellectual life of the era. All readers will learn from Zetzel's insistence on probing the works with questions old and new... His book offers a signal contribution to our understanding of both these great Ciceronian dialogues. James Zetzel's wonderful study of the relationship of Cicero's De oratore and De re publica. The book is a highly insightful read for specialists in the field, but Zetzel's engaging style also makes it a very good guide for those who want to start exploring these two Ciceronian works and their literary and intellectual context. 'The Lost Republic' will be an indispensable companion for all readers of Cicero's De oratore and De re publica and a valuable resource for all those interested in the literary,political, and intellectual culture of the Roman Republic.