Julius Caesar – tyran or hope for the republic? Analysis of Cicero’s Pro Marcello

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26485/SPE/2021/121/1

Keywords:

rector rei publicae, tyranny, dictatorship, optimus status rei publicae

Abstract

Background: The article analyzes Cicero’s Pro Marcello in close connection with the political problem that the speech concerned. The comparative juxtaposition of speech with the views pre­sented in the dialogue De re publica proves that Ciceronian rhetoric corresponds in this case to the political philosophy presented earlier. It also confirms the timeless, anti-tyrannical dimension of Cicero’s speeches, for whom the freedom of the Roman political community from tyranny and its varieties is of paramount importance.

Research purpose: Analysis of Cicero’s Pro Marcello speech and indication of its anti-tyrannical dimension.

Methods: The article uses the historical – legal method and the comparative method.

Conclusions: The speech is in fact a republican message addressed to the victorious leader who, in Cicero’s opinion, guided by the common good – rei publicae causa, should follow the path leading to the “best form of government” (optimus status rei publicae). Cicero in Pro Marcello puts Caesar in the place which he ascribed to Scipio in De re publica, as a politician (rector rei publicae) who “will have to become a dictator and put the affairs of the republic in order.”

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Published

2021-12-17

How to Cite

Banach, T. (2021). Julius Caesar – tyran or hope for the republic? Analysis of Cicero’s Pro Marcello. Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne, 121, 11–27. https://doi.org/10.26485/SPE/2021/121/1

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ARTICLES - THE LAW