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In the 40s BCE, during his forced retirement from politics under Caesar's dictatorship, Cicero turned to philosophy, producing a massive and important body of work. As he was acutely aware, this was an unusual undertaking for a Roman statesman because Romans were often hostile to philosophy, perceiving it as foreign and incompatible with fulfilling one's duty as a citizen. How, then, are we to understand Cicero's decision to pursue philosophy in the context of the political, intellectual, and cultural life of the late Roman republic? In A Written Republic, Yelena Baraz takes up this question and makes the case that philosophy for Cicero was not a retreat from politics but a continuation of politics by other means, an alternative way of living a political life and serving the state under newly restricted conditions. Baraz examines the rhetorical battle that Cicero stages in his philosophical prefaces--a battle between the forces that would oppose or support his project. He presents his philosophy as intimately connected to the new political circumstances and his exclusion from politics. His goal--to benefit the state by providing new moral resources for the Roman elite--was traditional, even if his method of translating Greek philosophical knowledge into Latin and combining Greek sources with Roman heritage was unorthodox. A Written Republic provides a new perspective on Cicero's conception of his philosophical project while also adding to the broader picture of late-Roman political, intellectual, and cultural life.

Philosophy, Ancient. --- Cicero, Marcus Tullius --- Political and social views. --- Rome --- Politics and government --- Philosophie ancienne --- Politique et gouvernement --- Ancient philosophy --- Greek philosophy --- Philosophy, Greek --- Philosophy, Roman --- Roman philosophy --- Cicero --- Cicerone, M. T. --- Cicéron, Marcus --- Philosophy, Ancient --- M. Tulli Ciceronis --- T︠S︡it︠s︡eron, Mark Tulliĭ --- Cyceron --- Cicéron --- Kikerōn --- Cicerón, M. Tulio --- Ḳiḳero --- Cicerone --- Cicerón, Marco Tulio --- Ḳiḳero, Marḳus Ṭulyus --- Tullius Cicero, Marcus --- Kikerōn, M. T. --- Cicerone, M. Tullio --- Cicero, M. T. --- Cyceron, Marek Tulliusz --- ציצרון, מארקוס טולליוס --- קיקרו, מארקוס טוליוס --- קיקרו, מרקוס טוליוס --- キケロ --- 西塞罗 --- Academic Skepticism. --- Bellum Catilinae. --- Bellum Iugurthinum. --- Cato the Younger. --- Cicero. --- De Divinatione. --- De Finibus. --- De Natura Deorum. --- De Officiis. --- De Senectute. --- Ennius. --- Julius Caesar. --- Marcus the Younger. --- Paradoxa Stoicorum. --- Quintus Cicero. --- Rhetorica ad Herennium. --- Roman elite. --- Sallust. --- Topica. --- Tullia. --- Tusculan Disputations. --- action. --- amicitia. --- character. --- civil war. --- cultural life. --- dedicatees. --- dictatorship. --- intellectual activity. --- intellectual life. --- late Roman republic. --- letters. --- mos maiorum. --- negotium. --- oratory. --- otium. --- patriotism. --- philosophical writings. --- philosophy. --- political life. --- politics. --- prefaces. --- public life. --- readers. --- rhetoric. --- translation. --- treatises. --- volumen prohoemiorum.