Cic. Rep. 4: A Guidebook for the Formation of a Normative Positive Social Behaviour and a National Identity (original) (raw)

This study examines the behavioural norms proposed by Cicero in Book Four of his political dialogue De re publica, which aim to shape and enforce a positive social identity for the Roman citizens, in order for the state to achieve its goal, the beata et honesta vita. The norms cover various aspects of public and private life, which contribute to building positive in-group relations and a collective social identity for Roman citizens. In the same time, their comparison with corresponding Greek institutions and behaviours strengthens the inter-group relations and differences between the Romans and Greeks, which contribute to consolidating a Roman national identity. Although the text of Book Four of the dialogue is preserved in a fragmentary condition, it provides sufficient information for Cicero’s conscious and consistent effort to impose a normative behaviour based on the mos maiorum and a sound and morally superior social and national identity that will allow the Roman society as a whole and the state as an institution to consolidate Rome’s leading role in the world and impose its position in it. The study also addresses two major issues related to Cicero’s political dialogues: a) the relationship between them and whether or not the laws proposed in De legibus were meant for the state as described in De re publica, and b) Cicero’s understanding of the idea of a ‘constitution’. It revises, supports or overturns recent scholarly opinions, and concludes that Cicero did not propose a certain constitutional change, but the norms proposed in the first dialogue as well as the laws of the second dialogue must be viewed within and as part of a broader political culture.