Res publica Romana - Die römische Republik

The book includes three texts that emerged from discussions with interested adults at the adult education center. The course participants were equally concerned with antiquity as well as comparing and confronting it with the present. The first contribution deals with Cicero's famous definition, which states that the state is a union of people united by their agreement on legal concepts and common benefits. What distinguishes this ancient theory of the state from the modern one? The topic of the second part is Cicero's concept of natural law, which is still relevant today: for example, the UN Charter refers to the right of states to self-defense as a natural right. The final essay addresses the decline of values lamented by Cicero and Sallust and the resulting crisis of the state. Augustus managed to overcome it. He speaks for himself in the Monument Ancyranum. Valerius Paterculus acknowledged him, while Tacitus offered criticism. This was not the only example of a transition from a free state to a monarchically governed one in history.