524 Cicero s Work on the Republic. [MAY, 



to glory much in that assertion, that they have never learnt nor ever 

 taught any thing on the means of establishing or preserving states ; 

 and they think that the knowledge of these things does not appertain to 

 the learned or the wise, but ought to be confined to practical politicians. 

 How then can they, with any consistency, promise their assistance to the 

 republic when at last compelled by necessity ? since they could not a 

 far easier task rule the state when unoppressed by any danger. And 

 admitting that a wise man of his own accord does not usually descend 

 to the government of the state, but that if pressed by the circumstances 

 of the times, he would not then refuse that duty ; yet, admitting all 

 this, it is still my opinion, that this science of public affairs ought on 

 no account to be neglected by the wise man, because he should be pre- 

 pared with every thing, the knowledge of which, for all he can tell, 

 may at some time be absolutely essential. 



* * * * 



And if there be still any who are influenced by the authority of philoso- 

 phers, let them deliberate for a short time, and listen to those who have 

 obtained the greatest honour and glory among the most learned of man- 

 kind ; and even if such have not been engaged in the actual adminis- 

 tration of the state, yet, since they have investigated the subject, and 

 written largely upon it, they ought, in my opinion, to be considered as 

 having performed a sort of public office. As to those seven whom the 

 Greeks call wise, I perceive that nearly all have been employed in public 

 affairs. Nor is there any thing in which the virtues of humanity approach 

 nearer to the attributes of Deity, than in the foundation of new states, or 

 in the preservation of old." 



To understand properly the spirit of these sentiments, which breathe 

 the purest patriotism, it will be necessary for our readers to recollect 

 that neither the Greeks nor the Romans paid their rulers for governing 

 the state. With us there is some inducement to struggle for the office 

 of First Lord of the Treasury, or Chancellor of the Exchequer, besides 

 the mere love of serving our country ; and if no advantage but care, 

 trouble, and anxiety, resulted from the dignity, we should probably not 

 see so many aspirants to the government. 



We now come to the dialogue itself. But here it may be proper to 

 give some more particular account of the object and the nature of the 

 work. The subject is the government of a state ; a subject which has 

 occupied the thoughtful of all nations, and on which ponderous tomes 

 have been written from remote antiquity even to the present day. 

 Among the ancients great attention was paid to it, both in its theory 

 and its practice j but the Greeks, more polished and philosophical 

 than the Romans, had studied it with greater assiduity than their rivals 

 in literature. When Athens had lost her influence as a state, she still 

 maintained a species of ascendancy by her learning ; and secured, by her 

 philosophers and her orators, the respect which her arms could never 

 have perpetuated. 



To her groves and academies every Roman of rank resorted for his 

 education, and Athens might in truth be called the university of the 

 world. It was there that in earlier times ^Eschylus composed his tra- 

 gedies, and Aristophanes displayed his raillery and his wit there 

 Plato had promulgated his philosophy in the gardens of the academy, 

 and there Demosthenes had hurled his thunders against tyranny and 

 oppression. We need not add that Cicero had been to Athens ; he 



