Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis/ the Dream of Scipio, or the Metaphysical Foundation of Harmony as a Governing Principle (original) (raw)

Abstract

Harmony is one of the concepts that permeate the history of human creation in varied fields: philosophy, arts, music, science, economics, politics, etc. It is a preoccupation of the Pythagorean, of Plato and Aristotle, and a governing principle theorised during the times of the Byzantine Empire. However, in Cicero’s political thinking, harmony is the foundation stone of the organisation and functioning of the republic as body politic, a political principle which reflects the principle of the entire universe. Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio), an allegory on the harmony of the universe, is the closing part of the treatise De re publica, by which Cicero, inspired by Plato and synthetizing stoic, epicurean and neoplatonic ideas, bestows his political testament upon world culture and advocates the cultivation of virtue.

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