On the Republic
George Featherstonhaugh (1829); Book VI (Scipio's Dream) from Francis Barham & Charles Duke Yonge (Harper, 19th c.).
Cicero's On the Republic (De Re Publica), written 54–51 BCE, is a dialogue on the ideal commonwealth, modeled on Plato's Republic but rooted in Roman history and law. Set as a conversation among Scipio Aemilianus and his friends, it argues that the best constitution is a balanced mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy—the Roman republic at its height—and grounds justice in a natural law binding on all peoples. Lost for centuries and recovered only in fragments, it culminates in the famous Dream of Scipio, a vision of the cosmos and the rewards awaiting statesmen. Books I–V here are the early Featherstonhaugh translation (1829); Book VI, the Dream of Scipio, is supplied from the Barham–Yonge translation, whose long tradition preserves this most admired of Cicero's passages.
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